Read Online His To Shatter by Haley Pearce - Free Book Online

and Ashlee was showing off
her trained dance moves. Even Kyle had found some pretty brunette
to chat with over at the edge of the crowd. It was awesome, for
once, not to be someone’s third wheel—to actually be participating
in the fun instead of watching from the sidelines. I squeezed my
new friend’s hand and let him whisk me back to the bar.
    The noise dropped off as soon as we cleared
the dance floor, as did the press of people. I had no idea how much
time had gone by since we arrived, but it seemed like the entire
bar had gravitated toward the open floor space. A whole crowd of
people bumped and writhed along with the music, and I couldn’t help
but smile. So that was what it felt like to be a part of the scene,
at long last. Usually, I was the only sober person in the room,
which meant that I generally left pretty early. But tonight, I
wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
    My new friend directed me to a plushy bar
stool and sank down on his own beside me. He waved the bartender
over eagerly.
    “Do you like tequila?” he asked, not having
to scream now that we’d gotten a little away from the dance
floor.”
    “Sure!” I replied, down for anything. The
truth was that I’d never even tried tequila, but I was willing to
experiment. The whiskey had gone down nice a smooth, after all. I
thought of it as expanding my horizons.
    “Two shots of Patron!” my buddy said to the
bartender. And in no time at all, there were two little glasses and
a couple of lime wedges sitting in front of us. “So you take the
shot, then suck on the lime,” the guy instructed me. I nodded, ever
the good student, and slugged back the booze. It hardly even tasted
strong anymore, it was just a nice little burn and a good taste of
my tongue. I brought the lime wedge to my lips and sucked, relished
the cool taste of it in my mouth. I couldn’t believe I’d been
missing out on all this for so long. There was a reason people
loved going out on the town, after all!
    “What’s your name?” I asked my friend, as the
tequila worked its way down to my toes.
    “I’m Ryan,” he replied, holding out his hand.
I smiled, charmed by this little professional gesture. It seemed so
adorably out of place at the bar.
    “I’m Madison,” I said, running my fingertip
along the rim of my shot glass. The motion definitely didn’t go
unnoticed by Ryan.
    “Madison,” he repeated, “That’s a very pretty
name.”
    “Thank you!” I answered enthusiastically.
    “A very pretty name for a very pretty girl,”
he went on, laying a hand on mine. It wasn’t a very original line,
but I appreciated it nonetheless. I was feel pretty, for once in my
life, and it didn’t hurt to have it acknowledged.
    “What do you do, Ryan?” I asked, scooting as
close to him as I could without falling off my stool.
    “I work on Wall Street,” he answered.
    “Cool,” I said. That explained the clean cut
look. I was pleased that he didn’t have the power suit look about
him, though. There wasn’t much that appealed to me about the “frat
bro” look that lots of young Wall Street guys adopted. Ryan just
looked put together, a far cry from the shaggy, unkempt artists who
made up most of the neighborhood.
    “What about you?” he asked.
    “I’m studying international marketing at
NYU,” I replied. “I just landed a summer internship at Corelli. In
Paris.”
    “Corelli?” he said, his green eyes widening.
“Holy shit! They’re huge .”
    “I know,” I said proudly.
    “Well, we need another shot to celebrate!” he
said. He motioned to the bartender, and in an instant second shots
were in front of us. We raised them in the purple light, smiling at
each other. “To you, Madison,” Ryan said.
    “To me!” I replied happily, and down my shot
in one go. The room was definitely wavering now, and I felt like I
was floating through the world, untouchable. No wonder people liked
this so much! I felt like I could do anything that I wanted, that
the world was