Joshua Gayou - Commune - The Complete Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Box Set (Books 1-4)

I realized as I watched her gyrate everyone else to shame that there was a little pocket of immobility to the right of the crowd; George, Barbara, and Davidson sat out along the sidelines. The older folks were either giving their joints a bit of a break, or they were just busy awaiting a better song, as the one that was currently playing was on the faster side. Davidson didn’t look right, though. He was young; practically a kid. He should have been out on the floor.

Looking at Jake, I said, “Back in a bit. Wallflower.”

He looked in the direction I indicated, seemed to understand, and gave me a thumbs-up. I jumped from the trailer and crossed the short distance to sit down next to Davidson along the wall.

“What gives?” I asked. “Why aren’t you partying?”

He shrugged and said, “I’ve never been much of a dancer. Not too good at it.”

I looked back into the crowd. Edgar was either doing some adaptation of the Chicken Dance or he was suffering a seizure and others, such as Wang and both of the Page brothers, appeared to rely on a minimalist strategy, basically standing rooted in place with their arms out and rocking slightly side to side like they were doing their best Snoop Dog impression.

Looking back at Davidson, I said, “You’re joking, right? You couldn’t possibly be any worse than the people out there right now… unless the only dance you know is some variant of the Russian Dick Stomping Cha-Cha.”

He honked in laughter, shaking his head but saying no more. The animation slowly died from his face, and he looked back down at his hands while fidgeting with his fingers.

“Jesus H. Christ,” I said in dismay. I looked back at the crowd. Some people had paired off to dance together (I noticed Lizzy wouldn’t leave Ben’s side and seemed to be eyeing Rose suspiciously) but there were plenty out there dancing alone quite happily. I decided I’d have to take some drastic action.

“Here, look at this,” I said. “This shit ain’t that difficult. Watch me.”

Confirming I had his attention, I stood up and walked directly into the crowd, aiming straight for Rebecca without faltering. Rather than looking surprised as I approached, she favored me with that blinding, heart-stopping smile of hers and shot me a mock salute.

“Hey, there, Sailor!” she said happily.

“Marine,” I barked. “I worked for a living.”

She laughed at that, which made me feel a little lightheaded and stupid, and said, “Fair enough: Marine. What can I do for you?”

“Need your help,” I shouted over the music, my voice barely audible to either of us. “Davidson’s smitten like a lost puppy. Said he’s been thinking about asking you to dance only he’s certain you’d turn him down on account of you’re waiting to be asked to dance by the sexiest man in the room.”

She almost doubled over laughing before she asked, “Yeah, and who would that be?”

“Come on, don’t make me say it. It’s embarrassing,” I shouted back. “It’s not my fault I’m such a specimen.” She continued to laugh, so I pressed on. “Anyway, I think you must know that I’ve promised my heart to Barbara, only she seems to have chained herself to George for some unknown reason; maybe they’re trading home remedies for arthritis or something. The point is I need your help to make my girl a little jealous and maybe show Davidson that you’re probably a human like the rest of us. What do you say? We just waltz over there, and I’ll dump you off before you have the chance to become addicted to my raw animal magnetism?”

She laughed harder than I’d thought she would, causing me to wonder if I should feel a little offended. When she finally came back under control, she said, “Well, only since you asked so nicely. Also, I don’t think I can stand the idea of George coming between you and your true love.”

“Right? What a jerk, huh?”

She looked back over her shoulder at Davidson, and a satisfied, mischievous grin spread slowly across her mouth. I’d seen looks like that before. They usually preceded wild, head-first dives followed by sudden stops right at the end, with no parachute or crash helmet to be had.

“Hey,” I warned. “The kid’s my friend. Don’t break him, okay?”

She looked back at me with a hurt expression; a genuinely hurt expression, she wasn’t putting on an act this time, and shouted, “He’s my friend too, Gibs.”

Feeling a little guilty, I backpedaled. “Okay, I know. You’re right. Sorry.”

She seemed to accept the olive branch, nodding once with a hard jerk, and said, “Well, get me over there, big guy.”

I put my arms around her and got moving; holding her like a brother holds his sister to ensure that the wrong signals weren’t sent out to anyone who happened to be watching. As we came closer to Davidson, who watched us openly with a lost, forlorn expression, I shouted a “Sorry!” into Rebecca’s ear right before reversing my grip on her arm, pivoting on my heel, and snapping her out into open air like she was a wet towel that I was using to whip a buddy’s ass. She got about one and a half revolutions before she tilted too far in one direction but my aim was good, and she tumbled right into Davidson’s lap, laughing harder than at any other point that evening. The kid’s face went beet red as he sat there stuttering like an asshole and I began to fear that the putz was about to blow my epic setup. Fortunately, Rebecca decided to take mercy on him; she just grabbed him by the hand and bodily yanked him up out of his chair and dragged his ass onto the floor like he was a cave bitch. It was about as good as I could hope for, all things considered.

I sat down in his place next to Barbara, who was laughing uncontrollably and clapping her hands. She shouted, “Oh my God, I never thought he was going to get out there with her! Thank heavens you came along!”

“Yeah, well, sometimes nature needs a kick in the pants, you know?”

She nodded happily and gave me a playful elbow to the ribs.

“How about you,” I asked. “Think I can pull you away from this chair long enough to make a circuit around the garage?”

She screwed up her face and shook her head. “Let’s give it a while. This stuff is too fast for me.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said, looking back at Davidson as he struggled to keep up with Rebecca, who was still smiling and seemed to be having a grand old time, thank Christ.

I got Jake’s attention up on the stage by waving at him. He shot me a “what?” head nod, so I pointed at my ear and then made a slow-down gesture with my hand. He returned an exaggerated nod and began shuffling through CD cases.

I looked back at Barbara and said, “Okay, I think we’re covered.” She smiled and tapped her foot.

Eventually, the song that was playing faded out and the music stopped entirely as Jake swapped CDs out of the player. He pressed a few buttons, waited a few seconds, and then pressed one more before straightening up and looking back at me. Almost instantly, a slow and simple guitar riff faded in while being backed by a lap steel guitar, instantly recognizable. I was unable to stop the world’s biggest shit eating grin from breaking over my face as I nodded back to Jake, grabbed Barbara by the hand, and said, “This’ll do,” as I helped her up from the seat. We got out onto the floor along with everyone else, all of our friends pairing off and calming down to a warm, happy, mellow. Over the speakers, the voice of Don Williams issued forth as he sang I Believe In You .

“Oh, my God, I haven’t heard this song in ages,” Barbara laughed.

“Me either,” I said. “It was my mom’s favorite.”

“She had good taste.”

“Maybe,” I said. “My dad was a bit of a… well, he left a lot to be desired.”