#indy nxt

You knew this was supposed to be a happy occasion. Dennis just got a podium in the season opener for his rookie season of IndyCar! How could you be upset?

Well, to be honest, you weren't, but the strobe lights and bodies brushing up against you constantly were making you fidget. Your head was pounding in tune with the beats blasting through the speakers right beside you, but you didn’t want to move from Dennis’s arms. 

A few friends decided to take him out to celebrate, and they eventually settled on dragging him out to a club after the finale. Dennis was apprehensive at first; clubs weren't his scene, never have been, but he also knew you hated the environment as a whole. You ended up encouraging him to go and let go for once.

After three hours, you were regretting it. The people were talking too loudly, the air was too thick, your skin was too sticky, and the alcohol was making everything worse. 

You just felt…off. 

Your fingers started twitching against Dennis’s arm which was wrapped around your waist. He must have noticed something was up because he loosened his hold around you, but not enough to fully remove his arm from you. Even that was suffocating.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” You said, patting his arm to get his attention before leaning your head back on his shoulder.

“Do you need anything?” He responded, leaning a little closer to hear you better, and moving his arms to just hold your hips lightly. “Anything I can help with?”

“No, I just need to use the restroom and get away from the speaker for a little,” You replied as you pulled his hands off of you. “I’ll be back, promise.”

You didn’t give him time to answer before you were already weaving your way through the crowd of people. In the process, someone spilled their drink on you, and it made your shirt all sticky.

You made a beeline for the restrooms and immediately started using water and towels to clean off your shirt. That just made everything worse because now, more of your shirt was clinging to your skin, and it made your skin itch. 

You frantically tried to dry your shirt, but through your stinging eyes and your shaking hands, you began rubbing your skin raw. It was doing more harm than good. 

You have no idea how long you were in there, but at some point, you heard someone knocking at the door. That’s when you realized that your upper chest was bleeding in some spots. 

“Hey, it’s me,” You heard and immediately recognized it as Dennis. You threw the last couple of towels away before approaching the door, but not opening it yet. You weren’t ready to face the wall of noise yet. “I can order us an Uber, and we can head home. I have your headphones if you want those, too. Does that sound okay?”

“Do you have your jacket?” You asked through the door, fully ready to open the door to just grab your headphones and jacket.

“Yeah.” You didn’t wait for him to say anything else before you peeked through the door to grab the jacket and headphones. His eyes immediately did a once-over on you and landed on the red and splotchy skin at your chest and neck. His gaze softened as he gently passed the jacket and headphones to you. “Hey, what happened?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” You muttered, closing the door quickly. You took off your shirt, swapped it for the jacket, and put your headphones on before walking out and grabbing Dennis’s hand to leave. He simply kissed the back of your hand before leading you out of the club.

He texted Marcus to order an Uber while you changed, so by the time you came out, the car was almost there. He weaved the two of you through the crowded club, not even sparing a glance at the rest of his friends. 

As soon as you stepped outside, it was like you could breathe again. The air wasn’t so stuffy. There weren’t a million people touching you. The lights were no longer stinging your eyes. Your ears were no longer ringing from the bass-boosted music from the DJ. You could finally take a breath, and it didn’t feel like you were ripping your chest open. You could just breathe. 

You quickly squeezed Dennis’s hand as you sent a small smile towards him, silently telling him you already felt better. He returned a tight-lipped smile as he gently squeezed your hand back, but turned his attention to the road ahead of you quickly. You noticed that his hold on your hand was not nearly as tight as it usually was, and that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Your mind was running once again. 

Dennis held the door to the Uber open for you, allowing you to scoot into the back seat, and he slid in after you. Dennis greeted the driver and confirmed the destination before setting his hand next to yours on the middle seat. It’s like he was making distance between you because usually after a night out, he would let you sit in the middle and lean against him.

You opted to wrap your arms around yourself and fidget with the sleeves of Dennis's jacket as you leaned against the window. You didn’t want to overthink it, but your mind was already running from the overstimulation at the bar, and you couldn’t help it. 

Before you knew it, you were back at the apartment. Everything was suddenly too quiet. It was starting to make you spiral.

You walked out of your bedroom, not sure when or why you were in there, but Dennis was sitting and scrolling on his phone in the common room. You hesitated in the entryway just watching him for a second, seeing how long it would take him to notice you. When he didn’t, you decided to just jump into it.

”Are you mad at me?” You blurted after clearing your throat. Dennis jumped a little before tossing his phone to another cushion as he gestured for you to sit next to him.

”Not at all,” He answered sincerely as you slowly walked over to sit next to him. His arm went around your shoulders as you leaned into his side, pulling your legs up to rest on the couch too. “Why would I be mad?”

”I made you leave your celebration,” You sighed, going back to fidgeting with the sleeves again. “That was your party, and I made you leave.”

”You didn’t make me do anything,” He chuckled lightly, rubbing a hand at the top of your arm. “You were uncomfortable, and I wanted to leave anyway. The music wasn’t good.”

”It was making my ears bleed,” You joked lightly with a cringe as you looked up at him. “So you’re not mad?”

”No, I was just giving you space, so you could come down on your own,” He explained. “I didn’t want to make it worse.”

”You could never make it worse,” You scoffed, leaning up to plant a light kiss on his lips. “You are literally the calmest person I know.”

~~~~~