The first time Dani went, it was so exciting. The lights, the music, the people. She and her friends were clumped together, teenagers in the under- 21 club for the first time. Dani watched everyone dancing, knowing that she wanted to join, but that her friends were too shy. There were just about a million guys who she was dying to dance with. or maybe that was an exaggeration. She didn't hesitate in pointing every last one of them out. They giggled in their juvenile way. She wished for once that they could act more mature than they were. She wanted to be like the older girls there, the high school girls. Dani and her friends were in eighth grade. And they seemed so immature.
Someone brushed up against her. A boy. No, more like a man. He smiled at her from under that slight hint of a mustache. He was older, too old to be in a club for teens. He put a hand on her shoulder, his skin brushing hers. His lips moved, but she couldn't hear him.
"What?"
"Do you want to dance?" His eyes twinkled as he winked at her.
The next thing Dani knew, he had whisked her away from her friends. They were in the middle of the floor surrounded by the dancing bodies of the other people. Dani fell right into it. She had always been a good dancer, and she still was now as she moved close to him. Her friends were watching from a distance, giggling and waving to her. She ignored them.
"I'm Danielle," she whispered.
"That's a pretty, pretty name," he replied. "I'm Peter." And he kept dancing. They danced all night until the last song played. By then, the crowd had mostly thinned out. As Dani looked around for her friends, she noticed that they were gone.
Peter was heading out the door, but he turned around to look at Danielle. She looked lost and helpless, standing in the emptying club all alone. "Do you need a ride?"
"I think so," Dani replied. "My friends are gone."
Peter walked over to her, offering comfort in an arm around her shoulders. "I can drive you home."
Dani smiled. "That would be great." Yes, her sister would probably murder her for accepting a ride home with a stranger. At least he was a handsome stranger. And Francine didn't honestly want Dani to be out all alone, did she?
Peter hugged her closer and kissed her forehead. "I'm glad I can help." He led her out to the car. "You know, Danielle, we should see each other again. Maybe on a real date."
Dani smiled. "I'd like that."
"So would I," Peter told her with his great smile as he got into the driver's seat. "So would I."
Dani sat back in her seat. I was a brave girl, she thought. Now I've got this hot new boyfriend to show for it.
The car started and rolled out of its parking spot onto the city street. Dani told Peter her address and sat back, watching him out of the corner of her eye. She was proud of herself. He liked her. He really liked her.
The car pulled to a stop in front of an apartment building. Dani stared blankly at it as Peter got out and came around to her side of the car, opening the door.
"Peter?"
"Yes, Danielle?"
"Where are we?"
"Does it matter?" He kissed her neck lightly. "Come on, get out of the car."
"This isn't my house."
"It doesn't matter, Dani. I can call you Dani, can't I?"
"Of course you can. But, Peter, this isn't my house."
"I thought I'd show you mine." He pulled her out of the car into the cold.
"This isn't my house!"

Danielle sat up straight in bed, her heart thundering in her chest. How could she have been so stupid? She let that happen, but she didn't even end it then. A year. Over a year. All wasted on Peter. And, since he had left, her life was still wasted. It was an addiction of the worst kind.
Maybe it didn't kill her. Then again, it surprised her that, despite all it had driven her to do, she was still alive. It had made life nearly unlivable, with so many risks that death should have been certain. But other people died and she lived on. It didn't make sense.
Just like it didn't make sense that she got out of the car and went up to his apartment. And sat down on his bed with him. And.
Maybe she had been awake for a few minutes now, but it was still a nightmare. She screamed. She didn't care if she woke the whole world up.
She needed to scream.