Jared was still digesting the confrontation; he got a kick out of a girl sticking it to Livingston the way he got stuck. It was a lot to swallow when in line for a dance but regretted everything else she was saying; Emily was on Heather's own squad, after all. Even by Heather's standards, it was a pretty alpha bitch performance. Carl had the right idea though; he cut in right before Livingston was going to slap Heather-- or try, because Jared was primed to take him out, just waiting for a swing. 

"Don't worry about Gabe and Ricki," she assured him as they got the first dance going-- but what the fuck was Trenton doing with Livingston!? "They're big kids and can handle themselves, and if they aren't," she added in her best Head Bitch Cheerleader tone, "they need to grow some."

"You need to watch it with Livingston, Heather, he's not all there." And that was Jared's take from the first. 

"Well, I am watching myself," She smiled up a him, even as she played the finger wrapping game, "after all, you were right there. You would have stopped him, right?"

"Of course," he said, and that was the male reflex coming into play, "he looked ready to swing and I was getting ready to knock his fuckin block off."

"'His fackin' blahck ahf.' You sound so Boston when you say that, is that a real thing?"

"Yeah, my mom'sfamily is from Dorchester, I was born fighting Irish," he said with a small smile, "but hockey keeps me out of trouble with it."

Some kinds of trouble anyway, "Maybe that's what I like, you don't have a glass jaw and you don't hide and whine, like Gabe..."

The dance ended, but the promise lingered. 

By staying on the dance floor, he avoided conversations he'd rather not have, and the stamina of a hockey player served him well; endurance. Still, there were comments during the dances, like with Tasha who said, "careful with that girl, she's a wench and she will play games. I know you boys all think between your legs, but watch yourself, boy. By the way, you always did dance well. It's like some sort of genetic luck of the draw or a black person in your family tree," she told him, which caused a genuine laugh for the first time that night.

The others weren't that talkative, but he switched partners around, as Heather seemed inclined to socialize as McGee as dance, and a number of dudes didn't like dancing but didn't mind Jared partnering with dates, mostly because he was claimed by Heather, case closed.

Except then he wound up partnering with Ricki Trenton and the whole tactic of avoiding awkward situations was blown away like a house of cards in a high wind.