by M.E. Timmons
Chapter 9
There were many people dancing already when we walked in. I could feel eyes on us immediately, so I tried to hide behind Rhea, who was rather tall. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to find Jack grinning at me, looking quite handsome in his classic tuxedo with a dark green bowtie.
"You look absolutely incredible," he said to me. "May I have this dance?" He even accompanied his query with a short bow. I giggled and accepted his hand, and he led me to the dance floor.
Since neither of us knew how to waltz, we just short of moved slowly in a circle. There were a few people on the dance floor who did know how to waltz, and I was jealous of their graceful movements. I noticed that Michael was one of those people, and I hoped he wouldn't expect me to when he came to claim his dance.
I enjoyed dancing to the beautiful music of the small orchestra that played on the stage. When the song ended and another began Jack asked me if I wanted to dance again, but I said no, I had better not. I didn't want to tire myself out so early in the evening.
I had another idea instead. I brought Jack over to the punch bowl, where Heather was standing by herself. Melissa and Rhea were dancing. I introduced them to each other, and noticed that Heather acted rather shy around Jack. When he asked her to dance, she didn't hesitate to accept. I couldn't help but have some hope that Jack might finally move on.
That left me all to myself. I walked quietly along the wall, trying to stay out of the way of the dancers. I was about to head to the doors to the balcony when I noticed someone across the room. What I immediately noticed was what he was wearing. He was wearing a tux, but instead of the usual white shirt, he was wearing all black, making him look like some type of dark angel. Indeed, there was something about him that exuded darkness. He had long dark hair and handsome, well-defined features. I couldn't see what color his eyes were because of the distance that existed between us, but I could tell that they were looking in my direction. I suppressed a shiver, but it was not one of fear. It was one of excitement. The next time I looked up he was gone, and I couldn't see him anywhere.
When the next song started to play Michael came to claim his dance, so I went with him to the dance floor. He held me a bit closer than I was comfortable with for someone I hardly knew, but I knew no polite way to tell him so. Besides, my thoughts at that moment were centered elsewhere. He seemed to notice, and he tried to gain my attention by making comments about the lovely night, and how nice I looked in my dress. I responded as kindly as could. I was glad that he wasn't trying to get me to waltz or anything.
By the time that song was over I could see my roommates converging on me, so I figured it was time to introduce them to Michael, which I promptly did before excusing myself to get some air, leaving them to get acquainted. I looked back as I was walking away and saw Melissa talking animatedly to Michael, who was smiling. Heather stood by quietly, watching them talk.
I was correct in my original thought that the courtyard would look lovely at night. The twinkling lights lit up the paths through the bushes, and I could see couples wandering them together, some holding hands. The sound of the fountain drowned out the sound of the music to some extent, giving the environment a peaceful and romantic quality. I breathed in the fresh air and went down the steps, holding up the hem of my dress so I wouldn't trip on it. When I reached the fountain I sat down on its ledge and looked down at my reflection, which was distorted by the ripples caused by the falling water. I sat for a minute in that manner before I saw another figure in the reflection standing right behind me. I turned, quite startled, but by that time he was already walking away into the maze of paths. My heart beating hard in my chest, I followed him.
I wandered along the path he had taken, but after a minute I could no longer see him. I thought I had lost him completely until I heard a twig break behind me.
"Oh!" I cried with surprise. I turned around and he was right there behind me, much closer than I was expecting, and looking just as dark as he had from across the ballroom. Before I could protest, he closed the distance between us and kissed me. I gasped in shock, but didn't pull away. I liked the way my body responded to his, though I seemed to have no control over it. I couldn't help but notice the way he smelled, which was somewhat wild and reminded me of the forest. He was a werewolf, so I wasn't surprised. He was surprisingly gentle.
When he finally pulled away I expected him to say something, but he just stepped back and looked at me for a moment with eyes that I realized were blue, and then he turned and walked away as if nothing had just happened. I stood there for a minute, trying to control the rapid pounding of my heart. I had just had my first kiss, and I didn't even know the guy's name!
Somehow I ended up back in the ballroom, without really remembering the steps I had taken to get there. Jack found me standing in a corner gazing up at the orchestra, though I wasn't really looking.
"They're pretty good, aren't they?" he commented.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," was my oh-so-intelligent response.
"Of course, you can play so much better than all of them combined." He grinned at me, but seemed to notice that I wasn't paying attention. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. Nice night, huh?" I said, trying to bring myself back to reality.
"Yes, it is. Want to dance again?"
"Sure." I couldn't see the mysterious stranger anywhere, even though my eyes constantly searched for his dark form. I mentally shook myself, knowing it would be better if I didn't think about him.
I finally saw him again when we were dancing. He was dancing as well, with a girl I didn't recognize, and he didn't seem to see me.
"Do you know who that is?" I asked Jack, pointing him out.
"Oh yeah, he's one of my roommates," he answered, frowning. "His name's Adrian Alvarez. He's not a good guy. His temper seems to be ten times worse than mine, and you know how I can be sometimes. He also kind of keeps to himself as much as possible. Why are you asking about him anyway?"
"I don't know. He just looks kind of... angry."
"Yeah, I think that word describes him pretty well." Jack shot a disgusted look in his direction.
I can't say that angry was really the word I meant. He definitely didn't look happy, but I suspected that there was a lot going on beneath his dark exterior.
Jack was quite surprised and a little affronted when Adrian cut in at the end of the song. Without asking me if I wanted to dance, he grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Jack. He danced even closer than Michael had, but this time I didn't even think to complain. He moved with surprising grace, and when he looked into my eyes I felt a shiver go up my spine. I think he felt it, but he didn't look away. He smirked instead.
"So, are you actually going to talk to me now?" I asked, as calmly as I could, which wasn't very calm at all.
"Now that you've spoken to me, it seems I have little choice. Personally, I was content with just dancing."
"And are you always quite so silent?" I wondered.
"When it suits me. I find that a lot can happen when one is not talking. Most people find it necessary to fill a silence with words, but they speak only to hear themselves talk, and not to say anything interesting."
"Well, most people would find it quite rude to be kissed by someone without so much as an introduction."
"But apparently you don't, since you didn't protest at the time. Besides, I'm sure Leewood has told you who I am by now. You two seem to be very close."
"Yes, we are close. Jack has been my best friend since I was quite young."
"Really? It seems to me like he wants to be more than just your friend." He glanced over to where Jack was standing by the punch bowl, openly glaring at Adrian.
"What would make you think such a thing?" I asked. I was amazed by how perceptive he seemed to be.
"He's hardly taken his eyes off of you all evening, not that I can blame him for that. I probably haven't much either."<
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"I see," I said, embarrassed. "May I ask you a personal question, Adrian?"
"Feel free to ask, but don't expect me to answer."
"Have you started turning into a wolf yet?"
Apparently that wasn't the kind of question he was expecting, because he stopped moving for a second and looked down at me. I almost stepped on his foot because of the sudden halt. "I have, yes. Why do you ask?"
"I heard you had quite a temper. Is it worse near the full moon?"
"Not really. I'd say it's worse when someone is annoying me."
"So you don't deny it, and yet you don't blame it on what you are?"
"It's part of being a young wolf, so I can't really deny it, nor can I say it isn't because of what I am. I just don't think that the moon or the change are the only influences."
"So you're also disagreeable by nature?"
"I suppose I am. Does that bother you?"
"I don't really know, because I haven't yet seen you angry."
The song ended then, so instead of responding to what I said Adrian quickly kissed me on the lips and walked away. I was left more confused than before, but intrigued to say the least. My lips tingled where they had touched his.
"So, who's the guy who just kissed you?" Melissa asked, suddenly coming up behind me. "He looked kind of dangerous."
"He's a young werewolf, so I guess he is dangerous," I said.
"And attractive," Melissa added, "though not really my type. I like nice-looking boys, like Michael." She looked over to where he was standing, talking to Leon, who was wearing a bright red tux. "He really is something, isn't he?"
"You can have him," I said.
"Are you sure you wouldn't mind if I went for him? I think he likes you, so you could easily have him if you wanted to."
"There's just no...magic between us," I tried to explain. "So really, I'm not interested."
"Well, if you're sure..." Melissa said, still staring at Michael. He looked over at us and waved when he saw us looking. Melissa waved back eagerly, but I was already looking around for someone else.
The rest of the evening passed by rather uneventfully, at least for me. I kept thinking about Adrian, but I didn't see him again. I think he left early, but it was hard to tell since there were so many people around. I danced a few more times with Jack, Michael, Leon, and a few guys I didn't know who asked me, though they didn't leave much of an impression. Eventually the ball ended, and we all went to bed feeling quite exhausted. We couldn't help but stay up a bit later to talk about what happened. Melissa couldn't stop talking about Michael, and Heather said that Jack had seemed nice. I still couldn't stop thinking about Adrian, but I didn't say anything about him. Eventually even Melissa managed to fall asleep.
