Watched

by Cindy M. Hogan

In front of the hotel, a row of black stretch limos lined the street. A small line had formed in front of Mrs. J., who crossed our names off a list as we climbed into a limo. It was all so exciting we had to share a giggle. Marybeth and I were the only ones from our mini-group in this particular limo, and we were the only girls.

  The ride was short, and I figured now was not the time to open the sunroof and scream. Maybe on the way home.

  The outside of the conference center was now lit with thousands of lights and a purple carpet flowed down to the sidewalk. Men in tuxes stood at the bottom of the stairs to take tickets and escort the ladies in.

  The auditorium was no longer a congressional hall. It had been magically transformed into an enormous ballroom. I couldn’t believe they had completed it in only two hours. Tables draped in white and purple were scattered about edges of the room and in the center a big bar with all types of drinks. My insides buzzed as I looked at all the luxury surrounding me. The yellow, white and purple flowers, that dotted the ballroom, not only looked beautiful, they made the room smell fresh and inviting. I stopped at one large arrangement, felt the tender blossoms, marveling that they were real. This must have cost a fortune to create.

  An orchestra played on a stage to our left and several adults and kids were already dancing nearby. In the very center of the room, drinks were being served. I grabbed water and Marybeth drank a Coke. They were served in fancy glasses, not cups. We saw two other stages. From the looks of it, one had a rock band playing and the other a country one, but all I could hear was the ballroom music where we stood. Between the three stages, near the outside edges of the room, were serving areas that had all kinds of food. One area served only decadent desserts, while another had an unimaginable amount of main courses to choose from, and the last had fruits and vegetables galore. Incredible. It seemed every step I took brought me to something new. Lots of people gathered in each area, the numbers growing by the minute.

  The room was much larger than I had thought it was during the debate. The stage for the debates must have sat where the drinks were now being served and must have blocked the other half of the room from our view.

  “This place is unbelievable, Christy!”

  “No kidding,” I said. “No wonder this trip cost so much.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Marybeth said.

  “Come on, this has to make it all worth it.”

  “I guess you’re right. It is beautiful.”

  I was glad she smiled about it now. “I can’t believe I almost didn’t come.”

  “No kidding. Where’s Alex anyway?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I haven’t seen a soul from our group, yet.”

  “Me neither. Let’s go back by the door. Maybe we’ll find them.”

  We didn’t have to go that far. Summer, Josh, Kira and Alex were at the bar. I froze, staring at Alex’s perfect profile as Marybeth sailed past me toward them. He looked amazing. His tux made him appear royal.

  When Marybeth reached them, Alex turned and looked at me. His eyes widened and then narrowed slightly as a gorgeous smile spread across his face.

  My heart raced and my stomach immediately filled with butterflies. I kind of felt sick, too. I couldn’t breathe. I’d never felt less invisible than I did at that moment. I had to resist the urge to look at my feet.

  His eyes never left mine as he pushed past Kira and Marybeth to get to me. He grabbed my hand and shook his head.

  “You look more unbelievable than I’d imagined you would,” he said, looking me over head to toe.

  A part of me wanted to hide behind something, unsure if I could hold up under the pressure of being looked at in that way. I wasn’t used to such scrutiny, and I certainly wasn’t used to looking good to anybody. Never before had I felt so naked.

  He raised my hand above my head and twirled me around. As I spun, I saw Kira, jaw on the floor, Marybeth, grinning from ear to ear and Josh and Summer talking excitedly as they looked at the two of us.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said, pulling my arms out to the sides like a bird in flight and looking me over again.

  Somehow, the way he looked at me really made me feel beautiful.

  He pulled me into a hug that I didn’t want to end and whispered, “Let’s go dance.” He led me to the ballroom dance floor.

  I tugged on his arm, panicked. I couldn’t dance. Sure, I’d taken ballroom dance, but I’d been forced to dance alone—a memory I wanted to forget. He kept pulling me. When we finally stopped, he put one arm around my waist and raised the hand he already held into the air. I frowned up at him, so he bent down and said, “Is there a problem?”

  “Just a little one. I don’t know how to dance all fancy.”

  He stood up straight and glanced around us, no expression on his face. Then he leaned back down and whispered in my ear, “Just follow me. I’ll go slowly. This is the Waltz. 1,2,3,. 1,2,3,. Relax.”

  I tried to relax, let him lead me and remember what I’d learned in class. It was no easy task. Closing my eyes helped. I let myself melt into his motion, and it worked most of the time. At least he never stood on my toes, and I only bumped his a few times. I took a deep breath when the song ended and opened my eyes.

  “You’re a natural,” he said.

  “Very funny,” I said, giving him a little punch. I know I was stiff and awkward.

  “No, really. You were so easy to lead.”

  The music started up again. “You want to try this one? It’s the tango.”

  “I don’t think we should push our luck. Why do you know how to do all these dances anyway?” We’d only focused on the tango for three days in class. I would be lost.

  “My parents made me learn them when I was little. They said a true man dances, and dances well.”

  “Smart parents,” I said, laughing.

  “Let’s move to the side and I’ll teach you this one. It’s a bit harder than the Waltz.”

  “Okay, but no guarantees your toes won’t be killing you tonight.”

  My heart hummed the whole time we danced. I tried to stay calm and enjoy myself, but my nerves were on fire.

  After slaughtering the meringue and the tango, twice, it was nice to fall back into the Waltz. It made me feel even more like Cinderella. Much to Alex’s credit, he never criticized me the whole time—he only cheered me on.

  “I’m so thirsty. Let’s get a drink and I could use something to eat,” Alex said.

  “Good idea,” I said, a bit relieved. “I’ll be right back.” I headed for the nearest restroom. I couldn’t help humming the music of the last Waltz we danced.

  Coming back out of the restroom, looking down at the water spots on my dress, I ran right into someone.

  “Oh, sorry,” I said.

  “Oh, no. I’m sorry,” he said, reaching for me. It was Rick.

  I laughed.

  “Fancy meeting you here, Princess Christy,” he said with a bow.

  “The pleasure is all mine, Prince Rick,” I said, with my best curtsey. He was so fun.

  “May I have this dance?”

  Automatically, I looked in the direction where I’d left Alex, which made Rick look that way too. Alex wasn’t there.

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” he said.

  I blushed. “Sorry. It’s just that I feel…” I looked at my feet and then back at him. His face was soft and kind even though I’d been so rude looking for Alex. I had to say, “Okay.”

  He held my hand and took me over to the rock band dance floor. They had just started a slow song. He pulled me into his arms. With no space between us, he rested his cheek on mine and whispered, “You look stunning.”

  I wondered if he felt the heat in my cheeks when he said that.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself,” I said, trying to play it off. Really, he did look gorgeous. There was something about a tux that made guys look so great. Rick was no exception. My heart beat hard, but I felt comfortable, like I was meant to be in his ar
ms. I loved being with Rick. He made me feel so sure, so right. We danced in silence the rest of the song.

  When it ended, I tried to pull away, but he held me tight.

  “Just one more,” he whispered, as the band started playing another slow song.

  “I don’t know, Rick. I feel obligated to Alex.”

  “I know. But he has you all night. Can’t I have you for one more song?”

  He moved his face right in front of mine, his eyes pleading.

  “Okay. One more.” I gave in. It wasn’t hard to do.

  He pulled me close again and whispered, “It feels so good to have you in my arms.”

  I sighed, silently agreeing.

  When the song was over, he gave me a final squeeze, and kissed my hand before leading me off the dance floor. He put his arm around my waist and said, “You know, I was going to stay at the hotel with you. I almost missed the last limo.”

  “I thought so. Sorry about that.”

  “I like Alex’s idea better. I wish it’d been mine.”

  I gave him my best look of understanding, when I noticed Alex, not ten feet from us, leaning back on the bar, looking at us.

  I stopped, and Rick looked at Alex, too.

  “Don’t go, Christy.”

  “I have to,” I said, pulling away. My heart burned and my eyes fell to the floor as I walked toward Alex.

  “Where’ve you been?” he asked when I reached him.

  “I ran into Rick by the bathroom, and he asked me to dance.”

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “If you don’t want to be with me—”

  I grabbed his free hand and moved in really close. Looking up at him, I said, “No, I do. I’m sorry. I guess I should’ve said no to Rick, but…Alex, I’m all yours now, totally and completely.”

  “Really?” He looked past me now, at Rick, who stared at us.

  “Yes,” I said, turning back to Alex. “Yes. Come on. Let’s dance.”

  He set his drink on the counter and squeezed my hand. He didn’t lead me to the ballroom dance floor this time, though. We went to the country one, our hunger forgotten. I was surprised. Did he like country music? The band sang a popular slow song, and Alex pulled me in to him so tightly, that I almost couldn’t breathe. It was uncomfortable, like we were in a vice, being squished together. It reminded me of our “first kiss” and how uncomfortable that had been. We moved in a tiny circle. I was a bit relieved when the music changed to a fast song. His hold on me loosened slightly, and I took a deep breath looking into his eyes.

  “I didn’t like seeing you in Rick’s arms, Christy. Especially, when you stayed for the second song.”

  He had watched us the whole time.

  “Look Alex, he’s my friend. What was I supposed to do?”

  “Your friend? I’m not blind. He’s totally into you. And I saw you leave your room to be with him the other night.”

  A quick burst of air escaped my lips. He had seen me go with Rick? Is that why he’d been so tired? “Can we forget about it, please?” I said, not wanting to get into it.

  He looked at me playfully and said, “Maybe just this once. But you better not be thinking about him tonight.” He pulled me in and kissed me, long and hard. Then, his smile wicked, he looked past me. I turned and saw Rick sitting at a table not far from us, a frown on his face. Alex chuckled. I punched him.

  “Jerk!” Before I could walk away from him, he pulled me to a different dance floor.

  I wasn’t prepared for how kissing Alex in front of Rick would make me feel. I didn’t think it would bother me. Why did Alex have to act like that?

  “Don’t ever do that again,” I said.

  “What?”

  “If he does like me, like you said, you were hurting him on purpose, and I don’t like that.” I pulled my hand hard away from his and turned to walk away.

  He grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. “Okay, okay. I won’t do it again. I just wanted him to know that you are taken.”

  “Am I?” I asked, the disgust I felt for him melting away.

  Just then, I saw Jeremy, walking toward me at a fast pace and looking around the room with exaggerated sweeps of his head. A huge, bald man doing the same sweeping motions with his head followed him.

  “Jeremy,” I said, when he was only a few feet away. “What are you doing here?”

  “We need to leave right now.”

  “But, what’s—“

  “No questions now. Just come with me. Quickly, now.” He was already leading me away from Alex. I looked behind me to see the bald guy talking with Alex and taking him away, too. From the looks of it, Alex wouldn’t go easily.

  I looked over my other shoulder and saw that Rick no longer sat at his table.

  The glow of my excitement sizzled out like a candle being doused with water. He pulled me and I had to run to keep up with him. I realized that my toes and heels had blisters, every step hurt.

  Before I knew it, we had run all the way to the back of the conference center and Jeremy pushed me out a door marked as an emergency exit. No alarm sounded. He opened the door to a cab and helped me in. Nathan sat in the cab. He ran some machine over me as the cab began to move. It looked like the wands they use at airports to check you for metal. It squealed three separate times as he scanned me.

  “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

  “Don’t miss a single inch of her. They’re tricky buggers.” Jeremy said to Nathan, ignoring me.

  “I won’t. Don’t worry.” Nathan said.

  “Hello! Is anyone listening? What’s going on?” I asked, enunciating every word.

  Jeremy held his finger to his lips. Apparently, I needed to be quiet.

  We drove for what seemed forever before we stopped.

  When we did, they put me into a large van, and they used a bigger wand to go over my body. Then they handed me some clothes and motioned for me to go to the back of the van.

  “Change into these clothes, please.”

  “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” I said.

  “Go change, please,” the man with the wand said again, insistent.

  I moved into a makeshift changing area and was shocked to find they had even given me new underwear and a bra. After changing, one of the men in the van went into the changing area, picked up my beautiful dress and shoes and shoved them roughly into a bag. So much for being a princess. After re-scanning me, they rushed me out of the van and into a black BMW with tinted windows.

  “Here’s the deal, Christy,” Jeremy said, once the BMW sped away. “We overheard some chatter about one of eight packages being picked up at the conference center address. It made us worry that you all were the packages so we had to get you all out of there.”

  “What?” I said, trying to digest what he had said. “Wait a minute. Did you say they had one of the eight? Who?”

  “We don’t know yet. Maybe no one.”

  “You don’t know yet? When will you know?”

  “Soon, Christy, soon.”

  The car stopped again, and they helped me into an SUV. Neither Jeremy nor Nathan climbed in. Summer and Rick were already inside, fancy clothes gone. Summer’s eyes were puffy and red and through her teeth said, “This is all your fault.” The door slammed shut.

  Rick moved toward me.

  “Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “Yes she does,” I said, dropping my head into my hands and crying. “If only I hadn’t looked. If only I had stopped you all from looking.”

  “I didn’t look, and I’m still here,” Summer said, sneering now.

  “I’m so sorry, you guys,” I said through my tears. I had the feeling of being swept along by a dark current.

  “It’s not your fault, Christy,” Rick said. “It’s the terrorists’ fault. They’re the ones who did something they shouldn’t have. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”

  I
sunk deep into his chest, taking refuge in his strength and sobbed until I couldn’t cry anymore, then let myself drift off to sleep.

  I woke up to the sound of tires on gravel and looking out the window, I could see the full moon. We had stopped at a house surrounded by a lot of trees. I stretched and tried to get a kink out of my neck. Everyone else slept until the driver turned around to face us and said, “Everyone up. We’re here.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE