Chapter 3 - Across the Room

The party, where things start to get even more complicated for her.

            I sat there just staring at myself in the mirror. With my shoulder length dark brown hair curled, framing my face that was made-up, courtesy of Ashley and Gina. They put on a silver eye-liner to go along with the dark green eye shadow to compliment my brown eyes. This made up version of me looked so different. I didn’t even feel like myself sitting there.

            They found me the perfect outfit too. We went to many stores before they decided to put me into a red halter top that tied behind my neck along with a black skirt. But I made sure that the skirt wasn’t too short or else I’d feel like a w***e.

            While we were going through various shops, at one point I got that feeling again that I had while at work. But I just brushed it off as me being my usual paranoid self. Like anyone would ever just stand around to watch me, I’m not that special of a person. Right after I had that feeling Gina’s cell went off. He said that he found a store that he liked and was going to meet her at the car when we were done.

            Gina told me that at the party tonight she was going to make sure that Colin and I were introduced to each other. She talks about him so much that I can’t help but be intrigued about meeting this guy.

            “Ready to go?” Ashley said as she entered my room without knocking. She brought her change of clothes with her after work so she just got ready at my place.

            “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied with a sigh as I stood up and followed her out of my room.

            “This is going to be so much fun!” she let out a squeal as she linked her arm with mine as we exited the house and walked to her car.

            My lips twisted into an unsure smile as she made that remark, so that it looked as if I was really smiling but she was too excited to notice the difference. Once she started up her car, she turned the radio up loud and began singing along to a song that I had no clue what it was called since I’m not one for current music. Now if she had it on a station that played old songs, I would join her.

            With each passing minute that we were coming closer to the party, my fear of what was to come put knots in my stomach, making me want to vomit. I couldn’t believe that just a few hours ago I was actually excited to go when now it was the complete opposite. My mind was telling me that the next time the car stopped that I should just throw the door open and run for the hills, but I could never do that to her. Besides, the next time that she stopped the car was when we arrived at the party.

            The driveway was long, so the house was set pretty far back from the road. It was hidden behind a row of trees that ran along the front yard with hedges planted in between. There were a good few dozen cars parked in the yard. Ashley was able to find a parking spot that was a good distance away from the house, but not too far.

            As soon as she turned off the motor in her car, I could hear the bass beating from inside the house. Looking up at the house, I couldn’t help but stare in awe of how big it was. It was like those houses that you see in the movies where all the rich people live.

            “You’d better stick close to me so you don’t get lost,” Ashley said while slipping her arm through mine as we ventured towards the house.

            When we got closer, I saw that there were a few people standing around on the front porch talking. Just as we got to the foot of the stairs on the porch, someone must have recognized Ashley because they called out her name. She looked around, and then quickly waved once she spotted who called her. Since my arm was still hooked onto hers, she basically dragged me up the stairs with her in a rush to greet her friend.

            She let go of me to give the other girl a hug. Standing there, I felt so self conscious as the girl was gorgeous enough to be a model. I already knew that I wasn’t the skinniest or prettiest girl out there, but standing next to her made me want to flee. With her smoky blue eyes, platinum blonde hair, highly defined cheek bones and her size 0 body, it made my size 10 body feel all that much bigger. It didn’t help the fact that she was looking me over with obvious disdain as she just listened to what Ashley was saying.

            Wanting to get away, my eyes roamed the place, hoping to find some sort of escape when my eyes landed on Gina walking up towards the house. Breathing a sigh of relief at seeing a familiar person, I walked down the steps to greet her.

            “Hey lovely,” she greeted me with a hug.

            “I’m so happy that I’m not the only unfamiliar one her,” I said as I squeezed her back. When I let go, I realized that she was alone.

            “Colin went to go park the car and he’d meet us inside,” she told me, realizing what I was thinking. “Trust me, I wouldn’t let him miss this. Let’s go in, shall we?” she laughed as she hooked her arm in mine as we walked up the steps and into the house.

            Right when we walked into the house I was knocked back a bit as one of the beats was so loud that I almost fell backwards. Looking at Gina, I saw she was the same way except for she had this huge grin on her face.

            “Come on,” she said excitedly as she took my hand and dragged me through the throng of people bumping and grinding in the crowd.

            There were a few times when I would accidentally bump into someone, and then they turned to look at me and gave me the most evil glare. It didn’t help that the further we got into the crowd, the smell of smoke and alcohol got even heavier and I felt as if I was suffocating just from breathing it in.

            I breathed out a sigh of relief when we finally made it to the other side of the room and we stopped as she looked around. We weren’t standing there for long before a guy sidled over to us, asking Gina if she wanted to dance.

            “Go ahead,” I gave a small smile as she looked at me with a worried expression on her face, torn between wanting to dance with the guy and staying with me.

            “Don’t get lost now!” she said as the guy led her into the crowd.

            I didn’t really want to be by myself, but I didn’t want to spoil her night by telling her so, and plus I was a big girl after all. It’s not like I haven’t been by myself before.

            My eyes wandered around the room, taking in all the sights. They had some sort of laser lights installed in the ceiling, so it would flash blues, reds and greens as it spun around, occasionally drifting over the faces in the crowd. While I was watching the lights, I couldn’t help but look at the faces in the crowd as well.

            I saw Ashley near the other side of thee room, socializing with people that she must have known. She’s such the socialite, so it’s a wonder why she even thought of bringing me along with her to a party like this. Gina was in the crowd, dancing with a different guy than the one who asked her to dance. But as I kept searching the crowd, my heart felt like it stopped.

            There in the crowd staring intensely back at me were those piercing blue eyes that have been in my dreams for the past two nights. It wasn’t possible that he was there, was it? It just didn’t make any sense to my head. Blinking and shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I looked to where I saw him, but he was no longer there. Maybe I was just seeing things.

            As I stepped forward to take a little wander around the room, I was stopped as I ran into something hard. Looking up, I was met with beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

            “Sorry, I didn’t see ya there,” he laughed as he put his hand on my arm as if to brace me from falling, which I was nowhere close to doing.

            “Oh, it’s fine. I’m often so invisible, I’m quite used to it,” I laughed it off.

            “So uh, do you want to dance?” he asked offhandedly.

            “Sure,” I said as a large smile appeared on my face as he led me into the crowd.

 

            His eyes studied her from across the room, the smile that haunts him playing across her lips as he watched her get led to the dance floor by a guy who was most likely looking for a vulnerable girl to prey on.

            He couldn’t deny it any longer, after first seeing her in the store earlier in the day, and then again in the mall. And now from just that moment when their gazes had met across the room, he was positive it was her. There was no way it could be anyone else.

            Why else would he get that reaction each time he saw her? His breath would catch in his throat, making it go dry as if he was parched. The overwhelming need to hold her, touch her, embrace her, and just do anything to make sure she was safe. Like how at the moment he wanted to punch out the lights of the guy that was dancing with her. His lips curled up into a sneer as he watched the guy put his hands in places that they had no business being.

            “Colin! There you are!” Gina gushed as she made her way over to him, a guy close behind her, not looking happy at all because he most likely thought that Colin was competition for Gina’s attention.

            “How ya doin’ sis?” Colin asked smirking as he visibly saw the guy standing behind Gina relax.

            “Just peachy. Now why are you just standing there watching the crowd instead of being out there dancing?”

            His eyes darkened as his gaze went to her. After seeing her, there was no way that he wanted to dance with anyone else. But Gina wouldn’t understand it. They were told stories as children, but they really didn’t believe them. So why would she believe him about this?

            Gina followed Colin’s gaze and smirked. She could tell be his constant stare that Colin was definitely interested in Natalie.

            “Would you like me to introduce you to her?” she asked innocently.

            Colin hesitated for a brief moment. He didn’t like the look in his younger sister’s eyes, but he also knew that if he wasn’t introduced to her tonight, it would only delay the inevitable from happening. So, he agreed to let Gina introduce him to her.

            “Looks like you were going to get introduced whether you like it or not. Here she comes,” Gina said as indeed Natalie was walking towards Gina, looking slightly panicked.

            “Oh, thank heavens I found you!” Natalie exclaimed as she threw her arms around Gina in a hug. “I just had to get away from that guy! He was groping and touching me in places that’ll probably scar me for at least a month.”

            Colin clenched his fist, upset about how she was treated from that guy. He wanted to march into the crowd, find the guy and give him a piece of his mind. But knowing how weird it would look since he hardly knew her, he kept his emotions in check.

            He studied her closely, her brown eyes though a bit scared were full and eager to look around, ready for excitement. Those soft curls that framed her face; he just wanted to reach and grasp one of the tendrils brushing against her cheek and sweep it back off her face. But he figured that a move like that at this point in time would not go over too well.

            “Natalie, I want to introduce you to someone,” Gina stated as softly placed a hand on Natalie’s shoulder, turning her to face Colin. “Natalie, this is my brother Colin. Colin, this is my friend Natalie.”

            Colin smiled as he saw Natalie’s eyes widen in recognition. “It’s nice to be finally introduced to you Natalie,” he said as he took her hand and brought it to his lips.

            “It’s nice to… meet you… too,” she trailed off as she swayed side to side, before finally falling forwards into Colin’s chest.

            Colin looked down at the limp body that was pushed up against his. “Um, I think that we should take her home now,” he said as he picked her up in his arms, carrying her out of the house, and away from the noisy crowd.