“Can I choose?”
He shakes his head. “Nope.”
“Ookay.”
He changes the music to an upbeat tune, a jazz remix of a popular pop song. I grin. “I like!”
“You gotta do better than just like,” Dante tells me, nodding his head to the music. “Dance!”
My short, beaded dress is made for the music. Dante slides out from behind his setup and takes my hand, and we dance.
It feels awesome. The upbeat music, the excitement as older guests make space for us, watching and clapping as I shimmy, spin and laugh as Dante twirls me around.
As the song ends, he spins me around one last time and, leaving me twirling, runs back to his setup.
I come to a stop just as the song changes and find myself standing face to face with Aidan.
I’m breathless, my face flushed, and… he’s looking down at me with a half-smirk on his beautiful lips. Caught in his blue gaze, I can barely hear the clapping that fills the room. I watch him raise his hands slowly and join in the applause.
Why does it feel like he’s mocking me?
I take a step back. My stomach, suddenly tightly knotted. I’m wildly excited to see him, yet his presence fills me with a tension I can’t even begin to explain.
“Hi Liz.” His voice is deep and soft.
“Hi.” I’m still breathless, still lost in his gaze. I frown, then mutter something about getting some water and hurry away from him.
He came! How long had he been standing there watching me dance? I can see his face in my mind’s eye. That half-smile…and then the slow clapping. What does that mean…and why am I suddenly so nervous?
Fiona is flirting with an actor from a popular high school sitcom. She looks giddy and blissful, so I leave her and go into the kitchen where our housekeeper Gertie is supervising the people from the catering company. I find a cold bottle of water on the counter and take a long drink.
“Having fun?” Gertie asks, peering at me.
I shrug. “So so.”
Her eyes soften with laughter. “I thought you’d be more excited.”
My mind goes to Aidan, and the way my heart skipped when I saw him. I’m excited all right.
“You look flushed,” Gertie observes. “It can’t only be so so.”
“It’s okay. I was dancing.” I shrug, then escape her ultra-perceptive eyes and return to the party.
Fiona is still flirting, and most people have gone back to flocking around the guest of honor. I can’t find Aidan anywhere, and as my eyes travel across the length and breadth of the room, I wonder if he already left.
He’s notorious for rarely attending parties and not staying for long when he does.
He probably left.
The thought fills me with something like panic.
Why do I even care about his presence or absence? He can move to Greenland for all I care.
“Hey, you good?” It’s Ben, an actor from the play.
I push Aidan from my mind and force a smile. “Yeah.”
“Saw you dancing earlier…you can move.”