Finally, I spot him in a shimmery green suit jacket and scaled mask reminiscent of a dragon. He’s deep in conversation with someone, but I can’t see who it is until the crowd shifts slightly. When I see who his conversation partner is, my breath catches in my throat.
There has never been a moment when I haven’t found Roxanne beautiful, but tonight she has ascended into something indescribable. It could have been because I missed her so much, or because she had been all I’ve been able to think about for days, but whatever it is, I’m helpless. I can’t look away.
Her dress is a rich carmine that hugs her body from her chest down. It hangs off the shoulders, and the edges of the neckline and the bottom of the skirt, which brushes the floor, is trimmed in black fur. The outside is completed with elbow-length black gloves and a thin black mask that leaves much of her perfect face bare. Her lips are the same red as her dress, and they are tilted up in a smile as she laughs at whatever Dan is saying. Involuntarily, I feel a rush of jealousy that is quickly eased when I remember that it’s just Dan, and that he has no interest in Roxanne that way. Plus, I have no right in feeling any sort of jealousy over her since she and I aren’t even together.
Moving toward them isn’t a choice. Like so many things with Roxanne, walking toward her and Dan is an unconscious thing, and before I know it, I’m standing in front of them with my hand on Dan’s shoulder. Roxanne takes as second to recognize me, but when she does, her mouth opens in an “o” of surprise.
“Can I talk to you, Dan?” I ask, voice tense.
He nods, but only takes us a step away from Roxie before he crosses his arms and says, “What?”
It’s low enough that I know she can’t hear us, but she’s watching, nonetheless. It makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t want to hesitate too long and cause her to leave. “Why the hell would you invite Roxanne?”
“A couple of reasons. For one, you insisted you weren’t coming, so… hello, Andries! So nice to see you. I hope you’re enjoying yourself. Second, I figured if you did come, this would be the perfect opportunity for the both of you to reconnect with a little bit of anonymity.”
“There are no second chances,” I lie, knowing that Roxie and I are right on the brink of one. “So you wasted your time.”
“Look at her, man,” Dan insists, and I can’t help but to shoot my gaze over to her like he says. “She’s a smoke show, and we both know that she’s just here for you. Loosen up. Live a little,” he leans closer to me to talk quieter. “My bedroom’s available for the two of you; the key is on the door.”
My mouth hangs open at his words, I want to argue, but he cuts me off before I can even open my mouth. “Just thank me later,” he says before the upbeat, plucky music coming from the string quartet slows and lowers into something dark and romantic. Dan’s eyes leave me, and he looks around the ballroom. “Well, I’m going to find Jessica so I can enjoy a moment of romance myself instead of playing matchmaker for you two crazy kids.”
I open my mouth to complain, but he pats me on the shoulder a few times and disappears into the crowd. Roxanne is still watching me, her eyes in the shadow cast from her mask. She looks mysterious and dark, the epitome of all my fantasies, her gown skirting the line between formal wear and asilken bedroom robe that she might slip over her shoulders after making love.
After touching myself last night and being interrupted before I could find my release, I hadn’t felt any need to resume my solo pleasure-seeking actions, but seeing the shape of Roxanne’s body as she walks toward me has me sorely wishing I had finished myself off at least once before coming out tonight. I can feel the blood rushing from my head to my groin, and I know I’m in trouble.
Her expression makes me think that she can already read my thoughts, which doesn’t help my issue any, and by the time she’s right in front of me I swear I’m half erect.
“Andries,” she purrs, all of her professional and natural allure on full display, unlike the more human woman I had met at the bookshop so recently. “Dan wasn’t sure if you would be here. I’m glad to see you are.”
“Would you have dressed that way if you knew I wasn’t coming?” I ask, hating that everyone here could see how irresistible she looks.
“There’s not an inch of inappropriate skin showing, Andries, so I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her voice is amused.
She isn’t wrong, either. Her neckline is low, but not obscenely so, and while there is a long slit up her skirt, it ends at her thighs, and only one bare leg shows when her skirt swings aside a certain way. Roxanne’s dressed in a publicly acceptable way, so maybe it’s just the fact that I know so intimately what’s underneath all that red silky fabric that is leaving me uneasy.
“Okay, let me rephrase that, then. Would you have come at all if you thought I wouldn’t be here?”
She gives me a knowing smile. “I’d have, but only on the slim hope that you might eventually show. If not, at least someone would tell you I was here and what you missed out on it. But I assume that means you like my costume?”
“Like isn’t strong enough of a word,” I admit, leaning closer to her neck. “You look… fuck, Roxanne. You know how you look, I don’t need to tell you.”
She laughs, her hand fluttering around her throat. “Only you could refuse to give me a compliment and still end up giving me the nicest compliment of all. To be fair, you look nice too. Very brooding, starving artist of you.”
There’s something buzzing between us, some sort of undeniable energy, that has us moving closer and closer together as if magnetized. “I’m glad you approve. At least my presence wasn’t wasted.”
The string music continues to drone over the crowd, couples spinning across the floor in circles. I know Roxanne and I should talk about what happened at the bookstore, and how we will navigate things going forward, but I don’t get a chance to. Over her shoulder, the light catches on two outstretched gossamer wings, glittering and unmistakable. It’s Tatiana, without Elise this time, craning her neck as she looks about for what I can only assume is a dance partner. She has to be looking for me, and I can’t think of anything that would ruin this moment with Roxanne than being forced to dance with Tatiana.
On a whim, I take Roxanne’s gloved hand and pull her out onto the dance floor with me, right into the center of the crowd. She stumbles once but catches her balance as I swing her into position, my hand on her hip as I pull her close. Roxie is annoyed at first, and I can tell she’s ready to scold me, but the magic of being out on the dance floor together, close enough to share breath, washes over her and I both. There is no anger or annoyance, just one another.
“You could have asked,” she murmurs. “I’d have danced with you either way.”
“It was an emergency.”
“Adanceemergency?” she sounds disbelieving, but she doesn’t tense in my arms, only teasing.
I don’t want her to know the truth of it all, but I can still see the tips of the wings Tatiana is wearing bouncing in the air on the edges of the crowd. I guess my eyes must land on her for a brief second, because Roxanne looks in the same direction, and gets a peek at the younger woman between the bodies of the other guests before she is obscured again.
“Ahh,” Roxanne breathes. “That makes more sense. You didn’t want to dance with your flower girl tonight?”