I smiled at him and he returned the gesture; his hair a tad too unkempt for such a formal occasion…but I liked it. He stood tall and knowing and for the brief moment that we held eye contact the bustling room froze.
She looked amazing. - And that smile: if I had a nickel for every time it made my heart leap…! I felt an immediate urge to… well….just to be with her in general: to have her in my life always. I broke our united gaze and tried to make sense of my feel calm my emotions.
I zoned back into the suddenly icier hall, now aware of how isolated I was from the swarms of people surrounding me. A few politely nodded or waved in my direction.
"Penny for them? " Questioned a familiar voice.
"Oh, jeez, Sam you scared me." With my hand brought dramatically up to my chest I exhaled loudly.
"Sorry, you just seemed a little deep in thought, all by yourself, in this dimly lit corner of this lavish occurrence. You alright there?"
"Yeah" I replied untruthfully "I'm fine, just…thinking'"
"About what?"
"Nothing."
"You don't just stand at an inauguration ball in the corner all by yourself and proclaim you were just-"
"I'm fine Sam, really." I stressed my last word before drawing my attention to the room before me to start scanning for the man I craved to speak with.
"Listen, I think I know what's going on here. I might have had a conversation with a little birdie who told me about some…meetings that have been going on and how this might have caused some uncertainty and some emotions-"
The man spoke in riddles! He couldn't just say it. Sam is truly great and fun when relaxed but this was not the conversation she wanted to be having with him. "I-Sam I need to go" I stuttered lamely
"Right."
"Yeah, I really need to see someone, it's really important."
"Of course." He replied "If you need me I'll be here just shout Spanky."
I smiled meekly and squeezed his shoulder briefly before walking into the sea of souls.