Dancing Suns

"Don't be like that."

"Don't be what?"

"Don't be stubborn," Alexandra told Bella. She loved working on her friend. She loved doing make up and putting together outfits. Especially for Bella. Alexandra herself was dressed in a v-neck black tank top with a see through shirt that was long sleeved and pink and black striped. Her outfit got even wackier by that – she wore two petticoats the colors of pink of black.

"I am not stubborn," Bella said with a pout which only made her look more adorable. Alexandra made her friend wear only the red satin tank top that went to her knees and the black undies Alexandra told her to wear. "I am just confused. What are we doing?"

"Don't worry dollie." Alexandra said to her friend and Bella thought of the previous conversation with her friend last Monday that she didn't take seriously… at the time.

"Hey, girly," Alexandra called out to her friend as she took her designated seat next to Bella in English class. "Okay, so, this weekend there is an art show in Boston for Adrian Sierra. We must go."

"In Boston?" Bella asked with a skeptical look in her warm brown eyes.

"Oh please, Bella. My mom said we could go – and she asked Renee for your thoughts and Renee thought it would be a great experience. We are going."

"Yes Ma'am."

"And the night of the show – you're my barbie doll."

"To kill?" Bella asked as her voice perked up and eyes started to dance.

"Not without a fight," Alexandra threatened as her eyes hardened and became tight.

Bella wished amongst anything that she could go back in time and kill her mother. She didn't mind the whole make over just the nickname. Dollie. Alexandra puffed and blow dried and brushed Bella's hair. Her usually light brown hair was just normal but now it shined with a certain flow of beauty Bella found intimidated. She was also intimidated with the satin red shirt, the dark red liptick she was wearing and all the goo Alexandra was putting on her eyes. It looked natural and it looked a little… sexy.

"Okay! Now, we work below the belt," Alexandra said with a little wiggle and skipped to their king sized bed. Their hotel room had a catholic vintage vibe. The sheets were a fading and different shading of light and dark gold. The pillows were dark green and blue and were fading with years. On the nightstands were outdated lamps that had a beige and pink floral tone to it.

Alexandra laid out many outfits on their bed. Many petticoats and tutus of every arranging color, jeans of light blue, and skirts that were short enough to be on a hooker and long enough to be on a gypsy. She let Bella wear her favorite light blue jeans so she wouldn't be enterily uncomfortable.

"Have some fun, already Bella." Alexandra scolded her friend. "You're only fifteen once, live it out," She told her.

"I have fun – we go to parties and movies and hang out. I've been on dates."

"Just not good ones," Alexandra muttered and instantly regretted it. Bella acted like she didn't hear her and feel the stab of a knife in her chest. Alexandra dressed herself in a light weigh tan long sleeved shirt and put a brown plaid cardigan over it. It looked very warm and very early nineteen hundreds with a classic twist. Alexandra herself wore her own light weight Gap jeans.

"Okay, now, let me get pretty and we'll get going." Alexandra told her friend.

"You're always pretty, you're gorgousely stunning everytime I see you," Bella said as she gave her friend a casual one arm hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah," Alexandra said as she kissed her friends cheek and went to curling her own hair and brushing it that certain way. She put on her light pink lipstick to add some girliness to her outfit and her natural eyeshadow and eyeliner that match the brown she is wearing. She adds her mineral powder to her face and smiles at her reflection. Bella comes and stands beside her friend.

"We have to document this," Alexandra says – mainly to herself and skips over the antique of a bereau the hotel provided for them and pulled out a reusuable camera. She took hold of Bella's arm with one hand and took the photo with another. One photo was just of them smiling and looking like mature adults and then the second photo was of them with their tongues sticking out or or sticking to their sides. The third photo was of them clinging to each other sides as if they were life vests that they needed to survive.

To go to the opening they had to pay a taxi driver who talked too much and who they could barely understand with his ecstatic German voice. He talked mostly about how much he loved the city and all the people. Not so much the art though, he added which made Alexandra give him the devils eyes. He didn't speak after that.

The art gallery was packed well. Not so much that you couldn't breath but not so little that no money wasn't being paid. They looked around and found some new artists to call favorites or something close to that. They left the best for last and Alexandra started jumping and skipping as they got closer to her most favorite painter of all time. Adrian Sierra was a political painter who was sort of a rebel. He married a pianist and was the son of a plumber and school teacher and changed Alexandra's life since the first time she saw his first painting in Art class.

They had virgin drinks and little slices of cheese, crackers, and grapes. Alexandra was overjoyed of the outcome of this weekend and Bella could feel it within her very veins. Sometimes it was like they were one person. They could feel each others emotions when they were depressingly sad, incredibly furious, or insanely happy. They were so connected sometimes it felt as if their thoughts transported into each others heads. After a while of squealing, mingling, and admiring the works of the great Adrian Sierra.

When the high heels Alexandra forced Bella to wear start to put her in pain they find a place to sit so she doesn't have to take them off. They find a place off in the corner of the gallery behind deep and dark purple and ruby red curtains. It's dim lighted and doesn't have any portraits on the rich brown walls. It was small – able to fit ten people if they were of average height and weight. There was a dark red couch that was rich in color and looked brand new. It aligned the two walls perfectly.

"Why do I feel like we are in the VIP section?" Alexandra said with an uncomfortable chuckle. This section was written off and it felt… mysterious… and a little dangerous. It felt weird to them. They felt out of place in this high style curtain drawn section. Alexandra took Bella by her arm and escorted her by the arm to the couch.

They sat down and immediately fell in love.

Bella rested her back into the couch and fell deep into the cushins. She took the high heels off absent mindily and rested them beside her. Alexandra rested her feet on Bella's lap as she lounged on the couch. She wasn't tired but she was greatly appreciating this couch. It felt softer than cotton.

"Oh – I want to die on this couch!" Alexandra squealed randomly. She started to laugh a little and then Bella started to laugh also. "Oh – Stab a knife into my chest right now and let me die in this haven."

"That can be arranged," a harmonic male voice spoke out of the blue. Bella sat up straight and Alexandra picked herself up. Standing in between the curtains was a man who was only a few inches taller than them and had a dark figure with a glass of something in his hand that wasn't a virgin. He walked through the curtains and took a seat opposite of them.

He was dreamy. His hair was long and dark and skin was pasty pale. It was paler than Alexandra and Bella's combined. He sat with a pose that Bella couldn't dream of conjuring up. The way he held his glass with only a few fingers amazed both of them. Nothing of his drink had been intoxicated.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," He told them in his beautiful lyrical voice. His eye penetrated them. They looked… golden. Unusually light golden – almost like onyx.

"Y-You didn't disturb us," Alexandra said as she straightened herself up. "What are you drinking?" She asked him as she motioned towards his full glass.

"Oh, I'm not drinking," he said with a sly smirk on his face as he laid his drink down and kept his eyes on Alexandra. Alexandra smiled flirtatiously but Bella could feel how nervous her friend was and scooted closer to her.

"Just pretending?" Bella asked him with a smile. "That's a nice little trick."

"Its not a trick – I'm just not thirsty." He said with an amused look in his eyes and lips. The way his face looked… it looked very grave and yet… playful. He acted like he held a secret that made an inside joke. Silence enveloped them all for a while.

"We better get going – to not disturb you," Bella explained to the mystery man. "Come on, Alexandra." Bella said as she took her friend by the arm and took her friend out of her trance like state. Alexandra was trying very hard to figure this man out.

"Please don't go." He told them abruptly when they attempted to leave. "I don't mind. It's good to have some company once in a while. It's always so lonely back here."

"Why don't you go to the front?" Bella asked him with curiousity. She wasn't interested in him the way Alexandra was but she certainly saw how attractive he was. Her first instincts were to protect her friend and not to let some strange man hurt her. Though she didn't feel it was dangerous… just that Alexandra might take it to a dangerous level.

"Too crowded. After ten o'clock people just start walking in randomly for something to do." He explained to them. "You don't have to stay if you-"

"We'll stay," Alexandra told him as she took hold of her friend's hand and guided her to the couch. "It's nice to have company, once in a while." She said with an amused look in her eyes.

"Yes it is," the man agreed with her. "My name is Leighton Hathaway," he told them as he held out his hand. Alexandra instinctively took his hand and felt a surge of… something… rush through her veins. It was electrical but it didn't hurt. The feeling felt similar to how she imagined a surge of lightning to feel. Bella could understand the emotional high voltage run through Alexandra's body. Starting from her hand.

Alexandra couldn't speak. For that moment she forgot her name, her entire reason for being there. All she knew was that he was the most beautiful man she has ever seen. More beautiful than any painting.

"I'm Bella," Bella said to break the tension in the room. Alexandra and Leighton let go of each others hold as she spoke. "This is my friend, Alexandra."

"Two very beautiful names." Leighton said as touched his glass. He didn't drink it though. His hand just cupped the glass in a fancy, blue blood way.

"If the next words out of your mouth is 'for two very beautiful women' then I will have to maul you," Bella threatened him.

"Sorry, I'm not that desperate or hormonal. If you would like to think," he told them as he raised his glass but didn't bring it to his lips. His lips were their natural shade of white and Alexandra stared at them in a dreamy state until Bella knocked her out of it by kicking her leg a little bit.

"Always good to know." Bella said to just say something. Alexandra still couldn't conjure up any confidence to speak. She looked at her friend for inspiration and Bella wrapped her arm around Alexandra's and Alexandra conjured up the courage.

"So Leighton," she said as heat flooded her skin. "What brought you here tonight?"

"It's an interesting show," Leighton said. "All of the art is very… unique. Pretty new age, don't you think?"

"New age?" Alexandra declared with anger. "It isnt some mythical crap about wands and curses. It's… provocative at best. It intoxicates you into it. Unless… you know… you're an old stiff who only collects Von Gogh or Picasso." Alexandra said defensively.

"I'm not an old stiff though I do think Van Gogh and Picasso are geniuses. I just believe that art is something more than a political statement. It's an emotional statement. Art comes from the heart and the feelings that you don't understand not the head and research."

"Art is an expression. It shows how you feel and how you feel towards other things. Art can be something to express emotional angst or hope of political reasoning because the artist before the canvas has more on his mind than just sex." Alexandra argued.

"Alexandra, I think you've proven your point." Bella said to calm her friends unease. "Leighton, is art shows all you do in this town or are there more interesting things going on?"

"Like what? Concerts and movies?"

"Exactly," Bella said with a smile as she leaned closer. "Do you go to concerts?"

"Only if its with good music," he said as he leaned into the couch.

"Define 'good music'" Alexandra told him.

"The Ramones, The Goo Goo Dolls, Love Spit Love, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix…"

"How Woodstock of you," Bella smirked.

"Hey! What do you have against Woodstock?"

"Nothing – I have it on DVD." She said as her eyes danced.

"Yeah – she's you're modern hippie. Do you listen to anything… contemporary?" Alexandra asked with true curiousity. She suddenly wanted to know everything about her Leighton.

"Like what? The Jonas Fucking Brothers?" He said with a grimace.

"Oh – hell no!" Alexandra screamed which made them all laugh softly. "Ugh, I mean something like My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Hinder, The All-American Rejects…" Alexandra listed off.

"My Chemical Romance is eh. Linkin Park is good. I like Nickelback and Hinder. The All-American Rejects is tolerable once in a while." He told them. "I like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus," he added but he sounded like he was asking a question.

"They're good," Alexandra said in her best melancholy voice as she tried to hide her enthusiasm. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was one of her favorite bands. "So what do you… uh, like to do?" Alexandra asked but feared the one answer she knew he would answer.

"I play some music, guitar, violin, a little piano. I mostly work as an intern at the hospital here." Not what Alexandra was expecting. "What you expected booze, girls, and playboy?"

"Something like that," He answered with a smile. "Would you two like to join me? This party's going stiff with blue bloods." He stood up and left his glass. Alexandra obediently followed and Bella took control of her friend's emotion to calm her. During the night they drove around in Leighton's car which he told them was a proud M6 Coupe. It's coat of paint looked fresh, shiny, and the color of dark blood. Leighton took them to all of the music stores he loved, a bookstore, and a consignment store on Alexandra's request. Multiple times of the night he tried to manipulate them into doing something ridiculous like asking a thirteen year old boy out or making out with a shop owner.

Every time they laughed it off.

It was almost three in the morning when he dropped them off at their cathedral like hotel. Tired and a little groggy they got undressed out of their fancy clothes.

"Oh my…" Alexandra started as she gushed it out. Her cheeks turned bright red as she slipped out of her top and into a black v-neck tank top. "He is so…" So many words rushed through her mind at that moment, perfect, astounishing, miraculous, beautiful, extravagant…

"What? Extravagant, beautiful, astounding?" Bella teased her friend as she dressed herself in her own white tank top and her light green striped lounge pants. "Or is it phenonemenal?" Bella asked with sarcasm.

"Ahh!" Alexandra nervously screamed as she dropped lightly onto the bed. Bella jumped to her side and brushed some of Alexandra's hair behind her ears. "He cant be real – he just cant. I mean he is so… unbelievable. But he would never – we could never."

"Alexandra, he would have to be mentally retarded not to want you." Bella said in encouragement to her friend.

"You think?"

"Either that, or he would had to live for a few hundreds of years and be bored with women."