Nathan was satisfied with the appearance of the dance. Decorations had been put up in the huge training center. It made a marvelous dance floor. The finger foods had been set up in the back and chairs and tables had been set up around the perimeter. Everyone seemed to enjoy the DJ—meta-teen Dante Garth, a.k.a. Zero G.
Nathan prepared to step up the microphone to give a short speech. He glanced at Dante and gave a sharp nod.
Dante nodded back and made the music come to an end. "Alright, people, put your hands together to the founder of the Meta Refuge, the guy who made all this possible, the one and only—Nathan Conwell!"
The raven-haired boy flushed lightly as applause rang out. As he stepped up to the microphone, it slowly died away.
"Thank you very much, everyone." Nathan half-smiled shyly. He swallowed his nervousness and prepared himself. "It is a pleasure to have served you and to continue serving you. Thank you for your cooperation and your patience throughout this hard, challenging year. Now, I'm certain none of you want to hear me drone on any further, so please—enjoy yourselves."
Stepping away, he avoided everyone's eyes bashfully as he limped off the small raised platform.
Dante turned up the tunes. "Let's kick it up in here tonight!"
Nathan limped back to the tables with the finger food in the back. When he reached there, he turned and watched the others enjoy themselves, looking for one of the three faces he knew well: Jessica, Lee, and Angel.
He sighed and leaned against the wall helping to prop himself up with his solitary arm-brace crutch.
"Lonely?"
At the sound of the voice, he turned his head to see Angel having come and stood near him. "Ehm, I suppose. You look lovely."
"Thanks," she said with her usual mask of a face on—the grim line of a mouth and dull, sarcastic expression. "You don't look so bad either."
Wearing a black suit minus the blazer and plus a maroon tie, he smiled faintly, "Thanks."
Taking a sip of some punch she had gotten, Angel looked over the crowd. "I don't suppose you've seen Jessica or Lee."
"No—I didn't see either of them in the crowd," Nathan replied. "Jessica said she was coming. Lee, though...I'm not sure."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't show," stated the platinum blonde. "I for some reason can't see him in a suit."
A humored smile appeared on Nathan's face. "What if it was the same color of his trench coat?"
"That—I can see," Angel remarked.
The two fell silent for a moment. Then to their surprise, Lee joined them in the tan suit, brown gloves, and brown detective hat.
Angel looked him up and down. "...Sharp. I saw someone fifty years ago in the same attire."
"Thanks." Lee rolled his eyes. "You look like a combination of Cinderella and Tinker Bell."
The two glared dully at one another. Nathan felt he had to intervene.
"Ehm, Lee, have you seen Jessica?"
"No." Lee shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks. "I'm thinkin' about leavin'."
"Oh, stay a little while—she might show up," pleaded Nathan.
Angel put in, "Yes, stay and indulge yourself in the free food."
"Why do you two think I only care about free food?" he asked with an offended tone. He turned to head into the crowd. Before he did, though, he snatched a small sandwich.
A humored smile appeared on Nathan's face. Meanwhile, Angel rolled her eyes.
Lee traveled through the crowd searching for a sign of Jessica. Gray fur, long black hair, yellow eyes—not a glimpse anywhere.
Then, he saw her.
Caucasian skin, long black hair, and blue eyes. She was normal again. Or rather, one of Nathan's inventions—a holographic projector most likely—had made her appear normal.
Lee suddenly felt very self conscious about the attire he wore. But there was really no reason to feel that way. No one stared at him. Every person here had something unique or out of the ordinary about them. Dante Smith was like a 3D shadow with silver sockets as eyes, Travis McKay had red skin and blood red hair along with silvery-gray eyes making him look like some sort of demon, Hewney Murphie had scales on all over his body and webbed fingers, and so many others had odd appearances.
A faint aura of yellow light forever clang to Lee, a constant flow of electricity was visible in his ecstatic green eyes, and his hair was messy partially because of the static energy around and inside him (the other partial was because he didn't like combing it often).
Lee sighed and was considering backing out of the crowd but then Jessica turned and spotted him. She smiled and swaggered over to him in her amazing navy dress that complemented her curves nicely.
"Well, aren't you an original." She grinned lopsidedly, commenting on his attire and detective hat that he refused to remove from his head. "Couldn't take the hat off just once?"
"You know how I feel about taking it off," Lee said defensively as he swallowed the last bit of his sandwich.
With a bark of laughter and a smile, she said, "You superstitious powerhouse. Wanna dance?"
"I don't dance."
She eyed him, "Uhh huh. Do you know slow dance?"
"Nope—I said I don't dance."
Rolling her eyes, she raised a finger. "Wait here."
She weaved her way off the dance floor and up to Dante and cupped her hand around her mouth as she whispered something to him. He nodded his shadow-black head and searched for a specific record.
Lee arched an eyebrow as he watched her return, "What'd you—"
"I'm going to show you how to slow dance," she said simply.
The colored lights changed to a pale blue which gave a serene look against the dimness around the room. Simultaneously, the song changed.
"Step one, you say we need to talk; he walks, you say sit down, it's just a talk..."
Lee looked up and around rather surprised.
"He smiles politely back at you; you smile politely right on through..."
A finger tapped under his chin. "Pay attention, Daring."
"Some sort of window to your right as he goes left and you stay right between the lines of fear and blame..."
He looked back down at Jessica as she took his gloved hands and directed him.
"You put your hands on my waist..." She placed his hands on her hips for him.
"You begin to wonder why you came..."
"...and I put mine here." She folded hers behind his neck that was covered by his rubber insulated collar so that she wouldn't be electrocuted and started to sway slightly. "Catching on, Leroy?"
"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness..."
"Yea, I'm—hey, I told you not to call me Leroy—"
Jessica grinned and leaned a bit closer, "Relax, Lee. Just dance."
"And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life..."
After a minute, Lee smiled faintly, enjoying himself as they swayed to the music.
"Let him know that you know best, 'cause after all, you do know best..."
Lee waited a moment before asking, "You...you wanna go somewhere? Outside? They're gonna launch fireworks soon. So is Jacksonville. We could watch."
"Try to slip past his defense, without granting innocence..."
Smiling, Jessica nodded, "Sure. How about the ledge?
"I like it," said Lee with a grin.