Time:1830
The Dance was being held in the Mess Hall, the only room large enough for such an event.
Conrad Hauser stood uncomfortably near the buffet table at one end of the room. Somehow, Courtney Kreiger seemed oblivious to his discomfort. But, Duke thought, that might have been because she kept glancing the same way he was looking – toward Wayne Sneeden and Shana O'Hara, both of whom also looked rather uncomfortable in their present circumstances. Courtney would glance over for a moment, then go back to trying to get Conrad to dance and enjoy being here.
Shana couldn't help it. Why hadn't she just confessed to Conrad her feelings for him? Then, she'd have been over there with him, while Courtney and Wayne would have been together. Everyone would have won! But she'd had to shoot her mouth off in rage at his brusque interrogation of her in that hallway.
Granted, Conrad needed to work on his approach. But she'd sensed that there was concern and interest behind his questions. Her heart had told her to begin prying at that. Her head had demanded a return volley. Stupidly, she'd listened to her head.
But, then, Shana had never been too good at following her heart.
She wished now that she could go back to that hallway a moment before Duke arrived and slap some sense into herself. But she couldn't, and now she'd told Wayne she'd go with him. She pondered his reaction earlier when she'd told him. It had actually seemed a little disappointed for a second before he'd nonchalantly told her that that was great and arranged to meet her a short time before the dance began. What was with the disappointment?
Unfortunately, whatever angel controlled bad luck had apparently decided she needed yet another helping for today. She was trying to decipher Wayne's reaction when she was rather unceremoniously tugged out past the edge of the dance floor and into the dancers.
She wondered at first if Conrad had gotten the guts to just pull her into a dance when such hopes were quickly dashed by Shipwreck's face staring back at her.
"Hector, I'm here with someone. Leave me alone."
But Shipwreck smirked and replied, "You certainly weren't acting like it. That makes you fair game, Red. Come on, relax. Enjoy yourse-"
Suddenly, Beach Head was there, tapping Shipwreck's shoulder. "Excuse me, sailor boy, but the lady is with me. Go annoy someone else."
Hector immediately stepped back and apologized. The counterintelligence part of Shana's brain kept pinging, telling her that the whole exchange seemed oddly civil, almost choreographed - how Hector had brought her out here and suddenly Wayne was acting like a date. She merely chalked it up as due to the more formal nature of the party.
Courtney saw the whole incident with Shipwreck. That was the signal. She turned back to Conrad and asked him, "Please, Conrad, we're supposed to dance at least one dance. You dance with me now, I won't bug you the rest of the evening. Promise."
Conrad, knowing a no-win situation when he saw it, finally relented. Courtney was relieved. This was her favorite song for formal dances; but, also, she'd finally gotten Conrad in position for her part of the plan.
Conrad glanced over at Shana. She and Wayne were dancing, too… and moving closer to the center of the floor, as were he and Courtney. Dash and Allie were slightly off to the right. His danger sense was pinging, alerting him to some kind of surprise that he wasn't ready for; but he was unused to the feeling when not in combat situations. He ignored it.
At this point in the dance, the better couples would move to the center and twirl around a point between them while holding one hand and looking away from each other. Those not quite so accomplished or otherwise not interested in attempting the more complex maneuver simply danced in a circle around the center.
Courtney showed that she wished to try the intricate move by releasing Conrad's hand and starting to move away. Conrad executed his part almost flawlessly. At times like this, he was glad his sister had shown him how to dance well when they were younger.
He notice Dash and Allie doing the same, as were Wayne and Shana. Then he came back in to complete the move and repeat the cycle.
This happened about six times before, on the seventh, he briefly felt Courtney's hand let go. She immediately grasped his hand – and quite hard, too; so he simply completed the maneuver…and found himself face-to-face with Shana.
The two stopped for a second and looked for their original partners. They found them smirking back from the outer ring of dancers.
"I think we've just been ditched," Conrad said dryly. Shana had a look of incredulous amusement on her face.
"We have. They've been planning this all night."
"Try all day. I'd bet some real money that this is related to that stuff we heard right before we got into the meeting room."
The song ended, along with that particular dance. Duke looked somewhat unhappy with this, but said, "I guess we kinda have to go back to our escorts."
"Yeah," Shana sighed glumly. "Shame. I was just starting to have fun."
They left the dance floor and began seeking the others. It took roughly twenty minutes, but they eventually cornered them back by the drink table.
But Wayne and Courtney told them in no uncertain terms that Conrad and Shana had best get used to each other, at least for the rest of the party. Then they simply walked away.
Shana looked back at Conrad and shrugged. "Well…"
