Serein
Serein (n.)
The fine, light rain that falls from a clear sky at sunset or in the early hours of night; evening serenity
Warren Schreave
Here I was. Once only a small pawn, another minor character playing in the game for the paramount to use in their objective. Now I was soon to be King of Illéa, about to venture out on my first date with a potential Queen of Illéa. The lady in question was Margarita Atlas of Clermont, the daughter of Ambassador Winslow Atlas, the Illéan ambassador to England. She was strong, intelligent, beautiful, diplomatic, and well-suited for any position of power. I organized a date for us that would take us all over Angeles to see the greatest sights and end with a large publicized appearance at the opening of the new Sara Wolf Theatre. It would be fantastic for both of our images, and the press from the event would be wonderful for my parents' eventual return to Angeles.
Brushing a black crystal comb through my dirty blond hair, I reflected on when my parents would return from Lakedon in exactly a month from today, on the eve of Caspian's twentieth birthday. It would also be when the Valencia patriarch and matriarch would be returning from their diplomatic trip to Portugal, making the Palace a full house on that day, with all three families, all the nobles, the remaining Selected, and high profile guests crowded the looming arches of the Palace. Gwen, thankfully, remained at the Palace in Angeles with myself, though with nothing in mind but helping her prepare to marry the eldest Prince of England. I hadn't been able to spend much time with her lately, but perhaps she could meet with some of the Selected and bond with a couple of the girls, none of whom I would marry if Gwen disapproved of them.
"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great," I murmured to myself, reciting my favorite Shakespearean quote. "Some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." I gave my suit one last look over, making sure my tie was straight and I appeared serious but approachable. Once I finished checking every detail, I headed out the door down to the Selected hallways, finding Margarita's room by the silver plaques with each Selected's name inscribed on the plate. Clearing my throat and pulling down the wrinkles on my dark green suit jacket, I knocked on her door and awaited the shuffling behind the door separating us.
"Earl Warren," Margarita said surprisedly once she opened the door, her maids apparently excused from her room. My focus was dragged to her appearance, which was less than professional. She wore a rose-colored romper that appeared to be made out of satin or silk, the shorts of the romper fell just above her mid-thighs, and the night shirt had long sleeves and was messily untucked partially from the ribbon belt of the shorts. A blue toothbrush hanged out of the corner of her mouth, and she held a towel to her lips to try and hide her mouth, while her dark brown hair fell wildly off her shoulders. "Please come in, sit anywhere you want, I'll be ready in a minute." She said, clearly embarrassed.
I pushed past the uncomfortably of the situation and took a seat on the small couch in front of her bed with an uneasy smile. Margarita rushed into her room's connected bathroom, where I could hear her turn on the faucet and let the water run. After a few minutes of scurrying behind half-closed doors, Margarita emerged once again — now with her hair brushed and romper straightened to a slightly less casual level. Her cheeks were tinted pink though she managed to get her calm and talk with a clear, undaunted voice.
"Earl Warren—" She began before I cut her off.
"Please, just Warren. We might as well get familiar with one another," I said with a friendly smile, standing up to meet at her height, which I noticed was an inch or so above my own height. I didn't find it intimidating, but rather encouraging to be more established in the room. I casually laughed, only long enough to help lift the awkward tension from our unusual meeting.
"Call me Marga, then," she said with a pleased face. She was referring back to our first meeting, with her father and the Illéa and Valencia families — a meeting that did not go down well from my point of view. Instead of reacting from a reminder of that meeting, I smiled and agreed politely.
"Perfect, we must be connecting already," I said jokingly, evoking a laugh from Marga. She gestured for the pair of us to take a seat on her couch, and our conversation became more casually formal.
"So what brings you to my room?" She asked curiously, cocking her head to the side in question. I looked at her confusedly, recalling the letter I had sent to her chambers just a day ago.
"Did you not receive my letter?" I questioned her, my eyebrows furrowing together with concern. Marga shifted in her seat and confusion started to slip onto her features.
"Yes, I got a letter," she began with a careful voice, and my interest was deepened. "But it wasn't from you, it was from Caspian and Winnie. They invited me, along with a few other Selected, to a small get-together party in her room. That's why I'm wearing my pajamas so early in the evening, I was going to head over to Winnie's room after I finished brushing my teeth, but then you came in. I'm really sorry, I should have checked first that I had no other things scheduled. If you give me a moment, I could send Caspian a letter that I can't go to his party, and we can go on with your plan."
A surge of anger filled my body, but I willed my face to keep steady and calm. How dare Caspian ruin my date with Marga? It couldn't be just coincidence, I had pulled Marga's stick at the drawing, so he must have realized and purposely invited her to ruin my plans. "No, don't bother," I said, a sickly-sweet tone on my voice and a calculating grin on my lips. "I'll come along, I'm sure that it'll be great for both Caspian and I to get to know you all together."
Once Marga and I reached Winnie's suite, muffled noises and voices could be heard from behind the door. My fiendish, diabolical grin had only widened with imagining all the ways I could torture Caspian Valencia — who proved himself a valiant opponent — but he was no match for my conniving mind. I was sure that Marga could feel the tension radiating from my essence, but she wisely stayed silent about the topic. Reaching out a hand, she knocked gently on the door and exciting voices from behind the door of our arrival. The door swung open and revealed a blonde, sleepwear-clad Winnie Serris, who grinned at the sight of us.
"Marga, so glad that you came," Winnie said happily, reaching out for a quick hug between the two girls. The younger blonde girl had to be at least ten inches shorter than the older, darker-haired girl, and she barely reached up to Marga's upper chest when they hugged. Still, the girls exchanged smiles and Marga entered the room to a chorus of welcoming voices. I coughed when Winnie pointedly ignored me, and started to close the door before I stuck my foot between the latch and the door. Winnie turned back lazily to me, an unassuming look on her face. "Yes?" She asked, feigning boredom.
"I want to come in," I spoke pointedly, glaring at her face as she played innocently with her perfect blonde cork-screw curls. She wore a small pair of rose-patterned shorts with a cloth bow tied loosely around her hips and a pullover sweater that read: You Couldn't Handle Me Even If I Came With Instructions. It was a bit detrimental to my serious disposition with Winnie acting so casual, and the whispering murmurs from inside the room confirmed my suspicions.
"Let me ask them," Winnie said with a lazy smile. She turned around and swiftly kicked my foot back, causing me to hiss in pain, so that she could shut the door as she conversed with the rest of the group — and surely Caspian. Recovering from the slight pain, I tapped my foot on the ground impatiently. They weren't talking as loudly as they were beforehand, so I couldn't hear them from where I was standing. But after a few minutes, a soft shuffling reached my ears and I perked up at awaiting the response.
Winnie opened the door once more with a more-than-annoyed look and sighed displeasingly. "We voted. It was four to two. And unfortunately, you may enter." She opened the door wider and stepped back to let me in, but not before subtly replacing a foot forward for me to trip over, though I avoided the foot by stepping farther than her reach. "There is one catch though," Winnie added, smirked when I turned back to her. "You have to play Truth or Dare with us."
"No." I said quickly and firmly. "I'll just watch and be a moderator."
"Dear, darling Warren, that's not how the game works," a deeper male voiced called out teasingly. My eyes focused on where a smirking Caspian Valencia stood, leaning against a cream-colored bannister. Another heat of anger rose up in me when I remembered his past actions. "It's such a shame that your letter never got to Lady Marga, I'm sure you would have had a wonderful night. I could only imagine wherever your letter went!" Caspian spoke with feigned sympathy, a devilish grin creeping up behind his relaxed demeanor. "Though now you can join us with a pleasant game of Truth or Dare!"
Before I could respond to Caspian's blatantly scheming words, he came up and slapped me harshly on the back. Shoving me forwards and off-balance, making me momentarily appear inferior to his taller, stronger frame. I gathered my strength and walked forward alongside Caspian, a look of blazing anger screaming to have prominence on my face, and Winnie followed behind us, clearly amused by the situation. As we walked further into the suite, which was somehow larger than the other Selected bedrooms, I was met with an array of familiar faces.
"May I present Ladies Marga, Jordan, Tessa, and the darling Lady Matilda." Caspian said dramatically with a wave of his hand over the girls seated against various pillows and blankets, with bowls of different snacks set out all over the floor, with particularly many of the bowls surrounding Tessa. Matilda rolled her eyes with a playfully sour look on her face, slapping Caspian's leg in response, and earning a laugh from the latter.
"Hello and welcome, Earl Warren," Jordan said with a small smile.
"Please, call me Warren," I said routinely, my eyes wandering over the room — a small living room — as I took a seat in-between Tessa and Jordan.
Winnie and Caspian stood next to each other, the height difference hardly noticeable while sitting down. "Ladies and gentlemen, now that everyone is here, we can get started with the main event tonight. Truth or dare!" Winnie said excitedly, receiving laughs and light applause in return.
"Hold on," Tessa said, struggling to stand up in her Christmas-patterned onesie, and keeping the hood over her ears. "We agreed to play with the cards."
"What?" I asked her as she went to go grab a scarlet red box from one of the bookshelves.
"I don't that any of us actually trust Tweedledee and Tweedledum here to actually be fair with their dares and questions, so we're using the cards." Tessa said teasingly, rolling her blue-green eyes and referring to Caspian and Winnie. She grabbed the box of Truth or Dare? cards and plopped back down on the spot where she sat earlier, Caspian and Winnie following suit. She opened the box and placing the two different sets of cards in two piles. The Truth cards were placed on the right and were a olive green color. While the Dare cards were placed on the left and were an apple-red color. "How about I think of a number and the person closest starts us off?" Tessa asked, flipping a curl of dark brown hair over her shoulder. We all murmured our agreements, and Tessa continued. "Okay, I'm thinking of a number between one and fifty."
I didn't particularly want to start the game, so I said eight, which I hoped was not probably the slightest bit close to the real number. Matilda said seventeen, Jordan said twenty nine, Marga said fifty, Winnie said forty seven, and Caspian said thirty six. Tessa then revealed that her number was forty eight, and thus Winnie was the closest and was the first person to play the game.
"Truth or dare?" Tessa asked, grinning in excitement with her lightly tanned hands hovering over the cards.
"Truth." Winnie responded, smirking and leaning back with her arms crossed.
"Ugh, you're no fun." Tessa groaned jestingly, pulling up the card and reading it with narrowed eyes. "What traits make you a good cheerleader?"
"What the hell even are these questions?" Matilda asked out loudly, snatching the card from Tessa's hand and frowning as she read the card.
Winnie smirked at Matilda, then turned back to Tessa and looked the girl straight in the eyes with a mischievous grin. "Oh, that's an easy one. First of all, I'm prettier than you, and I have great spirit!" Winnie said matter-of-factly.
"Being prettier than me doesn't make you a better cheerleader." Tessa responded with a scowl marring her features, although the playfulness of the situation could be seen in both girls' eyes.
"I got you to admit that I'm prettier than you at least," Winnie added jokingly. She winked at the darker haired girl, who rolled her eyes and gave a shit-eating grin. Tessa leaned over to Winnie and collapsed her whole body weight on the blonde girl, and Winnie yelped out in surprise. Tessa shifted so that she was sitting against Winnie's chest, pinning the smaller of the two down so that she couldn't get up. Winnie cried out again and received snickers and laughs from everyone in the room. I looked Winnie in the eye and smirked, which she returned with bared teeth like a wild animal. "Who's next?" Winnie asked, groaning from under Tessa.
"I guess I am," Jordan answered, raising a tan hand and her startlingly blue eyes looking up from under her curtain of curled chocolate brown hair. Her fingers tightened around her grey-and-white striped pajamas as she gave a nervous smile.
"Truth or dare?" Winnie asked, raising a dark eyebrow.
Jordan cleared her throat and sat up straight. "Dare," she said bravely with a strong look on her face that easily said she was prepared for anything.
Winnie laughed evilly and reached for the Dare card, but when she couldn't reach it, Tessa rolled her eyes and got the card for her. "Thank you Tess," she grumbled, grabbing the card from the other girl's hand. "Oh this is a good one, finally. Okay, it says: Text something funny or weird to a random number."
Jordan turned bright red, obviously not expecting such a card. "Oh-okay," she said shakily, drawing a leather-clad phone out of the pocket of her cotton pajamas. Turning on her phone, Jordan paused and looked up questioningly, but looked back to her phone and typed in a random number with her eyes closed. "What should I text?" She asked, gesturing to the typing pad.
Matilda grinned mischievously and tapped on Jordan's shoulder, pulling her in for a whisper. After a few moments, Jordan laughed easily and pulled back, and finished typing something into her phone with quick fingers. She drew in a big breath as for special effect and pressed send on the text.
"What did it say?" Marga asked eagerly, her eyes darting to the text and trying to read the tiny words.
Jordan looked at Matilda and laughed again. "I said: 'hey, I'm waiting in the woods with the machete and potato. Where the fuck are you?"
We were all shocked into a stunned silence before Jordan and Matilda cracked with laughter and the rest of us joined in. I laughed as well, though I couldn't help but wonder what the response might be. We all laughed for a little while longer, with plenty of jests aimed at Jordan and Matilda were muttered between gasps of laughter.
"Jordan," Tessa choked out between waves of body-racking laughter. "It's your turn to ask Truth or Dare for Matilda."
"Yes, yes," Jordan answered, giggling when Matilda playfully slapped her shoulder. "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare," Matilda answered in response, with a demeanor strong as ice and a smirk floating above her lips.
Jordan reached for the Dare card that Tessa was holding out, the latter rolling her eyes. Jordan's electrifyingly blue eyes skimmed over the thin card before collapsing into fits of laughter once more. At this point, everyone besides Matilda and I, looked red in the face and quite drunk — although no one touched alcohol all night.
Eventually, Jordan gathered enough words to finally speak. "It-it says: spend Seven Minutes in Heaven with the person sitting across from you."
Matilda looked up shocked and met my eyes, the pair of us realizing that we were sitting across from each other. Caspian apparently realized this as well, and promptly began ushering us closer to a nearby broom closet. I heard many snide and teasing remarks from the likes of Winnie, and a few jokes coming from Caspian himself. I was still in a state of shock that I didn't bother fighting back, though the same could not be said for Matilda. She was arguing and pushing back, but I snapped out of my daze in time to grab her arm.
"Just go along with it," I whispered harshly in her ear. "It's only seven minutes and we don't actually have to do anything."
Matilda grunted as I pulled her into the broom closet and the door was shut behind us. "Yeah, but I don't particularly to spend full seven minutes alone with you," Matilda shot back, snatching her arm from my grip.
"Well, sweetheart, you aren't exactly a walk in the park either," I snapped back at her small frame.
Matilda looked up incredulously, with radiating anger behind her kohl-lined brown eyes. "Did you just call me sweetheart?" She asked slowly, the intensity laying down brick-by-brick. I quickly recoiled from this tiny, five-foot-two punk rock star with a known temper to match the heaviness of her daily outfits. I almost felt pathetic, but recalling the look of Lochlen's face after our first meeting with her brought back a sting of my dignity. At least I wasn't the only one terrified of the blunt, curly haired menace.
"No–no! I didn't mean it that way—" I stuttered while her fluctuating infuriation backed me against the wall in the small closet we were forced in.
"Let me return the favor, sweetheart." Matilda said eerily, like a cat before it pounced on a mouse. She got closer and I held my breath, and once she was within about two inches of my face, she began yelling curses and insults at the top of her lungs. I felt the hair on my arms rise, my face turn white, and my eyes shutting tightly against the incoming storm. Occasionally, Matilda pounded a fist against my arm or my chest — although not hard enough to leave anything more than a light bruising. I tried to get my mind to drift away while the little cat screamed into my red face, but the little cat kept pulling me back into reality with her harsh words and physical pushes. "AND THAT'S WHY YOU NEVER MESS WITH A MAYWEATHER!" Matilda shouted at the top of her lungs, giving me one final push in the chest, which I grunted from, before she marched out of the broom closet and slammed the door open with a tremendous bang. I peeked my head up from my meekly hiding place, and I could see that Matilda had taken her place against a pile of pillows and was quite red in the face. The rest of them were all looking into the closet with curious glances, which confirmed that they could all easily hear what happened and what was said. I turned red again, but managed to gather enough energy on my weak legs to stumble out the door and basically fall back onto the pillows.
"That was only six minutes, you still have another full minute in there," Winnie commented loudly, scorning Matilda and I. Though a light smirk bestirred her face in accordance to what actions we did participate in.
Caspian raised his hand, a small smirk beseeching his innocent look. "I'll take that last minute with Ren!" He called, winking at my disgusted face. Matilda and Winnie sniggered, while Tessa and Jordan sighed in amused pity, and Marga laughed softly.
"Unfortunately, we don't have time for that precious last minute," Jordan finally said. "We should move along with the game." She flashed me a sympathetic smile, making me realize that she was helping me, which I returned with a mental 'thank you' and a promise to ask her on another, more private date later.
"Always playing the mother, Jojo," Winnie responded with an exasperated sigh. "Who's next?"
"That would be me," Marga piped up.
"Truth or dare?" Matilda asked, though she was more distracted with shooting daggers into my head with her eyes.
"Truth," Marga answered with a warm smile.
Matilda picked up a Truth card and read out the question. "Who scares you the most...in the Palace."
"Hey! No additional adding!" Tessa warned.
Matilda shrugged. "It says to add in wherever you are."
Tessa paused, understanding. "Oh, okay. Marga?"
Marga blushed and looked down. "I'd have to say Duchess Odelia — she terrifies me."
"I second that." Caspian snorted, raising his hand towards Marga for a high five, which she awkwardly returned.
"But she's your mother," Marga said surprisedly.
Caspian laughed again. "It doesn't mean that she can't be terrifying at some points. Remember, I had to grow up with her always keeping me on my toes."
"I don't think that she ever liked me," Winnie commented, grimacing at a memory.
"No, no. You were the only one that she actually liked more than Ash," Caspian responded.
I raised an eyebrow. "Ash?" I asked. "Are you referring to that Ambassador's daughter, Aisling?"
Caspian looked awkward now, not meeting anyone's eyes which confirmed the answer to my question.
"Aisling Ronan? I remember her," Marga said wistfully. "She was nice. But what did you ever have to do with her?"
"Don't tell me that you were cheating on me with her," Winnie joked. But I noticed that there was a flicker of worry behind the girl's emerald green eyes. Almost everyone knew that Winnie once held feelings for Caspian, although when the younger girl moved all the way to Waverly at the age of twelve. Perhaps her feelings were returned by Caspian during a time, but now Caspian clearly didn't think of her as anything other than a friend. I almost felt bad for her.
"That's a story for another time." Caspian chuckled awkwardly.
Tessa grinned. "Tell us about—" She was cut off by a short, high pitched shriek all the way across the room from Jordan, who was shaking with blazed eyes while holding her phone. "What happened, Jojo?"
"I—I got a response," Jordan stuttered, clutching her phone tightly. After another text buzz went off, her knuckles turned white and she tossed her phone out of her hands with a small shriek.
Matilda laughed and lunged for the phone, reading the text. "It's not that bad, Jojo, it just asks if they should call the police." Matilda confirmed, laughing at Jordan's worried face.
"Fine, fine," Jordan grumbled, still refusing to touch the phone that Matilda placed next to her. "Marga, please go and release me from my embarrassment."
Marga let out a small laugh and nodded, turning towards Tessa. "Truth or dare?" She asked.
"Truth," Tessa answered.
Marga nodded and grabbed a Truth card, reading off the question. "If you have one, why did you choose your occupation?"
Tessa laughed uncomfortably, looking as if she didn't really want to answer the question, but still responded. "I've had a weird life and reasoning, so please don't judge. Now where to begin? I was born in Kent, with my parents, an annoying older brother, and my very own partner-in-crime twin brother. We were an average family, Threes, my dad was a professor and my mom is a journalist. I had an average childhood, but being a fairytale child, I loved making up stories in my head and making games out of the stories. I made friends and I always had my family by my side. Although during Junior year in high school, my dad was driving me home from a party because I was feeling really drunk. While we were driving down the road, I thought I saw something. A wolf, a deer, but something. I warned my dad that we were going to hit whatever it was, and he swerved, but our car ended up slipping and we crashed into a tree on the side of the road. The paramedics came a while later, and they said that I got a concussion. And my dad...he...had worse injuries. They had to take him away, and—and I was angry at myself for thinking that I saw something on the road. So when I finally got to college, I decided to try Occult Studies and see if I could find anything that confirmed what I saw. I...well...I never did find anything. I went home and my older brother Lorin convinced me to submit a form for the Selection, so here I am," Tessa finished. A few small, clear tears were beginning to form in the corners of her blue-green eyes. Winnie noticed this and pulled the dark haired girl into a tight hug and whispered a couple comforting words into her ear. Jordan and Marga moved over to the pair to join in the hug, so did Caspian, who partially collapsed on top of Tessa when he attempted to hug them all my stretching his arms around their smaller circle. She laughed and hugged his arm. Matilda rolled her eyes with a half-hearted smile, though still joined the hug.
I felt awkward sitting apart from them. But I wasn't sure if I was wanted in the hug, and I was never a hugger, so my presence would be nothing more than awkward. A few moments went by before Tessa coughed lightly and released from the hug, wiping a single tear from the corner of her eye.
"Enough of that," Tessa said, feebly trying to joke. "Let us at least pretend to be happy and continue our game." We all laughed lightly and got comfortable against our pillows again, with Winnie still holding Tessa's hand. "Caspian, you're up. Truth or dare?"
"Dare." He said in a singsongy voice, grinning widely.
"Alrighty then. I dare you to call a random number and sing Happy Birthday to whoever is at the end of the line." Tessa read off the apple-red Dare card, snorting with humor when she was done. "What are these cards' obsession with random numbers?"
"I don't know, but many I'll get someone to pull a Jordan when I call them." Caspian mused, winking at the blue-eyed girl. He brought out his phone and typed in a random number. The dial buzzed for a moment before the other end picked up.
"Hello?" A male voice asked.
"Everyone singalong now!" Caspian shouted.
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear—" Everyone sang, before Caspian cut us off.
"I have to ask, my dear man," Caspian asked formally with a hint of an English accent. "What is your name?"
"It depends," he said. "Are you hot?"
Before the person on the other end could continue, he was cut off by a squealing voice. "Aksel! You didn't tell us that it was your birthday!"
The male voice — Aksel — responded, with a tone that sounded like he was rolling his eyes. "Amore, Kole, Luna, listen. These random, people are singing Happy Birthday to me. But no, Amore, it is not in fact my actual birthday."
A deeper voice, that must've been the person named Kole, chuckled. The higher pitched voice, Amore, squealed again nevertheless. "It's your Very, Merry Unbirthday then! Come on everyone, from the top!"
We all laughed from our end of the conversation and began singing again with the girl named Amore singing along with us. "A Very, Merry Unbirthday to you! A Very, Merry Unbirthday to you! A Very, Merry Unbirthday Dear Aksel! A Very, Merry Unbirthday to you!"
We were interrupted by another female voice, the remaining girl called Luna probably. "What the fuck, Aksel?" She muttered into the phone. There was some shifting and laughing from the other side of the conversation before the line went dead.
Caspian raised his plastic red cup of soda. "A Very, Merry Unbirthday to Aksel!" He yelled. They all cheered in response, and I allowed myself to crack a smile and enjoy the occasion. But that was until I realized who's turn it was next. "Now Warren. Ren. Renny Benny. The Ren-Meister." Caspian teased. "Truth or dare?"
I compared my options upfront, either Truth or Dare. I had no excessive need to tell anyone, especially Winnie and Caspian, anything about my life. Nor was I interested in doing some insane dare. But it was all up to the cards in the end.
"Dare," I said confidently to Caspian's devilish smirk.
Caspian grinned mischievously and dramatically reached for one of the alarmingly red cards. His grin only widened when he read the card and met my eyes. "I dare you to reenact Sleeping Beauty's awakening with a person selected by the other players."
"Oh hell no!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but Caspian and Winnie had shoved me into the adjoining room, shutting the sliding door that was the entryway between the two rooms. I impatiently tapped my foot on the ground, steaming with anger. I was almost about to yell at the tall figure coming through the small slot of the sliding door. But I held myself back when I saw Marga's calming face, although I also noticed the silky black blindfold in her hand. She whispered an apology and I begrudgingly let her tie the folded cloth around eyes as she lead me back into the room with a hand on my back. I could hear undefinable hushed voices whispering soft words to each other, and I was instructed to sit down next to my "Sleeping Beauty."
"Now awaken your Princess," another voice called jestingly.
I mentally rolled my eyes and reached for the face of the Sleeping Beauty. I felt soft facial skin under my fingertips and I knew it was her. Sucking in a tight breath, I leaned down and kissed the area just above the lips of the girl below me. Suddenly, I was shoved forward by a pair of large hands, falling on the body of a not-so-feminine frame. I managed to rip off my blindfold and gaped at the sight of Caspian Valencia only two inches away from my face. With a realizing shriek, I pushed myself away from the laughing Caspian and I fell against Marga, who was behind me. She also laughed and helped me stand up.
"Look! It's raining!" Jordan called from the other side of the room, her body pressed against the panel windows that lined the walls of Winnie's sitting room and the sliding doors that lead to the balcony of her room. She slid open the clear doors and stepped into the gentle, warm drizzle of rain.
"My beloved Prince," Caspian said coquettishly as he roughly grabbed my hand and pulled me out onto the balcony. "Let's dance!"
He started to force me to dance an awkward waltz, but I snatched my hand back as soon as he tried to spin me around. I turned around and ran right into Jordan, who laughed and grabbed my hand, beginning to dance with me like Caspian had tried to. The rest of the girls, Matilda, Tessa, Marga, and Winnie arrived out on the balcony and started to dance with each other as well. Someone had turned on the large stereo that was sitting on a pedestal outside of the sliding doors, and a beautiful violin piece began to float out of the sound system.
Laughter surrounded all of us, driving our minds to drunken stupors. My vision and focus began to get blurred as I was swept up in a mixture of the lazily drifting music and the impending energy of those around myself. I allowed Marga to grab my hand when I switched off partners with Jordan, and settled into a pattern of movements. Her arms were loosely thrown around my neck, allowing for easy, free moving. Our bodies moved in and out of tempo in a strange rhythm that couldn't seem to be fully described in words.
The light, fine rain pattered down on all of us. The clear, sunset sky was exploding with evening colors of gold, orange, pink, purple, and red. And we all seemed to be glowing in the light as we swayed to the sweet violin sounds. It was a chaotic dance, swinging from partner to partner, though a rhythm was formed in our steps out of our laughter and the music. Even Matilda looked to be having a good time as the gentle music pounded its way through our bodies. There were no lavish, jeweled dresses swashing around a polished ballroom floor — just a couple of friends dancing out of time to a song none of them knew. The situation was peaceful, yet crazy and mind washing. Like the daze of a dozen shots of sweet liquor.
No one stepped on each other's feet, only the gliding of unpolished steps mixed with the swaying of the underlying tune. I twirled a dark haired, undefinable girl around. Our finger tips barely touching as our bodies pressed together in cadence. In a flash, we changed partners. I dipped a smaller, blonde girl almost down to the floor, her arms wrapped around my neck and the soft fingers of her hands resting on my cheeks as we were brought close. Our eyes met and all past interactions were ignored — only for this moment in time. The emerald-eyed girl and I lingered close for a second over disrupting the flow of the tempo. Her forehead against mine when we leaned together for our dance. But in another flash of white light, she was stolen away by the blue-eyed boy once again.
Our dances continued until we all ran out of energy late into the star-ridden night sky. My mind kept wandering back to the brief moment with the emerald-eyed girl. Though each time, I was swept back into the throb of music and forgotten memories. Was this one of those flashes of a perfect, utopian moment that lasted for no more than a magical night before fading into only a sound in the distance of our lives? The kind that was described by authors and biographers of the many?
So many questions, so little time.
That is what they would all say.
But how much time would I have to create all these perfect memories?
I was originally gonna update last night, but I saw a really big spider on my wall and I got terrified. I promptly lost said spider and had to search for it for the next two hours at one in the morning. I couldn't find the spider. I have serious paranoia right now.