Dance With Me
Chapter Eight: Confessions
"Marcy!"
Anne's call echoed around her as she dashed through the back halls of Sycamore Mansion. The corridors were dark, with only the occasional glow-bulb mushroom providing any illumination. The sounds of the Midsummer Ball had long since faded behind her, leaving only the sound of Anne's footsteps and shouts to break the stifling silence.
"Marcy!" Anne called out again. She came to a stop at a four-way intersection, helplessly looking down the identical hallways for any sign of her friend, and finding nothing. "Damn it, how can she move so fast in those heels?"
With no other option, Anne picked a corridor at random and bolted down it. As she ran, the events from several minutes ago kept playing back in her head.
Marcy had kissed her.
Marcy had kissed her.
It had felt like something out of a dream: the two of them sharing a dance to the mellow tunes of Nat Cole, showing off the moves they had worked so hard to learn. Marcy putting both arms around Anne, with Anne returning the favor. At the moment Anne hadn't even thought about how they were just supposed to have been dancing as 'friends.' All she knew was that she wanted to hold Marcy close as they danced together. It had just felt… right.
And then the next thing Anne knew, Marcy had pulled her close and kissed her.
In that single moment, Anne had felt an explosion of euphoria like nothing she'd experienced before in her life. The feeling of Marcy's lips against hers had sent sparks of pure joy coursing through her body. The warmth of Marcy's body was like nurturing rays of the summer sun, her touch gentle like a cool breeze. It was magical.
It had also left Anne completely and utterly dumbstruck. So dumbstruck that all she had done was just stand there when Marcy had gasped and backed away. Anne could still see it so clearly in her mind's eye: the way Marcy's confidence had drained out of her, the way her eyes had widened in shock and embarrassment. Anne should have done something to reassure her - given her another kiss, a hug, a smile, anything.
Instead she had just stood there rubbing her own lips like an idiot, unable to process what had just happened. And by the time her senses had returned to her, Marcy had already fled the ballroom looking close to tears.
"Gah, how could I be so stupid?!" Anne chastised herself as she ran, smacking her own forehead with an open palm. "How could I screw up this badly when everything was going so good?!"
Shaking her head, Anne sighed and pushed those thoughts aside. There'd be time to beat herself up later.
Right now, Marcy needed her.
"Marcy!" Anne called out again as she came to another intersection, whipping her head around. She was about to take off in another random direction when she spotted something far down the hallway to the left: an ornate glass door to the outside hanging open, curtains gently fluttering in the breeze.
And just beyond that, a slumped-over shaped with a familiar shade of green.
Anne took off down the hallway as fast as her feet could carry her.
The doors opened up to a small stone patio, beyond which was a massive garden full of exotic plants and towering hedges. In the distance stood a high stone wall that separated the grounds of Sycamore Mansion from the rest of its upper-class neighbors. A red crescent moon hung low in the inky night sky, stars twinkling all around it.
And at the edge of the patio sat Marcy with her legs pulled up, arms wrapped around them and her head resting on her knees. Sniffling sounds came from her, and her body shuddered slightly with each breath.
"Marcy?" Anne said, gently as not to startle her.
Marcy looked up sharply. Her eyes were red, tiny black lines running down her cheeks as mascara mixed with tears. The sight about broke Anne's heart into a thousand pieces.
"Anne!" Marcy said as she quickly stood up, trying desperately to wipe away her tears with the back of her hand. "Anne I am so sorry about what happened back there!"
"Marcy-" Anne tried to say, only to be cut off.
"It was just that with how we were dancing and the music that was playing, I just… I-I just got caught up in the moment, you know?" Marcy forced out a chuckle and smiled a mirthless smile. "Th-that's all it was, just… just a little slip-up, that's all. N-nothing to…"
Her smile dropped. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. "I can't do this anymore. Anne… I like you, okay? I like like you."
The confession made Anne's heart swell with joy, but it was tempered by the obvious distress Marcy was still in. "Marcy-"
"I tried, okay? thought if I kept everything buried the feelings would just go away but it's not working, it's not working no matter how hard I try! Because we've been friends for years and what we have is fine just the way it is, but I-I wanted it to be more than that."
"Marcy-"
"And now I've gone and messed everything up!" The tears were falling freely now, her voice hitching as the words poured out of her. "I just loved the way you were holding me while we danced and you look so handsome in that suit and I just couldn't help myself and oh God I just stole your first kiss I'm so sorry!" Marcy shut her eyes tight against the sting of her tears. "I'm sorry I'm sorry we can just forget all this ever happened and go back to how things were just please please don't stop being my friend Anne I'm sor-"
"Marcy!"
Marcy stopped talking and opened her eyes, just in time to see Anne wrap her arms around her and press her lips against hers.
Marcy tensed up for a moment, but quickly closed her eyes and melted into the kiss. She felt one of Anne's hands press against the small of her back to pull her even closer. Marcy responded in kind by reaching up to cup the back of Anne's head, lacing her fingers through the chestnut tresses. Her other hand gripped the lapel of Anne's suit as Marcy kicked a foot up behind her, trusting in Anne to keep her balanced.
That same wonderful warmth from before washed over both girls like a blanket of bliss. Nothing else mattered to Anne and Marcy than what was happening here and now, kissing and holding one another. Everything in the moment felt right, as though it were always meant to be. Neither of them wanted it to end.
Biology, however, demanded otherwise. After several long seconds both girls found themselves in need of oxygen, and separated to breathe. Anne and Marcy gazed into each other's eyes as they wore matching blushes. Anne reached up to cup Marcy's chin, gently wiping away her tears with her thumb.
"Anne?" Marcy asked softly. There was hope in her tone, mixed with a tinge of fear.
"Marcy," Anne said with a gentle smile, "you have nothing to apologize for."
"Does… does this mean… ?"
Anne kissed Marcy's cheek, eliciting a surprised squeak from the latter. "Yeah. I… I like you too, Marcy."
Marcy gave a quivering smile, and a gasping giggle escaped her. A curious sound of incredulity mixed with delirious joy. "You really mean that?"
Anne smiled and leaned in for another kiss on the lips, one that Marcy was all too happy to return.
"Is that proof enough for you?" Anne asked when she pulled back.
"Eh, I don't know," Marcy said coyly. "Part of the scientific process is running experiments over and over to see if you get the same results."
Feeling a surge of confidence Marcy seized the moment and took the initiative, grabbing Anne by the lapels of her suit and pulling her in for yet another kiss. Not to be outdone Anne wrapped both arms around Marcy, one around her waist with the other around her back. Marcy gave a muffled yelp into Anne's mouth as she found herself being spun around and bent backwards slightly.
Until Anne's feet slipped out from under her, sending both girls tumbling to the patio where they landed in a tangled heap.
"Wha- ? What the hell was that?" Marcy asked as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.
"Sorry sorry!" Anne said, her face flush with embarrassment. "I was going for a dip!"
"A what?"
"You know, a dip!" Anne made some vague motions with her hands. "That thing couples do where one of them spins the other and like just kinda dips them towards the ground, sorta?" She winced again. "Sorry."
"Jeez, I thought I was supposed to be the clumsy one here."
The girls shared a laugh as they climbed to their feet. Anne and Marcy held a gaze as a gentle breeze blew through the garden, the foliage rustling softly.
"How long?" Marcy asked. "Have you felt that way about me, I mean?"
Anne shrugged. "I… guess that day we went dress shopping was when it really fell into place. I mean I always cared about you for as long as we've been friends, but something at that moment just… clicked, you know? And I realized just how much I wanted us to be more than friends."
"Yeah, I get it. That's how it was for me too." Marcy smiled sweetly at Anne. "I just kept thinking about how you've always been there for me to support me, to push me to try and be better, to be there for me when I fail. I realized just how much I love all of that. But I kept my feelings to myself because I thought you wouldn't like me back and I-"
"Didn't want to mess up our friendship," Anne finished. She couldn't help but laugh. "Dude I literally thought the exact same thing!"
Marcy joined in the laughter, bringing an open palm to her forehead. "Oh frog I can't believe we fell into that old cliche!"
"Ha ha, yeah…" Anne trailed off as she once again got lost in the sea of Marcy's eyes, amazed at herself for not noticing just how pretty her eyes were until now.
"So… what happens now?" Marcy asked. She subconsciously tugged on the cuff of her dress sleeve. "Between us, I mean?"
"Well, we're already best friends. I like you, you like me, we've already kissed several times now…" Anne paused, putting on a look of faux outrage. "Oh yeah, and what makes you think that kiss on the dance floor was my first?"
"Well was it?"
"Yes, but you didn't have to just assume that!"
Marcy smiled and rolled her eyes. "Anne please. If you had ever been kissed back home you would've told me and Sasha about it in a heartbeat." Her smile became a mischievous smirk. "Don't tell me while you've been here you kissed a frog at some point, hoping he'd turn into a handsome prince?"
"Ew! Don't be gross!" Anne laughed and gave Marcy a playful shoulder slug.
"Oh sorry, would you have preferred I said 'beautiful princess' instead?"
"That is not what I meant and you know it! Besides," Anne smiled and wrapped an arm around Marcy's waist to pull her close. "I already have a beautiful princess right here."
Marcy blushed bright red at the compliment, smiling a dopey, lovestruck smile. Anne giggled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
"So it seems pretty clear to me what our next step is," she said. "Marcy, will you go out with me?"
Marcy returned the gesture, kissing Anne on the cheek. "I'd love to, Anne."
Anne smiled a glowing smile. "Then it's official! Marcy Wu and Anne Boonchuy, girlfriends. Heh, I like the sound of that."
"My girlfriend Anne," Marcy said, testing the words herself. Her grin was radiant. "I like the sound of that too."
Anne looked back down the hallway they had come from. "So… did you want to head back to the party? If that's okay?"
Marcy leaned into Anne's embrace. "I'd love to."
With that the newly-minted couple went back inside, gently shutting the glass door behind them. The girls smiled as they walked arm-in-arm, feeling lighter than air. Not only did it feel like a weight had been lifted from their shoulders after getting their feelings out in the open, but those feelings had been retired and validated. They had arrived at the Midsummer Ball as friends, and they were leaving as girlfriends.
Nothing could ruin this night.
"Mmmph! Hmmp, mmm mmmph!"
Lord Sycamore thrashed weakly against the ropes he was bound by, desperately trying to speak through the cloth tied around his mouth. His two assailants - dressed in long black cloaks and full-face black masks that hid their features - paid him no mind, slamming shut the trunk of the hermit crab carriage and throwing open the door to the cabin.
"We've got the target," one of them whispered in a guttural voice as he climbed in while the other ran ahead of him. "Let's go go go!"
The carriage took off, driving out of the garden and into the cobblestone alleyway that ran between the grounds of Sycamore Mansion and its neighbors. As it left the grounds the other assailant pulled the wrought-iron gate in the wall shut, then turned and leapt into the still-moving carriage as it sped off into the night.
Back in the garden, a butler groaned as he lay slumped unconscious against a sycamore tree, blood running down from his snout and one eye swollen shut. A piece of paper was pinned to his torn suit, covered in a rough scrawl.
"Follow these instructions if you want to see your precious Lord Sycamore alive…"
Author's Note: So needless to say, this whole criminal conspiracy thing wound up going very differently than how I envisioned it when I first started this story. But I'll go into more detail on that in my final author's note/story retrospective.