Caroline and the Unfortunate Circumstance
Chapter Seven: Did I Mention I Wouldn't Dance?
By S. Arallion
Disclaimer: All characters in this story are owned by their respective copyright holders—namely, not myself. Anything you don't recognize is my fault. I make absolutely no profit from my use of these characters. ~~Arallion
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The conference room at the Plaza Hotel was ablaze with light from crystal chandeliers and candle-lit tables, reflected from a rainbow of chique, colorfully dressed humanity. The National Syndicate was, apparently, very interested in creating the right image for their awards.
"Wow, look at all the people," Caroline murmured, holding on to Richard's arm nervously. "I somehow didn't think there'd be this many. There haven't been, at the others." They were being led to a table near the front of the room by an immaculately dressed usher. "Oh, this is lovely."
Richard tilted his head down to hear her, a questioning eyebrow raised. "What do you mean, 'lovely', in that tone of voice?"
She smiled sheepishly. "I mean, as a guest of honor, sitting up here in the front, I can't sneak away if it's deadly boring. And don't tell me you never skipped out on an awards ceremony before."
He sniffed primly. "Who me? Are you kidding? I-- oh, all right. Whenever I got the chance. But I got away with it-- I was never unlucky enough to be important." She giggled.
They were all seated together, and Caroline insisted on being flanked by her friends "so that no one gets too close and sees the makeup". They made small talk with the other guests at the table, and managed to keep questions about their last week's activities to a minimum. Then the food arrived, and the rest of the evening was spent in surreptitious commentary about the quality and origin of the dishes. Seated between Richard and Annie, Caroline was hardly able to eat a bite for laughing.
The time came for acceptance speeches. As Caroline's turn neared, a horrified look suddenly crossed her face. "Oh, no, Richard-- I left my notes in my--"
"Coat pocket?" he finished, pulling them from his jacket. "I thought you might need them."
She took them, the terrified expression changing to wonder. "Richard, how do you do that... Thank you, for the millionth time this week." She kissed him again on the cheek and trotted up to the stage.
Richard, blushing slightly, turned and saw Annie smiling at him. "What?" he asked defensively.
"Give up now," she said cryptically, still smiling.
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When the dinner and awards ceremony ended, the party began. They were to adjourn to another room with a band and a bar, for some 'serious socializing', as Caroline called it. She was more nervous about that than she'd been about the speech, it appeared. Richard laughed mirthlessly. For that matter, so was he.
"Okay, we have to dance," Caroline whispered in his ear. He jumped.
"Why?"
"Because, everyone else is! If I don't dance at least once with you, people are going to think something's wrong. Come on, you've met some of them. You don't want them to start prying, do you?" She glanced around nervously. "The farther away from them I stay, the happier I am," she muttered.
He looked at her sharply. "All right. One. Maybe two, if necessary? But I get to choose the dance."
"Oh, thank you Richard. Thank you thank you thank--"
"Okay, okay," he interrupted. "Save the groveling for when I can appreciate it."
It was a good jazz band at least. Del took Annie out on the floor immediately for an easy swing number, and Caroline and Richard found a table to perch at.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, a glass of wine would be nice," she nodded.
"White, red, what?" Getting an affirmation on white, Richard threaded his way across the room to the bar.
Caroline watched his blond head move through the crowd, and dropped her chin into her hands wistfully. Men, she thought. Can't live with 'em. Can't even work with 'em, she grinned. She searched for Del and Annie on the dance floor, and laughed when she finally saw them. Del was by no means a poor dancer, but Annie the professional was doing most of the leading. It was really cute, she admitted, and knew she could never say anything to Del about it. He would be mortified.
"Caroline?" Richard set the wine glass down in front of her. "Are you still feeling all right?" She smiled up at him and pointed at Del and Annie. "Oh, now that's blackmail. I wish I had a camera..."
She swatted at him playfully, eyes sparkling over the wine glass. "Richard, that's terrible. But I'm sure someone here came prepared," she finished lightly. The faint lines around his blue eyes crinkled appreciatively.
"Maybe the news camera over there?" he suggested slyly.
"Ooo, let's go get him."
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Ten minutes and two dances later, Annie strutted back to their table, Del staggering behind her. She ran a slender hand through her straight, dark hair, stretching luxuriously. "Ahh, that was kind of fun. Maybe I'll stop calling you Dull, Del. For a while, anyway."
Del, ever the opportunist, had been more interested in watching her stretch. "Uh, okay..." Annie looked at him and rolled her eyes. "I'll go get drinks," he said quickly.
Annie was going to sit down, but suddenly noticed Caroline's carefully schooled expression. "Hey, what's with the Cheshire Cat face?" she asked suspiciously, noticing a certain falseness to Richard's usual dour appearance as well.
"Oh, nothing," Caroline blinked innocently. "So you two enjoyed yourselves?"
"Ye-e-es," Annie said slowly, narrowing her eyes.
"That's nice," her friend chirped. Her glance sneaked across to Richard, and a smirk threatened to break free.
"All right, what did you two do?" Annie crossed her arms in front of her chest, fixing them with a stern glare.
"Nothing, nothing. Really," Caroline lost the battle with the smirk. Richard suddenly became extremely interested in the reflective properties of wine in stemware.
Annie's eyebrows were still in her hairline, but she had more interesting agendas. "Hmm. So, Richie, did she talk you into a dance yet?"
He spared her a glance. "You couldn't just wait and find out? Yes, she did."
"Well, you just keep remembering what I said."
Give up now. "I'm not likely to forget, am I?" he replied sardonically.
Caroline looked from one to the other in complete incomprehension. "What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing, nothing," her assistant assured her hastily, glaring at Annie.
An eddy in the current of revelers flowing around them caught their attention. Looking up, they saw a striking woman in green smiling down at them, hanging on the arm of a man who might have stepped from the pages of G.Q. Caroline's eyes widened slightly, and she suddenly looked trapped.
"Why, hello, Caroline," the woman gushed in a velvety voice. She touched her escort's arm. "Paul, you remember my mentioning Caroline Duffy?"
"Nice to meet you," Paul said politely, extending a hand.
"Nice to meet you too, " Caroline returned faintly. "Oh, Richard--" her gaze locked with his meaningfully-- "this is Erika Heilman, critic for the Weekly Review..."
Erika interrupted with a shark's smile. "Oh, Caroline, it's really been too long, hasn't it? But isn't it nice to get together at these little events? I know it's been a while since you've had reason to come, but you really should make the most of it while you're here... after all, who knows how long you'll be running in these circles?"
Caroline stomped on Annie's foot as her friend's mouth began to open indignantly, and gritted her teeth. "Well, who really has time to run in circles anyway," she shrugged, smiling brightly. Richard was suddenly overcome with a coughing fit, which conveniently covered a laugh.
The woman shot them an assessing glance. "At least you will have a chance to do a little merrymaking tonight, dear. We will be seeing you on the dance floor?" The question must have been rhetorical because she swept away with her "Paul" before anyone could reply.
Caroline dropped her head into her hands. "Oh, why did she of all people have to be here?" Annie patted her hand comfortingly.
"Nice comeback, though," Richard complimented. "That's the one who lambasted you in the editorial column, right?"
"Yeah, the 'pathetic attempts at real-life humor' article," Caroline muttered. "I don't know what I did to get on her bad side, but I'm there in a big way."
"I think the color she's wearing says it all," Annie joked. "Wish you hadn't stomped on my foot—I would have told her."
"Hey, was that your nemesis bothering you just now?" Del slipped into the chair next to Annie with their drinks. "She walked away looking like a cat who ate the cream."
"You would know, hiding over there behind the plant," Richard observed dryly. Del winced and made a shushing motion with his hands.
Caroline sighed. "The reason she looks like that is because she knows I'm not up to scrutiny tonight, and she's going to make sure that everyone of importance here tonight sees me at my worst. Look at them dancing," she indicated the dance floor, where the green- clad woman and her handsome escort were starting to monopolize the space. "They're 'raising the bar', so to speak."
Del snorted. "Oh, come on Caroline, it's just dancing. It's not a competition."
Annie elbowed him. "Del, are you nuts or just a little brain-dead? Of course it's a competition. That witch is making it into one."
Caroline was still watching. Her head dropped into her hands again. "I hate this. I can't even dream about dancing that well."
Richard closed his eyes for a moment against some internal struggle. He finally stood up, slowly. "We really have to do this, don't we," he muttered. Her head lifted and she stared at him, confused by his tone.
"What do you mean, Richard?"
"I hope you're wearing your good shoes," he replied morosely. Annie and Del exchanged delighted looks as the artist pulled Caroline to her feet. "Follow me."
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The diminutive cartoonist followed Richard bemusedly through the crowd, still wondering what was going on. They wove their way over to the band, where the piano player yelled excitedly upon seeing her blond assistant. The two put their heads together for a moment, then Richard pulled Caroline off to the side to give her a pep talk.
He looked seriously into her eyes. "Now, Caroline, I don't really know what is going on here, nor do I really want to know. I hate these silly political games. But, sometimes they have to be played out, and I intend to play this one to your advantage."
Caroline nodded, her face pale. "Why are you talking to me like this, Richard?"
"Because I hate making a spectacle of both of us and that's what we're going to be doing, so I'm trying to psych myself up," he said with a wry smile. "The best thing to do is to forget that you're being impressive, though, and enjoy the music. Will you trust me to lead?" he asked, his eyes meeting hers.
"Of course I trust you, Richard," she whispered. Suddenly, new music started-- a sweeping waltz version of "You and the Night and the Music". She blinked.
Richard offered her his arm, with a slight trace of the smile left on his face. "Well, Ms. Duffy?"
She felt as if she were making a grand entrance, although there were many other people dancing. At first acutely conscious of being watched, she finally settled down into the rhythmic steps and grinned up at Richard. "Hey, this isn't too bad. What were you worried about?"
He pulled her into a quick swing step and spun her out to arm's length as the music abruptly changed. She followed through instinctively, stunned. "This," came the response. "I hope you can tango?"
She looked at him sharply. "You're joking? Right?"
"Trust me?" His eyes had an unaccustomed sparkle that held her gaze. She nodded slowly, a smile spreading across her face. Richard knew how to tango?
The dance he led her through was something between a swing, a tango, and a foxtrot. She tried to watch his feet for the first sixteen bars, but then it got too complicated to remember. When she quit thinking about steps and just followed him, her feet fell into place naturally. She laughed with delight as she twirled about the floor, her ballet training taking over and keeping her balanced. But the most interesting part of the dancing was the softening of her partner's face as he guided her around the floor.
Richard watched Caroline carefully as he led her through the constantly changing patterns. The dance was the flashiest one he could remember from the period when his mother had tried to convince him that his father was Gene Kelly. At the time, he had thought it fairly ridiculous, but he was glad for the experience now. Caroline was an excellent dancer, too, adapting easily to the variations, her gown flaring as she spun gracefully and her face alight with excitement. He found himself needing to look away from her to control the emotions that rushed through his heart, but unable to because of the dancing. He fought instead to keep his expression still, and hoped desperately that he was succeeding.
They stepped into a locked-arm pivot, which Caroline had decided was good for strutting. As they looked directly into each other's eyes, he lifted one eyebrow at her.
"What?" she whispered, trying to blow a lock of hair up from her forehead. "I thought you said to show off?"
"I did. I just didn't realize how well you were going to do it," he muttered, before the music changed again and he disentangled them with a swing step.
Caroline forgot to breathe when the tone of his comment finally sank in, and suddenly found herself gasping for air as the music thundered to a close. "Are you going to dip me?" she panted as she whirled in towards his chest. She came to a stop facing away from him, and his breath tickled her ear.
"That depends... do you want to be dipped?" The tone was strangely playful. She grinned, deciding that she might as well make the most of the situation. This would probably not happen again.
"Why not?"
With the ending chords, Richard spun her out to the length of both of their arms, and pulled her back in to dip her almost to the floor. She looked up at him with a glowing smile that was, amazingly, returned. He set her carefully back on her feet and steadied her, waving to the piano player as they regally left the floor.
Caroline was stunned. She heard enthusiastic applause, and saw the crowd part for them, but not much else registered. "Richard, that was great," she whispered. "How can you be able to dance like that and not like it?"
The artist's tousled blond hair was damp. "I don't just 'not like it', Caroline," he replied, looking at her sidelong. "I hate it. You know me..."
The corners of Caroline's mouth turned up sharply. "Yes, I do know you."
"What does that mean?" he asked quickly, a wary look on his face. By that time, they had reached the table where Annie and Del were waiting, and Caroline didn't have to answer. Richard had to settle for trying to interpret her enigmatic shrug.
"You were terrific, Caroline," crowed Annie triumphantly, hugging the beaming cartoonist. "And Richie! I never knew you had it in you!" Much to Richard's embarrassment, she hugged him too.
"You two just 'raised the bar' to an unattainable level," Del grinned. "Erika's looking like she could chew tacks right now."
"Well, maybe the rest of us can relax and enjoy the evening now," Richard snorted, downing the last of his wine.
Annie looked at him pointedly. "Before you relax too much, could you big strong men be troubled to get us another glass of wine?"
"Uh-oh, girl talk," Del laughed, picking up Annie's glass. "Come on, Richard." Richard stared at Annie for a moment, looking distinctly uneasy, but let Del drag him away.
Caroline blinked in confusion. "Okay, Annie, what's going on?" Her friend was practically jittering in her chair.
"Sit down, Caroline," she grinned. "Hey, I really do mean it, you were terrific. And Richard almost kissed you. Did you see?"
"What?" Caroline laughed skeptically. "No, I didn't see that -- what are you talking about?"
"Oh, come on-- you know that funny look guys get when they're wondering if they can get away with it?" Thoughtfully, Caroline nodded. "He was really close at the end there. When he dipped you."
"Oh," Caroline said faintly, blushing suddenly. "Oh, I did see that. Annie, maybe this is going a little too far. This flirting business is all well and good, but if I mess things up for he and Julia, I don't think I could forgive myself. I'm just not cut out for that sort of thing!"
"He and Julia?" Annie looked at her, surprised. "Caroline, I don't think you have to be concerned about that now."
"Annie, you're talking over my head. What makes you think that?"
"I found Julia's wedding ring in his desk drawer," Annie whispered.
Caroline sat up in shock. "You WHAT? How do you know it's hers?"
"Duh," Annie sniffed. "Lady's wedding ring-- who else could it be? And before you ask-- YES, I was snooping. It's only a desk, if he wanted something to be a secret, he should take it home, right?"
Caroline shook her head, thankful that the men were taking so long to get their drinks. Her composure was completely shattered. "Annie, are you trying to make me crazy? This is a big thing you're suggesting, here. If it's true, how come he didn't tell me?"
"Caroline, think about it. You've had a pretty rough week, maybe he didn't want to add to it." She paused thoughtfully. "I'm giving Richie a lot of credit for sensitivity here, aren't I? But I still think I'm right. Now, breathe, and calm down. Nothing has changed, right? Except now you have full license to flirt all you want... " Annie's wide smirk was guaranteed to provoke a smile from her friend. "Here they come," she whispered.
Richard picked up staring nervously at Annie right where he'd left off. Her unabashed smirk didn't help his state of mind any, and he nearly dropped Caroline's glass when the dark-haired dancer said, "Okay, Richie, it's my turn to show you a move or two."
He set the glass in Caroline's hand quickly, eyes darting to Annie's face. "Wait. No one said anything about dancing with you."
"Well, those rules were from before we knew you were good at it," giggled Caroline. He shot her a pleading glance, but she spread her hands helplessly, a mischievous smile creeping back onto her features. He sighed.
"If you try to lead," he muttered balefully, walking beside Annie to the dance floor.
She sniffed, tossing her dark head. "You'll what?"
"I'll trip you," he promised solemnly. They stared at each other for a moment.
Annie grinned, challenged. "This is going to be fun!"
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Del draped a companionable arm across Caroline's shoulder as they watched their friends dance. "It's a little different, watching those two," he observed critically.
"You mean besides the fact that they're both better dancers than we are?" Caroline laughed, rubbing a cramp out of her leg ruefully.
"Actually, Annie's right, you were terrific," Del growled, gripping her shoulder. "No, watch 'em for a second. They're doing the same thing dancing as they do every day in your apartment-- one-upping each other. It's hilarious."
Mystified, Caroline watched. "Oh, I do see it," she giggled after a moment.
"I saw something different when you were dancing, though," Del commented quietly. "I wish you could have seen it." Caroline twisted in her chair to look at her ex-boyfriend curiously.
"Who are you and what did you do with Del?" she laughed. He grinned back at her.
"I'm just tired of seeing you unhappy," he smiled. "It was great to see you glow again."
Caroline turned back around, a wondering smile on her face.
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"All right, what did you tell her?" Richard hissed. They were face to face, doing an intricate two-step, and it was a perfect chance to get information. Annie, however, was doing her best to make it difficult.
"Nothing you shouldn't have told her already," the lithe dancer smirked.
Richard rolled his eyes heavenward. "A little more specific?" he pleaded. "'Things I should have told her already'-- that covers quite a lot."
"I know," the reply came, with batted eyelashes. "You should really try to do something about that."
"Annie," he said ominously.
"Oh, okay, okay. I found the wedding ring," she said carelessly.
Richard's eyes widened. "You snooped again," he accused, stopping cold in the middle of the floor. Annie stomped on his foot.
"Get moving," she growled. Stunned, he picked up the step again. "I did snoop. I'm sorry, okay? You know that I do it, so if you don't want me to find something, why do you put it in there?"
He sighed. "Maybe I did want you to find it. But I was hoping I could wait for a while to tell her... like a few weeks, or..."
"Or never." Annie glared at him. "Don't you think that this nonsense has gone on long enough?"
He gave her a hopeless look. "Annie, you know I'm terrified of this. I couldn't forgive myself if I hurt her, and it seems like I end up hurting anyone I get involved with."
"Richard, you're already involved. Don't you get it yet?" Her frank expression caught him by surprise, and he stared at her wide-eyed for a moment. A small smile crept onto his face.
"I am, aren't I," he said thoughtfully.
"Two years worth," she grinned.
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To be continued…
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Author's Note: The song referred to is an arrangement by Steve Barnett of "You and the Night and the Music" (Howard Dietz/Arthur Schwartz). It's very "big band" in nature although the only recording of it I have is done by the vocal group Chanticleer. Not sure if the original instrumental version had the twists and turns that this one takes… but it translates well. ~~Arallion