Chapter 5 -

The Dance



Christine walked into the room where all of Harmony was celebrating just being in Harmony. She didn't know what the special occastion for this was. But she assumed that was normal for a Crane get-together. She was afraid she would be to overdressed for the event, but her cousin convinced her that it was all formal. And when she arrived, she was correct. Formal dresses and tuxes were all she could see across the room. Her stomach was full of nerves because she normally wouldn't dress up like this. She didn't even dress like this for her prom.

She walked by a mirror and smiled. "I don't look half bad." She muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Said a voice behind her.

She turned around and came face to face with Gwen. "Oh hey, how are you feeling?"

Gwen smiled, "Much better. And you look great, I love that dress. Where did you get it?"

"Beth's closet."

"Hey, nothing easier than that!" Gwen said with a laugh. "By the way, that coffee Ethan brought home for me was great. Made me feel much better"

"Thanks, glad I could help out"

Gwen grabbed Christine's arm and guided her toward Ethan and a few other people. Gwen introduced them, most of them being her or Ethan's relatives. She said hi, shook hands, and smiled as much as possible.

Christine broke away from the Crane family and stood over by the window, looking outside at the stars. She couldn't believe that she was in this house, with these people. She knew she couldn't fit in with them, but she could try to pretend for one night. She tried to figure out what she would be doing if she were at home right now, with her mom. Thoughts of partying and sex ran through her head, and stomach tensed up. "I cannot think about that stuff anymore, these people wouldn't understand."

"What stuff?" a voice said behind her. She recognized it to be the voice of Fox. She could feel him breathing on the back of her neck, and the warmth came from his body, making her stifle back a moan.

She turned around and he was right there, staring at her. "Ohh, nothing, thinking outloud. I always do that."

He crossed his arms and took all of her in. "You look decent tonight."

She held back the anger that surged through her when she heard him say that. "Thank you, and you are actually wearing a shirt tonight. Congratulations." And she pushed her way past him just in time to hear him say, "You liked it."

The night went on, everyone laughed, danced, drank wine. Christine was still in the corner, watching couples dance. She had kept her eye on Fox all night just in case he wanted to give her a hard time again. He danced with many different woman, usually in one provocative way or another. But she kept catching herself have little fantasies about her and him dancing. But she would always snap out of it, so it didn't count, right?



Beth saw her cousin staring at Fox several times during the night, but she knew nothing would come of it. She didn't find men like that attractive, or at least she hoped nothing would come of it. But she did see the way they looked at eachother when they talked earlier. She just hoped it was all a crush because they both come from two different worlds. And, her best friend was destined to be with him, and she always believed her friends premonitions. Then looked up and saw him dancing with her. She smiled and went and found Christine.

Fox was dancing with a girl he knew from town, a girl named Danielle. They had known eachother for years, and he knew that she always had something for him. They were basically, "friends with benefits", but he knew she wanted more. He just always changed the subject. She was much more high maitenance than most of the girls he dated, so he was ok with just the benefits. But lately, he had been growing sick of it. She didn't do anything for him anymore. Basically, no woman had. He was growing tired of the "player" status.

Danielle grabbed Fox's hand and whispered in his ear, "Let's go somewhere private."

Fox broke his grasp with her, "Why don't we just dance, I am not in the mood."

Danielle pouted and grazed her hand over the zipper of his pants, "Not in the mood? I could change that."

"No, not right now." he insisted.

"Fine, we'll dance."

And they continued dancing, but Danielle could tell his attention was obviously not on her or the party. Which drove her crazy, she wanted him to be excusively hers, but he always changed the subject. Actually, he was supposed to be with her, her dreams told her so. She looked at his face and noticed he was looking over at someone else, his gaze staring straight ahead. She turned to see where he was looking and saw a woman standing in the corner. She was talking to Beth, and so she assumed she was Beth's cousin. She looked back at Fox, he never looked at her that way. Danielle thought.

Fox was driving himself nuts just by looking at her. Why was he so attracted to her? She wasn't drop dead model gorgeous. There was just something different about her. Maybe he was just imagining it. But when he stood behind her earlier, he felt a surge of power between them, and he could of swore she moaned. She is mysterious, he could tell she had secrets that she just wanted to let out, but to afraid to. Or maybe she is just giving off that, 'i am great in bed' aura....he thought to himself. And his face turned red at the thought of it.



Christine had been asked to dance a few times, but it was nothing special. So she made her way over to the table with food on it. She thought she might as well look like she was enjoying herself. After several minutes of grazing, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Ok, I know you don't like me, but will you at least give me one dance." Fox asked, or more like pleaded. "You look bored over there in that corner."

"How do you know I was over there that whole time?" Christine asked, "Spying on me?"

Fox smiled and held out his hand, "Nope, just staring." And pulled her out to the floor.

As I lay me down to sleep.....This I pray.....That you will hold me dear.....Though I'm far away.....I'll whisper your name into the sky.....And I will wake up happy....Christine tried to concentrate on the song playing, but the butterflies in her stomach overtook her emotions.

Fox had his arms around her waist, and she had her arms around his neck. Not looking at him, but out the window, hoping it would help. He was drawing circles on her back with his fingers, and she was twiddling her thumbs. They could both tell that eachother was trying to think about something else.

"So...umm.....you like it here so far?" Fox asked.

Christine, not thinking, turned her head towards his to answer, and found herself face to face with him. Both breathing heavily. "Yes, it is nice here, better than where I used to live."

"Where was that? And what brought you here?" He asked with a sincere look on his face.

She felt uncomfortable even thinking about it, so she couldn't talk about it, but the look on his face made her want to just spill everything. But instead she held back. "I don't want to talk about it."

His face fell, he wanted to know where this woman came from, but from the uncomfortable presence he felt, he knew he wouldn't, at least not now. "That is ok. But if you wanna talk about it, I listen well."

Christine nodded, and rested her head on his chest.

The night finally ended, Fox and Christine had parted after there dance and she had made her way outside to the garden to think. She wanted to fit in here, but had this sick feeling that most of the people were fake, and just pretending to understand her. And then her thoughts went to Fox, she loved the way he held her, and looked at her. But he wasn't right for her either, he was off limits, he could tell just by talking to his family.

"Christine, are you ready to go?" Beth asked after finding her in the garden, looking somber.

Christine nodded and stood up and walked past her aunt without saying a word.

Beth shook her head and looked down, "She fell for him....I can't let that happen." She muttered and followed after her cousin.