Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Unfortunately none of the characters/storylines belong to me.

Note: Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming…remember the more reviews, the more motivated I am to write. And sorry if this story is too "cheesy" for some.

Lady in Red

Chapter 4: Passing through unconscious states…

And as soon as it had started, the song ended. Summer didn't even want to let go of him. Seth took her small hands into his and looked at her. He was feeling something that was not familiar to him. Sure, he had loved Anna, but this was different. This girl made him feel comfortable, like he didn't have to put on a rich boy act. She made him feel natural.

He leaned into her very closely and noticed her breaths quicken. She was nervous and so was he. He kissed girls all the time, but not like this. He was usually drunk for one thing and he usually didn't feel anything for those girls. But this one made him think. She made him plan out every move he was going to execute. He wanted it to be good.

She saw that he was moving in dangerously close, but she made no attempt to stop it. Her mind was pleading her to stop, but her body wouldn't move. Her lips parted slightly, letting his lips touch hers ever so gently. As their tongues met, Summer couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. One hand steadied her as he placed it at the small of her back, the other cupped her cheek and then the back of her neck. He pulled her into him as their kisses started getting more fervent. Neither had felt this way in a long time. He peeled off his mask. Seth reached up to unmask her, as it was getting in the way. He wanted to see who this beauty was.

Oh god, please no.

"Um, what are you doing…" she backed away from him slowly. She had let this get too far. If he knew who she was, he would laugh her out of the ballroom. And then she'd be fired from her job because all of the Newpsies would be against the fact that a servant was amongst them.

"Taking off my mask and yours. They were kind of getting in the way." He grabbed her hand and placed his mask in it. She looked at the mask and let her arm drop to her side.

"You can't do that. We don't unmask until 1 AM."

"I think we can make an exception in this case." She looked at him, as he smirked at her.

"You know, I don't think this is such a good idea, I mean I don't even know you. I don't usually do this…like hook up with random guys at parties. You probably think I'm some sort of slut or something. I'm not."

He reached over and touched her arm. "I don't think you're a slut at all. Trust me." He moved in closer again, but this time her self control reigned supreme.

"And why should I do that?"

"Hmm. Sass, I like that. I can't really explain why you should trust me. But I think I could show you," he leaned in once more and she ducked out of the way.

"I've gotta go."

"It's not even 12:30 yet. If you don't want to unmask now, we can wait until 1 AM."

"No, I really have to go. My parents are really strict, they'd hate for me to be out all night."

Seth frowned, she wasn't going to get away that easily. "Well, am I going to get to see you again?"

"Sorry, I don't think so. Have a nice night." She ran off in search of Marissa, leaving a very shocked and embarrassed Seth behind. He had no idea what was going on.

Summer found Marissa propped up against a wall, making out with some guy she'd never seen before. "Coop. COOP!"

"Hey, how's it going," Marissa turned to look at her friend for a second then proceeded to continue making out with her new friend.

"I gotta go, can you get a ride home with your parents?"

"Sure, sure. See you later." Summer rolled her eyes and ran out to the valet. She needed to get out of there before Seth started looking. She rushed into the car and sped off, leaving everything behind. It had been too close. She couldn't afford to lose this job. She made the right decision. She had to leave. But if the decision was so right, why was there a huge knot forming at the back of her throat?

***

Seth emerged from the ballroom and walked out to the valet calmly. He wasn't used to chasing girls. He supposed that he should've ran out there like some madman, but that was cheesy and movie like. There was no movie script ending here. She was already gone. With a drink in his hand, he carefully made his way back through the crowd. All that was left for tonight was to get drunk and forget about what happened. But he couldn't. He couldn't deny those feelings like she had done. He'd find her, even if she didn't want to be found. He had resources, the internet, but more importantly, he had his connections. Girls could be putty at his feet. He would find his lady in red.

Summer drove the few miles it took to get home. She had not even realized that tears had fallen out of her eyes. The scary part of it all was that she knew she was already his. She had fallen hard for someone she knew she should never want. Sitting the driveway, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Hair, makeup, expensive dress. This wasn't her. Since when did she create a façade to try to assimilate into the rich bitch role? She had never wanted to before, but now she had a reason. She looked at the passenger seat. His mask lay there. She fingered the sequins and light beadwork watching as some of the glitter disintegrated onto her fingers. Like the glitter, her heart too would break apart and disappear at the tips of a stranger's fingers. Seth's fingers. And the sad part was, that she would let him break her apart if it meant that she got to be near him again.