Secret Fears - Lockwood & Co

(EXTRA) Surprise Surprise pt. 2

About an hour before we were to leave, I was lying on my bed (fully clothed) thinking about my dress. I still hadn't managed to find one, so I was musing whether or not to go. Probably not. "Knock knock!" I sat up and Lockwood entered holding a "Flora's Formalwear" suit bag. Even though he was in his tux;George had rented one from Dianne's Dinnerwear (I have a feeling neither owners names were Dianne or Flora. . .) and Holly was in her dress, the bag was still full.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked. "And what's in the bag?" He throws it on the bed, says, "Have a look!" smiles, leaves and closes the door. "What the. . ." I mutter, opening the bag. Inside the bag is a blue-green, puffy, sparkly dress. Oh. My. God. I throw it on, and it fits perfectly. I do my hair, put on the flats that go with it, and go downstairs to find Lockwood. He's in the living room facing away from me, talking to Holly and George. Holly looks up and gasps, and he turns around.

"How did you know?" I ask.

"Your face when you saw the dress, I knew you loved it. And it seems as though it suits you rather beautifully. You look lovely." I blushed profusely.

"Thank you!" I hug him around the neck and kiss him on the cheek. We are ready for the ball.

Holly and I get out of the company car first, Lockwood and George following behind. I stare up at the hall in horror and gulp. What have I gotten myself into? "Come on," says Holly from behind. We actually had a nice conversation in that car ride, (probably because of the dress,) instead of our usual passive-aggressive remarks.

She hooks her arm through mine, and leads me up the steps. The hall is massive, built from smooth stone. Large, engraved pillars hold up a balcony, and a huge banner is spread over the shimmering double doors.

I watch as men and women in suits and gowns enter through the doors, and Holly nudges me again. "Lucy? Lucy? Air to Lucy?" I stare blankly at her and blink. We are standing in front of a man in a black suit with a bow tie.

"Uh, what?" I ask, inelegantly.

"The invitation," Holly hisses in my ear. "To the man."

"OH! Right." I dig out the ticket from my clutch and hand it to the man, whose name tag says his name is Carlos, and we enter the Hall.

Pink, blue, yellow, silver, green, purple, orange gowns glitter around as guests and influentials mill about, laughing and sipping at drinks. There are people dancing, and a band plays in the corner, the fiddler swaying to his tune. The aromas of lavender and lemon floor polish greet my nose, and I note that all the windows are shuttered with steel and lined with salt.

I look down at my dress to keep reminding myself I'm a guest at this party. I keep wanting to creep along the sides of the hall with my rapier in hand, and battle some visitors or something.

"Well, well, well. . . What do we have here?" I turn around to see a thin ratty looking man with orange hair looking me up and down appreciatively.

"Kips," I crisply greet him, trying force down my disgust, cringing as his eyes rake over my figure in the sleeveless blue-green dress.

"You clean up beautifully, miss Carlyle," he smiles, showing off all of his teeth. "Would you care to dance?" I try not to screw my face up at his offer. Me? Dance with. . . Kipps? I shudder slightly.

"Lucy?" He extends his hand, and I look to try and find Lockwood, but see Holly instead. On a stroke of luck, she makes eye contact and I inconspicuously direct her gaze to Kipps. She understands immediately, and starts making her way towards me, holding her yellow dress up and waving.

"OOH LUUUUUCCCYYYYYYY!" She shouts, in a singsong voice. Kipps stares at the woman barging through the crowd towards me.

"Oh! Holly!" I feign surprise. "What is it?"

"I need you! NOW!"

Turning to Kipps once again I pat him on the shoulder and try not to think about the amount of disinfectant I will have to use back at Portland row. "Well, Kipps, I'd love to dance, but Holly so obviously is in need of my assistance." I hold Kipps' gaze as I slip my arm through Holly's before we both scurry away, trying to hold in our laughter.

I turn my head back to see if Kipps has registered what has happened yet, and trip on the hem of my dress, tumbling forward, before someone catches me. "Lucy!" Lockwood shakes his head and pulls me upright. "Thank God it was me who caught you."

"Yeah. . ." I chuckle nervously and look at Holly. He smiles at me and raises her eyebrows. I can sense the meaning behind her gesture and I'm thankful for it. She tilts her head towards Lockwood, "Go dance!" I smile back at her and look up at Lockwood.

"Would you like to dance?"

"I would love to."

As Lockwood took my hand and swept me onto the dancefloor, as we moved to the music, be it slow and mournful, or fast and joyous, I smiled. I saw Holly dancing with a tall young man through the crowd a few times, and even George was having fun, talking to a short girl around our age with glasses. I'm pretty sure they even exchanged numbers. . . and books.

Most of the time though, I was focussed on Lockwood. Even through everything, we had stuck together. As the ball ended, I led him underneath the mistletoe and lightly kissed him. "Merry Christmas, Anthony."