Fear and Blood

Chapter 17

It might just have been Rome's imagination, but it seemed like, as soon as they stepped in, the room went quiet. She saw a few heads turn in their direction before drifting back to whatever they had been doing, only to turn sharply again when they realised who had walked in. Rome went bright red.

“Come on,” Ly hissed in her ear, he to noticed the people looking, and was feeling very uncomfortable. “Stop standing around like a halfwit and lets get out of the doorway. From the shade you've just turned I don't think you like being gawked at by these idiots.”

Ly grabbed her arm and lead her around the edge of the room. As they walked Rome spotted Josh through the crowd. Lisa was hanging onto his arm, a smile on her pretty face, and Rome couldn't help but think they looked good together. Lisa must be have been really happy, considering how much she liked Josh.

Melissa was standing next to them, a scowl on her face. She seemed to be telling Robert off about something. Her date just stood there, paying no attention at all and looking like he was about to die of boredom.

It was at this point that Josh saw Rome. He was about to call her over when he noticed Ly, who was looking rather annoyed at the odd looks he was getting. Even from across the room, Rome noticed Josh's posture stiffen.

“Rome,” the red-head heard her name being called out and turned to see Paul, her ancient history lecturer, coming towards her. “I'm surprised to see you here. Too bad your first couple of assignments weren't anything special. If they had been I have no doubt you would be receiving an award today. It seems I picked the right tutor for...” he trailed off as he finally realised who Rome had come in with. “Oh, Ly. I really didn't expect to see you here. You've never come to any formal dinners before.”

“Believe me,” Ly growled softly. “If it had been entirely up to me I wouldn't be here.” He had known this night wasn't going to be a very good one, but the looks and whisperers, which he could hear perfectly, were really getting on his nerves. To top it off he had seen the look on Josh's face when he spotted Rome.

In fact, the other young man was still looking over at them as Rome spoke with Paul. Ly wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, instead, he was watching Josh. He smirked.

Josh watched as one of the lecturers he didn't know stopped Rome and started a conversation with her. The young man had been speechless when he saw how stunning she looked in that little green dress, and felt an intense stab of jealousy when he saw that Ly was with her.

As he watched, Ly looked over at him and smirked. Slowly, the raven haired man took a step closer to Rome and put an arm around her waist. The red-head looked startled for a second before she smiled up at him, her face going a little red.

The wineglass Josh was holding shattered in his grip, causing red wine to drip down his hand and onto the tiled floor, though dropped the shards before they could cut into the flesh of his hand.

“Josh! Are you all right?” Lisa said, grabbing a napkin from one of the tables and trying to clean the wine off his hand and shirt with it. “What happened? Your glass just exploded.”

“I'm fine,” Josh said, waving Lisa away after taking the napkin from her. “The glass must have been weak. It's all right, I'm not hurt.” He looked up to see Ly still smirking and knew the other man hadn't missed the display.

“Hey look,” Melissa said, looking in the same direction Josh was. “Rome's here and she...” she trailed off, eyes wide with surprise. “What the...she is not with who I think she's with, is she? What the hell is she thinking?”

The group looked over at Rome, who had just finished her conversation with the lecturer and was now turning to Ly. The smirk had left his face and he was scowling now, but Rome didn't seem to mind, because she was laughing.