Secretly Powerful

Things Unexpected: Part 3

    Aubrey and Makenzie stepped into the lobby of the civic center. The knot in Aubrey's stomach tightened as she glanced around.
    Everything was shiny white, gold, and silver. A grand staircase sat before them. And to their right was a spacious open hallway that never seemed to end. But, in front of some windows near them were muted light pink sofas and ottomans. And tucked into the wall on the other side was a bar. There were a few people scattered in the sitting area, sipping on bubbling drinks.
     To their left was a wall of high frosted glass windows, but the double doors leading into the other room were wide open, letting music and light pour into the spacious lobby.
    Before she knew it, they'd stepped up to a host station. Aubrey hadn't realized it was there because the people in line before them had been blocking it. The person behind the desk asked their names and directed them toward the room to the right once he knew who they were.
    They walked the short way to the open double doors, and what lied before Aubrey was almost enough to make her gape in awe.
    The room was as bright as day, and every surface seemed to glitter. The glass tables, the vases on those tables, the creamy marble floors, even the chandeliers that hung from the glass ceiling. Oh the ceiling. The middle of it was a giant skylight. The moon, night sky, and it's sprinkling of stars greeted her as she gazed up at it. But the skylight wasn't the only thing the ceiling had to offer. Three giant chandeliers hung from the ceiling. But the one in the dead middle of the room was the biggest, and other two on either side of it were smaller. But they were all still huge.
    Aubrey took her eyes off the ceiling and gazed around the room. There were people. Everywhere. She wondered just how many people were here. There were people at the tables, clustered in groups, at the bar in the corner, at the buffet. Just, everywhere. And all of them were so fancily dressed she thought she might be at some kind of royal dance. She glanced to the front of the room, where she found a stage, with one mic stand on it. And a live band playing off to the side. Though it was a little hard to hear them over the constant chatter.
    Makenzie squeezed her hand, and she remembered where she was and what she was doing. She blinked and stared at the crowd of people before her. Her stomach plummeted to the floor and she felt like she might throw up.
    She wanted so badly to turn around and leave. But with Makenzie holding her hand, she was obligated to stay and suffer. Curse Mack for knowing me so well.
    Steeling herself the best she could, she leaned toward her friend and said "You better be grateful I don't kill you after this."
    Makenzie smiled and turned to her "Love you too." She started to walk forward, pulling Aubrey to follow "Now c'mon, let's go find Captain and the others."
    Makenzie and Aubrey entered the crowd. They wove through the people, searching for familiar faces. Every two seconds Makenzie searched above the heads of people to see if she could spot them, while Aubrey just followed her, trying to avoid looking at people.
    "Aha!" Makenzie exclaimed "found em". Makenzie strode towards their co-workers. Aubrey stumbled behind her, but eventually got her footing. She glanced up to see that Captain Ferguson, Wyatt, Christian, and almost the entire station were gathered around a couple tables toward the back of the room. Even the people from the morgue. When they were close enough, Wyatt and Christian finally spotted them, and they just stared.
    Aubrey had never seen Wyatt or Christian in suits before. And it almost felt strange to see them so fancily dressed, because, like herself, they didn't look like themselves. Wyatt's suit was a shimmery light grey, statin probably. And his tie seemed to be made of the same shimmery material, but was light purple. And his hair was combed back out of his face. Which, actually wasn't that much different than how it usually was.
    And Christian's suit was dark blue, but his bow tie was teal and orange patterned. Which was almost the color of his hair. The teal part anyway. But speaking of his hair, it was pulled back, out of his face, and made a small ponytail at the back of his head. She realized that was the first time she'd seen his hair like that. It looked...really nice, actually.
    It seemed like forever but they finally reached Wyatt and Christian. Makenzie and Aubrey stopped in front of them and greeted them.
    Wyatt and Christian greeted back, but they still hadn't stopped staring at them. But then, Wyatt blinked, as if realizing where he was again and said " Wow Aubrey... You look-"
    "Shut up." She said before he could finish the sentence.
    Wyatt raised his eyebrows and nodded "Alright then".
    "So, uh." Christian started "Do you guys think Mystique or Ryker are gonna show up tonight?"
    "We discussed it in the car." Aubrey grumbled.
    Christian gave her a confused glance.
    "Ha, don't mind her. She's just grumpy that she's at a party." Makenzie said as she shot Aubrey an "are you serious" glare.
    "Well that wasn't obvious at all." Wyatt said.
    Aubrey glared at him.
    "Yeah. I'd always have to drag her to school dances." She gave Aubrey a teasing smile. Aubrey returned it with a deeper glare.
    "Anyway..." Makenzie started to explain to the boys about what they'd talked about. And they voiced their opinions on the possibility. But Aubrey tuned out what they were saying. She wasn't interested in what Wyatt or Christian thought her superhero identity should or shouldn't do.