Lady March - (L.L.)

Chapter 15

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

Observing From Afar

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

Late into the fun-filled evening, guests had occupied almost every inch of the March home. At this point, there were so many people inside that it was nearly impossible to figure out just how many people stumbled in uninvited. Drinks were being tossed around, and the gathering was less like a dinner, and much more like a festivity of some sort.

From behind one of the walls which ultimately led to the living room, stood Jo and Laurie - trying their best to catch a glimpse of what the conversation was that was keeping Annie so happy. There she was, sitting on a chair with light illuminating her face, as the unknown boy - who Jo recognized as Maxwell LeBlanc - stood tall across from her, chattering on about something that the two sneaks weren't sure of.

He didn't want to admit it, but Laurie was slightly envious of the encounter that was taking place just a few feet away from him. For him, what was it that was causing Annie to smile so much? - he couldn't recall ever seeing her smile that widely with him around - and they'd known each other for a couple of months now. Then suddenly, this mysterious fellow hopped into their lives and took her away like a storm.

Jo, on the other hand, was just as confused as her best-friend Laurie over there. She didn't want Annie, one of her only friends, to go ahead and converse with random men who she just met that night. Jo had a dream, and that was to get Annie to be with her forever - and that meant, taking all the chances she got to get Annie to step away from any unneeded attention, such as a man.

"Just look at him!" Laurie rolled his eyes, throwing silent daggers at the man. He knew his name to be Maxwell, but to address him by that would be like deceiving himself. "I have a funny feeling about that one."

"Careful, Teddy," Jo smirked, but she too couldn't help the annoying tick in her mind at the mere interaction that she was observing from afar. "Green doesn't really suit you."

He knew what she meant, but he refused to believe that he was jealous in any way. Instead, Laurie thought himself to be feeling protective over Annie. He wasn't going to let her go ahead and ruin her life for some odd boy - she knew better. Regardless of what anyone else seemed to think, he was only doing this for Annie's own good. "I have no idea what you mean."

Jo wasn't having any of it. She leaned back against the wall comfortably and gazed at Laurie mischievously. "Right," she nodded. "I'm just little 'ol Jo," she implored, knowing very well of the effect she was having on him. "For all we know, she could just be having a grand time with Mr. Max over there."

Laurie scoffed in disbelief, and crossed his arms in a failed attempt to hide his irritation. "I don't think so. I say that he's annoying the living heck out of her and she's just faking the happiness to be nice," he said. As if to reassure himself of his words, he then continued, "Yeah. That seems correct."

Jo glanced back and forth between the encounter and Laurie, trying to detect any signs of envy or nervousness. For all the time she had known him, which wasn't long, truthfully - she had a knack for figuring out his feelings. "Probably," she shrugged. "Or maybe, he really has caught her interest."

"Who even invited him?" Laurie asked incredulously. He finally tore his gaze away from Annie and landed it on Jo, who was already observing him thoughtfully.

"Aunt March, I suppose. She did say something about a prestigious family coming to dinner tonight...I think he's from there."

He shook his head with a disappointed sigh. "She really deserves better. I'm worried he might not cherish her the way she should be."

"Who does she deserve then, Teddy?" Jo asked, squinting her eyes at him in consideration. "...You?"

Laurie's face and ears instantly grew bright red. He shook his head and kept his flustered gaze on the ground. "No, not necessarily!" He explained haphazardly. "J-Just better!"

Necessarily. That was the only word Jo needed to hear in order to confirm her suspicion. With all the time she'd spent with Laurie, she realized one thing in particular. He was a horrible liar - it was a trait he could never keep hidden from her, no matter how hard he tried to.

Just when he was about to excuse himself for a much-needed drink of water, a clever and devious idea came to Laurie's mind. Finally giving his full attention to Jo, he smiled wickedly at her - causing her to squint her eyes in doubt.

He didn't even have to say anything, just the look he gave her and the unsubtle motion he threw at the room next door where the soft ballet music was playing, Jo had realized what he had in mind.

She shook her head quickly, muttering out many different signs of declination. "I can't, no! Teddy, there has to be another way to do this."

"There is no other way, Jo! We can do this, please?" He pleaded with sad but determined eyes. "Just for me?"

Jo studied him briefly, trying to figure out the advantage she would have from following Laurie to the other room. She could potentially fulfill her own wish - ruining the plans of the other guests and having a good time while at it. And maybe, she could help out her friend, it wasn't like he had asked her before anyway.

With a worried sigh, she nodded.

***

As the music took its place behind all of the dancers, Annie's celestial eyes shone behind the mask as she placed her delicate hand in his; he placed his hand on her waist and whisked her onto the ballroom floor and they turned and twirled as if they were professionals.

The men and women continued their dance, and to the spectators nearby, every movement was full of poetry. They advanced, retreated, pirouetted, their arms waving from side to side above their heads, their heads swaying, their garments fluttering, their veils hiding their features, yet seeming to show glimpses of dark, flashing eyes beyond.

The young woman's legs extended like a prima ballerina and she glided from place to place, arms held in front, fingertips touching Maxwell's. At that very moment, Annie felt that a moment spent not dancing was a moment wasted. Others saw it as eccentricity, but to Laurie - who stood right beside her - it was perfection. Expression through movement was her genius and watching her hone it was more breathtaking than the new flowers of spring.

"Teddy!" Jo yelped in pain, and it was only then that Laurie had realized what he had done. In the midst of his personal thoughts and observing the content girl next to him, he had unwillingly stepped on Jo's foot in the process. "―my foot."

And from there, everything just went terribly wrong. Though he muttered out a thousand forms of apologies to his best friend, he had also managed to cause the other dancers who were unaware of his foolishness to stumble into him - causing another commotion to occur. Laurie stared with his mouth gaped wide open as every single dancer around him fell to the floor with a thump.

Laurie didn't allow himself to realize it earlier, but now he was sure. He was completely and utterly infatuated with not just the idea of Annie, but Annie herself. And now, as everyone around him saw in agony at how he had caused the collapse of a beautiful waltz, he couldn't help but feel pure embarrassment. What hurt the most was when Maxwell had regained himself from off the floor and confidently offered a hand to Annie.

And she had taken it freely. 

---

Author's Note: 

This chapter was so much fun to write, I absolutely live for the Jo and Laurie interactions. 

Though I haven't really introduced Maxwell that much, I still wanted to get across that he's one of the supposed "love interests" of Annie (or the other girls, you decide ;) ) 

Just one more question: I'm unsure if any of you will reply but do you have any ideas that I could go on with? I have a few myself, but I was wondering if you had anything in particular at mind..?