Chapter's song: Fallen by presuntos implicados and Randy Crawford. And yes. Couldn't think of another title for the chapter ;)
҉ A ƤriƝɕҽsslɣ CoƝƝҽCƬioƝ ҉
ChaPtEr FIFTEEN _________________________
Fallen…
A small trail of sweat ran on the back of my neck making me cringe. “It’s really hot in here, doesn’t it?” Sol asked as she rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand.
Hot was an understatement. I was literally melting.
We’d been assigned to do laundry. Which consisted on washing an endless amount of towels and white cotton sheets. The washing and drying had been pretty easy. The hard work was folding.
The room was extremely hot and you had to fold each sheet carefully. Plus, we’d been doing this for at least two hours now. I was tired and dehydrated. Sol seemed a bit tired as well but she kept on without complaining.
Suddenly, the back door opened and a brown haired head peeked through the door. “Guys!” Pablo’s chocolate eyes shone excited, “don’t forget about tonight!” He had two water bottles in his hands.
Glad to finally take a break, I finished folding the sheet on my hands and leaned on the table as I grabbed the bottle, “Gracias,” I took a large sip, “but I’m not sure if I’ll be up to it.”
Pablo’s eyes narrowed, “Oh come on! You’ll get some rest on the afternoon!” he turned to Sol, “Right?” She made a thumb-up gesture before gulping down her water, “See?”
I sighed. “Ok. Ok. I’ll sleep for the rest of the day!” I added smiling.
“Awesome. I’ll pick you up at nine.”
“So late?”
Pablo shook his head, “you don’t go out much, do you? It’s not cool to get there earlier.” He looked at me as if I was a lost cause. Which I probably was. “I’ll see you later guys!”
Sol laughed at my feeble wave. “We’ll have fun tonight! Hopefully you’ll be brave and make a move on Jason!”
I pursed my lips and stood straight. Walking to the trash can, I dropped the plastic bottle mumbling, “He’s got a girlfriend, remember?”
She rolled her eyes, “Oh please! Even he said it was not serious! Besides, maybe you haven’t noticed the way he looks at you…” she smiled slyly for a moment. Then, she frowned. “Honestly, it looks as if you’d just met or something, you were pretty distant at the beginning, even hateful at times and now you guys can’t keep away from each other much…” she trailed more to her herself than me.
Oh shit…
“I really hadn’t been around him for a while…” I averted my eyes and started folding sheets again.
“Huh,” she sounded totally unconvinced. I couldn’t blame her, really. It did seem pretty obvious. The fact that we didn’t know each other, not the we’ve got the hots for each other…well...ok…she got that part too. At least from my side.
Trying to change the subject, I asked her, “what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
Sol snorted, “My love life is and will be pretty inexistent…”
Frowning, I dropped the folded sheet on the pile and turned to her, “How so?”
She kept folding for a moment completely averting my eyes. Sighing, she murmured, “I’m in love with someone who doesn’t see me as nothing else than a friend,” she grunted, “even a sister!”
Silently, I resumed my activity thinking about it. I remember that she told me to be careful with Ed…did she sound jealous? Poor girl…the guy was after any girl whatsoever. Hesitantly, I bit my lip before softly asking her about it, “Is it Ed?”
She burst out laughing. Which was a good sign, I thought. She shook her head, “Ed is great for when you want to have fun. And we’d had fun in different occasions, but nothing more. I mean, knowing that the guy you’re pinning after will never look at you that way, you start searching for other options…”
I breathed out relieved. I was feeling really bad for her thinking that she was in love with him. But then I thought it through for a moment. Skeptically, I looked at her, “are you telling me that you’re in love with Pablo?” She looked away. “Oh…” I scratched the back of my neck, “and he sees you as his sister?”
She sighed and leant on the small table we were working on, “That’s what he told me about a year ago. Besides, I’m older than him.”
“For how much?” We had already forgotten the pile of sheets.
She shrugged, “two years.”
“Well, that’s not much…”
Her eyes looked sad, “it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t think of me like that.” My heart sunk for her. I knew exactly how she felt…
“You know what?” I straightened, “What do you say if we dress up for tonight and make sure that we both have fun tonight!”
A small smile played on her lips, “What do you have in mind?”
Shrugging, I commented nonchalantly, “I brought a couple of nice dresses…and I haven’t used half of my clothes, so I’d say that we go back to my room and pick out something nice for tonight.”
Her hazel eyes sparkled mischievously, “are you trying to impress Jason?”
“Maybe,” I winked. I didn’t mention that I was planning to make her look prettier than ever so Pablo could notice her.
I didn’t see Jason other than at lunch and dinner. And we didn’t talk much since I’d been preoccupied paying attention to Pablo and Sol. I appreciated the distraction after the last few days where I’d thought endlessly about him.
Since the hotel didn’t have guests, after dinner, my aunt gave us the rest of the afternoon free. In a way I felt bad for her. Because no guests meant no money…but I forgot about it as soon as Sol followed me to my room. I had the perfect dress for her. It was a halter black Vera Wang dress. It flowed easily to the hips and was pretty short but I just knew that she was going to look great in it.
Excited, I placed the dress on the bed and went back to get a pair of silver heels I’d brought for it. When I turned to show her the pair of shoes I’d picked, my steps froze as I saw her seated on my bed caressing the dress looking sadder than ever.
“Sol?”
She looked at me with brimming eyes. “I know what you’re trying to do, Marianne…but even in the sexiest of dresses, I don’t think he’ll notice me.”
“Hey,” I kneeled in front of her, “if he doesn’t notices you in this, then he’s a blind idiot who doesn’t deserve you.”
A shaky laugh left her mouth. Reluctantly, she looked at the dress, “it’s really pretty…and it seems really elegant.”
I shrugged, “Try it on.”
That was one of the perks of being a royal. A lot of designers would give us clothes so we could show them in public. The bad part was that we weren’t supposed to wear them too much. That sucked if you wanted to wear your favorite dress more than twice. Hence, I’d brought them in hopes to wear them here.
“Show me yours,” she rubbed her eyes with the back of her palm.
Smiling widely, I took out mine. It was also Vera Wang. She was my favorite designer. It was dark blue with a black cinch on the waist. It had a low-deep ruffled v-neck and was draped at the bottom.
“It’s beautiful!” She coed as she touched the fabric.
“Thanks. Now, no sad faces are allowed tonight, ok?” she nodded excited as me, “Let’s get ready, then!”
We definitely took our time. First, each one took turns taking a shower. Then, I dried and straightened Sol’s hair. I applied silver eyeshade on her eyes and let her draw the black liner on top as I dried my hair. Since it was pretty hot, I went for an out-of-bed up-do, leaving some strands framing my face. For the makeup I went more natural, only applying black liner on my eyes. However, Sol made me wear red lipstick, saying that it was the sexiest lip color ever. Without really noticing, nine o’clock arrived too soon and we were still applying the finishing touches. Hurriedly, we walked to the main hall where Pablo and Jason were already waiting for us.
I stepped in front of Sol because I wanted to gauge Pablo’s reaction. He was all dressed up with khaki pants and a white shirt. Jason was standing next to him in black pants and a dark grey shirt. I swallowed hard. He looked good.
Pablo smiled relieved at me, “Girls, get moving! We’re already late and…” his voice faded when Sol stopped beside me. He was totally gaping at her. My lips twitched as I tried not to smile.
“Sorry we were late,” Sol smiled at him. Pablo cleared his throat and mumbled something incoherently before turning away towards the parking lot. She glanced at me raising both eyebrows before following behind him.
A deep dark laugh burst beside me. “So, that’s what you’ve been up to? Trying out to be a matchmaker?”
I met his eyes. They were darker and looked amazing. His hair was all-over the place giving him a rugged yet sexy style. Shaking my head, I denied the whole thing, “No…” As we approached the car, I whispered softly, “do you think it’s working, though?”
He stopped in front of me to open the car’s door, “You both look stunning.”
Frowning, I got in the car to find Pablo looking more nervous than ever. A wide smile played on my face. Oh, it’s working, all right. Jason sat beside me and shot me a knowing look. Grinning, he shook his head.
Pablo drove us to one of the largest hotels in town. Apparently, he was friends with the security guard because they let us walk in without a problem. The place was completely packed. Neon lights were displayed in different parts of the room. Latin pop music was blasting through it all. He led us through the crowd until we stopped in front of a small table. Ed had been waiting for us. A rum bottle had been placed on the table, next to a few glasses and cokes.
Ed’s eyes almost popped out of his sockets as he looked at Sol and then me. A sly smile spread on his face as he leaned to kiss me on the cheek. Jason’s palm was placed on my back and I was completely aware that he was standing really close to me. “You’re looking gorgeous, Marianne!” Ed had to shout because the music was pretty loud. “You’re dancing with me tonight.” He stated determined before kissing Sol on the cheek as well.
I just wanted to dance with a certain someone. I know. Pathetic…
Pablo was still looking flustered as he sat on one of the bar stools. His eyes were everywhere but on us. Sol glanced at him for a moment before casting her eyes down. To be honest, I wanted to beat the crap out of him. He was being so clueless and I felt terrible for Sol. Guilt washed over me. Maybe I’d pushed her too much…
Someone placed a filled glass in front of me. As I looked up, Ed smirked at me. Jason was quiet beside me. When Ed turned around he changed his glass with mine. I sent him a confused look, which he ignored and took a sip of my previous glass. I tasted my drink to see that it was mostly coke. I rolled my eyes. I guess he’s in overprotective mode.
A couple of songs passed while Ed told us about his latest feat. He’d taken some tourists climbing and other scuba diving. It did sound kind of cool. Whilst he talked, I’d managed to move to end up beside Pablo.
“Hey,” I said close to him, “What’s up?”
Pablo’s brown eyes turned to me. He shrugged, “nothing’s wrong.”
I almost roll my eyes. Pressing on, I murmured, “Doesn’t Sol looks amazing tonight?”
He shifted on his seat uncomfortably making me smile. “Yeah, she does.”
“So why don’t you take her out to dance? You know, before Ed does…” I trailed nonchalantly as Pablo glanced at Sol. She was laughing at something Ed had said. I wanted to give myself a pat on the back because that came out perfectly without planning it. He looked at them for a moment before gulping half of his drink and walking over to her.
My eyes followed them until they were pretty much out of sight. Jason raised his glass with a knowing look in his eyes. I couldn’t help but stare at him in awe. He was almost perfect. Even ill-tempered and all. His only flaw was his stupid girlfriend. And the fact that we’d probably never see each other ever again after the summer…
My life sucked…
Big time.
Ed walked up to me and stretched his hand. “I don’t know how to dance to this,” I smiled apologetically at him. It was true. The music was a mix between salsa and pop music and I had no idea how to dance to it.
“I’ll-“
“Sorry, pal. I already asked her on the ride here,” Jason interjected grabbing my hand and pulling me away from Ed; who narrowed his eyes toward us but soon found another girl to talk to, so he didn’t seem to care anymore.
My heart was starting to race already. Just by the sole fact that he was holding my hand.
The dancefloor was utterly crowded. He stopped and turned to look at me. His stare was bold and dark at the same time. It was impossible to look away.
Slowly, he placed both hands on my waist as my lips parted and my heart skipped a beat.
Someone pushed me from behind making me crash into him as the music changed. My breathing was coming out ragged as his eyes bored into mine. Without trying, really slowly, my body started to move in tune with the song. Both my palms were on his chest and I could feel how fast his heart was beating.
Almost as fast as mine.
Almost.
Without breaking eye contact, I started to sway my hips. His hands slid from my waist to my hips as he moved in sync with me. I could feel the heat coming out from him. His touch was making me feel on fire.
I blocked everyone out. It was just Jason and me.
He pulled me even closer making me feel dizzy in a good way. My body tingled all over and my stomach clenched. It was overwhelming to say the least.
At some point, I closed my eyes and let myself go with the music. I’d never felt so free, safe and cherished at the same time. Raising my arms, I danced away, reeling on the way he was making me feel. He never let me go.
I could feel his burning stare. Biting my lip, I opened my eyes utterly aware that we couldn’t get any closer than this. Grey-bluish eyes bored into mine. Inching his face closer, I felt out of breath before his lips brushed mine.
________________________________________________________________________________
Wow. This took me forever to write. And I expect a handful of comments, people!!!!! ;)
So, this week I came across a new story that got my attention from the description. It's Spook and it was written by Gabe (my dedication). Go check it out. It's hilarious and really cute :) She deserves more reads than what she has!!
Oh, I posted the pic for the dress I pictured Marianne in :)