9:12pm
Alex watched Nisha leave, her face an expression of mild shock, "am I that easy to read?" she asked herself, surprised.
"Yes, you most definitely are." Kaiden's hand pulled Alex's apart, and she realized she'd been pulling at her fingers absentmindedly, her skin red and tender. She smiled at Kaiden, and laughed softly, kissing his cheek.
"I thought you were waiting with the others?" Alex glanced over to where Jordan was dancing wildly to the music that rang out loudly throughout the hall. Bear and Declan stood to the side, engaged in conversation, and Dix had some more governmentally involved parents engaged in conversation, pretending not to notice her boyfriend's ridiculous dancing.
"I was, but I noticed you over here and you looked worried so I thought I'd check up on you. Are you ok? Was it something that Nisha said?" Kaiden glanced at his aunt, a concerned expression on his face.
Alex placed a hand to his cheek, pulling the worried gaze back to hers. The stubble on his cheek was bristly under her fingertips but the skin was warm. Those piercing eyes softened, and the storm in them subsided, turning the blue calm again. "I'm ok. And Nisha did nothing wrong. In fact, she offered me a job."
Surprise flickered over Kaiden's features, "Oh. What did you say?"
"Nothing, she told me to think about it, but I really don't know what I'm going to say."
"Well, if you need someone to talk to or rant to, just let me know."
"Thank you, Kaiden. Now, enough with the seriousness." Alex took his hand in hers and dragged him towards their friends, a slow song was playing and Jordan had taken a pause from his manic moves to spin Dix around the dance floor. The grace in their movements was enchanting, but, with both of them growing up around formal balls and having had to take dance lessons as children, understandable. Alex, carefully passed by the couples, and approached Bear and Declan's conversation. She smiled at Declan who grinned cheekily back, and pulled Bear into a tight hug, laughing when he chose to spin her around, her feet dangling several inches above the ground.
"Where have you been? I thought you'd snuck out the second people started dancing." Bear laughed and placed Alex carefully on her feet, holding out an arm whilst she steadied herself with her heels.
"I was being held hostage by parents. No matter how many times I go to these events, there still always seem to be hundreds of people wanting to thank me." Alex rolled her eyes, before glancing around the ballroom/cafeteria. "Oh, and speaking of parents, have you seen mine?" Alex continued to look, spinning around like a top, trying to spot her mum and dad in the crowd of other parents. Expecting to see them talking to Doc or another professor, Alex examined the group of teachers chatting around the buffet, but they were nowhere to be found.
"Oh right." Declan suddenly remembered, dragging Alex's attention back to him, "They told me that they were heading back to the library to pick up a few things they remembered they'd left there after their last trip." He moved next to Alex to give a quick hug which she returned with a quick squeeze, panic welling inside her.
"What? No, they'll get lost!" Alex was already strolling from the hall, preparing to retrieve them from the library.
"They also told me that you would panic and feel the need to save them, and so I should try to stop you and tell you that they are fine. They said that if they are not back by the time you are ready to leave, then, and only then, are you allowed to 'save' them." Declan put air quotes around save and laughed at Alex's disgruntled expression.
"Fine." Alex did the very mature thing and stuck her tongue out, which brought more laughter from the others. "I'll wait but you better not be lying." She pointed a dramatic finger at Declan, much to the increasing amusement of her friends.
"Yeah, I know better than to lie to you," Declan muttered under his breath. Alex, though, heard him, her Meyian skills picking up the low volume and punched his arm. "Kinda proving my point there Jennings." He nursed his already slightly bruising arm, as Kaiden prepared to hold Alex back if needed. But his girlfriend made no more violent attempts, instead, she suppressed a grin.
"Oh am I, Stirling?" Alex teased, before batting away Kaiden's cautious arm.
A few moments of chatter and laughter later, Kaiden spoke up. "Now Alexandra Jennings, I believe you owe me a dance." He held out a hand, bowing lightly in a very traditional manner.
"What do you mean I owe you a dance? I owe you no such thing!" Alex pushed Kaiden's hand back down to his side.
"Yes you do, remember last year? We were at my graduation, and I kept asking you for a dance but you always came up with excuses, until the very end of the night when I asked you again, and you finally said yes but the second we stepped onto the floor they stopped the music? Well, what did you say to me at that moment?" Kaiden watched her patiently, knowing already that he had won the argument.
"I said I'd dance with you some other time..." Alex muttered under her breath, eyes skirting around the floor.
"I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?" Kaiden's face was filled with mirth, both Declan and Bear trying to hold back laughter.
"I said, I'd dance with you some other time!" Frustratedly, she pulled her eyes up to glare at Kaiden.
"And what time is it now?" He leant forward tauntingly.
"I don't know, I think it is about 9 o'clock but I don't have a watch!" Alex would have stomped her foot and had a tantrum if she was a few years younger, but she settled for the string of curse words that ran through her head, each more obsene than the last.
"Well, It's some other time, so I think you owe me a dance," Kaiden stated triumphantly. Declan and Bear cheered, playing into the 'drama'.
"Fine," Alex replied dejectedly, drawing out the word to delay the inevitable. Kaiden took her hand in his and leaned forward to give her a kiss, but Alex moved to the side, only granting him a kiss on the cheek. Over Kaiden's shoulder, Alex rolled his eyes in Bear and Declan's direction, they chuckled at her annoyance, before forcing their faces to become expressionless as Kaiden glanced back at them. Grinning cheekily, he led an unhappy Alex onto the dance floor. She couldn't help glaring at her boyfriend, even when he promised to get Nisha to make some of the caramel mousse Alex loved next time they were over.
After more songs than Alex could bear, she went to run over to her friends but found them all dancing around her, blocking her escape. Dix took her hand as she ran over and giggled. She spun Alex around once before taking her hand in hers. Alex couldn't help but laugh as Dix put on a very official and deep voice, "a dance if you will". Alex took her hand and curtsied quickly as Dix lead her in a very official dance - Alex did not keep up and kept tripping over Dix's feet.
After a few songs with Dix, some of which they just spent screaming lyrics at the top of their voices, Alex decided she had done her part and went to leave, but Bear took her hand leading her into another dance. This happened again and again as each of Alex's friends drew her into a dance, until she was finally pulled back in by her boyfriend, who laughed at her annoyed expression.
"Are you having a good night?"
"No, but you clearly are. Enjoying my misery are you?"
Kaiden grinned, "you can't tell me that you didn't have some fun! I've been watching you this whole time, and you have barely stopped grinning. Whatever you say, you did have fun tonight."
Alex rolled her eyes, "I guess... but that doesn't mean I'm ever doing this again."
"No but you will dance with me again, I can't have my girlfriend dancing with everyone at this party but me." Kaiden lead her in another dance, and another after that which Alex followed along with grouchily, understanding how much Kaiden was enjoying it.
Several songs later, and Alex was truly getting sick of it and dearly wanting to get revenge, so she started planning it mid-dance. Just to irritate him until she came up with a more permanent solution, she kept 'accidentally' stepping on his foot, hitting it harder and harder as the songs ticked on.
It took awhile, but she finally thought of something, something she definitely should have thought of earlier. She could use her Meyarin blood against him to wear him out. Immediately, she tapped into her Meyarin blood, increasing her speed and agility. After a song or two she felt her energy being to drain with such a long day already behind her, so she told Kaiden she would be back after going to the bathroom. Though she headed in that direction, she veered to the side to requested all the fastest songs, then headed to the bar. After downing a shot of Dilliberry juice, she made her way back to where her boyfriend was stood, 2 more shots in hand.
Kaiden was shocked by her change of heart. The Dilliberry juice had given her an enormous amount of energy and she was dancing rings around him. Kaiden, being Kaiden though, couldn't stop dancing first and admitted to being tired of it because he knew that he would never hear the end of it from Alex, so he danced. And danced. And danced. They danced for so long that there were only a few other couples on the floor, including Jordan and Dix who were swaying together in the corner and Bear and Declan, who only danced to the fast songs, suspiciously pausing deliberately for any slow songs, in which they would walk to the side of the floor, standing awkwardly. Kaiden and Alex only paused long enough for her to go to the bathroom, desperately needing to pee because of the amount of juice she'd ingested.
11:46 pm
Another hour of dancing passed and yet neither of them relented or showed any outward appearance of slowing down, though both their necks were covered in a slick layer of sweat and their feet desperately needed a break. Jordan, Dix, Bear and Declan had all retired several songs ago by that point and were sitting in round cushioned chairs, with cold glasses of water in their hands, and were placing bets on who would give in first, Alex or Kaiden (all but Declan said Kaiden would drop first, with Declan feeling the need to side with his best friend).
Finally, when Dix was falling asleep on Jordan's shoulder and Bear and Declan's lids were starting to droop, Jordan approached the still flailing couple. "Hey, guys. Guys!" Jordan had to yell over the music and eventually placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. She jolted into action, turning to twist Jordan's arm around and pin it behind his back. "Ahhhhh, ow, ow, ow, ok, stop that, please. Pain!"
Alex let go, apologized hurriedly, and brushed down his jacket, after a quick check for injuries - luckily nothing was dislocated. Her hands were noticeably jittery from the juice, and she slurred her words slightly. Jordan laughed, assured her that he was fine, before he gestured back at Dix, who was now dozing off on Bear's shoulder. "I need to take her upstairs before she starts drooling, plus they're about to shut off the music. You guys can not keep dancing, especially since you have to be outer here by like 9 tomorrow. Now I know you have some sort of silent competition going, but I'm stopping it." Alex recognized Jordan's serious expression, it was the one he used whenever he felt protective of his girlfriend which did not happen very often.
"Fine, we'll come up." Kaiden sighed, grouchily, but in his mind, he was punching the air excitedly.
"Yeah, if we have to." Trying to keep any relief from her face, Alex walked over to Dix, gently stirring her from her dozing.