One week later...
Melinda was in her mansion inside her bedroom getting ready for the ball and had three different stylists readying her for the event. She was facing the wall that was actually a massive mirror covering the back wall from end to end and the room was the size of four bedrooms crammed side by side. In front of the wall was a large kit of beauty items that every hair and make up stylist could dream of. The kit was so sizable that it stood ten feet into air of the vast amount of combs, make up kits of every color and shade, along with hair sprays, dryers, curlers, and shampoo and conditioner. In the center was a large enough gap that she could see past the kit and see her full body reflection staring back at her.
With the bright lights outlining the kit illuminating her posing body, the three designers worked diligently at measuring her body and moved in rotations to get as many measurements as fast as possible. They took a moment to leave, giving Melinda a second to herself. In a flowery black push-up bra and matching undies, Melinda blew herself a kiss and the women appeared once more with a dress that they covered in thick white plastic.
"See if this is to your standers." the smiling Asian-American woman offered. Melinda took it with a gracious smile as the woman helped her carefully unzip and remove the dress form the plastic. Then the woman took out an eye cover that one would use to help sleep. "I want it to be a surprise."
With a chuckle, Melinda agreed and put the blindfold over her eyes and felt the three women wrap the dress onto her skin in mere seconds. She could feel the front of the dress making it's way up to her shoulders and the final zip going up her very lower back.
"Okay, lift the blindfold." a different woman asked of her. Melinda complied and gaped in awe of the show-stopping dress. The three women seemed to be satisfied with her reaction and gave each other nods of approval.
The dress was skin tight and was mostly a dazzling black overtaking the right side and sprinkled with multicolored jewels embedded in the fabric. Only the left side had a sleeve that clung to her skin all the way to her wrists and the dress ended in a long, silky trail that stopped a foot behind her on the ground. There was a slit running along the side that had started right below her waist.
There were soft Geo designs running down the front black and dark gray lines but the thing she couldn't take her eyes off of was the huge golden rose that covered her entire left shoulder. Only the very ends of the rose became three-dimensional, but was packed with various textures and small crystals.
A dark golden line that passed through different parts of the lined designs of the dress, scattering the golden line as it went down and divided the dress, at a slant, between the black side and the dark gray side. The only real difference was that the slick Geo designs of the dress inverted to where they would be more gray instead of black.
The inside of the dress was also golden yellow as it showcased the very low V-neck, along with the inside of the loose waves at her feet. There was a dark golden "X" at the upper half of her shoulder blades that connected the two sides of the dress since there was practically no back to it, bringing attention to some of her waist too.
"It's beautiful..." Melinda muttered. "I don't know where to begin..."
"But it's nowhere near over!" the Asian women jumped in excitement. She then pulled out a box that had a fancy textured cover and opened it with absolute delight. She pulled out two golden high heels that were glossier than oil.
The colors matched perfectly as she kicked out one foot and the woman fitted the shoe onto her foot and doing the same for the other. She stood much taller and held out her arm for the woman to slid on the thin, golden sleeve glove that ended just below her bicep on her right arm, the arm that didn't have a sleeve.
They then carefully set her down on on a seat in front of the ultra deluxe make up kit and quickly got to work on her face. Through layers of blush, primer, shadowing, liner, lipstick and lashes, they got the most perfect look for Melinda.
When she opened her eyes, she saw glistening gold eyeshadow on her eyelids, a perfectly toned face that made her ebony hazel eyes seem to glow, liquid gold lips that faded to a darker shade as it reached the outside, and long black lined eyelashes that could touch her glittered trimmed eyebrows.
They removed the glove and got to work on her nails with them turned out to complicated process that made them had detailed sparkling silver butterflies fluttering on a pure sparkling gold canvas, but on the ring finger, the nail was a glittering silver and three gold different sized rings lie atop. She enjoyed flashing the gloss covering layer into the light because different light angles on the butterflies made them appear to flap their wings.
Then it was onto the hair. The sprayed it with a chemical that dampened it so they could wash a condition without any water running off while the shampoo and conditioner were designed to disintegrate to avoid having to run water through it. A couple sprays later and careful yet rough hands running through her hair, the masterpiece was finished.
The super curled brown hair hung in massive loops along the front while the rest of the hair was put up into a very layered and complicated bun that packed with so much hair that it nearly seemed to make a second head that was designed like a petaled rose. It was glittered and ready to go.
Though Melinda already pulled off looking like a dream in a human form, she was finally ready for her favorite part: the jewelry.
Of a vast selection, she choose three yellow diamond studded rings of different shades and designs and a glittery gold spiral ring that lead up to the top joint of her thumb. She then picked out a thick gold-chain bracelet that was decorated with small diamond stones throughout.
Of the many necklaces lining the top bar of jewelry, the one near the left end jumped out at her. She picked it up and the women fit it around her neck and she was dazzled at the effect it had on the entire getup.
It was made up of a series of golden half diamonds that started at both ends and got bigger as they created a whole one in the center that was the biggest of all and was the most decorated. Each stone sat of a silver platter of rows of white and yellow diamonds. Even the silver chain that held up the necklace was packed with golden beads and white diamonds
"I see you're accustomed to the yellow sapphire," the woman nodded. "I believe the matching earrings are over this way."
Aside from a little extra jewelry here and there, she was ready to head off to the Winston Ball that she was already running a little late to.
The three women pulled away the deluxe beauty salon station away from the wall mirror since it was on wheels and Melinda clapped her hands twice. The mirror wall slip up into different sections around her and positioned themselves so that Melinda could see every angle of herself.
Just as she thought the look couldn't get any better, the women came up behind her with a huge, gold and fuzzy scarf. She gave a few poses and the women gave her a small applause after dressing her up like their own, personal toy doll, a very, very expensive one at that.
"Bring me my limo."
****
By the orders of Eric, Joana was forced to get a night's rest at home and sat in her couch, kicking back and sipping a small glass of cheap wine...while studying the schematics of the stabilizers final design process and the job they were supposed to preform. The wine was even diluted with an energy drink to make she doesn't get hammered a second before she chooses to.
She was using her living room desk that had a screen across the surface and was swiping through the blueprints to make sure they can pull off such a job.
Mind lost in the files, it took a couple moments to register that someone was banging on the front door. She shook her head as she heard someone yelling from the other side.
"Your lights are on!" the person shouted. It was a very distinctive voice but it couldn't be...
She swung to the door and looked through the small peephole that made her gasp and slightly afraid to open the door. Knowing that of course she was going to open the door, she unlocked it and pulled it open to the point where the ball chain kept it from going any farther.
She gulped. "Nick?"
"Hello, Joana," he replied. "I need to come in."
"If you haven't noticed, you're a criminal for espionage." she muttered.
"But there's so much more to it than that, you have to believe me." he pleaded.
"So you're not denying that you're a spy?" she asked, puzzled.
"I wouldn't lie to you, Joana, you deserve so much more than that," he sighed. "Besides, you're the only person I can trust."
Her face grew stern. "And what the hell makes you think that I won't call the cops right now?"
"Because you were the only person who decided that we should join Nexus in the first place to save all those people's careers."
She felt uneasy about it, but she unlocked the door and let him inside. He walked inside and briefly took in his surroundings. It wasn't the first time he had been there because them two had teamed up to brainstorm many times before and struck a unique type of friendship. Now, it seemed to be the childhood home of a friend he used to know as he retraced old footsteps into the living room.
They both awkwardly sat down around the table on her beige furniture. Funny and uneasy glances shot back and forth between them as Nick took a deep breath.
"I'm here becau--"
"Why did you lie to us?" she shouted over him.
"It's not like I had a choi--"
"Why did you spy on us, huh?!" she called out.
"Because it was my job, I--"
"I can't believe you would do such a thing! We all trusted you and thought you were really there to help us!" She blurted, nearly rising to her feet.
"Believe it or not, once I caught on to what you guys were cooking up, I was fully on board to see it through." he admitted. "I just--"
"No! You don't get to explain yourself to justify what you did to us!" She went on and on and Nick had no choice but to let her as she seemed to be fighting back tears. "Now we've learned to work without you!"
"The men there are like machines, wonder how fun that must have been like."
"Just because we have to somehow manage without you, doesn't mean it got easier!" She barely had a hold on what she was saying anymore.
"Well it seems you got by pretty fine!" he shouted, pointing at the desk's screen. "And what is that."
"That's classified," she hissed as she closed out the board. "So you have no part in it."
He crossed his arms. "Well there's the fact that the cooling vents have a significant error."
She gave him a skeptical look. "Is that so?"
He returned the look with a snark. "You've been having problems with the hydro-fusion frozon mechanism?"
"How did you...?" she questioned.
"You forgot scientific engineering was my forte" he stated. "Why would you need a machine that uses water molecules to cool what seems to be a huge energy power?"
She thought about staying silent but she knew Nick would soon figure it out. "We figured how to amplify the ore's power."
Nick's jaw dropped. If he hadn't heard it from Joana herself, he probably would have gotten the message sometime in the future by Adrian. Either way, this was earth shattering news to him. "But...why would..."
"The effects were a lot more...disastrous...than we first predicted," she confessed. "We need to be able to contain the ore's power."
"That's were these, uh, stabilizers come in?" he guessed which she confirmed with a straight face and silence. She had already pulled back up the schematics and saw that the hydro-fusion issue was boldly highlighted in red. She gave him a dirty look which he answered with a guilty shrug.
"Tell me what we have to do and maybe, just maybe, I won't report you to the authorities."
****
We've been hiking though the endless amount of sand for I don't know how long and the sun only seemed to be pounding harder and harder since the new sunrise. Chase had once licked his extremely dry lips but quickly wished he could take it back when the stinging started.
Funny thing was, Chase was far more upset about losing his prized jacket than losing the vehicle our lives depended on. One could call it selfish but that jacket has been passed down through generation after generation and just like that, it was gone forever.
I still had my just-barely-holding-up right leg that was now supported by a long branch Chase had broken off of a deserted tree a couple miles back.
"Hey, Skylar, do you see that?!" Chase shouted in my direction. "Look." He pointed in the distance to the right and there was what seemed to be a bit of vegetation growing over there. We quickly changed directions and made our way there as fast as we could manage.
We began to wad our way through sandy beach palm trees as a silvery lake made a stunning guest appearance. Scattered white rocks lie here and there but it was really the streaming water that captivated our immediate attention.
It was like, the closer we got to the small lake, the dryer our mouths became, a sick game our bodies declared ready to play on us. Chase helped me through the last stretch as we both crashed to our knees and doused our faces in probably contaminated water. But who cared?
After downing more than we could have ever hoped for, we both cradled back onto our bums and stared off into the sky. Slowly, we made it to our backs and our heads crossed on the ground next to each other. With a turn and a kiss, he began to giggle wildly and I couldn't help myself but to join. It was like a huge middle finger to fate and circumstance because in the end we had each other and there was nothing fate could do about that.
The infamous phrase, "I love you." was said in serious tones to really show that we meant it but after about three minutes, it was thrown around like a heated game of dodgeball.
"But there's so much I don't know about you..." he trailed off once more. He shrugged, noticing that the words blew over my shoulder exactly like last time. "Why don't you tell me anything about you?"
I kept my gaze locked to the ocean blue sky above.
His body shifted. "Answer me." he said sternly.
My attention switched to his emotional face. "Chase..."
"No, what?" he barked. "All that pain I see built up behind your eyes that you never let up on."
"You're one to talk." I countered.
"I've told you my woes," he bit back. "I feel like I can't trust you any more. You're so...distant now."
I look back at the sky. "Whatever Chase, I like what we have now and I would like it if you kept it that way."
He stood up and backed up a few inches as I rose to my feet. "That's not good enough for me!"
My glare fell in sync with his. "What then? All we have is each other--"
"Which is why I have a right to know what the hell is happening in that head of yours."
"A right?" I asked. "I knew you would get in the way!" I thought out loud.
"What?!" he shouted. "In the way?"
"Can't you see that you were just a distraction? And not even a good one."
"This would be the part where I ask you 'A distraction from what?' but as it turns out, I don't give a rat's ass," he shouted back. "And as I recall, you passed out in front of my car, I saved your pathetic hide and you attacked me, three times!"
My face burned in anger. "That should have been the first sign not to trust me."
"Given that I know all of two things about you, you've never given me the chance to do just that!" His face remained furious but after a couple minutes, it softened into sorrow and regret. He sighed. "God, that was terrible to say."
I displayed the same emotion almost like a mirror. "But you're right..."
"It's just that I can tell that you're hiding so much and will say so little about about your life or your family or what the hell you're doing in South America actually, given your beyond-American accent."
As we gave way into more intimate but guilty glances while studying the other person's face, our inhale and exhaling actually began to synchronize, matching the wheeze and puff of the process. He looked up at me as I opened my mouth only to pause...then speak. "You know I can't tell you anything you don't already know."
"Skylar," he winced. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"You're not making any sense!" his anger quickly returning. "Is wanting to know more about my lover so fucking impossible?!"
"Yah, asshole, well why won't you tell me something personal about you for once?!" I called back.
He continued to shout how he had admit personal things but it was audible in his voice how we both knew that there was much more under his surface now made of cracking thin sheets of ice.
"Why don't you tell me about how your father died tragically or how about how you wished it upon him?" I screamed.
"How the hell do you know about that?" His face scorched in a thousand different shades of a pain and regret.
"Or about how you practically witnessed your family burn after the explosion and didn't do a damn thing about it?" I shot at him.
His face dropped to a murderous glare. "You bitch."
"So let's start there, shall we," I continued. "You worthless child."
"Don't say another word!"
"Now tell me how would I know that, Chase!"
"Shut up..."
"How would I know that you sat ideally by as people were wiped out right in front of you?" I pestered.
"Shut up!"
"How would I know that it was your fault your father died in that accident?!"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut the hell up!!"
"How would I know that your own father tried to kill your--"
"Because you don't exist!"
****
A/N: Don't forget to vote!