Her expression reads the same reaction and I can't believe it's the person I'm staring at right now infront of me.
"...Talon, is it...really you??!!" She says with pure horror written on her face. Well she's not so excited to see me too.
Before either of us can say another word (which sucks because I was going to make a very witty remark). My escort comes almost running to us and has a very relieved look on his face.
"Finally, I've been looking all over for you miss!!! Both of you actually"
He says shooting an angry glare at me and I simply just scratch the back of my neck nervously, managing a small laugh.
"This was the parterner you came with sir, I don't know why you've been refusing all night?" he says " I'm supposed to be the escort that escorts both of you tonight!"he lets out.
We both have 'Oh' expressions on our faces.
So THIS is what he meant about all that parterner nonsense. It now all started to make sense, that means somehow Penny got here, probably before me and the escort lost her and when I showed up , he got assigned to me as his second person to escort. Interesting, so I was paired to Penny?, without even knowing? Now that's something.
I now take time to notice how pretty Penny looks right now, she's wearing heels, well thats a first she's slightly more taller than usual but I'm still taller than her. Her dress is really elegant and beautiful and really brings out her shape, in a good way... and her hair is freed from her pig tails, not completely free but tied up in high pontail with a comb placed in the centre and she even used a little makeup which wasn't necessary if you ask me cuz she's beautiful either way.
"You look....." I pause trying to look for the right word to describe her "...amazing, pretty Penny" and give her my signature smirk.
I try holding the blush that might come to my cheeks, and succesfully do so, so she doesn't think much of it. By simply saying she looked amazing was an understatement because I think there isn't the right word to truly capture how great she looked right now. If I was to give an accurate description, the list of words would be endless and if I actually did it, it would be very awkward between us, so I choose to settle with just a simple comment.
She lightly rolled her eyes but with an evident smile creeping on her lips.
"Thanks" she said "You don't look so bad yourself"
Penny POV
"You don't look so bad yourself"
I tell him after he complements my appearance, he really did look amazing, his suit fit him well and this is probably the most decent I've ever seen him, without a disguise or costume at all. His hair was up, spiky and fresh, like usual which is his basic obssession. Dont make the mistake of touching it, if you dont want to see his VERY angry side, trust me; it isn't pretty (from experience). His tie looks familiar, didn't I see it some market before? Maybe it's just a coincidence. And what I love the most about him right now is not what he's wearing but the one thing he's doing with his face.
He's smiling and whenever he smiles at me like that, I swear I get really weak in the knees and I could just faint right now, that's one of my weaknesses around him but he never usually gives me that smile unless he really means it. Which must be what's happening right now. I manage to keep my posture cuz the last thing I want right now is for him to notice the change in confidence in me.
I wasn't about to tell him anything more about how really good he looked right now cuz knowing him, theres no way I'm feeding his big Ego.
"Geez Pen, I didn't know you thought so" he says while giving a sly smile and wink.
Now I completely roll my eyes and his complete ridiculousness and he just bursts into laughter until the escort draws both our attentions to him.
"Excuse me, It's great to know you do know eachother but it's time for the special dance and now that you found your parterner, sir. You can now both dance" he says.
"What??!!" We both say in unison.
"Yes, you'll have to dance the new year's waltz before the jewel is taken out for the ceremony"
"No way!!!!" We say in unison, again.
"There's no choice in dancing, this waltz has been our tradition for centuries in every new years ball!!, EVERYONE has to dance, or else" he says with a very scary look.
This was not going to be pretty, I hear Talon make a gulp noise and the other escorts get scary faces too.
Talon and I get in waltz position very quickly, and we stare at eachother awkwardly due to the apparent situation. And I notice a bit of nervousness in him, not very significant but noticable. I'm probably just as nervous as well.
We slowly start dancing to the music, it's not all that bad. He decides to make conversation.
"So, what are you doing here Penny?" He says with furrowed eyebrows and a puzzled look on his face.
Come to think of it, Kayla was right, MAD really does 'always' show, well technically, Talon showed but its not like he isn't a MAD agent but maybe he has another reason for coming here before I jump to conclusions.
"I could ask you the same question?"
"But I asked first"
" I asked second"
"What? that doesn't count!"
"It does to me"
He gives me a 'seriously?'😑 look and unfortunately he happened to be holding me in that catching position, his😐expressionless face quickly changed to a cheeky smirk😈. This can't be good.
He lets go and I immediately eat hard floor and land right on my butt.
.
"Owwww!,that hurt?!" I said rubbing my head.
He gives me an evil smirk and folds his arms while chuckling a little, before talking.
"I don't think I like your attitude, Pen"
Ggggrrr! He is so immature sometimes?!! I'm gonna get up and give him a piece of my mind!!! But the terrifying look the escorts give us is almost enough to chase away my negative emotions and replace them with f-fear..., ALMOST.
"WHAT ON EARTH, ARE YOU DOING??!!,Ur supposed to be DANCING!!!" he says wisper shouting with angry fists and almost clenching his teeth.
Both of us are startled by his sudden outburst, It was very frightening to see the very angry look on his face but I keep it professional.
"He's the one who dropped me!!!" so much for professional, I say while I get myself up and folding my arms.
"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO BREAK OUR ANCIENT TRADITION LIKE THAT??!!, Just continue dancing, and get back in position!!!"
"Alright alright! We'll dance!" Talon says while quickly holding me.
So we get back position and groan to how boring this was.Being forced to dance was so not cool.
"Fine, I'm here cuz of a mission, yeah you know, so why are you here?"
"Well, no reason actually, just attending this amazing ball because it only happens every 10 years." He says with trying an honest look on his face.
I don't believe a thing he says.
"Come on Talon, there's no way you would come all the way to Africa to attend some ball without some sort of evil plan on your sleeve" I say with furrowed eyebrows.
"I'm serious Penny! I'm just telling you the honest truth; I just came to attend this ball, nothing else!"
"Hmmm....., alright then but I still dont trust you, I got my eyes on you," I say with slightly squinted eyes before pointing two fingers at myself then at him for emphasis.
He just shrugs and says defensively " Whatever you say Pretty Pen, but I'll assure you, I have no evil plan whatsoever."
Okay then, I'm not going to belive him just yet, I'll have to watch his every move to make sure he really doesn't do anything. We're still waltzing together on the dance floor and I've gotten pretty much the hang of it. We dance in sync with one another and I no idea it could be this much fun dancing with Talon, yet alone him even knowing how to dance this good. Well it's not that shocking he did once show off his dancing skills at that competition where Nigel was judging, he did like a robot & break dance thing, which I admit, was pretty cool. And dancing with him right now felt so right, I had no idea of even meeting him tonight but waltzing with him was like, a dream come true............snap out of it Penny!!!?
"Penny you okay?...your face looks really wierd".
"I'm fine!! I was just errr... thinking of something..."
"Ok then? By the way, I didn't know you knew how to waltz, Pen. You know, cause we both know you ain't the dancing type," he scoffed.
That's kinda offensive, scratch that ; Very offensive, but I'll take it as a complement.
"Geez, I didn't know you thought that much of me. Theres a lot of things you dont know about me, you know?"
"Really Penny? I had no idea, if only we could go out together more and get to know eachother better" He says with a smirk.
Oh thats perfectly normal, he just said he wished we could go out more and.........WAIT WHAT??!!
"Out like, on a date?" I said with wide eyes.
He just wriggles his eyebrows and I blush a faint pink before rolling my eyes, he didn't mean that probably.
"Yeah right, and besides I don't go out with people with that much hair product" I say smugly and I notice he visibly flinches but quickly gets that all known to well smirk back on his face
"Hey, come on ,you love the gel Penny, admit it".
"Never in a million years, Talon"
"Ohh? Then care to explain why you memorized my smell?"
"Hey, It's not my fault that we have countless missions with you wearing alot of hair gel!" I say defensively "'-all the encounters just made me memorize it!".
"Well you still called it 'fresh', remember?"
"Whatever."
Come to think of it, I remember smelling Talons signiture hair gel the other day at the market , I thought I was crazy and I was just imagining things but since Talon showed up here that really could've been him.
"Say Talon, how long have you been in Liberia?"
"Uh...,Why ask? And why should I tell you that?"
Ok Penny, how exactly do I put this to him sounding professional and without sounding like a total creepy stalker?, for literally sniffing it.
"I think I smelled your strong hair gel yesterday at some market."
"Wow Pen, it's very flattering to know that you probably do stalk me by knowing my smell?, and yes I came a few days ago so it was probably me cuz I did go to a bunch of markets".
I can't believe he actually called me stalker, I am so not!!?? Anyway this means I was right by sniffing out MAD, literally, at the market yesterday. I Knew I smelt hair gel, call me crazy but I think knowing his smell is handy, that way it's easier to track him if MAD is up to no good.
"I'm not a stalker!, I'm just...a skilled agent who's familiar with their oponent and is always ready to take them down!"
"Haha, say it how ever you like Pen; it still means the same thing."
"You know what, forget it"
Talon POV
Victory is mine! Anywho, I check the time and see that it's 11:40, yes 20 minutes left till midnight. But I still have this major detail to deal with, Penny. It might not be all that easy with her next to me!
Were dancing until they suddenly change the music to a slow dance and the couples cuddle up and dance to the beat.
This is awkward were like the only ones standing out, odd one out! The escorts give a some sort of expectant look and they've seriously got to be kidding now, were supposed to waltz which was already shocking on its own, but to slow dance??!! That's so gonna be awkward and I don't want that situation with Penny.
She notices what happening to but she doesn't freak out that much but slowly she just goes with the flow and gets in the position and slow dances with me!! I can't believe it!! It feels.......,amazing to say the least and I feel so in love right now, in love and dancing with my enemy, unbelievable! Ha yeah I said it, I confess, all the stuff I said earlier if you thought I did; I do and I have had the longest crush on Penny Brown since the day I first met her probably and I was denying it at first but no matter how much I try to, I can't lie to myself because my feelings for this girl are so strong she means alot to me and wish I could tell her , but I'm not sure if she likes me back, I am her nemesis after all?
It's now 5 minutes to midnight and the jewel has finally been displayed it's forest green and shiny and I can hardly wait for it.
A shocking thing happens next, all the couples start KISSING, almost everyone around us even some ecorts too?(some escorts are female fyi) and they cant possibly expect us kiss too, that's personally going too far!!!! Penny suddenly flinches too after she notices what's going on like me.
"They...." she says weakly " Dont expect us to do that too do they?"
There is total panick in her eyes and she sounds so nervous, not like I'm doing any better.
"Dont people wait to do this AFTER midnight??!!" I say as I'm totally puzzled as to why people are kissing right now.
The escorts really DO give that expecting look and we're odd one outties again, boy you gotta be kidding me. I'm tired of their crazy Liberian traditions!!!
I can't believe my own eyes when finally, I see Penny after what looks like a total mental conflict. Close her eyes and slowly leans in with slightly puckered lips!!!??
Another cliff hanger!!!?? I feel guilty, actually I dont cause I'd work at MAD!!!, so evil!! Thanks for reading this chapter and see you guys soon again!!!!
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