A Tangled Web of Truth | Complete (ONC 2021 Shortlister)

5. Why Me?

Ailine, who had collected Oketa at some point, found Alicia shortly after the prince had left.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she laughed. "What are the odds Miss Didn't Want to Come would be the first of us to meet a gentleman!" She gently nudged Alicia's shoulder with her own and whipped out her fan to cover her mouth.

"He was..." Alicia began, still having no idea how to explain what had just happened. He's the prince. There's no way he isn't. Or maybe he isn't. But he's connected. Why would he dance with me? Maybe--

"Alicia!" Ailine's whisper was louder than it needed to be. "What is going on?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, not wanting to explain her theory to the one person who could crush it all. "I was just thinking the prince wouldn't be dancing with me but no one else is really here so that guy must know the prince..." she put on her best gossip face and continued. "I really should have asked him for some inside information."

Ailine's giggle twinkled across the ballroom and her eyes flitted downward. Alicia glanced across the room to see the first of the gentleman floating down the stairs.

"Oh, Ailine, cool it will you? Don't play with them!"

"I have to play a little! That's the fun!"

"But it's not like you're going to marry one of them."

"Not tonight," she said simply. "But maybe one will catch my attention."

Alicia knew that feeling well. "Yeah, maybe."

"Oh, come on!" she encouraged. "He was kinda cute looking behind that mask, and a good dancer. You could have some fun at least."

Trying to take the conversation off of herself, Alicia turned to Oketa who so far had been standing silently slightly behind the two girls, hiding almost all of her face behind her fan.

"What do you think, Oketa? Is Ailine being at all reasonable?"

She giggled slightly and leaned in so she could whisper in Alicia's ear. "I think she's trying to get good word back to her parents that she's trying. But she won't admit it. As for me, I'm not sure why I let you all talk me into this."

"Because," Ailine cut in, "we all know you have fun dancing once you relax a little."

"And," Alicia continued, "the food here is supposed to be very good. You don't want to hear us talking about it for weeks and wish you had been here."

"I know," Oketa sighed. "You are both right. I just wish I could relax a little."

"Well, it is a masked ball," the girls said in unison. "So at least you know if I embarrass myself, no one will know it was me," Alicia finished.

"That's true..."

"Oketa, come on. I'll show you the table I put our cards on earlier," Ailine held out her hand for Oketa's and pulled her along across the room toward a superbly placed table.

Leave it to Ailine to have all the connections, Alicia thought to herself as she trailed behind her friends, her eyes inadvertently searching the room for the man who had swept her off her feet.

* * *

Dinner was as delicious as Ailine had promised. All three girls, as well as the five gentleman Ailine had invited to join them, devoured every bite. Even Oketa, whose nerves were still showing in the tapping of her foot under the table, managed to eat the entire meal before the plates were whisked away.

There had been no speeches, as was customary. Because the prince would not reveal himself until the end of the evening, that is when the speech and its acceptance would occur. Ailine did avail herself of some of the wine offered at the table, and Alicia sipped some of hers, but Oketa stuck firmly to the water.

Joke was on her, though, as that was apparently what drew her young gentleman suitor to her. "Would you care for this dance?" he asked from behind us, extending his arm to Oketa. "And then maybe we'll have some more water."

She smiled excitedly at Alicia, who gladly returned the gesture. It was nice to see Oketa having some fun. She struggled in settings like this to feel confident, though there was no reason for her to do so as far as Alicia was concerned. She was intelligent and witty and fun to be around. Surely others would see it too.

Ailine wasted no time offering her hand to the gentleman seated immediately to her right and whisked off right after Oketa.

As usual, Oketa's observations appeared astute. Ailine was determined to entertain herself and be vibrant enough that she caught the attention of some of her peers. Presumably, she was hoping the news would travel through their parents and reach her own. No matter how often she fought with her parents, Ailine still wanted to keep a relationship with them. It was a tricky situation Alicia tried not to pry into too often.

Alicia's eyes wandered across the dancefloor and her mind drifted back to the man from earlier in the evening. She couldn't pick him out of all the other men at the party. How would she know if it was him again? Maybe she should try another random guy and see if she felt the same thing. Maybe it was just the excitement of the event that was making the butterflies wiggle in her stomach.

Her feet seemed to carry her without her consent through the dancing couples toward the door that the mysterious man -- she was refusing to believe he was the prince -- had indicated. Her shoulder tingled where his hand had brushed it and the warmth spread across her chest and up into her face as the couples swirled around her.

This is ridiculous, she reasoned with herself. I don't even know who he is. I should go around and find some other people to dance with.

The doors to the garden were open and a cool breeze blew the light gold curtains into the room slightly as she approached. But I don't even know who he is. I couldn't pick him out of a crowd. It would be so embarrassing to see him again later and have him ask why I didn't come.

Her shoe pinched at the back of her right heel and she slipped it off, balancing on her left leg with the aid of a nearby column.

The scent of roses slipped in the door with another small breeze and the curtains brushed against Alicia's skirt. Or I could just leave. Disappear into the night and find Ailine's Limo guy and fall asleep in the back while I wait for her.

And she almost did it. She would have if she hadn't felt his hand on her shoulder.

"May I have this dance?"

It was him. She had no idea how she knew, and she didn't recognize his voice at all, but the hand on her shoulder was definite. The tingling spread down her arm like ice cream on a hot day.

That, she thought hopefully, or I am about to confirm my theory that this ball is what's causing the flutters, and not a particular man.