Freedom Series: Chasing Butterflies

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"I think you're drooling a little sweetheart." Maddox mockingly cooed at Nova as she continued to stare in awe of the Fantasy Country Club.

"I don't care." She mumbled, looking at the indoor grand ice sculpture of two wolves howling, it was breathtaking. 

The whole ballroom was breathtaking. It was in a Baroque style complete with twenty-foot tall windows, a tan polyurethane floor, intricate designs on the walls and ceilings, and a grand golden chandelier. In fact, the whole room was designed in cream and gold colors. There were round tables and chairs set up with white table clothes draped over them in the center of the floor, save for a little space in the front meant for dancing that overlooked the courtyard and garden. There were long tables set up on the sides of the wall, also covered in white tablecloths, that housed punch and little finger food.

"You should, you're making me look weird." He teased, stuffing a mini croissant into his mouth.

"You've looked weird since we walked in." She quipped, elbowing him in the side. She took a small glass of punch off of the table and sipped it, scrunching her face up at the bitter taste. She glanced around casually and choked on her drink when she came across a group of familiar redheads. "Oh my God." She gasped, stepping behind Maddox. "Why are they here? No, why am I here? Why are any of us here?"

"Well, they're here because it's their daughter's party, you're here because I needed a plus one, all of us are here because of the first reason." He explained, chomping on a mozzarella stick.

"Maybe I should go, I don't want you to get into trouble because of me." She mumbled, already planning her escape route.

"Oh it's okay, I'm already in trouble." He laughed, finally turning towards her. "I have a confession, I was invited out of courtesy but I was strongly advised not to come." He said simply.

"Maddox!" She exclaimed, laughing at his innocent face.

"They never said that I couldn't come, just that I shouldn't." He shrugged, grabbing a weird looking finger food off of the table and popping it into his mouth. He made a weird face and instantly grabbed a napkin, spitting the food into it. "That's gross don't eat it."

"Wasn't planning on it." She mumbled.

"Is this your girlfriend Maddox?" A young purposefully innocent voice questioned him. This time he choked on his food.

"Kalesta, how are you today?" He choked out, turning to face the younger girl who looked just as beautiful as when she first met her. Kalesta had flat ironed her hair leaving it to stop just under her underarm, she wore a plain white sleeveless dress that had vertical indentations going throughout it, pale blue, royal blue, white, and peach strapped heels, and neutral makeup tones except for a navy blue lipstick. The only thing ugly on her was the condescending look she had aimed towards Nova.

"So this is your girlfriend?" She questioned him again.

"No, I'm just a friend." She reassured Kalesta, who was letting her jealousy shine brightly throughout this room.

"Oh! Well, it's so nice to see you again Nova, but Maddox wants to dance with me and you're about to be pretty busy yourself so goodbye." She chirped, whisking a confused Maddox away by practically clawing his arm off.

Confused herself, she kept staring after them but her focus was broken when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned, a soft smile already on her face that instantly split into shock and then shy in a time span of five milliseconds that she was sure nobody could have noticed. 

"Hi." Anderson breathed, that was all he could say as he looked at the breathtaking goddess in front of him.

"Hi." Was all she could respond with, as she gave the ethereal man in front of her a quick once over she hoped he didn't catch, but from the sudden smug smirk he fought to keep off of his face she could tell he had caught her. He seemed to notice everything about her and just to throw him off of his game as she flipped her hair over her shoulder exposing her left shoulder the way she had seen actresses do in the movies. The way his eyes followed her movement made her shy small turn into a smug grin as he scrambled to recover. 

"You look very nice." He mumbled, giving her direct eye contact. She glanced around at all of the other people dressed in expensive dresses and daring shows and looked at her own hi-low forest green bottomed and white topped dress paired with worn brown wedges and assumed that it was a pity compliment. One that she accepted none the less.

"Thank you, you look sharp as well." She hummed, trying desperately to keep the Jokers smile from lighting up her face and running the poor man off.

"Thank you." He replied, and they stood awkwardly for a few seconds before she decided to turn away towards the appetizers laid out in front of her. 

She saw something wrapped in bacon sitting on a glass plate supported by a glass pedestal and instantly her interest was piqued, you can never go wrong with bacon right? Nervously she reached for it before pausing and taking a deep breath to calm her shaking nerves, then as gracefully as possible she grabbed the pork wrapped goodness into her hand. With a triumphant smile, she turned away only to look back and see the first treat roll off of the plate. 

Apparently, that one piece of food was holding the whole display together as she watched in horror the glass plate slide off and right into the punch bowl. Of course, it couldn't stop there and when the two glass products came in contact they both promptly shattered sending a river of red punch and bacon rolls spilling off of the table and onto the floor. Women began to scream and stumble back as the angry red river chased their expensive shoes and men just watched, slightly confused. The little children instantly began to howl in glee and play in the puddles of red before they were snatched away and scolded by their parents.

In all of the commotion, Nova stood in shock at the disaster she had just created and knew that she was in deep trouble when she heard a familiar high pitched scream of anger. Before she could even turn to the redhead a strong, but gentle, hand grabbed her own practically dragging her towards the giant brown doors and out into the courtyard. She followed the arm up to the persons face and was surprised to see Anderson already looking at her, laughter and longing in his eyes.

<8>

Anyone ever done anything extremely embarrassing in front of a bunch of strangers? lol