Desire & Blood - The Thorne Siblings

8. Trivia

I found Camille and Sandra chatting with the payroll people. Bob had disappeared, maybe still busy with the hyena.

Camille literally jumped when she saw me, making the silk flower on her dress wobble in excitement. "Damn, you danced with Thierry Thorne. We saw you! How was it? What did he say? Will you see him again? What—"

I held up a hand to stop her. "Just relax, woman. Yes, we danced. He's an excellent dancer... and I'm not. I won't tell you what we talked about. And I don't have another date with him."

A waiter passed with a tray of champagne flutes. I grabbed one and downed it in one go, hoping it would calm the wild gallop of my heart.

"And what did his sister say? She came to you after the dance, we saw her." Camille used my drinking to get in another question.

I shrugged. What did she say, actually? "She didn't talk to me. Came to fetch Thierry."

"And what did you tell him?" Camille couldn't stop.

"I've told him what a TCorpse is." I giggled.

"A TCorpse?" She smacked her forehead. "Are you out of your mind?"

The champagne had reached my system. Before more glasses followed and I lost complete control, I had to put an end to this. "Listen, Camille. Let's stop this talk about the Thornes now. I won't tell you anything else."

"But—"

"You heard her," Sandra said.

Camille crossed her arms and glowered at her.

"Don't pout." Sandra moved her head closer to Camille's. "I think the payroll guys are watching you."

Camile took a deep breath and relaxed.

Sandra took both our arms. "Let's find some food."

The three of us drifted through the hall, without aim and at a slow pace. We ate strange tidbits, drank liquids I didn't even know the names for, talked nonsense, viewed the performances, and watched the jungle's plant and animal life.

And I made sure I was in plain sight all the time, an easy find for anyone who might be looking for me. Such as Thierry. Not that I cared, though, of course.

Anyway, he didn't show up again.

As time went on, the scenes before me started to blur at the edges. But there was more food and more drinking, and somewhere along the way, we lost Camille to Jake from payroll. The alcohol was buzzing in my brain and made thinking hard, which left me at the mercy of Sandra. Yet I trusted her, so I didn't mind when she steered me towards a corner where a group of people stood laughing.

A man clad all in green ruled a small dais, holding a notepad. "Now to the next question..."

The audience watched him with rapt attention. A queasy feeling stirred in my stomach—I assumed it was my body's unspoken advice to stop today's intake of fat, carbs, and spirits.

Fuck caution.

The green man took up a glass from a table beside him. "How many peas can you fit into an empty glass?"

What peas? Large or small ones? The man was withholding information, and this felt like a trick question.

The audience shouted numbers, anything between 1 and 1000. I murmured an 86 without good reason.

Then I heard a familiar voice. "None." It was Lawrence Liang from IT support, still in his parrot color scheme.

"Oooh, who do we have here?" Sandra whispered into my ear.