Surrender

chapter 21

Chapter 21

"What the hell is going on?" Ivy demanded, the train of her dress slithering down the stairs like a snake made of silk.

            Pacing with both hands clutching at his hair, Chris declared, "I have to go after her."

            Ivy laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "We don't have time for jokes. Let's go." She started back up the stairs, but stopped when she found Chris hadn't budged. "You can't be serious," she added with a sour tone.

            "I have to go after her," he repeated and pushed against the exit door.

            "Are you insane?" Ivy shouted from her pedestal and back-stepped.

            He took one last glance at Ivy's retreating back as she rushed up the stairs. Then he crossed the threshold, blinking away the flashing stars in his eyes, and pushed through the raucous crowd.

            "Chris, does Ivy know about Sophie?" one paparazzo shouted.

            "Chris, over here! Over here!" another clamored for his attention.

            A sea of fans surrounded him with hand-made signs and hysterical cries like seagulls fighting over a potato chip. Using his forearms, he elbowed his way through to the street where he dodged through the rush hour traffic. If anything happened to Sophie, he would never forgive himself. As he turned the corner on Lexington, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a burgundy dress. He broke out in a run, the scorching hot concrete scratching at the soles of his bare feet. He dashed across the street on a red light, a city bus nearly taking him down like road kill.

            A flock of pigeons scattered as Sophie dashed across the cobblestone sprinkled with bread crumbs, her chic ponytail unraveled, the warm wind whipping her sun-stricken locks into chaos.

            "Sophie!" he shouted after her.

            She tossed a glance over her shoulder at the call of her name, but continued to run. In the next instant, she crashed onto her hands and knees. Heart thundering and chest heaving, Chris skidded to a halt and knelt beside her.

            "Are you okay?" He placed both hands on her cheeks, willing her to look him in the eyes.

            She shoved his hands away roughly and rose on wobbly knees. Her heel snagged between the cobblestone, making her lose her balance, and she put out her hands once more. A pair of German tourists standing by with a subway map helped her up by the elbows.

            "I'm okay. I’m okay," she insisted, her cheeks matching the burgundy hue of the skirt she smoothed down.

            "Miss, uh…" one of them stumbled in broken English and gestured to her knee.

            "You're bleeding," Chris said.

            Wordless, she glanced down at her knee and then at Chris before she hobbled away from him with her head held high, attempting but failing to display what little dignity she had left.

            A group of gaping-mouthed teenagers brandishing their cell phones flooded around them.  

            A woman with a wild look in her eyes jumped out of the growing crowd. Before Chris could even react, the woman marched up to Sophie and tossed a large, blueberry Slurpie down the front of her dress.

            A high-pitched gasp jumped from Sophie's throat.

            "That's for Ivy, you home wrecker!" the woman shouted.