Falling For Coke

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

After several complaints, many "Ooooohs!", loads of sneezing because of the makeup, lots of "Theez weel dos", and a considerable amount of "Mercis!", we are finally ushered out of the salon with the lady gushing over my excellent French.

"You look gorgeous," Grace exclaims, performing a sloppy pirouette.

I narrow my eyes at her then swat her on her shoulder playfully. "Naw, you look gorgeous-er."

The salon lady did a wonderful job on Grace. She styled her hair to perfection, piling all the auburn curls on top of her head (Your hair eez beeyooteefool!) and doing amazing smokey eyes on Grace. And finally, painted her lips with a vivid red lipstick and dusted it with a glittery silver powder.

I'll tell you what I look like later, wink, wink.

We hurry up to the apartment to get ready. The masquerade starts at three, ending at twelve am. That's a total of nine hours of dancing and drinking, not that I'm into dancing and drinking.

I slip into the crimson dress that Vanessa gave me. It's a nice sleeveless dress with intricate patterns of lace and beads running around my torso. It then flows down to my ankles. Here's the catch, the entire back part is, well, backless. I put on a pair of nude heels to match.

So the lady who did my makeup is spectacular. Here's what happened.

Me: Not too much makeup, please.

Lady: Sure.

Me: Really? Because my friend over there likes a lot of makeup. I want my face to look almost naked compared to hers.

Lady: Sure.

Me: Just lipstick and eyeshadow, okay?

Lady: Sure.

So what she did was that she applied a nice reddish brown eyeshadow to my eyelids. Then she lined my lips with a dark brown lipstick. Then she curled my straight brown hair and let it fall over my right shoulder. I love the simple look.

We arrive at the party just in time. We hand our invitations and we enter the room.

"The schedule..." Grace starts. Her eyes light up. "There's an Anonymus Dance!"

I frown at her."What's that?"

"Well, apparently your partner's gonna be anonymus, I think," Grace says, looking at me.

We slip on our sequinned masks just as the host almost screams, "WELCOME HOME CARLOS!"

I applaud along with the rest of the guests as a young man, with evident Spanish blood, walks up the stage in a gray tuxedo and smiles.

"Now, time for the Dance! Everyone, grab the guy or girl nearest to you!"

So that's what anonymous dance means. I simply move to the guy in a dark gray tux and a black sequined mask that covers only his eyes. I feel more confident behind my mask. No one knows who I am anyway.

The music starts and the guy hesitantly places his hands on my waist. I place my hands on his broad shoulders. I've never been too big on ballroom dancing.

"Well, hi," my partner says awkwardly as he twirls me around. He has quite a posh voice, almost like Alex's, half American, half British. He has such a rich voice, making me feel more firmly planted to the ground.

I know. Crushing on a stranger. Cliché.

"Hi," I say. His grip on me tightens. Whaaa...?

I laugh nervously, and gently loosen his hold on my waist. "We're still strangers, remember?" I remind him.

He stares at me. And for a moment there is a flash of blue behind the eyeholes of his mask.

I stare back at him. "What's your name?" I ask carefully.

"Anonymous."

"Seriously," I press.

"What's yours?"

I hesitate. "Um..."

His mouth curls into a smile. "Seriously."

"Bright." I finally say.

Hlis smile stays plastered on his face, as if when I said my name, the world just froze.

"Uh... Hello? What's yours? I told you mine..."

He grabs my wrist. "Come with me."

Oh okay. That was quick. "Why?"

"Please."

I nod reluctantly and we weave our way through the rest of the guests outside the room. Suddenly, everything is quiet and still.

"Bright?" he croaks.

"Yes."

"Bright," he pauses. "Young?"

I freeze. Carefully I lift my hands and gingerly lift his mask off his face.

"Oh my god," I mutter. I continue gaping at him like an idiot.

"Coke?!"

His dark blue eyes are just so beautiful. A sparkling tear runs down my cheek. I rip my mask off and I hug him. He strokes my hair and we stand in that position for ages.

"I could just kiss you!" Coke says, laughing. Then his face falls. "Never mind."

"Huh?" I ask. "Coke?"

"I have a girlfriend," he whispers sadly.

And the world just dissolves under my feet. And I'm falling down, down into nothingness.

"Who?" I say, trying not to shout.

"Coley!" A voice shouts.

And a girl with blond hair is running to us. She stops, and turns to me coldly. "Bright," she says.

This can't be happening. This has to be a dream. Just a dream.

"Sophia," I croak.

Sophia locks fingers with Coke and says,"Come on!"

Coke glances at me with those mesmerizing blue eyes.

I stare back and I slowly back away from them. "No," I whisper.

Coke starts toward me. "Bright, wait."

I turn around, my chest heaving up and down. "Well, congrats, you two," I say in a sarcastic voice, far from my regular one. "Gotta go."

And I run as far away as I can from the one guy I'd loved in my life.

Ever.

* * * * *

Thank you to Vivisaurus for that amazing gif banner:) I love it. A LOT.

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-LivingInTheCity