Behind The Mask

Chapter 38

Anouk’s POV

I light up a cigarette and hold the smoke in my lungs for as long as I can, trying to curb down my sincere wish to wring her neck. Of course she came to our table with that damn blood red lipstick on her obscene mouth.

“When I smoked, you’d throw a tantrum. Messing with your precious voice and stuff.”

She smiles sickly and I can’t help myself. I blow smoke straight into her face.

“You used to smoke more…exotic stuff, to say gently”, says Michael between his teeth.

I shake my head and hurry to stub out my cigarette. This party is so over. I hoped we’d have fun. I hoped we’d be dancing and laughing and feel like going clubbing. But this bitch had to show up and fuck up everything.

“Let’s dance, Anouk.”

It’s not an invitation. I feel his hand pulling mine and we join the people on the dance floor. We fall into the thumping beat, all feeling so easy and natural under his expert guidance.

“Don’t let her ruin our night, Nooki. You look fabulous. I honestly mean to have fun here and ignore her. Look at me…. Look in my eyes, Nooki! You’re beautiful and I love you and we’re gonna have fun at this party.”

The certainty in his voice fills me up. Yeah, he’s right. Why let this bitch ruin our night? We only had one date out…in the Blue Moon club. And we weren’t even together back then. Why spoil this perfect night of dancing and partying?

So I turn around, my back to his front and I start dancing all over him. Hell yeah, I’m with the best dancer in the world! Suck it up, nasty bitch! You have no idea how to make a man happy. Certainly not with that sour face and snobbish airs!

Michael’s hands steady my hips before I lose control and we end up doing more than dancing on this dance floor.

“Let’s save that kind of fun for when we get back home, shall we?”, he whispers sexily in my ear and I nod frantically.

“Yes, baby! You’re gonna love me all night long, right?”

He chuckles in my ear and spins me around.

“All life long I’ll love you, Anouk. You’re my true and only one. You really are!”

All this time Lisa was staring at us. Not looking on. Not browsing the dancing crowd. Staring with a venomous look and downing cocktail after cocktail. Forget my diabetes, even if I was fully healthy, that amount of alcohol would send me in a coma. Michael seems to sense my disbelief.

“I witnessed periods when this was her daily norm”, he says quietly, but I can sense the bitter memories behind his words.

Michael is, beyond everything, a terribly sensitive soul. It’s so easy to hurt him with words. Just imagine what this inconsiderate woman hurled at him in her drunken haze. Words which she forgot the next instance, but which remained with him, in his heart, making him bleed inside.

“Let’s find your sister”, I say, trying to put as many people as possible between us and that woman.

We walk hand in hand through the crowd till we spot Janet. She’s having fun with her dancers.

“Come on, guys, join us here! Last carefree day before we start the big circus.”

“But you’re looking forward to it, Dunk!”

“Damn right I am, Applehead. You had your fun with History Tour, now it’s my turn.”

“Yeah. I really, really wish you a great, successful tour. I’m really proud of you…I’m so happy to be your brother and I love you so much, sis!”