Tales from the Tower, Volume 2 (35 page)

‘I'd be honoured, Skye,' he said simply. ‘Let's go.'

{8}

Joshua was a good dancer and I'm a
really
good dancer. We were the first out on the floor and we really hit it off. Everyone was looking, which was a buzz for me. Within a couple of minutes I began to show off and so did he. By the end of the first number everyone was whistling and clapping and even though a few others joined us on the floor, we were the only ones with style. We were the couple everyone was looking at.

I'd never felt particularly talented before, but this night I was a star. I was out on the floor with the most desirable guy in the room and he was
loving it
!
None of the other girls, including my sister, could dance like me, and the envy on their faces worked on my psyche like rocket fuel. In other words, I let it rip. I rocked, jived, shimmied, dipped and soared. I showed off like crazy.

When we'd both completely had it, he took my hand and led me over to the drinks table.

‘We're going to have to go out dancing again, you know, Skye,' he said, grabbing me some water and grinning down into my face. ‘You're really good.'

‘So are you.' I smiled at him. ‘So many guys can't dance.'

‘There lots of things I can do,' he said cheekily. I laughed and pretended to be embarrassed, and before long we were back on that floor spinning and careering around each other.

When the lights dimmed and the music changed he reached for my hand and pulled me to him. It was a lovely long slow number, and by the end we were clinched together tightly. At one point I looked over his shoulder and saw my sister watching us. She gave me her small secret smile and then turned her back.

I have no idea how long we danced like this. It felt like hours and yet it was over too soon. All I know was that I couldn't have wished for anything better, and as each number ended and another began I fell deeper and deeper into the spell of it. In the end we were barely dancing at all, it was more like swaying in time to the music. I let my head rest on his shoulder and drifted off into La La Land. Joshua would be my shining knight. He was going to rescue me from that terrible house in the burbs. I was going to marry him just as Reine had said, and this very house would be mine one day! All would be well.

All would be
very
well indeed.

I
felt
him lose interest before I saw anything. I'd been having such a good time that I suppose it took me a while to twig. Nothing was said. We were dancing another slow number and – I know this is weird – although I couldn't see his face I felt his attention spin off away from me to another place, even though his mouth was near my ear and his arms were still around me. There was a hesitation, then a few slight movements over perhaps a minute, and suddenly we weren't clinched together anymore. We were still dancing but I knew he was pushing me away, as nicely as possible – still dancing, still smiling, but he'd stopped meeting my eyes.

When I eventually turned to see what had caught his attention, I was so shocked that I became mute. Standing just inside the door was this stunning girl who seemed to be glowing from within. Was she meant to be a fairy or a princess or some kind of exotic gypsy or maybe an angel?

The small black velvet mask covering her eyes did not in any way obscure the loveliness of her face. Her perfect skin, pale gold in the party lights, was like some glorious work from one of the Old Masters; her smile was full of life and excitement. The most glamorous guests present looked somehow jaded by contrast. A small band of glittering stones held her hair away from her brow. Her dress was a soft clinging ivory with tiny seed pearls trimming the wide neck and sleeves. Although not tight, it hugged her lovely slender figure down just past her hips then it spun out from there into a froth of soft waves that ebbed and flowed as she moved – so elegant, but at the same time so simple. Where had she come from? She stood in the doorway looking around her just as though she'd arrived from another planet. I could feel the frisson in the air as one by one everyone noticed her. She fitted in and yet somehow she didn't.

The band faltered right in the middle of a song, mes- merised by her along with the rest of us. Maybe a whole minute went by with everyone waiting for something to happen.

Joshua wasn't rude. In fact, he turned to me with a smile.

‘Hey, thanks, kiddo,' he said warmly, giving my hand a quick squeeze. ‘You're a great dancer! But I'd better go welcome the newcomer . . . whoever she is.'

Kiddo!

I nearly wept as I watched him walk off across the room towards the creature in cream as though propelled by some force quite outside his control.

Gradually the silence gave way to a low rumble of conversation as people came to their senses and resumed their conversations. Or pretended to. Witnessing the girl's arrival had been an almost surreal moment and the crowd was waiting to see what might happen next. The band started up again, and so did the chat and the laughter, but it was quieter and more subdued than before. Glances constantly flickered over to where Josh was standing with the girl. When he held out his hand to her it was like the rest of us stopped breathing. We all watched as she smiled shyly, looked away and then after a few more moments turned back to him and took his hand. Together they glided into the middle of the dance floor and began to dance . . . 

Do I need to tell you what happened next? Surely no one needs a picture of me running off to the toilet to sob? The world I'd built up in my head out there on the dance floor had come crashing down like a hastily built wall at a dodgy building site. I probably would have stayed in the toilet all night, except Reine stormed in and insisted I pull myself together.

‘These things happen!' she hissed. ‘Get over it! He isn't the only fish in the sea. A big part of being a success is acting like one! Get back out there
now
!'

So I washed my face and reapplied my makeup and then got out there again on the dance floor and tried to make the best of it. I made myself smile at the idiots I was dancing with and I made myself chatter like a maniac as I died inside. All the time, like everyone else, I was aware of the golden couple. Apart from their hands their bodies did not touch, but their eyes . . . their eyes! They had eyes only for each other. Nothing else existed.

Then, amazingly, it was over. The girl – whoever she was – picked up the front of her dress and began to run back through the main entrance. It was totally weird to watch! Taken by surprise, Josh was left looking after her, completely dumbfounded. I edged nearer and watched him try to gather his wits. Frowning, he shook his head a couple of times, folded his arms and half-laughed in disbelief. Then after the shock he made a wild dash through the crowd towards the door. A few of the guys looked at each other to shrug and grin as though to say,
Well, that's the last we'll see of him for a while!

But he was back after ten minutes, looking decidedly crestfallen. Glee rose in me like bubbling froth. She was gone! I edged nearer and saw he was holding a lovely little red leather shoe with a low squash heel and a soft bow on the front. Joshua turned the shoe around in his hands for a few moments before slipping it into the pocket of his jacket. The party went on, but although I made sure I was in his line of vision, hoping that he'd suggest we resume dancing, he seemed not to even see me. Speeches were given and toasts made, but he didn't dance with anyone else that night and nor did I.

{9}

Most of the way home in the taxi Reine tried to be positive, telling me about all the invites she'd got to parties and weekends. We both knew that most of them were spur-of-the-moment suggestions and that we'd be lucky if one or two come to anything. The nearer we got to that poxy suburb the lower our spirits fell. It was such a downer having to leave that beautiful house and all our old friends. By the time we let ourselves in through the front door we weren't even bothering to talk. We just set about the business of getting ready for bed. I knew I wouldn't sleep, though. I was still secretly fuming about that strange girl turning up to ruin my night.
Who was she?
I went to the kitchen, hoping perversely that it might have been left in a mess. I wanted to bang on Cinders' door and scream in her face. But the place was as neat as a pin.

‘You have a good night, girls?' Mum called sleepily.

‘Really great,' Reine called back.

‘I want to hear about everything in the morning.'

‘Okay, Mum.'

I slammed into my room and slumped on the bed, hardly bothering to register that Cinders had cleaned up while I was at the party. Everything was so damned squeaky clean. Rather than feeling grateful, I wanted to kill her for daring to come into my room. Then I remembered that I'd ordered her to clean the whole house
while we were out.
Damn.
I pulled at my hair in frustration. The hairpiece I'd been so happy with earlier had begun to feel like a nasty little animal clawing at my scalp. It was so hard to dismantle that I was almost crying by the time I'd pulled out all the pins and flowers and thrown them on the carpet. Then I dragged off the red costume and dumped it on the floor, consoling myself with the thought that Cinders would have to vacuum again the next day.

{
10
}

Reine and I were sitting around telling Mum about the party late the next morning when there was an unexpected knock at the door. Both of us were totally spent after our efforts, hungover and bleary-eyed, so we were in no mood for visitors. We'd sent Cinders out to buy chocolate croissants earlier and were sitting in the lounge room stuffing ourselves.

‘Ella!' Mum yelled over the telly. ‘Get the door, will you.'

When there was no answer she sighed and shook her head. ‘Where the hell is that blasted girl?' Reine and I shrugged and the doorbell rang again. Mum got up grumpily and we heard her talking to someone at the door but didn't think anything of it until she came back with a rather strained smile on her face.

‘Someone to see you both!' she said. Then, with no warning and to our complete mortification, Joshua walked into the room behind her.
Oh my God!
We both jerked to attention. He'd
found
us here in this awful poxy house looking like complete . . . hags! I looked at Reine, whose face had suddenly turned three shades paler. How were we ever going to live this down?

‘Hi there, you two.' He seemed a little agitated. ‘Took a while to find you. It's . . . a long way out.'

‘Well, hi Josh. Yeah, it is.' Reine rallied valiantly and got up to turn off the telly. ‘Luckily we won't be here for long, but . . . hey, what a
great
party last night!'

You have to give it to my sister. No matter what the situation, she puts her best foot forward. In her old clothes with no makeup and not enough sleep, she looked as terrible as I did and yet she acted cool, whereas I was simply so horrified that I couldn't move, much less speak. It felt like the worst nightmare. My skin was blotchy, my hair wet from the shower and I was dressed in baggy grey trackpants and a truly grotty lime-green windcheater of Dad's.

‘Yeah, it worked out okay, didn't it?' He smiled. ‘Glad you both had a good time.'

‘Sit down, why don't you,' Reine said, pointing to the battered old couch.

‘Thanks.' He sat down on the arm of the couch and looked around with mild interest. ‘So you both live here now?' He smiled at me and I tried to return it.

‘Just until our new place becomes vacant,' Reine smiled gamely. ‘Sorry everything is . . . a mess.'

‘Oh,' he waved at her and smiled again, ‘don't worry about that.' He slid off the arm and onto the seat and looked around again. My spirits lifted a little. Why did I get the feeling he wasn't even seeing this horrible little room? A bizarre thought suddenly skidded into my brain and stayed there. What if he'd come to see
me
and ask
me
out dancing? Mum must have been thinking the same thing.

‘How about coffee?' she simpered from the doorway.

‘Okay, thanks.' Joshua smiled at her. Once Mum was out of the room I jammed up again. Josh didn't help things by being so agitated. He was twiddling his thumbs, staring at the ceiling one moment then looking out the window behind Reine the next.

‘I need to ask you both something a little . . . crazy,' he said eventually.

‘Okay.' Reine tried to smile. ‘Fire away.'

He suddenly pulled the small red leather shoe out of his pocket.

‘Thing is, I don't know what else to do.' He blundered on. ‘This belongs to that girl I was dancing with at the party. I don't even know her name. I'm contacting everyone who came to the party to see . . . if they have any idea who it might belong to. It's my only clue.'