Moonlight Temptation

Lights and dance

“Ding Dong!” That was the door. Lily ran towards it and twisted the knob to unravel a young red-haired courier. Judging by her physique, she looked like a twenty-one-year old, but Lily could be wrong. The courier wore an orange shirt which she tucked into brown pencil trousers. Her smile broadened immediately when she saw Lily, good customer service. “Hey there” Lily said, and she received a black leather box from her, “You have to sign right here ma’am” she said, still smiling. Lily did as she was told and walked inside, locking the door behind her after thanking the girl.

She stood in front of the mirror admiring her reflection, the sparkling purple sleeveless ball gown was stunning, she knew she picked the right dress when she was scrolling on the Fashion Nova website yesterday as she tried to get a dress for this party. Her phone chimed.

Sarah: Are you done dressing? Can I see?

Lily took a picture and sent it to her best friend.

Sarah: Stunning! They’d be lucky to be in your presence, mi amor, exquisite!

Lily laughed and texted

Lily: I do not know the shoe that’ll go with this dress. Can you help me?

Lily’s phone beeped almost immediately, this time it was Alex.

Alex: I hope you are excited about this party. Please don’t change your mind about it, I just sent you a black dress. I thought it’d look nice on you. I remember your favorite color is black. My driver will bring it to you, wear it to the party, my driver will bring you to the party. Please don’t change your mind about coming to the party, thank you.

After Lily read the message, she stood staring into the same mirror she had been admiring herself in. This time she wasn’t admiring herself, she was lost in thoughts. Her best color isn’t black, it’s orange. As a kid, Alex had a weird habit of mistaking orange for black. In fact, he mixed up colors. At first, Lily thought it was just childishness, but here she stood gazing at the mirror many years later, surprised at how Alex still misnamed the colors till date. It was a call for concern.

The doorbell rang, and she already knew it was her dress that had just come in. The party was to begin from 11:30 pm till dawn. The time right then was 10:30 pm. She had an hour more to dress up. Almost immediately, the doorbell rang again. She ran fast to it but this time to unveil an elderly chauffeur. He looked to be around fifty years of age or so, he was in a black uniform with a black cap on his head. “Miss Lily, good evening. I was asked by Mr Alex to give you these”. He handed her a luxurious white box. “Oh okay, thank you umm…” she said after receiving it. "Nathan”. He responded, he knew she was trying to get his name. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr Nathan. I’ll get dressed and come out”, her last sentence before closing her door. It was time to work some magic in fifty minutes. Just as she predicted, the dress in the box was orange, burnt orange. She smiled. He remembered her favorite color. The dress was a very long gown that hugged her curves. There were orange feathers on the tail of the gown. There were no arms attached to it, and the back was open down to where her spinal cord ended, her cleavage was firmly held in this flawless gown. A slit ran from about three inches from her thighs to the end of the dress. In the same box were beautiful six-inch silver heels dazzling with silver stones. The heels of these shoes were also silver. This color was made more prominent as the heel breasts glowed in gold. The items in the box weren't finished yet; a diamond necklace laid on its own separate little boy that carried it like royalty. The last item was a silver purse designed with silver stones. She was really impressed, everything in this box was definitely really expensive, even the mere sight of the box, she knew that if she wanted to get them by herself, she’d swim into bankruptcy. She carefully put everything on and in two seconds, she kept her phone straight on the table that was attached to her mirror, the same place all her makeup and skin care items always stayed and video called the group. She knew everywhere was going to go crazy immediately they saw her. Her besties were on the video call in no time. First there was silence, they were gawking at her and the next time there was a loud scream, that was definitely dramatic Sarah over the phone, “Somebody should hit me with a damn frying pan on my head, girl, I thought you were wearing a purple gown a few moments ago? Oh my gosh, you look stunning! Wait, isn’t that a twelve pointer round diamond necklace, over fourteen thousand euros? Somebody hold me. The gown, the necklace, the shoes and, oh Lord, the purse! Girl, you definitely didn’t get these things yourself. Who did?”

“Seriously, I think I just forgot how to breathe for a second…” Jack said as he put his right hand on his chest like he was trying to feel if his heart was still beating. “And your makeup, flawless! Girl, what lip combo is that?

Lily giggled “ Aw, you guys are so kind! Well, you know, just a little mix and match, and a touch of magic. Alex sent me these, so I had to change what I was going to wear there.”

“You are the top bird, girl. All these men keep spoiling you, show me the way, please” Sarah said, pouting.

“Sarah, maybe if you decided to stop crushing on every guy you see, you’d actually get a rich guy” Jack teased Sarah, and they all laughed.

“Guys, it’s time. I have to go, I’ll let you all know whatever happens when I’m back”, Lily said, ending the chorus of laughter.

“Alright baby girl, see you later. Go shut down the party!” Jack screamed.

“Yes baby, shut it down!” Sarah also screamed, making her South London accent more prominent. They laughed again. Sarah is always a vibe, the life of every party.

“Oh, stop it, you two! But seriously, thanks for the compliments. You both keep boosting my confidence every time. I have to go, bye.”

The ride to the party was a little bit long, and finally they arrived at a majestic building. It looked like a hotel at the same time as a house. Colors flash from within and decorate the whole building with more sight-while ambiance. She was so impressed by this beauty that she didn’t know when Nathan parked the car and came out to hold the door for her. He led her to the entrance of the building. They walked by a few gorgeously dressed people who were headed to the same building and before her stood Alex at the entrance. “Wow, Lively, I didn’t know it was you. You look like royalty serve you”. His eyes worshiped her from her head to her toes. Took her right hand, kissed it, dragged her close to him and burrowed his face in her embrace. “And you smell like heaven, Lively”

They were inside the building in no time and no, the exterior of this building did not do justice to what was in the building. “I love your dress” a woman whispered to her as she walked by. Lily smiled in appreciation at the woman.

He held onto Lily’s left hand tightly as they walked, he held onto her, so tightly she had to wriggle her hand a little to signal her uncomfortably to his grip. Now, they were on the dance floor, a gigantic chandelier hung on the ceiling.

“You still don’t know how to dance, do you?” Lily asked him, looking straight into his eyes.

He laughed “I didn’t bother to learn, you’ll always be here to teach me steps.”

“I might not always be here, but since I’m here right now, I’ll show you” she responded.

One hand on his chest, the other held onto his right hand, he let his free hand make its way to her waist, just right on the spot where the opening of the back of her dress ended. Cold waves travelled down her spine, it'd been a while since they had stayed this close to each other since he left.

“Two steps backwards and one step forward, slowly” she told him, looking straight into his eyes.

He obeyed.

“Ouch! You’ll never stop stepping on my feet, will you?” She asked.

“I’m sorry, I always get lost in your eyes. No one is here but us” he responded.

“You are not going to ignore the presence of the people here, will you?” She asked him. She wondered if it was happening again, what always seemed to happen when they were kids. Growing up, Alex had a habit of making people disappear and appear. Not in the real sense, but in his head. He could be in a room full of people and see no one but himself or whoever he wanted to see. It was a problem for him because it affected him academically. He’d completely ignore examination papers and submit them empty and fail woefully. This was until he became friends with Lily, and he began to take little notice of his surroundings.

“I was only kidding, Lily. I’m aware that people are here”, he teased her.

“Everyone, welcome to the fourth anniversary of i and my wife, I trust that you shall enjoy your stay here” a voice said after drawing the guests attention and stopping the music by making a ringing sound of metal hitting a glass cup.

“May the party continue!” the male voice added and everyone cheered.

Lily looked around to find where the voice came from, and her eyes stopped at a high surface just before one of the multiple staircases in the building. She saw a fairly young tall dark man in blue shiny tuxedos and black trousers. Standing by him was a petite, slender blonde lady. She actually looked like she was really faithful to her tan because, at that moment, her skin looked more brown than the white it should have originally been. She put on a gold colored fishtail gown, the color complimented her hair. She also wore a gold necklace and bangle with a big smile on her face that emphasized the wrinkles on her face. To be honest, she looked a little bit older than her husband.

It was at that moment that it hit Lily, remembering to observe what Alex wore, the beauty of this house had made her forget to properly look over at him. A white packet shirt, a black tuxedo with shiny diamond stones and a dark shade of black decorating the arms, the chest part of this tuxedo was plated with a carefully arranged quilt and the edge of it was embroidered in a way that I was sure could only be the work of a Chinese artist. His trousers were also black, silk black. His shoes were black and his neck tie… you guessed correctly, it was black.

Alex had always had a thing for fashion growing up. He drew fashion sketches in a sketchbook he always kept in Lily’s care because his father frowned upon his talent. His father said drawing was for “mentally equipped imbeciles who knew nothing but pencil and paper and unwanted scribbling”. Alex only drew when he and Lily were alone. His father had torn all his former sketch books, so Lily gave him one of hers, the one he kept with her. It wasn’t a surprise to her that Alex looked this good.