The Unusual Tales Of Winfrall.

Chapter 2 : The Girl In The Blue Gown

Nicholas’ POV.

I knew. 

43.

I knew that it wasn't an illusion or a dream, when my hand disobeyed me as I was about to crumble Bryan's shoulder. 

44.

I mean, he had the guts to talk behind my back. I was about to teach him not to mess with Nicholas Smith when I was interrupted.

45.

My hand felt heavy; like someone had placed a huge block of iron on it.

46.

It seemed as if a hand emerged from his shoulder and weighed me down with all the force, and then suddenly released me like a stretched spring. I jerked back and everyone on the table looked uncertain. As if they were trying to figure out that what they saw was real or not. 

47.

The coward looked relieved when my hand disappeared from him, but I couldn't divert my mind because this didn't feel normal. 

48.

The fact that I couldn't put my finger and conclude the matter made it more frustrating and —

"What crawled up your arse and died?" 

I heard a familiar voice followed by a snicker and looked up to see Justin and Ryan standing by the doorway of my room.

Sweat droplets were dripping down from my forehead to my eyelashes. It temporarily blurred my vision before I blinked a few times and after two last push ups, to make it a set of 50, I jumped up and grabbed the towel that was lying on my bed. 

"Why are you both here again?" I ignored Ryan's question and rolled my eyes as both my friends were already making themselves comfortable on my bed. 

"We're here sire," Ryan began in a mocking tone as he sat straight, "to inform that your ginger milady will await your presence at the grand ball." He stood up and held his arm forward as if it was draped with liteau, and made an obeisance to finish his act.

Justin was doubling over with laughter at Ryan's improv as he rolled on the bed clutching his stomach, and I stood appalled with hands on my hips.

"What?!" I asked as my flushed state post workout was getting paler. 

My blonde friend had stopped laughing as he noticed the horror laced with my tone.

"Yup, she is coming to your family party." Ryan answered, his grey eyes twinkling, "Did you guys....?" He raised an eyebrow and licked his lips lustfully as he hoped to hear good news.

"No, we didn't break up, Ryan." I recollected myself and gave him a death stare to let him know his boundaries around my girlfriend.

"May I remind you mate," I raised my eyebrows after a moment of silence, "That you're dating already." 

"So?" He shrugged and looked at me and Justin, his mouth moving up and down as he chewed gum, "Debbie knows we're hooking up." 

"Yeah, but what she doesn't know," I held up my index finger accusingly, "is that you're not hooking up with her only." 

His steel grey eyes widened as my statement hung in the air for some time, but then he brought himself back to composure. 

"Enough about me, already." He brushed if off and gave a nervous laugh as he tried to hide his flummoxed state. 

"Man," Justin shook his head in disappointment at our friend, "Are you going to tell her?" His brown eyes gave me a glance and then looked him dead in the eye, "Or should we?" 

"Oh come on," Ryan waved his hand dismissively, "We are guys," he emphasised on the word 'guys' and I rolled my eyes at his weird logic, "You are supposed to be encouraging," he said those words with an accusing tone, "Not play mom with me."

There were lot many things which me and Justin agreed on, and one of them was; No to infidelity. 

I mean sure, I had no business in interfering, but I couldn't just keep quiet and let a girl cry over someone who didn't even respect her. 

"We're just saying that you shouldn't play her like that, she likes you." I calmly responded to Ryan's bullshit. "Anyway, it doesn't matter if Amelia's gonna be there or not," I continued in response to his previous remark, "cause I'm not going." I concluded. 

I wasn't interested in attending another one of these sick parties. And now that I knew my girlfriend was going, I had another reason for not wanting to be there. 

Before either of my friends could utter another word, I quickly made my way to the bathroom saying, "I'm heading for a shower now, see you guys later" and shut the door behind me. 

Much better. 

My friends had already left by the time I came out. I reached out to my wardrobe and pulled out a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. As I started to change into my picked out outfit, I heard a knock on the door. 

"Hey Nick, you have a moment?" came a familiar soothing voice from the other side of the door. 

I put on my t-shirt in a hurry and opened the door replying, "Yes mom?" (Yes I have my pants on.)

She stepped in, her grey platform heels hitting the wooden floor satisfyingly, and took sight of the blanket thrown on the ground.

"Justin and Ryan." I shrugged and picked the sheets up and placed them on the bed. She gave a tiny smile at the mention of my friends and that's when I noticed she was holding something.

"I want you to wear this tonight." She said as she made her way to the bed and carefully placed a garment bag on it. Her amber eyes looked at me expectantly as she smiled, "My son would look handsome in a tuxedo."

"Mom please, not this again. I'm not coming." I uttered in annoyance and gave her an all knowing look.

"Nick dear," her smile vanished and she began in a monotonous voice, completely contradicting her previous one, "There is no choice, you are going to come." She dusted off her grey sleek suit and looked at me as if challenging to argue.

"I don't even see the point in coming." I reasoned with her, "Sure, he has won the election for the second time, but I did not ask for it." I concluded as I ran a hand through my damp hair in slight frustration.

"You have to be there, we all must be there to support him," her slightly wrinkled face saddened at my assertiveness and she looked torn between giving up and convincing me, "it's a crucial time for your father-"

"Step-father" I corrected. 

"That man took care of you since you were eight, he provided you with all this stuff," she gestured her hands around the room, and looked gobsmacked to hear me even say such a thing. 

"This," she walked further into my room to retrieve my basketball sitting beside my study table, "he supported your passion for this game and bought you all those gym equipments," she dropped the ball and slowly approached towards me. "I know it's not been easy for you," she audibly sighed and brought her hand to her forehead, "and you don't see him as your father, but he is my husband Nick." Her voice dropped to a whisper when she finished.

"You have to accept that," she cupped my face in her hands, "So do it for me." Her tone went from monotonous to pleading and I hated to see my mother go all weak on me or anyone for the fact. 

But if only she could understand that I was much better off not attending it. 

"Besides, Amber really wants to go." Her statement broke me from my thoughts and I looked at her in confusion.

"What's stopping her?" I raised an eyebrow.

"She needs a chaperone." She explained as she stepped back, "Your dad and I are going to be busy with the guests. The least you could do is come and look after your little sister." She folded her arms and gave me a pointed look. I wanted to laugh at her persistence to make me come to the party, but right now I felt like she made the checkmate move.

"Wh-why can't any of the maids look after her?" 

"I gave all of them a day off" She shrugged and looked at me innocently.

I scratched my forehead and sighed. 

"Last time." I reluctantly agreed, not wanting to further argue with her.

Mom knew I couldn't refuse her anything. 

Because man, did you see her convincing me? The broad smile that grew on her face made all my negative emotions convert into positivity and I returned a genuine smile. 

This wasn't the first time I had agreed to attend one of my stepdad's stupid events; saying it was the last time I would be attending any. 

"No promises." She grinned in delight as she made her way out of the room.

I unzipped the garment coat and stared at my outfit; a nice black tuxedo patiently waiting to be worn. 

It's just a party, right?

How bad could it be?

*****

Mom was right, Amber did want to come to this party. After all, she loved to attend her fathers events.

The party seemed like it was meant for her, as she enjoyed it so much and dragged me to explore every corner of the vast hall that reflected a bright shade of golden. 

The place was already filled with people who walked gracefully from one end of the hall to the other and momentarily stopped to greet someone or talk about the weather. 

It was a formal theme, where men dressed in suits or wore a tuxedo like me, and women mostly had evening gowns or cocktail dresses. 

The place looked colourful and I would've loved to be a part of it, if it hadn't been related to Mr. Smith. 

I stood behind a crowd of people, more like hid behind them, who were dissolved in their own world, and covered my face so I could be spared from small talk or conversations about my career, but my little sister shouted my name so loudly from the middle of the hall, that everyone dropped their conversations to look at me. 

Busted.

Before I could process it, all of the guests started swarming around me, mostly to congratulate on my fathers triumph. I managed to thank all of them politely and slid out of the crowd when they had started bickering for some reason. 

I went to the manager of the event, Mr. White, who had his reception just outside the hall, and informed him about the ongoing chaos. He listened and gave a slight nod, saying that he would take care of it.

Then I went to find Amber who had stopped bouncing back to me. I walked inside the event again, but professionally dodged people, mostly women and their stupid words. 

After all, they only tried to make good connections with me, because I was the Mayors  son. 

I noticed a glimpse of lavender dress, in between the gaps of cocktails and suits, and dived further to get a proper look. As I reached near, I noticed that my little sister had found a friend of her age and she was happily eating chocolates, not giving a damn on informing her slightly worried brother about it.

But before I could walk to Amber and tell her to stick by my side, a mundane voice danced around my ears.

"Nick-a-boo." Manicured hands enveloped around my chest from behind, and I refrained from sighing out, given that I was in a place where my actions mattered.

Unwillingly, I softly held her hands and nudged her forward. I gave her outfit a once over, as Amelia looked stunning in a black one piece dress. She came close and embraced me, and somehow I dissolved in the warmth oozing out of her body for a moment before I brought myself to composure.

"I missed you." She leaned back, her heavy made-up brown eyes looking at me with intensity. 

I gave her an empty smile, and licked my lips unsure how to reply to that.

But then I realised my mistake when her gaze travelled down on them.

"No Amelia, not in public." Before she could lean forward and fill the distance between our lips, I ducked down and slid from her embrace. 

And I looked back and saw her kissing air. 

I was already walking towards the lavender dressed girl, who had chocolate smudged on her puffed sleeves.

Being in a relationship teaches you a lot of things about your partner. Mostly about how would they behave in given situations.

So that's why when I finally reached Amber's side, I took notice of the middle-aged lady, wearing a pink and blue evening gown. She stood beside them and occasionally engaged in their conversations if there was no one to talk to. She could possibly be the mother of the girl my sister befriended and asked her to look for my sister for some more time, till I'd come back.

Because I knew that my girlfriend would follow and grab my hand forcefully to take me to an isolated corner. 

You see, being a guy isn't always fun.

When a girl is dragging you somewhere and not listening to your protests, you can't simply use your strength to make her stop, you just can't. 

And Amelia wasn't the kind where you'd stop her and she would stop. Once she set her mind that she had to take me somewhere, nothing would distract her till she had.

"Nicky, I've been noticing that you keep ignoring me." Amelia's black dress was sliding the floor tiles like a mop so I had to concentrate on watching my step than listening to her. 

".....why, have I done something wrong?.......you didn't even compliment me, I thought you and I would wear the same colour tonight...." 

"Amelia." I tried to stop her using a minute amount of force, keeping in mind that she was wearing 6 inch heels. But she was adamant and kept walking to the middle of the hall towards a staircase. 

She made me climb up the stairs and we finally came to a halt as we reached a deserted hallway. 

Without wasting time, she pinned me against the wall and closed the distance between us. Her lips moved up and down mine professionally and the movement was filled with desperation.

I took a few seconds to revert back but my body relaxed eventually and I cupped her face with my hands, as I returned the kiss.

I felt her smile and that was enough to make my eyes wide open and I stopped altogether. 

This is wrong.

I shouldn't kiss her.

Millions of thoughts buzzed around my head like bees, and Amelia who understood by now that the spark which was lit had been extinguished like always, stepped back and leaned against the wall in dejection.

"I don't get it, I..." she held her forehead with both her hands and looked on the verge of breaking down. 

"Amelia—" 

"No, stop it Nicholas." That would be the first time she called me by my proper name. Her chocolate brown eyes melted as water clogged up on the rims. "It's been 9 months we're together and you've never even kissed me for more than 2 minutes!" 

All the cells in my body urged me to tell her the truth. She deserved to know it after all. 

But a heavy chain like consequence that followed, overloaded my will power and I stood there, helpless. 

"I'm sorry, I'll uh, kiss more than 2 minutes next time." I scratched my forehead and cursed inwardly to come up with such a dumb response. 

"Forget it," she gave a humourless laugh and looked at me, "Why are we even together?" 

My eyes widened and I couldn't speak for a few moments.

But surprisingly, even in my shocked state I did one rational thing.

I walked closer to my girlfriend and gave her a soft peck on the cheek, "Everything's going to be alright, okay ?" 

******

After I managed to comfort Amelia and somehow persuaded her to not make out with me, I headed downstairs to go and stay with Amber for the rest of the night. 

But when I reached the spot where I'd left her, I found that she wasn't there. 

I'm such a bad chaperone.

I had one job.

I ran a hand through my hair frustratedly as I wasn't able to find the middle-aged lady whom I'd told to look after Amber. 

I searched almost every corner of the hall, and was on the verge to go on the stage and announce my sisters names on the mic.

But then I saw her.

My sister and her. 

I didn't exactly knew her name, but I remembered her from yesterday at the lunch table. 

Her blue evening gown flowed around her like water, her bare shoulders shining under the golden glow. Her medium-length light brown hair was left open with a side partition and her prominent blue eyes were full with ecstasy and warmth as she talked comfortably with Amber. My eyes trailed down her and for some reason my heart skipped a beat when I noticed the thigh slit of her dress. 

I closed my eyes briefly and opened them to only concentrate on my 8 year old sister. I think I had enough female distractions for the night.

Without thinking further, I walked towards Amber who was smiling and looked only at her.