After Tonight

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First Love: When Our Eyes Meet

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The minute I stepped into the huge ballroom, I felt his eyes on me. I was in a room full of people and there was laughter and music everywhere. It wasn’t that I actually saw him looking at me but it was more a feeling I had.

It’s hard to describe how it felt but I’m just really not used to men staring at me, let alone someone like him. I know I’m not beautiful so it’s kinda new and really strange.

So anyway the evening went by as the two of us sneaked lingering glances at the other and it was magical. Like no one else in the room mattered.

Well they didn’t actually, nothing mattered beyond the glass of wine I was sipping from, which was also spreading a warm glow within my body, and the smoldering gazes he was sending me through the babble of polite conversation that I managed to maintain. .

It was probably around ten when we were formally introduced. My mother, who also happened to be the hostess of this particular party, finally finished going the rounds with her friends and noticed me standing by myself in a corner of the room.

"Erin, darling," she cooed, "There is someone you absolutely have to meet," she said, not really leaving me with any choice since she had taken away the glass I was holding and looped her arm through mine, the force of her body pulling me along.

All thoughts of escape left my mind though when we finally stopped in front of the stranger I had been silently flirting with the whole evening.

He wasn’t alone though. A tall, blond woman was standing with him as my mother graciously glided to a stop in front of him. I was a little more preoccupied though, my heart suddenly began to beat double time and I had to remember to breathe otherwise I would probably have turned blue.

Consequently my arrival left a lot to be desired for, especially since I was too busy glaring deadly daggers at the blond woman. She was still talking animatedly with my mystery stranger and I recognized her as the daughter of one of my father’s business associates.

As she slowly trailed a lingering finger down his arm, a sudden flare of jealousy roared through my veins. Granted I didn’t even know his name but still, I felt things more keenly around him.

Of course that was also the exact moment my shoes chose to step on the hem of my stupid, too long dress that my mother had conned me into buying when we had been shopping together the week before. So I tripped and fell, headlong towards him.

I’m not really sure about what happened in that endless moment when I fell but somehow he managed to catch me before my face kissed the floor. In fact the only mishap that came about was that Ms. Blond bimbo spilled her drink down the front of her dress. Not that I would count it as a major loss.

Anyway back to me. As my mother made fussing noises and hustled the woman off to the nearest bathroom, I savored the feel of being in his arms. Hardly anyone had noticed my little almost accident and those who did gave it a bare second’s notice before carrying on with their conversations. I did mention before that I wasn’t one of those people who got a lot of attention, didn’t I? It’s one of the many things that my mother counts as a major failure on her maternal duty to me. Not that I cared that much but it mattered to her somehow.

The first thing I noticed about him was his eyes.

They were a brilliant blue, like the sky was when I could find time to take off and be on my own. A clear blue and cloudless, just the way I loved it as the breeze blew on my face while I flew down sidewalks on my blades.

And just as I reveled in the heady sensation of speeding across the smooth ground, I drowned in the sensations that tingled through me as we stared into each other’s eyes.

"There you are, I’m so sorry I had to leave you two alone like that," the sound of my mother’s voice jolted me out of the haze I was in and I hastily pulled out of his arms just as she got to us, my face turning a violent pink. ‘

To give my mother credit, she didn’t even lift an eyebrow at me, given that she had probably seen the two of us standing so close together. She made the proper introductions, then left us alone. I guess she felt that at the ancient age of twenty-one, if I couldn’t take care of myself, she wouldn’t ever be able to change a thing.

"Would you care to dance, Erin?" he asked, a little half smile on his lips as my mother turned to another of her guests. I was a little hesitant to do so, considering what had just happened not too long ago. Besides, I didn’t really know much about him, all I knew was that his name was Brian. It was all very well flirting across a crowded ballroom, but I kinda freeze up when I am faced with the actual thing. Not that I was given much choice about the dancing thing since he had put his arm around me and propelled the two of us towards the dance floor which was a large circle in the middle of the massive room.

We stood under the crystal fire of the chandelier and as the hired orchestral played a lilting melody, we danced, moving together in time with the music. His arms were a seductive weight around my waist. As we swayed there, bodies fitting so perfectly together, I found it harder and harder to remember to breathe, so lost I was in all that was happening between us.

How long we danced, I had no idea but as the night went by, more and more people gradually joined us on the dance floor. The tempo of the music picked up a little too, losing some of its magic, becoming more energetic as everyone began to loosen up from the over consumption of alcohol that was freely flowing around courtesy of the caterers.

Finally, after I had been bumped into for the thousandth time by an over zealous male who had been trying to impress his ladylove, I decided enough was enough. Stopping abruptly, I took a deep breath and blurted out, "Do you want to go somewhere else more private?"

As you can tell, I’m not too comfortable with guys. That’s pretty understandable seeing how I’ve hardly dated, another negative point from my mother’s point of view but I shan’t go into that.

Brian didn’t reply me right away, just stood there silently, staring at me with a strange look that I could not understand in his beautiful blue eyes. I was totally mortified on my part, thinking that I had totally embarrassed myself by coming on to him like that. I figured I had probably deluded myself thinking that he was even remotely attracted to me. He probably had tons of attractive women throwing themselves at him all the time, women like Vanessa (the blond lady from before). In fact he was probably dying to get back to her now.

I was so busy wallowing in self-contempt that I almost missed his soft ‘yes’. It was only when he pulled me closer to him and walked away from the dancing couples that I finally woke out of my daze. I looked at him as we casually strolled away. "Really?" I asked, a wondering tone in my voice, "You wanna spend some more time with me?"

Before the words were totally out of my mouth, I wanted to sink through the floor and die. I had not only managed to embarrass the hell out of myself, I had probably made him think I was some kind of high school baby trying to act older than her real age.

His face didn’t curl into a look of contempt as I anticipated though. Instead, his eyes danced with silent laughter as he replied me. "Yes, of course I would love to spend more time with you Erin, I think sometimes you underestimate yourself," he said enigmatically, his melodious voice combining with his words to weave a seductive spell around me as we left the crowded room.

I couldn’t really think of any place we could be alone together but I couldn’t leave the party without answering to my mother either. Finally, inspiration struck. Linking my fingers through his and motioning him to be silent, we tiptoed out a door in the front hall. My father was actually there talking to one of his friends and I didn’t want him to catch me sneaking out. I know it sounds weird since I’m well over the age of consent and legally an adult, but my parents still treat me like some sort of baby.