Blue compared this heightened celebration to the old TV set and half-day off from scratch duties that the Waywards received. She thought of Griffin and George reveling in their few extra hours of freedom. Guilt flooded through her when she realized that her baby brother’s greatest perception of glee was Peace Day in The Way. When compared with the unburdened and under-clad shoulders of the Vemreaux surrounding her, she wondered how those who knew of both worlds could stomach such a great divide.
Grettel let out an eager squeal. “It’s the jugglers!”
“You wanna go see them up close?” Baird offered. “I could run up ahead with you so you can get a better look.”
The little hesitation that came to her face was only from the idea of being mixed in so thoroughly with the Vemreaux. “Um, okay.”
“Don’t be scared, short stack. I’m stronger than all those Vemreaux put together,” Baird bragged, hoping to make the girl smile.
His phone rang, and Baird’s face fell when he saw the number. “Yeah?” he barked with no attempt at respect or politeness. It was Sam informing him of their whereabouts. Baird told him where they were before ending the call and glowering at Blue as if it was all her fault he had to deal with the man he was beginning to despise the sight, and now the sound of.
He was about to open his mouth and crush Grettel’s elation with more talk of duty, but Elle placed her hand on his shoulder and spun him around. “We’ll be right here,” she assured him. “Now get going before you say something you’ll regret.”
Baird looked very much as if he’d like to argue, but thought better of it when he noticed that Grettel had stopped bouncing with delight. It was their one day to let loose together and enjoy each other. He decided that if he couldn’t be civil, he would step back and allow them their fun, at the very least. “Come on, shorty.” Baird watched as her disappearing smile bloomed on her youthful lips once more. Grettel was so filled with excitement that she jumped a little before running away with Baird at her side.
Though Blue knew it would be her only Peace Day celebration out in the real world, she was content to watch it from afar. Elle wrapped her arm around her friend’s waist.
“You’re my best friend, you know.” Elle cut right through all the small talk and took advantage of their precious little time alone.
“You’re a better friend than I deserve,” Blue echoed, being careful not to touch her hand to the sore spot on Elle’s hip. Instead, her wrist rested on Elle’s back in a half hug. “After I’m gone, I want you to relax. You don’t have to train anymore, you know. You can just be a waitress who’s in love with the bartender.”
Elle smiled sadly. “He won’t be the same after you’re gone.” She looked off in the distance where Baird and Grettel disappeared into the crowd.
“Good. Maybe he’ll be happier and nicer. You know, easier for you two to live with.” The words stung Blue, but she did not hold them back.
“Yeah, right. You have no idea what it was like with you in The Way and us out here.” Elle recalled the memories with a sour expression. “It’ll be just like that. All he did was worry about you and make plans for you. He’s not himself without you to work with.”
“You mean work on. There’s a difference.”
Elle ignored this. “You two speak the same weird language that none of us really gets.”
“Elle,” Blue began, “do you remember that time Grent and those guys cornered us in the furnace room?”
She felt Elle stiffen as she nodded in response.
“Did you…were you afraid that I would hurt you?”
Elle shook her head absolutely. “Not for a second. I was afraid that you would be found out and they’d take you away from us. I know you’d never turn on me, even if you aren’t sure.” She eyed her friend. “Don’t let Baird get in your head like that. You know who you are.” She squeezed Blue’s hip affectionately to pull them both out of the sadness that loomed. “So you’ll have some time in Europe before you fly over to the island?” Mischief danced in her tone.
“I suppose. Don’t know how much, though.” The massive throngs of partiers accumulated yet more bodies as the girls talked and observed from the outside. Thousands of Vemreaux cheered and danced in the streets, giving them plenty to watch. Elle lost count of the visible underwear she so loved to add up.
“Please tell me that you’ll master the art of flirting with Sam before you go. It pains me to see him watch you with those puppy eyes and you shying away like you’re Grettel or something.”
Blue shook her head. Ever since their night out when she’d worn Sam’s t-shirt home, she’d grown unbearably shy around him. She did not think she was as bad as Grettel, but she was not as stoic as Baird felt she should be. “Sam is…confusing. And you know I don’t know how to flirt. Besides, Baird would kill me.”
“Haven’t you been watching me? It’s like, my one teachable skill,” Elle joked, evoking a laugh from Blue. “Seriously, though. The boy’s smitten. You don’t smell Wayward. He doesn’t seem to mind that you are. Once you get away from Baird, don’t be afraid to go with it.”
“Go with what?” Blue’s eyes followed a group of Femreaux wearing nothing on top except for fluorescent-colored bras covered in sequins.
“Go with him. Wherever he wants to take you, Blue. I say this with love, honey. You’ve got to take your eyes off the prize every once in a while. This obsessing about the predator that you and Baird do is too much. It’s unhealthy. When are you gonna live? You saw how much Baird needed our kiss,” she said smugly.
“There’s no way I could ever do…that. And besides,” Blue spluttered, “I don’t think Sam would ever want...”
Elle cut her off. “All I’m saying is that you should try to be open to it.” She sighed dreamily at the many strapping Vemreaux who wore their retired military uniforms for the celebration. “I just love a Vemreaux in uniform. Baird would look so great in one.”
As if on cue, the black eyes that made Blue’s heart jump into her stomach found her amidst the sea of faces. Blue pinched the skin on Elle’s back roughly enough to divert the conversation when she saw Sam strolling toward them. The first time she’d seen him, he’d been in expensive-looking clothes, but it was nothing to the perfectly pressed military uniform he wore as he parted through the massive crowds of Vemreaux to reach them.
Blue’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of the navy blue fitted suit with a white stripe down the sides and medals decorating the breast. Sam’s shoes shined and his usually haphazard hair was calmed down by the hat he wore on his head. When he met her eyes, his shone with the relief of finding his destination.
“Do you feel that?” Elle whispered in her ear. “That’s attraction, Blue. You may not know it yet, but you do want him to kiss you. And if you’d let him, he’d do it in a heartbeat, judging by that silly grin he gets whenever he sees you.”
“Shut up!” Blue scolded her when he reached proper hearing range.
Sam removed his hat to tip his head politely to them. “Ladies.” He greeted both women respectfully, but with a smirk that revealed he knew exactly how good looking he was in his uniform. “Where’s Baird and Grettel?” What he really meant was, “how long do I have before Baird comes back?”
Elle knew what he was trying to say. “They went up to see the parade for a bit. You look very nice in your uniform, Sam. Did you really earn all those medals?”
Sam nodded with a modest smile. He’d been unusually well-mannered around Blue ever since he’d lost his temper after his one good night of sleep. “Yes, ma’am. I was honorably discharged just before the army was disbanded, so I’m afraid this little collection’s all I’m going to get. Are you two enjoying the festival?”
Once again, Elle answered for Blue, sending the silent alert that she really was turning into Grettel in his presence. “Why yes, we are. Has the Light been announced yet? We can’t understand the loudspeaker from back here.”
“It’s some Wayward named Willa And
ers?” He spoke the name like it was a question.
Elle’s pretty face darkened. “That’s the jerk that got me. I hope the predator takes her down hard.”
Blue shot her a look. “You know you don’t mean that.”
Sam smiled that Blue finally spoke. She’d been uncommonly quiet in his presence since that night she’d showered in his room. He did not like the change. She hid herself even more after her brother forcibly returned the shirt Sam had let Blue wear home.
“I suppose not. But I do hope that at the very least the predator takes a chunk out of her hip while she’s unarmed. Cowardly bitch.” Elle tossed her blonde hair back over her shoulder as she repeated the insult she’d heard a barfly utter one night. “So where’re the others?”
“Brody and Alec are guarding Prince Liam.” He spoke the title as if it were a joke. “The emperor sent him over to represent Europe, you know. So he’s got to stand up there and look official. He hates that kind of stuff, but plays the part well enough. You’d never know that he wears boxers with cartoon characters under his uniform.”
Streamers blasted out of a popgun that a clown on stilts was holding. Blue had never seen a real clown in person before. The thick makeup hid the facial features well. Blue thought it the perfect way to hide in plain sight.
A loudspeaker was blaring big band music that whipped everyone into a frenzy. The law permitted instrumental music of all kinds, and happy songs from the 1950s, so long as they were not played live. Strangers danced with each other in the streets without bothering to exchange names or intelligible words. The music was their language, and they all spoke it fluently as their movements flowed into one another. It was as if the country had been storing up all of its energy for one day a year to let it all explode with glitter, lights, drinking and twirling.
Elle watched everyone gyrating with a wistfulness that suggested a wish to join the world in celebrating. “Do you dance?” Elle asked Sam, shouting above the occasional recorded trumpet blasts.
Sam nodded as his foot continued to tap without him telling it to. “Every now and then.”
“Can you believe that our Blue has never been dancing before?” She slung her arm over Blue’s shoulders to keep the girl from ducking and running out of embarrassment.
“I think we can remedy that.” Sam picked up on Elle’s prodding, grateful for the push and how easily Elle seemed to accept him. She was a welcome change from Baird’s firm disapproval.
“Real subtle,” Blue grumbled as she glared at Elle.
Sam’s fingers started at Blue’s triceps and trailed down the length of her arm until they latched onto her hand, beckoning her to come of her own accord instead of being taken against her will.
The nervousness that always peaked when he touched her flooded up and threatened to choke her. “Just, I really don’t… Sam, I can’t do what they’re doing!” She gestured to a nearby Femreaux who was being flipped up in the air, mini skirt flapping and tiny panties displayed proudly. She shuddered to think of the loss of control that move would cost her, and knew that no matter how much she wanted to follow him, she could not permit that.
“Wherever he wants to take you,” Elle reminded her.
“Don’t worry.” Sam leaned to speak in her ear so he could be heard above the recorded trombones. His breath tickled her ear, and without meaning to, Blue trembled as she involuntarily pressed closer to his body. “We’ll go slow.”
It was just the thing she needed to hear for her feet to unglue themselves from their spot next to Elle.
“I’ll be right back for you, blondie,” Sam promised, knowing that Baird would never offer to dance with her. Out of his gratitude for her acceptance of him, he felt the need to be charitable. He watched Elle beam at the hope of joining in the celebration and wave the two away, gently swaying to the music as he trotted away from her, hand in hand with his girl.
It was with great control and focus that he drew Blue to him after they moved into the crowd of dancing Vemreaux, placing his hands on her hips so that she knew which way to move them. He was really a great dancer, capable of much more than swaying back and forth, but it seemed to be all that she could handle. Her eyes darted around defensively while she tried to hide her face from the thousands of people surrounding them. “Hey,” he said, trying to draw her attention. “Don’t you know by now that I won’t let anything bad happen to you?”
“What if I die of embarrassment because I’m such a bad dancer? Or what if the embarrassment takes you down, too, from being seen with me like this? I’m already doing it wrong. I can feel it. Ugh!” Blue cringed as she tried to understand how she was supposed to move. “I suck at life!”
Sam laughed at her theatrics. “You suck at life, yeah? That, well, that’s just terrible. Good thing there’s more to life than dancing. And a very good thing you have an excellent teacher.” Sam pulled her hips to his so his body could move hers where it saw fit. One arm wrapped around her waist, and the other held her hand out to the side as they began turning to the music. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“I could draw attention to myself. I’m a Wayward dancing with a Vemreaux, Sam.”
“I believe dancing is allowed.”
“Okay, I could trip and pull you down with me. What if I’m so bad at this that I accidentally break your leg or something? It could happen, you know. What if I…”
“Shh,” Sam interrupted her growing concern. “Seems like you’ve thought a lot about this. Is that what you spend your time doing? Thinking about dancing with me?”
“I, um, I didn’t mean…” she stammered as she swayed where Sam directed her.
Sam laughed. “Relax, little Wayward. Why do you think I came over to see you?” He gave her an appreciative look. “You were built for dancing.”
“I know you’re just being nice, you know,” she sassed.
“I wonder what sort of compliments you’d actually accept. Beautiful? Graceful? Funny? Alluring?”
“Alluring? Really? That’s where you’re taking this?” She rolled her eyes. “Real believable, Sam.”
“Well, the other things’d just make you blush, so I’ll stick with those for now.” He lifted her hand and kissed the barcode on the inside of her wrist, enjoying the look of all further arguments dying on her parted lips. He grinned at her fluttering eyelashes, laughing when she came to and yanked her arm from his mouth.
“Sam! Not where people can see!”
He quirked his eyebrow at her. “So, you’re saying you want to get me alone first? Clever girl.”
“That is not what I meant, and you know it.”
“See, now you’re sending all these mixed signals. First you want me in dark, secluded corners. Now you want me in public. Which is it?” He smirked, enjoying the ease of teasing her. “Unless what you’re trying to tell me is that you just want me all the time. Can’t say I blame you. I’m very good looking.”
Blue narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re trying to make me blush.”
“Oh, Blue. If that’s all I wanted to do, I’d just tell you how pretty you are.”
“Sam,” she protested.
“I know, I know. I’m too charming for my own good. I’ll do my best to be less attractive. Don’t want you sneaking me off into your dark American corners and having your way with me.”
Blue guffawed, hoping he did not notice the pink coloring her cheeks.
About halfway through the song, Blue’s shoulders began to loosen up when she saw that this was the extent of the dancing she’d be expected to do in public. She listened more closely to the beat so Sam did not have to do all the work. Before the song morphed seamlessly into the next, she was smiling, even allowing him to twirl her slowly under his arm once, leaving the safety of his embrace only seconds before returning like a magnet to the comfort of his chest. All thoughts of The Way, her doomed future and the life of duty temporarily left her. The elation of becoming suddenly unburdened was so rare and precious. She could scarcely recall ev
er feeling so alive. She laughed at her own daring, her eyes meeting his as they shone with wonder and happiness at being so very free in that moment.
Of course the thought of planting a celebratory kiss on Blue’s pink lips occurred to him, as it had several times a day since he’d met her. He had to remind himself of his promise to go slow with her, and just how much he did not want to scare her off.
He hoped she wouldn’t notice when the song changed into the next, but she did. Blue stopped dancing immediately so that Elle could have her turn. They walked back hand in hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. Their bodies compensated for the other’s easily, dodging the crowd without either one falling behind, due to the other’s consideration.
Though he was disappointed to exchange partners, he gave Elle her fair turn. The blonde was infinitely freer, practically begging to be spun and dipped as he danced with the quick learner. He felt bad that her heart was so set on Baird, who was not the type to learn to dance to woo a woman. Though, Sam reasoned, in some ways he was that man, too. He knew how to dance because it was a part of his culture, but there were a great many things he had never considered doing to please a woman until that week.
Elle was a natural dancer with a dazzling smile that demanded attention, but Blue’s introverted and guarded awkward movements were much more rewarding when he finally made her come undone and enjoy her first dance. Elle’s song ended, and though she was ready for another dance, he felt he had wasted too much unsupervised time away from Blue.
On their way back to her, Elle unexpectedly grabbed Sam’s collar and jerked his body down to her level. Her usually joyful eyes were suddenly dead serious as she stared him down. “You listen to me, Sam Boniface. That girl’s my best friend. I don’t care what any old prophecy says. Don’t you let her get killed by that predator.” She threatened him with every bit of seriousness she possessed. Sadness mingled with her command. “And when you both survive, don’t you dare bring her back here. You take her away from all this and you marry her. You buy her jewelry and give her status so she can vote and walk around like a real citizen. Love her till she dies of old age, not life expectancy. I love her more than anything, but she deserves to be happy for once. If you can make her happy, then don’t waste it. She’s my special thing, and the world’s treated her like garbage. I’ll only give her to you if you promise me that you’ll treat her like she’s your special thing, too. Do you understand me?”
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