Breathe (5 page)

The place was filling with people. I think Kiro had invited 30-40 persons, both friends and fellow students. I wave my hand to several I recognize. The DJ was playing the newest dance tracks, and made me want to move. I had finished both my beers, and was feeling restless. I interrupted the
I want to stay, but I have to go
-discussion and told Alice I was going dancing. She looked kind of startled, I was usually not the one to shake loose without a push. But I was afraid to start pondering the last days’ events, and needed to stay busy. Besides, the two last beers on top of the three back at the apartment made me feel woozy. Maybe I should stop before I started babbling about my new crush.   

Alice joined me on the dance floor, and we had fun moving to the beats. I closed my eyes and let my body follow the rhythm. Moving to the music felt so easy and comforting. I felt liberated. It might be the beer. It made me fly. It made me carefree. I was in a world of my own until Alice knocked me back to earth.

‘
I need a break,’ she said, clearly out of breath. She leaves the floor, and I was about to follow her when a man blocked my way. He was wearing a white leather suit and a matching helmet. He reminded me of
The Stig
, the guy who test cars on
Top Gear
. It might as well be him, it’s impossible to tell, his visor was like a mirror. I could only see my own face when trying to see his.

‘
Excuse me,’ I uttered, and started to move around him. But he counteracts me, and I take a step backwards in surprise.

He took
my hand in his gloved one and points to the other people on the floor. I assumed he was asking me to dance with him. I stared him down from head to toe before shaking my head. He couldn’t possible move in that.

‘
I’m sorry, I not looking for a blind date,’ I said, and pulled my arm back. Then I ducked under his other arm to go back to my friends. 

I didn’t see the other one before I reached the table. He was wearing the same, but in
all black. Kiro was sitting next to him, holding a beer and pushing a straw under the helmet. The guy was trying to drink without taking of the helmet or opening the visor. Una and Alice were almost at the floor laughing. It was funny in a stupid way. What were they thinking showing up like that? I decided against joining them, and turned around to the bar instead. The crowd had spread out, and I got a beer straight away. Steven came standing next to me, dressed like James Bond. He studied photography at my school, and we belonged to the same lunch crowd. He had asked me out a couple of times in the beginning, but I never felt compelled to go out with him. He got the picture eventually, and moved on without a backward glance. Besides, he wasn’t a one-woman-guy. We remained friends, though, and I learned to take his flirty tone as a part of him. I liked him.

Now, he was checking me out from head to toe.

‘Wow, Sara! I knew you had it in you.’ He winked at me. I blushed and felt naked again.

‘
Oh, this isn’t me. This is all Alice’s doing.’ I rest my back against the bar, trying to act casual.

‘
Hey, I’m not complaining.’ He got his beer and held it up for a toast.      

‘
So, what’s going on?’ I clink my bottle against his.

‘
Nothing much. I’m going back to Bristol in a couple of weeks. How about you?’

‘
I don’t know yet.’ I hadn’t meant to ask the
future
-question, but it seemed to be on everyone’s mind. ‘I meant, what’s going on tonight?’

‘
Tonight is going to be epic.’ he grinned. ‘I think Pocahontas is ready to give me a chance.’ He points at a girl standing twenty feet to our left. Even though she looked foreign with her bronzed skin and black hair, he didn’t mean it in a racist way; she was dressed in Indian costume.

‘
I know her, she’s from the Scenography studies with Alice, isn’t she?’ I had seen her a couple of times on school. ‘So you have moved on from the visual arts then?’ I added with a laugh.

‘
You are the only one left,’ he leaned in and whispered. I knew he was joking, and we both laughed.

‘
Well, you better run along then, before she escapes,’ I said and pushed him in her direction.

When he left, my eyes flickered around the room. I tried to do it slowly, feeling the effect of alcohol in my body making me dizzy. I decided, as I reached the bottom of the bottle, that this was the last one tonight. The guy in the white suit was on the dance floor with Catwoman. Not a bad choice, I thought, but Matthew didn’t look so happy standing at the sideline. They were shaking and moving, owning the floor. It had to be warm in those clothes. Who would be so stupid as to wear a thick leather suit at a dance party? They had no way to drink or communicate with that big helmet. Maybe they were party crashers. It wasn’t likely, since everybody had to show an invitation before entering. This was a closed party hosted by Kiro. And Kiro seemed to know them. He was still helping the other guy with the beer. I didn’t understand why they kept the helmet on. Then it hit me, as I watched the one dancing give up and head back to the table. Kiro knew them, but they didn’t want anybody else to. I bet the one Kiro was helping was his brother Andrew. And I bet I knew who the other guy was. The way he stopped me at the dance floor, demanding to dance. Crashing a student party. He probably saw my invite on the board. He was looking in my direction now. I realized I was staring. Suddenly his arm raised, and gave a quick wave. I didn’t look around me to see if it was directed to someone else. Instead I turned around and ordered a new beer without thinking. My mind was focused on something else.
Its stupid to imagine that he crashes a student party to see me
.
How stuck up am I?
In your dreams, sweetie!
But he was in my dreams. He had been in them every night since the exhibition. I could still close my eyes and imagine his lips o my skin. It might be him. Did I want it to be him? No. Yes.
Shit, this is bad
. And I was loosing my beer count.

Alice walked up.

‘
Why are you standing here? Come and join us.’ She orders a Long Island and turned around again, leaning at the bar like I did a moment ago.

‘
It’s too crowded at the table,’ I answer lightly. ‘Besides, I needed a break.’

‘
Do you know who Salt and Pepper are?’ She beckons to the suits while getting her drink. ‘They’re not speaking, and refuses to take their helmets off. So annoying!’

‘
I have no idea,’ I lied. No way was I giving her my theory.

‘
But you have to know who it is. One of them waved at you.’ 

I just
shrugged to that, and giggled.
In-my-dreams-Christopher waved at me.
Wow, I AM drunk.
Alice looked at me worried. She had seen me drunk maybe three times since I met her, all of them in the first couple of month of me coming here. I didn’t do drunk well.

‘
Have you eaten today?’ she asked me, and I shrugged again. I honestly didn’t remember.

‘
Geez, Sara! You’re coming with me so I can keep an eye on you.’

Then she dragged
me along back to the table, and placed me in a chair next to
Might-be-Christopher.
I slumped down, swallowing another giggle. I tried to sober up by focusing on the conversation. Mark and Una were there with a blond girl I didn’t know. They were rating the costumes, both on originality and looks. They had just giving someone a ‘One’, and I saw the guy was dressed in an ordinary suit and a Bowler hat, so I guessed ‘One’ is on the low scale. They gave a girl named Viola a ‘Nine’, because of her Fairy-costume. She had big transparent wings, glittery make-up and a green Tinkerbelle dress. She looked beautiful. But she lost a point because the wings kept knocking into people at the dance floor. The only one they gave top score was a guy wearing only a thong. His whole body was painted black, with bits of the universe on it. The details were amazing, and it must have taken forever to paint it. But his one clothing was a little revealing for my taste. I couldn’t hide my giggled when I noticed; he was really showing. I shook my head at his boldness, only to realise that kind of movement made the room sway. I put my beer down, forbidding myself to finish it.   

The
I-hope-it-was-Christopher
guy by my side nudged me with his shoulder and gestured towards the dance floor again. I looked into the visor, trying to see who was behind the glass, but I could only see my own reflection. I wouldn’t mind dancing with Christopher. But I wasn’t sure my balance was in order. So after some hesitation, I shook my head. Alice bends towards me and asked, loud enough for him to hear:

‘
What score would you give these guys?’

‘
Not much’ I answered, and looked back at my own reflection while continuing: ‘Difficult to drink in, impossible to talk through and too warm to dance in. Definitely not a party outfit! A plus for originality though, even if it’s two of them.’ We both laughed, while
Damn-it-had-to-be-Christopher
shook his head, clearly not pleased with my assessment. Then he nudged me again, this time pointing towards the exit. It only took me a second to decide. I wanted to confirm who he was. Without a word, I stand up, startling him with my sudden movement. Then he got up and reached for my hand.

‘
Where are you going?’ Alice asks as he drags me along.

‘
To have some fun,’ I shout back at her, grinning. She looked worried, so I amended my smile to a reassuring one, or at least I tried too. It must have worked, cause she didn’t get up to follow.

It felt strange, walking away holding a stranger, not knowing if it were him or someone else. We walked past the bar, but instead of heading up the stairs to the exit, he quickly pulled me to the side and into a dark hallway. He stopped in front of a metal door labelled
Staff Only
. It was a number pad beside it, and my stranger pushed the digit without hesitation. The gesture made me waver, as the lock clicked and he opened the door to a large storage room. This was obviously planned in advance. Or maybe my stranger was some employee, and not Christopher. I dropped his hand when he went inside, reluctant to follow. This was a bad idea. I was about to turn back when I heard his voice.

‘
Wait, its ok,’ he said as he removed his helmet. ‘It’s just a quieter place to talk, that’s all.’

I
let the door slam shut behind me as I entered the room without hesitation. My smile stretched out, and I felt unbelievable happy and weightless. In the back off my mind, I knew this wasn’t a good idea, but I didn’t care. I was so thrilled that he was here.

‘
Did you know it was me?’ he asked, smiling back. Actually, he seemed a little cocky.

‘No, I have a habit of going with strange men to unknown locations.’ Although I did use irony, I suddenly realise that’s exactly what I had done. And even now that I knew who it was, it didn’t mean it was safe. I had met this guy two times in my life, and both times he had his lips on me. He had made his intentions quite clear, and I was in no position to complain, after I followed him through a locked door. But was I scared? Hell no. I wanted him. I wanted him to kiss me, touch me. My body wanted him. If he wanted me, I was ready. Or was I? Did I really want to get involved with him? He was a hunter, and I was an easy pray. He just drags me along and I follow his every move. This shouldn’t be a good thing. I shouldn’t feel so happy about it.

‘
This is wrong, we should head back to the others.’ I turned to the door, searching for the button to unlock it.

‘
Wait,’ he gasped, and unbuttoned the top of his jacket. ‘This suit is killing me. God, it’s hot.’

My eyes follow
ed his hands as they unbutton the rest of his jacket. Then he removed it, and was standing in a white tank top. I could see his abs through the fabric. My body went wild, and I forgot whatever I was about to say as a response.

‘I came because of you.’ He was looking me right in the eyes as he said the words. He seemed sincere, but then again, he was an actor.

Somehow, his words made me angry.
‘What stupid line is that, coming from a married man? We should go back.’ I really didn’t mean the words I said. My emotions were in turmoil. I should go back. I didn’t want to.

‘
Just give me five minutes to catch my breath. I should never have danced in these clothes.’

‘
It didn’t look like Catwoman minded.’

‘
So you were watching, were you? Did you get jealous?’ His grin was too self-satisfied.

‘
Mr Petrelli, you are married, remember? I don’t get jealous when married men flirts with other woman. Besides, I didn’t know it was you.’ My word didn’t seem to have any effect on his smug face.

‘
Well, you shouldn’t be jealous, I asked you first. And please, call me Chris. Mr Petrelli, sounds so old.’