Flutter (The Discover Series) (51 page)

             
Scott, suddenly concerned, turned me around and held me out at arms length and searched my face. “Sara?”

             
I blinked and tried to smile at both of their worried faces reassuringly. “Nothing.” I said with a laugh. “I’m fine really!” I couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough, and I knew my attempt to brush it off wasn’t really working as Scott eyed me suspiciously.

             
When he realized he had no choice, but to take my word for it, he dropped his hands from around my arms, and continued to watch me.

             
I tried not to be too conspicuous about it as I searched the crowded room for his familiar face. I knew he was here and close by, judging from the strength of the flutter, but I couldn’t see him. When I noticed Scott still watching me, I smiled at him and stopped surveying the room.

             
“Oh, look its Jasmine and…oh.” Eli’s sentence ended and I didn’t need to turn around to know who she had seen. Her eyes darted
toward
me for a quick second and they were full of uncertainty.

             
I looked anyway, and my eyes instantly connected with his. As a group parted, letting them through, they made their way
toward
us. I felt Scott’s muscles tense and he quickly slipped his hand in mind, entwining our fingers together and squeezing tightly. I looked up from our clasped hands and looked to the couple who was approaching us. Adan’s eyes had been locked on our hands too, and I felt that kick of anger again. I frowned, wondering if that was coming from Adan. His eyes slid up to mine as him and Jasmine stopped in front of us. I tore my gaze away from Adan to smile sweetly at Jasmine, who was currently throwing daggers my way. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by her either, the way I held Adan’s attention from the minute they walked into the room.

             
Kill her with kindness, Sara.

             
“Hey, guys.” She said, and I already wanted to unleash my eye rolls on her.

             
“Hey, Jaz.” Eli said seeming uncomfortable with the whole situation.

             
“You guys know Adan, right?”

             
“Happy birthday.” Adan said to me, shocking us all. I couldn’t help the pounding of my heart at the way he was looking at me, like we were the only two people in the room.

“Thank you.” I said, sneaking a glance at Scott. And He was glaring at Adan.

If looks good kill
, I thought to myself.

“Yeah, happy birthday.” Jasmine added, and but I had the sneaking suspicion she didn’t wish it was happy at all.

“Gee, Scott, do you think you can control the evil glares you’re throwing at my
date
.” She said, making sure I got the last part.

“Maybe you should be a little more concerned about the looks your
date
is giving Sara, and a little less about mine.” Scott snapped and Adan opened his mouth to snap back.

And there was my cue that it was time to intervene.

“There is food and drinks, help yourselves and thanks for coming.” I said politely, steering Scott in the other direction and grabbing Eli’s hand to pull her along. She had been so shocked by the entire scene that she was in a daze, so I toted her along with us.

“Well that wasn’t at all awkward.” I said, and Eli smiled. Scott, however, did not see the humor in the situation, and raked his hand through his hair in irritation.

“What is he doing here?!” He demanded.

“I’m going to get something to drink.” Eli said, and I was envious of her prerogative to escape the rest of this conversation. She gave me a sympathetic look as she walked away.

Thanks
! I thought.

“You heard Jasmine,” I said, answering his question. “He is her date. Yuck.” I made a disgusted face at Eli and she snickered with me.

“Yuck? Why is that
yuck
?” He asked, clearly upset by my statement.

“Because it’s Jasmine. Or did you forget that she isn’t exactly out favorite person in the world?”

“And neither is he, so in my book they are perfect for each other. Or is she not good enough for him. ?”

“I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong here? I didn’t invite either one of them.”

“Did you see the way he was looking at you?! He doesn’t even try to hide his feelings for you and you-“

“And me what?!” I asked, feeling angry for being accused of anything. “Me nothing, Scott! I’ve done everything I can, short of wearing a leash just to make you feel better. For the last two weeks, I’ve let you basically baby sit me just so you can make sure he doesn’t come around, .  You sit at work until I close and you take me home every night. It’s not even like we’re a couple anymore! I’m going to go find Eli.”

The band was playing an upbeat song, and I was vaguely aware of the words - something about being up all night. I had to practically yell over the music. I turned away before he could stop me, and was instantly swallowed by a crowd of people. There was double the amount of people here now then there was when the party first started. I could guarantee that Scott and Eli didn’t know half of them, but no one seemed to mind.

I tried to squeeze my way through the crowd and
toward
the drinks, where Eli had said she was going in her mad dash to get away, but I was being pushed in the wrong direction. The same song was still playing, and people were going crazy, screaming and jumping up and down to the beat of the song. I was just about to give up and stand still until the song was over, but someone grabbed my wrist, pulling me through an opening on the dance floor.  I tried tugging on my wrist, knowing that was not where I wanted to go, but the grip on my wrist was iron tight. When I finally emerged on the other side, I rolled my eyes and smiled when I realized it had been Eli, pulling me through.

When the heck, - when did she get so freakishly strong?

“When did you become the hulk?!” I yelled over the music and singing, but she shook her head at me in confusion and mouthed, ‘
what’
to me. I just shook my head at her and she smiled at me.

She continued jumping, and waving her arm in the air, and sang the words out loud with the rest of the crowed. In that moment, I was jealous of how carefree she was, I missed those days terrible, I didn’t want to be plagued with the insanity I called my life.

The crowd went wild as one of the boys pulled a random girl up on to the stage and jumped around her. She was torn between wanting to dance with them and feeling embarrassed for the attention. The one who pulled her on stage sang his part and did some kind of hip thrust
toward
her, and the girls went wild. The chorus repeated and they were all over the stage again.

Elizabeth
looked at me to see my reaction, and my face perked up for her benefit and her excitement grew.

Leaning over to me she screamed in my ear. “No worries. It’s your birthday, now jump around with me!”

Taking my hand in hers, she lifted my arm in her arm and waved it around, shaking her head and throwing her hair in every direction.

What the hell.

Taking her lead, I used the tips of my boots to push me off the ground and started jumping up and down, turning in a circle every now and then, and throwing my own hair around as I shook my head to the uplifting beat. I hadn’t felt this free and exhilarated in a long time, and it felt flipping fantastic, so I closed my eyes and let myself drown in the music.

I knew my feet were probably going to be killing me in the morning from all of the jumping, but I didn’t care. I could feel the sheer material of my dress swirling around my legs, and occasionally, lifting up around my thighs as I landed back on the ground. The dance floor was so crowded that it was starting to get stuffy in the strained confines of bodies, and I could feel my hair sticking to the damp skin on the back of my neck.

I felt my arm being pulled again, and opened my eyes to realize that Eli was trying to get my attention. She pulled my face to her, squeezing my face between her palms and mouthed to me that she would be right back, while fanning her flushed face. I shook my head and decided I would wait until the end of the song before I made my exit off the dance floor. I could tell the song was coming to an end, and I made the last few jumps count, hoping to release the tension I had gained by my conversation with Scott.

The band sang the last song, and everyone cheered and screamed, getting rid of the last of the songs adrenaline rush. The band announced their five minute break, and the room was filled with the noise of the buzz of conversation, as most of the party goers were making their way
toward
the table with the drinks. After that last song, reenergizing was an absolute must. I started to follow the flow of the crowd, hoping to find Eli in the sea of people around me.

Once I found my way off the dance floor, I stood on my tip toes trying to spot Eli over the heads of everyone. My eyes found Adan’s instead, and the flutter kicked against my chest hard. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded over each other and one ankle crossed over the other. He had the whole smoldering thing locked down and he knew it. A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and he knew exactly what he was doing. The minute my view of Adan was swallowed by complete darkness, my body ached in protest and I had to control the urge to tackle the maze of people to find him. It felt like there was an invisible cord linking me to Adan, trying to pull me
toward
him. The room became hushed, with only a few whispered conversations scattered around the large room. 

I went to take a step forward, no longer able to ignore the fight with my body. All of a sudden, spotlight flashed overhead and started aimlessly roaming around the room, as one of a voice from one of the guys from the band, boomed loudly into the microphone.

“Where is the beautiful birthday girl?”

I heard and felt the shift of bodies and eyes as everyone turned
toward
me, and the bright spotlight, which should have blinded me by its hard light, found me among the crowd. I lifted my hand, and with a flick of my wrist, I did a quick wave and everybody laughed.

I didn’t find myself being as embarrassed as some might have been by having all eyes on me, but I could feel the slight tint of color stain my cheeks as the band started the first verse of “Happy Birthday”, and then everyone else joined in. A line of people in front of me parted like a curtain, revealing Scott and Eli as they held a giant sheet of cake in their hands.

I pressed my hands together and held them against my lips, as I caught a glimpse of the beautifully made birthday cake. Eighteen black candles surrounded the perimeter of the cake, and ‘
Happy Birthday Sara’
was piped in a pink cursive signature. Stopping in front of me, each of them held one side so everyone could see me blow out the candles.

Holding my hair back, I bent over the cake, feeling the heat rise as it escaped the tiny flames. My face was lit with the orange and red hues from the candles, and I could feel my cheeks and neck flush from the heat. As I got closer to the flames, they trembled and quivered under the pressure as the air escaped my parted lips. I could feel the flames getting hotter. I blinked looking down at the orange tear drops, and they looked like they were swaying
toward
me, as if I were drawing their flame.
Odd
, I thought to myself, but closing my eyes anyway, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes again to blow out the candles, but again I found Adan in the distance. I couldn’t take my eyes away from him. I felt like I was in a trance under his gaze.

The flames glowed brightly, growing with life the longer I stared at Adan, and I realized everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to blow out the candles. I took a deep breath, starting with one side and following the lines of the cake to other end, I blew out the candles. I glanced at Eli, and she was smiling happily, and sitting next to Scott. I then noticed that Scott was looking to his right, and when I followed his line of view, it ended at Adan.

Putting my hand on his arm, I leaned over and kissed his cheek, hoping to draw his attention away from Adan. When he finally turned to look at me, he didn’t look angry or upset, just…

He gave me a sad smile and winked at me. “Happy Birthday, Sara.”

I returned his smile, feeling uneasy about the change I could feel in him. “Thank you Scott. For everything. It was a perfect surprise.”

“Your welcome. I’m going to take this over there so they can cut it up. I’ll be back.” Taking the cake fully from Eli, he turned away.

“You okay?” Eli asked, slipping her arm through mine and bringing my attention to her.

“Yes I’m fine. Just a little tired. Everything was amazing Eli, thank you so much!”

“I’m glad you’re having a good time.”

“Me too. I’m going to go outside for a minute to get some fresh air, save me a piece of cake please?”

“Of course! It looks so yummy!”

I laughed at her enthusiasm for the cake. “I’ll be right back.” I said, heading toward the outside patio.