Whileshe’s waiting for her drink, though, she looks me up and down and says, “I’msurprised— the mightyJasonLangstonbrought a legitimate date.”
Firstoff, she noticed me?Second, she thinksI’mlegitimate?Andthird, something about this woman makes the guyJacesent over to look out for me raise his hackles and lean forward a bit like he’s poised to leap into action.She’sjust a classic mean girl.She’slikely to throw a few barbs, but it’s nothingIcan’t handle.He’sbeing just a bit paranoid.
Ialmost tell the woman that she’s remembered his name wrong and that it’sJaceLancaster, notJasonLangston, but she’s looking at me like she was just asked to lick a sucker that had fallen into the dirt, soI’mnot about to make things worse. “Whatmakes you sayI’ma legitimate date?”Idon’t ask becauseI’mtrying to challenge her—Ijust can’t get that part of her sentence out of my head andI’msuper curious as to why she said it.
Thebarkeep hands her a drink— a fruity thing that looks like it’d be at home in a tiki bar with an umbrella on top— and the woman studies me.Thenshe squinches up her nose like she’s smelled something bad.Inmy defense,Ionly cracked a little bit of a sweat during that tango, soIdoubtIsmell that bad.
Thenshe says, “Theeyes,Iguess,” then turns and walks off.
Ikeep watching her for a moment as she walks away.Theeyes?Isshe talking about my eyes orJace’seyes?Whatabout the eyes made her come to the conclusion that we are legit?Whatdoes legit even mean in her mind?
Andwhy doIcare what she thinks?
SinceI’malready turned in my chair,Igrab my drink and turn a bit more to watch the dancing, completely giving up on chatting with anyone.That’sokay.Ican sit here and rate all the dresses on a scale from “I’dspend the equivalent of a week’s worth of groceries on that” to “Iwould sell my car, my credit rating, and my dignity to own that.”
AfterI’verated about a dozen dresses,IspotJacein the hallway just outside of the ballroom.Hestrides up toMilesand holds a briefcase out to him.Milestakes it and ducks out of my line of sight, and thenJaceturns to enter the ballroom.Hiseyes scan the area for a fraction of a second before they land on mine, and he strolls across the room to me.
Hegives me a warm smile as he nears, but there’s something behind it thatIcan’t quite read.Anurgency or stress.Whenhe reaches me, he leans in closely, like he’s about to tell me how those minutes away from me were excruciating, and says, “Thingsdidn’t go as well as we had hoped, and we need to leave right now.”
Iset my drink on the bar and glance in the direction of the elevator we’d entered through before my eyes are back onJace. “Rightnow?”
Jaceglances over his shoulder. “Rightnow.”
“Oh.Okay.”
Istand and he takes my hand, leading us toward the elevator.Jacedoesn’t really look concerned— he looks as smooth and suave as he has all night.Idon’t know if it’s partly because of that or partly because of the excitement of him saying we need to hurry and leave, butI’mfeeling exhilarated as we calmly walk toward the elevator.
Exhilaratedand a bit apprehensive.Howbig is this problem?Oris this justJace’sway of making the night even more fun?
Someonesteps in front of the elevator, facing us, andJaceimmediately redirects us toward one of the side doors.Jaceseems remarkably calm— even if there’s something else behind the calm thatIcan’t quite read— soI’mguessing this is his way of adding some excitement to an already 10/10 evening.Asmile starts to spread across my face asIwalk through the doorway. “Didyou letMilesknow?”
Jaceglances in both directions and then says, “Yes.He’llmeet us at the helicopter.Thisway.”
Wewalk down a hallway.Notrushing, exactly, but walking more quickly than we might otherwise.Weturn at a corner and see someone down the hall, soJacespins us around to head back in the direction we came.Nowwe run down the hall.
Atthe end of that hall,Jaceopens a door that leads to some stairs.It’sonly one flight, and at the top, we open a door into another hall.Werun down that one, too, until we reach an access door thatJaceopens.Itleads us to a stairwell, and these stairs aren’t fancy like the others we’d just climbed— these look like the stairs we’d seen next to the elevator when we’d first come through the door on the roof.
Ilift my dress and we hurry up the stairs.Weget to the top— which, in fact, is right next to the elevator at the roof— just as feet on stairs sound below us.
Jaceopens the door and we step out onto the gravel of the roof.Thehelicopter already has its engines running and the blades are turning strong enough that it’s creating quite a bit of wind.Milesis standing in the open doorway of the helicopter, holding out a hand.Withone hand above my eyes, trying to protect them from the wind, and the other hand holding up my dress, we run.
Andholy honeypot,Ihave never run in heels before that have felt this comfortable!I’mnot even worrying about them falling off, my ankle twisting, or a heel breaking off.Theseare amazing.Theyshould make a commercial of some super spy wearing them as she is doing dangerous feats of athleticism and say something like, “Lookgreat no matter where life takes you.”
Andreally,Ikind of feel likeI’min a spy movie right now.Thisis the life that my blind date,Spencer, had promised during our half a dinner date.Iknew it wasn’t something he could deliver, butIhadn’t expected thatJacewould.
Whenwe reach the helicopter,ItakeMiles’shand asIstep up and he pulls me into the cabin.Jacegets in right behind me, and before he pulls the door shut,Ican see that several men in suits are spilling out of the door to the lobby by the elevators and stairs that we’d just come through.
Okay, pretending that people are after us is one thing.NowthatIcan see actual people have been chasing after us,Ithink things must have really not gone according to plan in the meetingJacewas in.Whatkind of a meeting was it?Andwith what kind of people?
“Go!”Milesshouts to the helicopter pilot, and the sounds intensify just beforeIget pulled back into my seat as we lift off the roof.
BothJaceandMileslook out the windows, soIdo, too.Themen— five, by my count— are on the roof, gesturing up at us.Andis that a gun one of them is holding?Probablynot.That’sjust my spy movie-loving brain interpreting whatI’mseeing.Peopledon’t bring guns to business meetings, especially not ones at fancy galas.
Thehelicopter banks and pulls away, taking the rooftop out of view, soIfall back into my seat asJaceandMilesdo the same.Inotice the briefcase right next toMiles’sseat, and my mind starts running through so many scenarios of what could’ve happened tonight whileIwas busy one-sided chatting and rating dresses.Mostare not really plausible.Butfor whatever reason— call it the fault of the adventure-loving girl inside of me—all of them fill me with a wild kind of excitement.
Jacelooks at me, concern etched in his eyebrows, and asks, “Areyou okay?” over the sound of the helicopter’s engine whirring and blades thumping.
Iam definitely okay.Infact,Ican’t stop smiling. “Iam.Thishas been quite the date.”
