Selected

“I adore your dress, you must tell me who the designer is.”

I smiled at the second girl to complement my dress. It was really a gorgeous dress. The floor length gown was a few shades off from being completely white, with a string of diamonds at the top of the bodice. I couldn’t be sure if the diamonds were real or not, with how rich the Blys are I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the color. Especially when standing next to Vox, who was wearing a black tux. We looked like we were going to walk down the aisle in the nearest church after this. “Thank you. My soon to be sister-in-law bought it, but I’m not sure where.”

The girl gave me a friendly grin, “And who is that?”

“Halston Bly.”

Her face puckered like she had tasted something sour. “Oh.” She then walked off without saying anything else.

“Okay.” That was weird. I guess her and Hal weren’t the best of friends. I stood by myself for a few minutes and admired the decorations in the room. It was a huge ballroom in another gorgeous building in the middle of the sector. A chandelier hung from the middle of the room with string of lights connecting to it from each wall. Tables littered around the space and in the center was a wooden floor that had people twirling about making a kaleidoscope of color.

“Here you go.” Vox appeared at my side with another glass of golden champagne. I took the glass and thanked him. “Are you having a good time?”

I shrugged and took a sip of the drink. “It could be worse.”

He smiled and nodded, “Yes it could.”

“Voxie!

“We both turned to see a girl in a black dress approach. Her brown hair shined against the lights as she walked.

Vox’s face fell and he whispered in my ear, “I’m just going to apologize right now because Mal is bound to say several offensive things in the next few minutes.” He smiled at the girl who approached as she wrapped her arms around him.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you, Voxie.” She let go of him. “But did you hear about Felicity? Completely awful. She’s been matched up with some street rat from Sector 16. Honestly, you’d think your father could have pulled some strings to get her to stay.” She spoke in a haughty tone that I disliked immediately. She stood so straight that I imagined she looked down her nose at everything.

Vox put his arm around my waist. “Maybe he did pull strings.”

She rolled her eyes, “Oh Voxie, how I missed your since of humor the past week. But really, a diplomat’s daughter in a place like Sector 16? It’s like your father is playing a cruel joke. Like he wanted her to be miserable the rest of her life. It must be torture to be in a dirty place like that. My heart really goes out to her.”

I kept my mouth shut as she ranted on and on about how awful a place my sector was. She looked over at me, “Oh, I didn’t see you standing there. Hi, my name is Mal. You are simply gorgeous, I love that dress. No doubt the handiwork of Halston. What sector are you from? You look like a 2. Are you from sector 2?”

Vox cleared his throat and finished off his drink. I gave the girl a smile, “No, Sector 16.”

The girl’s face was priceless. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open, I imagined the girl wasn’t surprised that often. Vox took the drink from my hand and gave it to her, “Let’s go dance, Emmary.” He had one hand on the small of my back, leading me through the crowd of people to the dance floor.

“I don’t know how to dance.” Teyland had tried to teach Koontz and I once, but we just kept stepping on each other and falling over. I smiled at the memory.

Vox took my hand, “That’s okay. I just wanted to get you away from Mal. Again I apologize. She doesn’t have a filter.”

“I don’t think I like her much.”

Vox’s smile made his eyes crinkle, “No one does really. Put your other hand on my shoulder.” I did as he instructed. His free hand found my waist and he started guiding me around the dance floor.

He started to laugh after the second time I stepped on his foot, “You really are awful at this.”

I frowned at him, “Learning to dance isn’t a priority in a dirty place like Sector 16.”

We stopped and he smiled at me, making eye contact as he did. “I’ll have to teach you at a better time.” His voice was a quite whisper.

I nodded, I spoke quietly to match him. “Okay. I’m getting a bit dizzy.”

“Maybe we should stop.”

A smile formed on my lips, “We have stopped.”

He broke eye contact and looked around, “Oh, right.” He grinned. After a short pause he asked, “Do you want to get out of here?”

“And go where?”

His grin got wider as he took my hand, “Come on.” His pace quickened as we walked across the ballroom toward the exit.

When we stepped outside, Vox waved off the valet that approached and continued walked down the street. He stumbled and grabbed me around my waist to steady himself. “Sorry.”

I laughed, “And how many drinks did you have?”

He grinned at me, “More than one too many. Come on, just a little farther.” I felt a little light headed myself. I couldn’t remember how many drinks I had had. I kept taking them from Vox to help calm my nerves. He looked at me again, his golden eyes were lit with the same excitement as they did when he gave me the book. What was he up to?

We turned a corner and stopped in front of a towering building. He held open the glass door for me. A blonde woman sat at the front desk. Vox flashed her a smile, “Hello, Mrs. Neward.”

“Mr. Bly.”

Vox pushed the button for the elevator. I followed him in to a tiny room that couldn’t fit more than five or six people. I felt suddenly very claustrophobic as the doors closed behind us. I looked nervously over at Vox who was relaxed and leaning against the railing that ran along the walls. “Floor 100 please.” The elevator gave a lurch. Vox couldn’t stop grinning as he drummed on the metal paneling. “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure.” I clung to the railing behind me, hoping he didn't notice the tension in my body. I wasn't just nervous about the elevator, but of my proximity to him as well.

He closed the space between us. There was little space to begin with, but now our faces were mere inches apart. He lifted his hand and tucked a loose curl behind my ear. I tensed up even further. “You’re beautiful.” His breath smelled like a combination of mint and champagne. I felt like I couldn’t breath. He leaned back against the wall, giving me enough space to breath again. “Just thought I’d let you know.”

I smiled at him, “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

He gave me a playful smug look as he straightened up. “Well, thank you.”

I took him in like I had when I first saw him earlier tonight. He still looked stunning, even if his bowtie was now crooked. His hair was gelled and parted. As I looked at him, I could tell he was doing the same to me. The way his eyes stared at me, I could tell he was admiring me the way I was admiring him. His face broke out into another huge grin. His smile was nice, I liked the way his eyes crinkled around the edges.

I instantly felt guilty for admiring him, like I was betraying Koontz. I tucked the same loose strand back behind my ear and stared down at the ground.

The elevator dinged and the doors parted.

Vox put a hand on my back and guided me into the lobby of the 100th floor. There was a steel door across from the elevator with a scanner on it. Vox walked over and put his face to the scanner. There was a swish as the door slid open. Vox flashed me a smile. “There are perks to having my father’s eyes.” He gave me a wink before gesturing me to walk through the door. Where was he taking me?

We walked down a long hallway toward the end was another door. This one however wasn’t locked. It automatically opened to reveal a stair well. “After you.” I walked up the stair case to the final door with Vox closely behind. It wasn’t an automatic door like the others, it had a handle.

“Wait.”

I stopped before opening the door. I turned to look at him, “Yeah?”

He pulled off his jacket and handed it to me. “You’ll need this.”

I pulled it on, the sleeves covering my hands. “Thank you.” He gave a half smirk in response before turning the handle and opening the door.

The open door lead to the roof of the building. I stepped out with Vox following close behind. I was glad he gave me his jacket as a gust of wind picked up. Loose strands of hair were blowing out of their pins and around my face. Vox took his hand in mine and interlaced our fingers. Butterflies flew around in my stomach and my heart began to race faster.

“I thought you’d might like to see the view from up here. It’s pretty spectacular.” He lead me closer to the edge. There was a small half wall around the edge that kept my nerves of falling off calm.

I looked across the skyline. Buildings stood all around us, but they were all dark. No lights shown out of them. “All the buildings shut down during the ball. The only building that keeps its lights on are this one. So it’s the only time of the year and the only spot that you can see the stars.” He pointed up and my head tilted back to follow his point.

White dots shown against the black sky. They twinkled and danced above us. It reminded me of the stars back home. Koontz and I used to sneak out after curfew and watch them together. We would lay in the grass field and talk about the future while we stared up. He would point out all the constellations, he loved the stars.

“What are you thinking about?” Vox’s voice was just above a whisper. I looked back at Vox, his golden eyes were bright in the darkness. They were studying me.

I answered honestly, “Just that Koontz would love this view.”

“A friend from back home?”

I nodded, “Yeah, he loved stars. He could name every constellation in the sky.

“Do you miss him?”

I swallowed and answered honestly again, “Yes.”

He clenched his jaw and furrowed his brow. “What if…” He sighed before gaining the courage to finish his sentence. “What if I could get a letter to him, from you? Would you want to-.”

“You would do that?”

He smiled and nodded, “Of course. He obviously meant a lot. I’d just have to seal it in a official selection envelope and drop it off. It’d be delivered in a day maybe two.”

I threw myself at Vox and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.” He hesitated for a second before wrapping his arms around me and squeezing me tighter.

A stream of light illuminated the roof top. A shadow of a man stood in front of the doorway. “Really, Vox?”