Balls P2

PART 2

He headed for Jade, parting the sea of people who were irritatingly suddenly in his way, chuckling to himself. He couldn’t wait to hold her.

They'd openly admitted it to each other!

--

Oh.

He stopped, and stood dead still.

Oh shit.
He lifted his mask to rub his eyes, just to double check what he was seeing was real.
Sadly... It was.

He replaced the mask and, trying to muster what dignity he could, changed direction, pretending to be heading for a buffet table.

“You alright son?” Asked Plisk, as he passed him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
“Yeh. Fine.” Solvay grunted.
He wasn’t, though. He’d just seen Jade laughing, in Jamie’s arms.

He had been so stupid.

Of course… the song hadn’t been for him, it had been for Jamie.
He’d assumed Jade had been avoiding his gaze for much of her song out of embarrassment, but no. She’d simply been looking at Jamie.
And that kiss…
The familiar hand on the shoulder at the café.
Oh my Gods they were together!

It was all so clear now.
What an idiot he’d been.

He thought back to her singing outside his room, the conversation he’d heard where he couldn’t make out the words. Yeah, she’d been speaking to Jamie. Her boyfriend.

She’d kept telling Alex she wanted to be there for him, that she was his friend. Friend. Oh shit, Solvay was in the Friend Zone.

He glanced askance at the pair. Yes, they were a good couple. He should’ve seen it all along.

But what about the touching? Ah, well she was friendly, wasn’t she? She was probably like it with everyone but he’d been too wrapped up in his own problems to notice it.

Unless… He narrowed his eyes. Unless it was all a cruel joke.

With a sharp intake of breath he wondered if that's why they'd been laughing.
A bet, like the two old geezers on Trading Places. Jamie and Jade – the lovers – had made a bet that Jade couldn’t win the horrible emotionless Solvay over, make him feel something, make him fall in love with her. Yeah… That made sense. And that’s why Jamie had pretended he wanted to be his friend, too.

Dear Lords, it was all so crystalline obvious now that he examined it. Hurtful bastards. Well, he wasn’t gonna give them the satisfaction.

He felt a - probably feminine and Irish - hand tugging at the back of his jacket, and crumbled a little inside, wincing before regaining his composure and turning to face the one who would so easily make a mockery of his foolishly released emotions.
She was grinning up at him. Grinning. Of course she smeggin’ was.
He kept his face calm, straight, no emotion showing whatsoever.

“Well, uh… That was quite somethin’” she said, apparently shyly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
He shoved an unceremonious cocktail sausage in his mouth, purposely talking with his mouth full. “Yeah, bit of a laugh" he shrugged.
She frowned, taken aback at both the chew-talking and the statement. Bit of a laugh?
“Anyway.” He said, mock-cheerfully, dying inside. “Best be off. Got some things to do in the morning.” He removed his mask and nodded towards Jamie. “Have a good one.”
“What? Alex I don’t-“

He strode out of the ball, not looking back over his shoulder.

For a moment Jade watched him go, then changed her mind, and tottered after him into the relative calm of the promenade.
“Alex!”

He turned to look at her, his face as cold as if she were a stranger who’d just dinged his car. How could he just turn it off like that? He’d been so…

“Alex what’s wrong?” She sounded like she was nearly crying. If his hands hadn't been in his pockets, and if he wanted her to know that he 'knew', he might have given a slow-clap for the performance.

He scowled, but his voice came out soft, belying the harshness of his frosty features.

“Just leave me alone Jade, okay?”

And he strode off, up the darkened, deserted promenade, leaving the glowing bustle of activity, and a small exquisitely dressed woman, behind him.

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DUH DUH DUH. DUH-DUH DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH… *Eastenders theme*

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mwvKgQeMg8 <-- Eastenders theme, famous in UK after dramatic moments in the soap, like:

Zoe Slater: YOUW NOT MY MUVVAH!
Kat Slater: YES I AMM!

*Theme*

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PS. I'd already written this part and it was ready to post, but I thought I'd be mean and wait an hour before posting, leaving you waiting to see what happened, while I was on the phone. (And letting you have the happiness of the nice post for a while, before bringing it crashing down.)