I gasp as the cool metal slips down the front of my dress. Isaiah looks at my chest for a moment with a look of confusion, then lurches into me. His hands reach for my neckline as he prepares, I assume, to fetch the ring back.
I jerk away from him and fall in a graceless heap on the floor. Suddenly Trenton and Isaiah are both leaning over me, trying to reach down the front of my dress. I smack their hands away, but they keep trying. I'm getting ready to turn and crawl away when I hear a very welcome, familiar voice.
"Get your filthy hands off of her," Dante says, his voice vibrating with anger and authority. Trenton stumbles away, but Isaiah acts as though he hasn't even heard Dante.
Striding forward, Dante catches Isaiah in the face with a very painful-sounding fist. Isaiah falls back with a yell, then jumps to his feet in a fighting stance. While they get ready to fight, I reach down my dress with trembling fingers and find the ring.
Kim appears at my side to help me up. "What's happening?" she asks.
"I'll explain later," I whisper back, shuddering and trying to hold back tears. "You need to take this to Dante. Tell him it's what they wanted."
Kim hurries to Dante and hands him the ring, whispering in his ear for a moment. He frowns at the ring and holds it up.
"Is this what you wanted?" he asks.
Isaiah looks at the ring in surprise, like he's forgotten that he lost a very valuable, if the weight is any indication, ring. He then looks at me and I shudder again, shrinking away from his searching gaze as I remember the feel of his hands grabbing at me.
Dante walks over and tries to get Isaiah to take the ring while Kim returns to my side and helps me up. My legs wobble a bit, but I manage to stay up by leaning on her. Dante joins us and shifts to that we're holding his arms, then turns to leave our little private spot.
Unfortunately, it's no longer so private. Trenton's shout has drawn a small crowd of curious onlookers. They stand in a cluster, blocking our access to the rest of the ballroom and watching with varying degrees of interest and disgust. I hear them whispering and asking what happened. I blush, wondering how much everyone saw and heard. I don't want to be known as the girl who lost a ring down her dress and caused a fight.
I'm not sure what to do, but Dante starts power walking towards the wall of bodies. I try to pull back, afraid that we're going to run into them, but he yanks me forward.
Thankfully, a small path clears and we manage to squeeze through onto the now-empty dance floor. Dante walks us quickly across the room to the exit. I try to ignore all the eyes on us. Everyone seems to be watching. A few people are walking after us, probably hoping to get details or something. But the room is fairly silent until I hear a shout.
"Wait! That jerk punched me! Let me at 'im!" I look back and see an angry Isaiah emerging from the crowd. He's dragging Trenton behind him as Trenton tries to restrain him. At their shout, a few men start following us. Dante speeds our walk even faster as the men behind us shout for us to stop.
Dante releases us as we pick up our pace to a full-out run in the hallway, making for the exit as quickly as we can. Even Kim moves crazy fast considering her short legs and stilettos. I forget my horror and disgust in my desperation to escape.
The footsteps behind us give away our pursuers. We round a corner and duck into the small, dark employee hallway. Moving in far enough to be hidden, we all stop and press against the wall. A small group of men run past and Dante releases a sigh of relief. He leads us down the hall to the exit.
Once we reach the staff exit, we hurry out to Kim's car. When we get there, I reach up to rub my aching head and encounter an unexpected object: my mask. I totally forgot that I was wearing a mask! No one saw my face. That means I can't be connected with this incident. The surge of relief paired with the lack of food, the exhaustion from running in heels, and the lingering disgust at being pawed by drunk men overwhelm me and I fall onto Kim's back seat as my knees give out.
My vision starts to blur and I lay back. My last conscious thought is that I really hate passing out.
"Lacy. Lacy, wake up." Dante's voice is the first thing I hear when I regain consciousness. My vision slowly returns. Once I can see clearly, I ease up into a sitting position. Dante is crouching next to the open car door. My legs hang out as I perch on the edge of the seat.
"Thank goodness," he says. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah. I think so. How long was I out?"
He sighs. "About five minutes."
"Where's Kim?" I look around, thinking that she must be nearby, but I don't see her.
"She went back in for your bags."
"Oh shoot! I totally forgot about our bags."
"So did she." He shakes his head. "What happened back there? How'd you end up with two strange men trying to. . ." he trails off awkwardly.
"I'll tell you when Kim comes back."
We sit in tense silence for a few minutes. Dante looks edgy and I can't help worrying that Kim is in trouble.
A buzz in Dante's pocket breaks our vigil. Dante smiles in relief and shows me Kim's name before he answers.
"Hey Hon. Did you get the bags alright?" . . . "Uh-huh." . . . "What? What are you going to do?" . . . *Sigh* "Yeah, we can do that."
I feel a stab of fear as he hangs up. "What's wrong?"
"One of the security guards escorted her to the bathroom because she said her employee pass was in her bag. Obviously she doesn't have a pass, so she needs you to distract the guard while I help her sneak out."
I sigh. "I knew this was a bad plan."
"Huh? Kim said you were all for it."
"She coerced me into it. But when she said we were going to 'jazz it up', I knew it was doomed to failure."
Dante lets out a cynical laugh as we head back into the hotel. "I always wanted to experience one of her 'jazz it up' curses. Now I guess I've had my wish. It sounds much better than it feels."
"Yeah. This will make a great story! But it's never fun in the moment."
"I'm realizing that."
When we get to the last turn before the bathrooms, Dante hangs back. I stride confidently around the corner and towards the bathroom. Sure enough, some tall, muscular, bald guy in a suit with a little earbud in sees me coming. He looks like he's about to stop me, but I give him my best 'excuse me sir, who do you think you are?' look and he steps to the side.
I walk into the bathroom and find Kim hiding in the room where we got ready. She peeks out and smiles. "Lacy, you're okay!" I'm glad she's whispering. I don't want the guard to think we know each other.
"Here's the plan," I say, joining her. "I'll go out and complain to the guard about something. Watch carefully. I'm going to try and have him take me to a supervisor or something. Dante is waiting in the hallways just over yonder."
Kim nods and I head to a stall, flush, and quickly wash my hands. All the while, I look around for what I can complain about. It comes to me as I dry my hands with the air dryer.
Walking confidently out of the bathroom, I turn to the guard. "My favorite dressing room is locked." He looks at me with one dark eyebrow raised, so I say again, louder, "My favorite dressing room is locked!"
"And?" he finally asks in a very annoyed voice.
"And you need to unlock it!"
"I'm afraid that doesn't fall under my list of responsibilities, ma'am."
"Then take me to someone who can unlock it. Now!" I'm getting louder. Another sentence and I'll be yelling. The guard seems to sense that I'm not going to back down. He sighs.
"Fine. Let me radio for someone to come get you."
"No. You take me! Right now!" I am now full-on yelling.
"I can't leave, ma'am. I'm waiting for someone."
"Perhaps the someone who locked themselves in my favorite dressing room?" I raise an eyebrow and drop my voice, using a dangerous, quiet tone.
"Was there anyone else in there?"
"No."
"Then very likely."
"Then take me to someone who can unlock the door!" I return to a shout, startling the guard who leaned in to hear me when I whispered.
He winces and backs away. "Help will be here any moment, ma'am."
I sigh dramatically. "They'd better!"
Stuck waiting outside the bathroom, I'm not sure what to do to get Kim out. I wrack my brain, trying to decide what else I can use as a distraction. Suddenly, I have it. I begin walking away from the guard, swaying a little.
"Where are you going, ma'am?" he asks.
"I-I feel a little. . ." I trail off as I intentionally stumble. The guard rushes to my side and grabs my arm.
"Just sit down here, ma'am. You look a little pale."
"I can't sit on the ground," I say in a weak but angry voice.
He sighs and helps me around the corner to a small bench. I slump down on the bench and flop over, feigning unconsciousness.
The guard mutters something that I can't quite make out, then starts relaying instructions through his radio for someone to go wait by the bathroom for Kim. I pray that she and Dante are taking this chance to get out of the building.
When I feel that they've had enough time, I begin to move and slowly blink my eyes open. "Where am I?" I ask.
"You just fainted, ma'am. Here, let me help you up." The guard helps me sit up with gentle hands and I feel a little bad for tricking him.
"Thank you," I say. I look around in feigned confusion for a moment, then act like I've realized where I am. "I'm at the hotel for that ball," I say.
"Yes ma'am."
"I should get back to my group before they miss me."
"I'll help you."
"Can you help me to a restroom first?" I ask. "I need to touch up my makeup."
"Certainly." He seems relieved to be returning to his post as he helps me up and back to the bathrooms.
I go into the women's restroom and quickly look around. Kim is gone. Unfortunately, my phone was in my bag, so I have no way to contact her or Dante. It would be ideal if Dante came in and acted as my escort so the guard didn't feel obliged to actually take me back to the ballroom.
When five minutes pass quietly, I decide I should probably face the guard and just try to get out of his escort. I pinch my cheeks a couple times to make sure that I have full color back, then stride into the hall.
"Thank you for your assistance," I say to the guard, turning to the hall that we used to get in.
"Let me help you ma'am," he offers.
"No thank you. I am quite fine now, I assure you."
I must sound confident enough because he remains stationed at the door while I walk briskly back to the employee entrance. I find Kim and Dante at the car. Kim greets me with a tight hug.
"You were incredible, Lacy Lou! I know you acted in high school, but I didn't realize you were so talented!"
I laugh. "It's been a while. I'm just glad he bought it. You got our stuff?"
"Yep. We're good to go!"
I climb into the back seat. Dante greets me with a relieved smile. "You're a much better actress than I expected," he says.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I mean, your face usually gives away exactly how you're feeling."
Kim hops in the driver's seat and looks back at me. "We're dying to know what happened with those two jerks in the first place. Why were they reaching down your dress?"
"Okay, so here's what happened." I quickly dive into the story of the two drunk guys hitting on me, then losing their ring down my bodice. By the time I finish, Kim is laughing and Dante is shaking his head.
"Only you, Lacy Lou, only you," Kim says.
"This is all your fault, you know," I tell her. She just raises one of her beautiful black eyebrows. "You said we were going to 'jazz it up' tonight. Something ALWAYS goes wrong when you say 'jazz it up'!"
"Not always," she hedges defensively.
"ALWAYS."
"I think I'm on Lacy's side here, Hon," Dante says, putting a hand on Kim's leg. "You really need to stop saying 'jazz it up.' Maybe next time try 'spice it up' or something."
Kim shakes her head. "You two are ridiculous."
We spend the rest of the drive home arguing lightly. Sadly, Dante and I are unable to convince Kim that she needs to change her catchphrase. When we reach my house, Kim gets out to get my bag for me and give me another hug.
"I'm sorry it didn't turn out the way we hoped," she says with a frown.
I smile and hug her again. "It's okay. It was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed getting dressed up. And now I have a great story to tell! Besides, you were right about one thing."
"And what was that?"
"It definitely took my mind off of everything else!"