"Who were you looking for?" Theo suddenly turned around and asked.
"Huh?" I stopped just in time, almost crashing into him. Whilst I was quite impressed with my super fast reflexes, I was startled by his question.
"Back in the hall? Who were you looking for?" He pressed, gazing down at me.
"No one," I lied, feeling utterly exposed by his intense stare. He must've seen me frantically chasing around the hall looking like the white rabbit out of "Alice in Wonderland".
He looked at me and I diverted my eyes to the ground like a child who had been caught doing something wrong, deliberately avoiding eye contact. I could tell he had already seen through my lies. I was the world's worst liar.
"Ok." His voice was gentle.
I looked up, surprised that he had let me off that easily.
"Theo," Mrs McAllister called out as she walked towards us "could I have a quick word please?"
Theo made a grumpy face, not happy about being disturbed. "What is it?"
Mrs McAllister gave him a stern look. "Your father wants to see you in his study."
"Ok, in a minute. I'm busy just now." He tried to bypass her.
"No, now." She held up her hand motioned for him to stay and her voice was firm like she meant business.
Theo glared at her for a few seconds then he threw his arms up in the air like he's given up. "OK! Fine!" Theo looked at her moodily, then he turned towards me, "I won't be long, just you wait here, don't go anywhere. OK?"
I nodded silently, I could feel Mrs McAllister's eyes on me and my body stiffened in response as if I had just looked into the eyes of Medusa and turned into stone.
I watched their backs as they walked away. Theo was still throwing a strop and Mrs McAllister was trying to calm him down by placing a hand on his shoulder, which he shook off temperamentally.
She seemed like the perfect wife and doting mother as she continued to coax him with all the patience in the world. But Theo was having none of it.
Standing by the large oriental floor vase alone, I looked around bored. The Ceilidh had restarted and from the dance hall were the sounds of joyous cheers and claps. Waiters and waitresses in black and white uniforms carrying trays streamed past me without a glance. I was like a wallflower.
It was then I saw those two people heading over in my direction. The familiar sight tugged the deepest part of my heart. They held hands and gazed at each other lovingly as they walked.
My stomach churned and I had lost the ability to breathe. My earlier bravado appeared to have left me because the only thing I could think of doing was to quickly turn my back towards them.
Keeping my head low, I pretended to be looking for something I had dropped on the floor, desperately praying that they wouldn't be able to see me. If I could crawl into the vase I would have but I couldn't. The only thing I could do was to duck behind it.
The sound of their every step against the marbled floor was like a knife on my heart, slowly cutting away at each muscle fibre and tendon.
It wasn't until I was certain they'd gone that I finally looked up again. Coming out behind the vase, my sight lingered after them with longing.
My eyes hadn't been playing tricks on me after all. I thought with great sadness, my eyes loaded with tears again.
"What are you looking at?" Theo's voice called out behind me. He looked rather smug that I had listened to him and remained on the exact same spot where he had left me. But when he saw the lost look in my eyes, his handsome face started to cloud over.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
I was still deep in thought as I continued to stare after those people. Then as if sensing my bold glare, one of them suddenly turned around.
I yelped, immediately grabbing Theo's shoulder and pulled him in front of me as I ducked behind him for cover.
Seeing me using him as a human shield like that made Theo grin in amusement. "Why are you hiding?" He asked, trying to turn his head around but I was gripping onto the back of his jacket tightly, stopping him from doing so.
"I'm not hiding!" I said defensively as I peeked my head out to see if they were away.
"Good job you're not using me to dodge bullets." He joked.
I realised how idiotic I was being and once I was certain they were gone, I slowly came out behind Theo's back.
"Who were those people?" I asked as I pretended to smooth down my dress. I was getting creases all over it
"Who?" Theo stared at me confused. There was no one around.
"Those people walking towards the door!" Feeling exasperated, I pointed towards the direction of those people even though they had practically disappeared out of sight.
Squinting his eyes, Theo frowned as if he was still unsure what I was meaning. "Are you pointing at the tall man and the woman with dark hair in the black dress?" He asked.
I nodded my head eagerly. Yes, that's exactly who I'm talking about. Holding my breath whilst I waited for his answer.
"Oh, do you mean the Callaghans?" Theo asked.
"What?" I heard myself say, my mind not quite functioning properly as I tried to process his words.
"Yeah, that's Aiden Callaghan's parents," Theo confirmed.
Now I was utterly stunned.
No, that couldn't be. That was not possible. Not just illogical but absolutely impossible. I found myself saying over and over as I kept shaking my head in denial.
Theo looked at me with concern, "are you ok Aria? You looked like you've just seen a ghost."
Did ghosts even exist?