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When Anna suggested the four of us go to the club after dinner, I couldn’t help but glance at Trevor. Surely that was a dangerous idea with Governor Ellery’s son here. He, however, shrugged and called for his car. His arm was draped across Anna’s shoulders, his fingers dangerously close to her chest, and I wondered how much longer that slinky red dress would stay in place.
Carter glanced at me and I offered a small nod. We could go, sure, but I liked the idea even less with each passing moment.
“I told you all the kids do it,” Anna said when we were in the black car, darkly-tinted windows keeping us from view of the city. “Besides, Trevor will take care of us if we get into any trouble. Won’t you, sweetie?”
“Of course I will, but there won’t be any trouble. She’s right. All the kids go to the club.” Trevor shrugged, looking far more interested in Anna’s cleavage than my concerns.
That attitude was what nearly got us in trouble last time. Maybe it was easy for Anna to brush off last week’s raid, but she hadn’t been the one wedged between a dumpster and a wall, inhaling the odor of garbage while guardsmen with loaded rifles stood mere inches from her hiding spot. No. That’d been all me.
And Vi, the only person willing to stand by me and be completely open with me after all that’d transpired. Even if I could trust Anna, I wasn’t sure I believed anything she said. Not anymore.
For now, I kept my mouth shut and glared out the window. I supposed this was better than going home and listening to Anna tell me about her date with Trevor. Having to answer her questions about mine would have been infinitely worse. Not that she would make it home, anyway. At the rate things were going, she would probably end up somewhere making out with Trevor in the back of this car. Maybe even taking it all the way...
The car didn’t pull up at the same building as the first time we’d gone to the club together, and I balked when I realized how close to the Commonwealth capitol we were from here. Trevor must have noticed my reaction, because he said, “Relax. Clubs come and go and move around. When they get raided, everyone has to pick up and go somewhere else.”
“But that... that...” There was nothing I could say without giving myself away, so I finished with, “that must be so expensive.”
He laughed and squeezed Anna’s shoulder. Everything about the way she was angled toward him showed how much she wanted him, but his demeanor was more relaxed, like he was entitled to her. Like he had already gotten exactly what he wanted.
Something about their interactions didn’t sit well in my stomach and I glanced at Carter. He seemed a little nervous, but excited at the same time, his fists balled on top of his bouncing knees when the driver opened the door.
We filed out of the backseat of the car and into the building, and I drew in a deep breath that made my nose tingle. Walking into a strange, new place was disorienting enough, but being there with the governor’s son and my match ratcheted my anxiety up several degrees. This was wrong in so many ways. I wondered if they would notice if I slipped away on my own and my gaze darted from side to side, looking for all the potential exits.
At first glance, it looked like we were in an old warehouse. We stood in a small, dark entryway with a pair of double doors ahead of us. A muscular man gave us each a once over and then stepped aside for us to pass.
Trevor and Carter held the doors for us and, once we passed through them, I stopped to orient myself. We were standing on a second floor walkway that went around the entire building. A metal safety rail enclosed it, and a wide metal staircase led down to an enormous, open area with a dance floor and bar.
The place was packed with people dancing, drinking, and talking in small clusters. The music thumped with a deep bass, and colorful beams of light flashed over the crowd. I couldn’t pick out individual faces, but it seemed like there were more people here than the night I’d gone to the club’s previous location. Match Day dates might start at nice restaurants, but it looked like they ended on the dancefloor.
Anna and Trevor walked down the stairs with their arms linked and heads held high, as if they were attending one of the governor’s high class functions, instead of partying in some dingy old warehouse converted into an illegal club.
Carter and I followed, my fingers skimming the rail along the stairs. This didn’t look much different than the club from last week. There was no one playing a green fairy this time. At least, not that I saw. Maybe she was on her own Match Day date, her absinthe-serving days a thing of the past in our unique little world.
Trevor and Anna led us to the bar and I noticed the way people made room for them. Most of the kids went on dancing and drinking, either oblivious or uncaring. A few slanted narrow-eyed glares at Trevor, and one or two hurried up the stairs, out of the club. I couldn’t blame them. My own heart was slamming against my ribcage, a testament to the fear the governor’s reputation elicited.
“Do you want a drink?” Carter asked, his mouth at my ear so he could be heard over the electronic beat of the music.
“No thank you.” I wanted to keep my wits about me tonight, and I scanned the crowd, trying to find that one person I wanted to see. She had to be here. She just had to...
The rising tones of a synthesizer and guitar drew my searching gaze to the makeshift stage, and there she was, almost as if she’d been waiting for my entrance.
Vi’s vocals soared and everyone turned toward her. But when she looked out over the crowd, I was certain our gazes locked. No amount of cheering could drown out her song, though the meaning of her lyrics was probably lost in the excitement. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Every second sparked the need to know more about her, to deepen the tenuous connection I was sure we’d already made.
“Great singer!” Anna enthused. “Come on!” She pulled Trevor into the sea of bodies and I lost sight of them the moment I flicked my gaze back at Vi. I’d made it home last time and I would again, with or without Anna, Trevor, or Carter.
Vi sang about darkness and innocence, injustice and dreams, and I hung raptly on every word. If I could have anything right now, it would be her. Nothing else mattered and everything else in the room faded away.
As soon as the last strains of guitar sounded and she jumped off the stage, I had to catch my breath. Reality rushed back too fast, too loud, the turntable electronica pulsing to life once more.
I turned to Carter, said, “Excuse me,” and pushed past him toward the stairs. I’d seen a restroom sign on the way in and that seemed like the safest place to go in hopes of her finding me.
Relief lifted some of the crushing fear once I was in the ladies room. There were two girls in there, one dabbing at tears and the other rubbing her back. I knew that feeling, so I offered them a small, tight smile, and then hid in one of the stalls.
The door opened and I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen. Two minutes crawled by until the door opened again, and I heard “Excuse me” followed by silence. I glanced under the stall door and saw a pair of laced-up black combat boots.
Swallowing my nerves, I unlatched the door and peered out toward the sinks.
Vi leaned against the counter, arms folded and eyes on me. “We have to stop meeting like this,” she joked. “There’s nothing less romantic than a bathroom.”
“Are you saying that the cemetery is better for a date?” I instantly regretted my flirtatious comeback. She hadn’t said anything about a date. My response had been too presumptuous.
But her smile widened and she nodded. “Maybe it is. What brings you here tonight? I thought it was Match Day.”
I approached her and flexed my fingers at my sides, not sure what to say. Match Day was the last thing on my mind at this point. Not with her so near, within reach. If I told her what I was thinking, it would sound awkward and juvenile.
She seemed to pick up on it, though, because she nodded toward the door and said, “Do you want to find somewhere quiet to talk?”
“Yes, please.” I was sure I sounded like an over-eager school girl.
“Come on.” She waved me after her, out into the hall, then through a door across from the bathroom. The room we entered looked like an old office with a round table and a couple of folding chairs. Someone stood in the corner, talking on an ancient rotary phone that sat on a small end table next to a ratty old gray sofa. He turned away from us, lowering his voice, not that I could discern the conversation anyway.
As soon as the guy was done, he hunched deeper into his leather jacket and left the room. Vi sat on the sofa and patted the cushion next to her. It was against an exterior wall, under a small, square window. I glanced up at the beam of streetlight that filtered into the room before folding myself into a sitting position.
“It’s not pretty but it’s home. Well, for now.” She shrugged, her gaze still locked on mine, her confident demeanor dimmed slightly by what seemed like eagerness for my approval or acceptance. Her eyes, I realized, weren’t dark like her hair, but blue-violet unlike any color I’d ever seen.
“Maybe it’s not pretty, but you are,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
Her eyes went wide for a second before a smile transformed her face, erasing all the worry.
“Thank you. You are, too, and that’s one heck of a dress.” Vi lifted her hand to my cheek and touched me hesitantly, as if she was afraid of sullying me in some way. I leaned into her warmth, closing my eyes and exhaling. “Pretty things,” she said softly, “can always be found, even at the ugliest times.”
I wanted to say something as profound as that, but I simply nudged into her palm, unwilling to break the spell. When I opened my eyes, she was still looking at me, everything about her a light in the darkness. The pretty in the ugly.
“What you told me about your childhood, about losing your parents, it hit hard,” I told her.
“Did it?” Her whisper sounded a bit incredulous.
“Yes. I’ve become so much more aware of my privilege, the privilege my friends have and are ungrateful for, like it’s something to be used however they see fit. But they don’t understand how others suffer because of the government. I’ve always tried to be good, to trust my teachers and government implicitly. My parents—parents I had no idea how grateful I should be to have—seem to want what’s best for me, but I’m starting to see that what they think is best and what I want are two totally different things. I mean, they always were, but now...”
Vi’s smile relaxed and she stroked my cheek, her hand gentle. “Now, you don’t want to hide what you are or want anymore?”
I nodded, not sure if anything I’d just said made sense to her. The little speech I’d prepared about how I wanted to change the world, study our system and be the one to find a way to change it, flew out of my head. My words seemed to make sense to Vi, though, because she leaned in and brushed her lips over mine.
It was just as lovely as our kiss in the cemetery. Vi’s mouth was sure and sweet, and when I reciprocated, she leaned in for more. The kiss went from tender to firm, and I heard myself moan. Vi’s hand drifted down from my face to cup my shoulder, while her other arm circled my waist to pull me close.
Need swirled deep inside me, hot and greedy. A moment like this had only existed in my wildest dreams, and never with a girl like Vi. She knew what she was doing. A kiss like this belonged in a movie, because it made me want so much more.
When she pulled away, her eyes were glazed over with passion. I wondered how I looked to her, too, and what my friends would say if they knew what I'd just done. That I wanted to do so much more. That I wanted Vi to teach me.
“But it is Match Day, isn’t it?” she asked.
I nodded, my lips tingling.
“Did you come here with him?”
I gave another nod and waited for her reaction.
“Isn’t that something.” Her arms tightened around me. “Then let’s make this a night to remember, shall we?”
And then, she kissed me until any notion of matches or curfews or following the rules became a distant memory. Until my body ached with need and I was sure Vi was the only person on Earth who could alleviate it.