Feeling grumpy, I thought about what I would have to go through if I stayed here; what was more important here? Giving Natalie the attention I wanted to give her, and she wanted from me, or making sure I was ready if anything dodgy happened? Surely the latter, though I was beginning to realise that it was now or never with Natalie. But unfortunately, it was too late; attempts to follow her conversation were useless now. She was far more interested in Tommy …
I noticed at this point that Natalie had not left her seat at all—the only one on our table who hadn’t. I knew it was because she had used Tommy to get things from the bar for her, knowing it would get him out of the way for a few minutes at a time, and Tommy had been happy to oblige. It may have been just to keep her happy (to suck up to her, in other words), but there might have been another motive as well. None of us were supposed to be drinking alcohol, and so far as I could tell, the other people on our table weren’t, but Natalie? She was getting more and more flushed and giggly as the night progressed, and always in response to whatever Tommy was saying to her. It might be nothing … or maybe there was a little more flavour in her drink than anyone but Tommy knew. I was tempted to pick it up and pour it into his lap, but social awareness made me hold back, knowing that I didn’t actually know for sure. Later, I would wish I had just gone ahead and done it, and damn the consequences.
At about half past nine, the place went quiet. It took me a moment to see why, but eventually Peter nudged me and pointed in the general direction of the dance floor. There, Arnold Hammerson had risen to his feet and called the crowd to order. I only noticed then that he was standing in front of a table for four, at which Tankom, Stella and Cornish were sitting. The speeches followed, from Hammerson, Tankom and obviously Stella. They were rather polite, although I could tell that half the stuff Hammerson said was more automatic than anything; his eyes showed cold hatred of the girl in front of him, and I was sure he would have preferred not to be doing this. Tankom’s speech was short, but she looked more sincere than Hammerson had.
The party really began in earnest after that. The lights dimmed a bit and the music began. A bunch of rowdy blokes congregated up at the bar, ordering liberal amounts of alcohol. People were gathering on the dance floor and having a grand old time. I looked around at the tables occupied by the Young Army and saw that Katie and Sophie were already dragging the twins up to the dance floor; Nicole had successfully latched on to Marc and they were also heading up there. Amelia was watching the latter couple rather sadly.
James offered his hand to Erica, and both of them disappeared. Tommy did the same for Natalie, and after some hesitation, she obliged. She took one last look at me before turning and heading off. Tommy also looked back at me while Natalie’s back was turned, raising his hand as though in apology. The look didn’t stretch to his eyes though. I could see the glint of triumph there; he had no intention of letting go of Natalie from here on. My stomach fell; I’d blown it for sure now. Stupid me, thinking that her wanting me would be enough. Stupid me, thinking that Tommy was no longer a threat.
Peter and I went up to the bar, where we ordered a drink each, and then sat side by side, sipping our drinks and watching the party happening around us. David and Craig had apparently persuaded Felicity and Jessica to dance with them, while I could also make out Darcy and Jane in a far corner. Sebastian had latched on to Lena but I could see that she wasn’t happy about it; her eyes were darting all over the place, looking anywhere but at his face. I felt a little better that at least Peter was prepared to sit by me while all this was happening, but a few minutes later, that plan change when we were joined by a very flirtatious Kylie.
“Hi,” she said, making eyes at Peter.
“Hi,” we replied, me putting my hand over my mouth so as not to laugh.
“Wanna dance?” she asked, addressing Peter. Clearly Kylie had no issue getting straight to the point.
“I thought the idea was to wait ‘til the guy asks,” said Peter, but he looked amused as he took her hand. I bit back another laugh; Peter was rather short and skinny, and Kylie wasn’t a lot bigger, but she was dragging him away so forcefully that he lost his balance a few times, and she practically lifted him up to get him back on his feet. I wondered vaguely if James had seen that.
I stood up, clutching my drink. I was going to have to make something of this party or I’d be on the point of a breakdown by the time I got home. Trying not to look at Tommy and Natalie, who looked like they were having the time of their lives, I walked along the bar, skirting around several people who I wanted nothing to do with. Then I spotted Daniel, who was heading off the dance floor toward the bar. I hadn’t seen who he’d been dancing with, but I hardly cared. He was alone now, and he could help me with my problems in ways none of the others could.
“Hey man,” I said, nudging him as we reached the bar at the same time.
“Hey,” he said, looking around at me. “Pretty good party after all. Enjoying it?”
“I suppose,” I said, unsure whether he was referring to having fun or the fact that nothing had gone wrong yet.
Whether it was because of his magical psychic abilities or simply because he was tuned in, he seemed to notice my unease, and said, “You okay?”
“I need a bit of help,” I said. “I wouldn’t normally ask you to do predictions and stuff, but I don’t think there’s anything real dangerous about this.”
I paused, feeling distinctly awkward asking this sort of advice from Daniel. Though I was sure he’d be able to give it to me, I’d never asked for his predictions on anything other than the project we were working on together in Media. Daniel didn’t seem fazed, though. He took a glass of coke from across the bar then sat back and sipped it for a moment.
Finally he said, “I probably can’t give you the details you're after. The future’s never concrete, so I can’t give you enough information beyond any difficult decisions … and it seems like you’ve got a few of those over your head at the moment, right?”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered darkly.
“Yeah,” he said. He seemed to be deciding exactly what he should tell me, though I wished he would just tell me whatever he knew. But suddenly, seeing the look of concentration on his face made me realise: if he was using his psychic powers here, he was practically doing magic.
“Don’t,” I said hurriedly, grabbing his arm. “You can’t do magic in here—”
“Relax,” he said, shaking me off. “I’d be dead by now if mine counted.”
I felt distinctly uneasy now, but Daniel’s next words jolted me back to the issue at hand. “You know that old saying, that it never does good to cry over spilt milk? My advice to you would be to move on from the opportunities you’ve missed, because chances are they’ll come back around later. Don’t brood on them, ‘cause it’ll only cause you to miss more.”
“Ah,” I said, my mind ticking over. I thought I knew where he was coming from: Just because I’d missed out on Natalie, that didn’t mean I couldn’t still have some fun. “Cheers.”
“Nothing of it,” he said, waving his hand.
After that, we sat in silence, sipping our drinks. I had just finished mine when I saw Kylie and Peter dancing nearby on the dance floor, Kylie squeezing Peter like an octopus, Peter skipping around in a desperate attempt to both keep his balance and keep step with her. I had to bite back another laugh; really, Peter just seemed so unmanly sometimes, no matter how hard he tried.
This made me remember where I’d seen Daniel coming from. and I asked, “So who were you dancing with before?”
“Oh, Lisa,” he said, glancing sideways at me, then sweeping the floor with his gaze, perhaps looking for her again.
“Yeah? She any good?”
“At dancing? I suppose,” he said. “I don’t know; I was more worried about how badly I was doing to care what she was like.”
I sniggered, then when Daniel looked at me, said,