Thunder and lightening crashed outside, and Danielle placed a hand on her wet hair. 'Great, 30 minutes into the evening and my hair is ALREADY bad.'she said to herself. "Come on." Josh whispered behind her, extending his arm for Danielle to latch on to. Together, they followed Mr. Richards and his wife through the busy crowd, smiling as they were introduced to many new faces. Danielle clung to Josh's arm proudly, as they were ushered to a table. She latched herself even closer to him for fear of separation. She liked standing so close to him. She could smell his Abercrombie and Fitch cologne. She closed her eyes briefly and breathed it in deeply.
"Tell me if you see Kevin, Grace." Mr. Richards said, sliding into the booth behind his wife. "I really need to thank him for the tickets. Plus, he'll love having the rich and famous in his club." he joked, pointing to Josh. Josh gave a weak smile. Flipping her short, blonde hair, Grace happily turned her attention to Danielle. "So, Danielle," she began, stirring her Martini with the olive, "tell me, what's your major?"
"Music engineering." Danielle said sweetly, "Josh and your husband are kind of my heroes." she added with a laugh. "How sweet." she replied sincerely, "So is that what brought you to Orlando?"
"Ya, pretty much."
"Oh, well how do you like it?"
"Okay, Gracie, enough with the 20 questions okay?" Mr. Richards joked with his wife. "I'm sure Danielle doesn't want to sit here and tell her life story to us." Danielle shrugged, and glanced at Josh.
His eyes were frantically wandering the club, as if he was afraid of being seen. He kept shifting in his seat, as if he was uncomfortable in his own skin. "No I don't mind. Ask whatever you want." Grace smiled with satisfaction and clasped her hands together. "SO, is there a special man in your life right now?" she asked curiously. "Grace!" Mr. Richards snapped. Grace threw her hands up in the air, and the two began argue. This question caught Josh's attention. He was suddenly sucked back into the conversation. Danielle laughed at their bickering. "No, not, really." She glanced at Josh out of the corner of her eye, "No, I don't."
"There's Kevin, Gracie!" Mr. Richards exclaimed, grabbing his wife's hand. "Come on, let's go say hello." The two slid out of the booth. Mr. Richards stared across the room at the short, intriguing man, surrounded by a massive collection of flashing cameras. "Maybe you better hang out up here for a while, Josh. With the media and all." Mr. Richards shrugged, and Josh nodded in agreement. "Think how much fun they'd have with a picture of JC Chasez and a girl who's NOT his girlfriend!" he chuckled to himself. Isn't his girlfriend. Ow. The words echoed in Danielle's head over and over.
She watched Mr. and Mrs. Richards make their way across the crowded room. The lightening crashed again, and Danielle jumped out of fear. "You, scared?" Josh asked confused. "NO!" Danielle insisted, "I just wasn't, ready for that exactly." Josh laughed at her excuse. He watched Danielle fidget with the straps of her dress. Her discomfort was quite obvious. "You look great." Josh blurted out of the blue. "I just realized I hadn't told you that yet." His eyes refused to look at Danielle.
Instead he forced them to stare at the folded napkin in front of him. "I mean, actually, I had thought that," he glanced up at Danielle. His piercing eyes stared into hers, "probably more than I should have- I just hadn't said it out loud."
"You don't look too shabby yourself." she said teasingly, smiling with embarrassment. Josh examined his black suit jacket and black shirt. He shrugged and smiled. "I try." The rain outside pounded against the roof of the club, and the lightening lit up the night sky. The two sat in awkward silence, listening to the storm outside.
"You two still sitting here?" Grace asked in shock, making her way back towards the table. "Don't mind me, just getting some drinks for the guys. Get up already!" She swayed to the music a bit. "Dance!" Josh and Danielle slowly glanced at each other. Both hesitated to move. "If I don't see you two on that dance floor, you are in serious trouble." Grace joked, pulling Josh and Danielle out of the booth. "After you." Josh said sweetly, motioning for Danielle to make her way down to the dance floor. The two stepped onto the floor just as the band began to play their own rendition of Tony Bennett's 'The Way You Look Tonight'. Danielle led Josh to a vacant spot, towards the middle of the dance floor. She turned to face him, her blue eyes gazing at him blankly. Her body froze with fear. Josh stepped towards her, sliding his hands around her waist, never taking his eyes from hers. Danielle slowly raised her arms, and rested them on Josh's shoulders, her hands slightly hugging his neck. Their nervous bodies danced, turning in slow circles in their own private, section of the floor. Josh's heart beat faster with every step. His head began to pound, and overwhelming feelings of guilt began to take over him. 'Stop this.' he thought to himself, shaking his head a little, 'Stop this or...tell her the truth.'
Danielle smiled at him with ease. Josh slowly stopped moving, and stared at her blankly. He watched Danielle's smile slowly fade to a state of confusion. She quickly glanced around the room, searching for the source of their interruption. "What is it?" she asked quietly. Josh's mouth trembled, searching for the right words. "Danielle," he began, "I think I have to tell you something."
Suddenly, the room was flooded with darkness. Commotion began, and the crowd suddenly became loud and restless. A few held up lighters for a small glow in which to see by. Danielle watched the figures around her move quickly in a panic. She tightened her grip on Josh's shoulders, and stepped closer to
him for security. "Everyone, everyone, can I have your attention please." a middle-aged man begged.
With flashlight in hand, he climbed onto a tabletop, and stood facing the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but as you all can see, we are experimenting a bit of a power outage. We have alerted the Power Company and are currently working on the back up generators. Please be patient with us, and we'll have The Rock Box up and running again in no time. Thank you for your cooperation."
The disgruntled man stepped down and quickly left the crowd before anyone had a chance to question him. Danielle slowly rolled her eyes up at Josh. "Let's go." he blurted out, starring into the darkness. Danielle laughed at his suggestion. "Let's go? As in, leave? In this weather?" Danielle questioned. "Ya." he said in a serious tone, "Why not? What's the point in staying here? Besides, if the weather is going to be like this, we need to get you home."
Danielle refused to argue. He was suddenly acting strange. "Okay, let's go,"she agreed with a shrug, "but, don't we need to tell Mr. Richards, and...."
"..And how are we suppose to find them?" he snapped. "I dunno," Danielle said puzzled, "I don't guess we can in this."He grabbed Danielle's hand. "So you don't get lost." he insisted.
He led her through the darkness, finding a path through the crowd only by the small amounts of light from flashlights and lighters. Finally reaching an exit, Danielle opened it, and started out into the rain without hesitation. "Wait." Josh insisted, sliding off his jacket. He held it open for Danielle, hinting for her to put it on. She looked at him oddly. "You don't want to ruin your dress do you?" Danielle slid into the jacket, pulling the collar close to her face. "Besides, the rain's really cold." he said genuinely. Danielle smiled at him adoringly.
"I think it's coming down now even harder then it was when we left the club." Danielle said, peering through the windshield of Josh's Jeep. She bit her lip as she watched the rain flood the glass pane. She looked out her window through the lake of water at her apartment. "Maybe, you should wait it out here for a while. It doesn't really look safe to drive in."
Josh leaned forward and gazed at the storm himself. "Na," he said confidently, "I'll be fine." Lightening flashed, and the two jumped back, landing shoulder to shoulder. "Wait here with me, please, just until it lets up?"
Danielle looked at him pitifully, her face begging him to stay for fear of what might happen to him if he didn't. "For safety reasons of course. Please, Josh?" she pleaded. Josh sighed and turned off his ignition.
Thirteen