28. Balled Out
28
BALLED OUT
Sarah
I liked Jimmy immediately. For a start, he immediately switched the radio over from Classic Rock Hits, and Taylor Swift’s ‘Change’ came on the airwaves. It made me smile as we cruised through my neighborhood and toward the twinkling city lights. All those homes we passed were full of people who would never know what it felt like to be wearing a high-end designer dress on a soft luxury leather seat, on their way to mix with the rich and famous. I tried to forget for a moment that I was one of those people too, because tonight that was exactly what I was doing.
The real nerves didn’t come until we reached the city. Through the tinted windows, I could hear the swell of buzz and excitement from the crowd who had come out to catch a glimpse of those attending the ball. All hoping that some of their stardust might rub off on them and they would be sucked into that vibrant other world that ran parallel with theirs. I, however, was a complete imposter. An infiltrator. Snuck in the backdoor by some strange twist of fate that I didn’t entirely understand.
“Hey. So, that’s Farla Robinson’s car in front of us,” Jimmy told me.
I gasped. I’d seen her on billboards all over the city. She was like a goddess in Merryville.
“You know she grew up in a trailer park in Southview? Still gets her security team to pick her up KFC.”
“For real?”
“That’s right. Don’t be intimidated by these people Sarah, they’re not everything you think they are, believe me.”
I nodded, thankful for the reassurance. But the butterflies flooded my stomach again as Jimmy flashed his pass through the window at the security, and then we pulled up to the concierge at the bottom of the red carpet.
“What if someone asks me who I am, Jimmy?”
“Just tell them you do charitable work for vulnerable children in the city. It’s almost true and no one’s going to push you on that.”
Then the car door opened and the noise and cameras blinded me, all clamoring to catch whoever was about to step out, desperate to capture them as a still image that could be looked at and commented on by people all over the world. The flashes quickly slowed as they realized I was no one worthy of their efforts.
Stood there awkwardly at the bottom of the carpet, holding my hands over my dazed eyes, the lights still burned onto my retinas, Jimmy came beside me. He took my arm and led me, blinking heavily, between the crowd and across the thick red velvet carpet toward the entrance to the ball .
A few more flashes went off and someone yelled at me, “Hey! Beautiful dress!”
I turned to see where the voice came from and the yeller lifted his camera to his eye.
“Why don’t you show it off?” Jimmy said in my ear, followed by an encouraging wink.
I remembered how I’d looked in the mirror before I left and a burst of sweet confidence flooded through me. Hell, I might as well make the most of this. Who knows if I would ever look this good again? I made a couple of (at least what I thought was) glamorous poses and suddenly felt the rush of being on the other side of the camera, on the other side of life, and I liked it. Then the next car pulled up, and suddenly all the attention was ripped away from me and passed onto the new arrival. I suppose that’s fame in a nutshell.
We entered the reception, and I clung tighter to Jimmy’s arm, feeling increasingly like a fraud.
“Hey, can I leave you a second? I’ve got to shake some hands, but I’ll be back,” Jimmy said.
He saw my horrified expression and looked around the room.
“Hmm. Okay, let me introduce you to Andrea Barker over there. She’s kind of snooty, but you’ll be safe with her for a moment.”
Andrea Barker looked like a Disney villain with silver streaks running through her dark hair, but I nodded anyway and Jimmy led me over.
“Andrea, my dear. Please meet Sarah… Erm…” Jimmy turned to me to fill in the missing pieces.
“Sarah Miller! Very nice to meet you, Miss Barker.”
Andrea looked down her nose at me, sighed, and then said witheringly, “Yes, it must be nice for you, I suppose.”
Jimmy spun to smoothly lift two glasses of champagne off a tray from a passing waiter and handed one to me. “I’ll be back in a moment, okay?”
I nodded and looked back at my new and reluctant babysitter.
“So, Miller. What is it you do? Please don’t say influencer or I might choke.”
“Oh. No, I work with privileged children in the city.”
“Privileged children?” She replied with a frown.
My face reddened at the mistake and I stumbled back at her, “Oh, I mean they weren’t privileged, but now they are.”
“Oh, right. I see,” she said, still unsure, before adding, “But… Why?”
“You mean… Why work with children?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Jimmy arrived back just in time to rescue me.
“Andrea, I hope you’re playing nice,” he smiled at her knowingly.
“ Nice is not me Mr. Kemp, I prefer elegant ,” then she flashed another look at me, “Absolutely gorgeous dress, by the way.”
Jimmy gave a wide smile in return and, to my relief, led me away.
“You’re sure getting some attention in that outfit, my dear,” he whispered to me, a warm glow lighting up inside my chest at the recognition.
As we walked through the crowd, I noticed the beautiful woman we’d seen at the auction. She was talking to Solly Ricek with a stern look on her face. I wondered how his date with the cardigan had gone on that same evening I’d spent with Hayden.
The walk through to the main hall took some time. Jimmy had to stop every few steps to shake hands, bearhug, fist-bump, and backslap all kinds of people, none of whom paid me any attention to me beyond a quick glance. It suited me, though. I wasn’t sure I could hold a conversation with some of these types. It was all names and faces, that’s all they seemed to be interested in.
Finally, we made it through the reception and into the main hall. Smart-suited men and glamorous women - all adorned in the finest clothes, jewelry, and accessories - milled around large circular tables beneath a grand array of chandeliers. Each table was dressed in a perfectly white tablecloth, marked in a flourish with flowers of violet, white, and rusted red, gleaming glasses, and champagne buckets. In one warmly lit corner, a soft jazz band added a glamorous touch to the surroundings.
We were guided to our table and my heart froze. There was Hayden and, Goddamnit , he looked stunning in his tailored dark suit, fresh white shirt, and impeccable bowtie.
Lounging back in his chair, he was talking and laughing over his shoulder to a group at another table and didn’t see us approach. Those pale blue eyes I had encountered only yesterday did see us, though, and Cara seemed to glower with disgust as we came closer. As she looked me up and down in my picture-perfect dress, her look only became darker and more sinister.
“Cara, good to see you,” Jimmy said, and I sensed the hint of falseness around his words as Cara stood, holding her Dolce clutch, and air-kissed both his cheeks. She stared cold-heartedly and directly at me, and my heart jumped again, this time with uneasy fear.
“Oh. The teacher ,” she said, flatly and unimpressed. “I didn’t realize it was that kind of charity function.”
Jimmy looked at me uncomfortably before Hayden turned back to the table, grinning. When he saw me, his eyes widened. He didn’t speak, but he just gawped at me, taking in the glamorous woman stood before him. He knew me, but he didn’t know this me.
“Sarah?” He finally managed, as I blushed in delight at his reaction, pleased at how I’d caught his attention. Yeah, I know Hayden, I look fucking great, don’t I?
“Oh. Hi, Hayden,” I said with a soft smile.
His eyes swung to Jimmy with a crinkle on his forehead, asking the question his lips didn’t need to.
“Hope you don’t mind that I brought a date, Hay?” Jimmy said, a mischievous gleam sparkling in his eyes.
Hayden bounced to his feet and came to pull my chair out for me. This was already an improvement on last time. I could smell the cologne on his collar, like a forest on a sparkling spring morning, all bark, musk, lush moss, and dew.
Cara folded her arms as she watched us, rolled her eyes, and then let out a disapproving humph as I sat down. Hayden’s warm hand rested on my shoulder for a beat, sending small butterflies fluttering in my tummy at his touch.
He removed his hand and went to sit back down next to Cara. But he couldn’t take his eyes off me. We seemed to share a shy smile at every glance. There was an undeniable feeling being shared between us without words, and it was building feverishly with every second in each other’s presence.
As the tables around us gradually filled, a nervous-looking young man in a suit that seemed a size too large for him came over and spoke to Hayden.
“Mister Raynor, the Mayor will present your MVP award first, so don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“He a hockey fan?” Hayden asked him, to which the young man shrugged .
“If it gets him votes, then he is.”
Then the man scuttled off to find the next person on his hit-list.
Hayden’s eyes turned back to meet mine, and I blushed at the raw intention in them, before turning to Jimmy.
“Jimmy, I’m going to the bathroom, okay?”
“Sure, don’t be long, though. It’s about showtime here.”
As I slipped away from the table, I vaguely noticed Cara get up and follow behind me.
In the restroom, I’d just started to check my make-up when Cara came in, set her drink down, and started preening next to me in the mirror. An unsettling feeling rose inside me at her presence.
“So, you snuck your way in, huh?” She said, with a hint of poison in her words as she ran lipstick over her luscious lips. “A kid’s teacher rubbing shoulders with all of us .”
I had no stomach for a fight, so I gathered up my things and replied with a curt, “I guess so.”
I turned on my heels, and that was when Cara picked up her glass.
“Nice dress, by the way.”
Those were the last words I heard before she turned and splashed her glass of red wine all over me.
I squealed - first in shock, and then horror - at the crimson liquid running down and soaking the beautiful subtle hues of the dress I was wrapped in. Then I looked at Cara in complete disbelief.
“Oops,” she giggled, holding her hand up to her mouth.
In an instant, Cara swung her bag over her shoulder, turned away from me, and left me there stunned. I was still open-mouthed and frozen in shock when Andrea Barker walked into the restroom, took a surprised look at me, and exclaimed a sad, “Oh dear. ”
Hayden
Cara came and sat back down, just as the Mayor came out and the lights dimmed around us.
“Hey, where’s Sarah?” I hissed at her.
“I don’t know Hayden. I’m not her babysitter. Why don’t you call Joyce and ask her?” She said it with all her usual pleasantness.
Mayor Huskins was eating up the applause on the stage before he started his charm offense, “Now, now. We’re not here today for me - as much as that hurts me to say - but for something greater…”
Where was she? I gave Jimmy a puzzled look across the table and he shrugged back. Before I had time to settle, the busy little hummingbird in a suit was on me again. “Okay Mr. Raynor, you ready?”
On cue, the mayor was saying, “Now, usually, the MVP hockey award is handed out elsewhere… I’m not sure exactly where… The backroom of a bar? Stan’s Chicken Shack maybe! But tonight, I get the illustrious opportunity to give it out myself to our local star. The captain of the Ice-Hawks, please welcome to the stage, the one and only, Mr. Hayden Raynor!”
A garish spotlight blinded me as I stood and made my way through the thrashing hands toward the stage. Mayor Huskins looked up at me as I approached him and gripped my hand with both of his.
“Hayden, it’s an honor to have you here tonight.”
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Or can I call you Howard?”
“Not even my wife calls me Howard. But looking at the size of you, sure, you can call me pumpkin if you want to.”
“Okay. Well, thank you pumpkin.”
Laughter rang out as the Mayor stepped away and left me at the podium holding my award, the thick letters MVP welded together in brass.
“Wow. Thank you for this. I also want to thank Coach Brady, my agent Jimmy Kemp, my teammates, well not all of them, but you know who are, and… And…”
There was an uncomfortable silence in the crowd as I stopped speaking. I knew what I was supposed to say. All the usual stuff. Thank everyone, act humble, but not too humble. But I didn’t want to say any of those things. My throat was suddenly dry and I cleared it awkwardly.
“I just want to say. All this is great. Getting awards from the Mayor,”—a cheer—“The money,”—A bigger cheer—“The fans. The attention. The excitement out there on the ice… But… I mean. All of it is just a distraction, isn’t it?”
Some confused murmurs came from the crowd below me.
“It just fills that void we have. For love. Real love, I mean. The kind where you can’t sleep. Or think rationally. Or be who you’re trying to be. When none of it seems to make sense without them. All of it just leads back to that one thing.”
I looked over to our table and Sarah’s chair was still empty. All I wanted at that moment was for her to be there so I could go over, take her hand, and walk out of there with her. But she wasn’t there, and my words suddenly felt dull and useless in my mouth. “Also… Cara, get out of my house.”
There was a confused patter of semi-applause and confusion as I stepped down from the stage and the Mayor went to pick up the pieces, “Hayden Raynor… A lover and a fighter…And your MVP!”
Jimmy got to me first. “Hayden, you okay?”
“Where is she, Jimmy? ”
“I don’t know. She never came back from the restroom.”
I glared at Cara and she looked away, avoiding my eyes.
“Where is she Cara?”
The look on my face must have been a sight because, for once, she didn’t make any quips or shrug her shoulders. She just squeaked back at me.
“She spilled her drink, made quite a mess of that lovely dress. So, I guess she left?”
It was then that Andrea Barker bumped into Cara’s chair as she walked behind her. Andrea’s full glass tumbled over Cara’s head, leaving her looking like a drowned and astonished rat as she screeched in horror.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” Andrea said unconvincingly as she walked away.
The busy little man in the oversized suit then scuttled up to the side of me. “Mr. Raynor, a photo with the Mayor please.”
I snarled at him as I thrust the award down on the table, “Not now.”
Then I was striding out of the building.