Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 48

Not only Amanda was appalled at the sight of Tyler walking beside Lori in his fancy tuxedo but Chloe and I were as dumbstruck as everyone else. I looked around to check if Richard had seen them when they walked in but he wasn't anywhere to be seen in the hall. Slowly, everyone returned back to what they were doing before they got distracted by the gorgeous outfit Lori wore to the party.

"Now that's clear betrayal", Amanda said as soon as she recovered from the shock.

"You mean he rejected your offer and accepted Lori instead?", "No, that's not what I meant. I was going to ask him out but I change my mind like you did", Amanda replied taking another sip from the cup "Then who got betrayed?", "Richard, of course", "Where's he by the way? I haven't seen him among the guests that are currently present", "Perhaps he hasn't arrived yet", "...or maybe he isn't coming to the dance", Chloe rejoined and peered around the hall for Richard like we did. It was fruitless finding Richard that way but Amanda saw him first before we did.

"There he is, sitting alone all by himself like a lost puppy", Amanda said, pointing in his direction. Eager to see him, I turned in his direction and saw what Amanda said was true to anyone who would have noticed him at the party. "Aw.., He's all lonely after his second fallout", "Chloe, I bet he haven't seen Lori and Tyler yet", "I don't see Clyde and Linder either. I wonder where they are", I said feeling the guilt surmounted inside of me.

"Where do you think? They must have abandoned him now that everyone is giving Tyler their attention", "So much for being famous", "What do you mean by that?", I questioned.

"You really don't know, do you?", "No, I don't", I replied looking perplexed at Chloe. She sighed and took another sip from her drink.

"When both of you went missing, Coach Robbins had Tyler take Richard place in the men swimming games", "And after that, he became important in the eyes of everyone including the Principal, at least so the rumors say even though he won silver for the team", "Amanda, those weren't rumors. It actually did happen", Chloe said and got a bit distracted as soon as her drink was reaching rock bottom. I took a brief moment to ruminate how Richard must be feeling right now and felt deeply indebted to him for everything he did only to receive criticism in return instead of gratitude. The piteous feeling I felt deeply struck my heart as I watched him drinking his wine from the cup alone with nobody to chat with and he seemed not to bother about the fact that guest paid little attention to him let alone cared if he was there at the corner in the hall after his remarkable feat in the games which they all seemed to have forgotten. Richard sitting there alone, reminded me of how I used to feel back in Georgia where it was quite tough struggling to remove the mark of being a nerd or someone less important in the eyes of the popular kids in school.

"Girls, I'll be right back", I said walking away from them but they called out to me as they watched me crossing to the other side of the hall.

"Where're you going?", "To see Richard", "What?!", Chloe shouted but I was already far away from her to hear what she had to dissuade me from seeing Richard.

On getting to where Richard was, he was surprised to see me, though enchanted at first at the stylish outfit and the pretty hairdo I did to ensure I look attractive for the party but he was quick to return to his drink after feeling my presence beside him. Thankfully, the other guests were paying attention to their conversation with their partners since the party hadn't started yet and they paid less attention to us both rather than their interest in keeping themselves busy talking non- stop in the hall.

Judging from how he looked, I knew Richard wasn't clearly in the mood for chit chatting but I wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"You know drinking alone doesn't suit you", I said breaking silence and looked him straight in the eye after taking his cup away from him.

"Give it back", "I won't unless I stop this whole solitude thing", He scoffed.

"You sure look pathetic in that black dress", "I think it looks pretty on me and it's quite clear to both of us who the pathetic one is", I replied, returning his stare. A smirk appeared on his lips but he stole a guilty look at the stage to hide his smile.

"Fancy, seeing you in that outfit", I complimented and he looked at his gray tuxedo as though he hadn't seen it before.

"You as well", he replied after he was done checking himself out.

"You okay?"

"That's a good question coming from the person responsible for the mess I am in", "If you're really that upset about it, let me make up for it", "And how will you do that?", He asked earnestly, waiting for a reply. "You are free to dance with me", He suddenly burst into a wild laughter that almost attracted the other guest.

"And why will I do that?" Richard questioned as soon as he was able to control his laughter.

"Because...Like I said, I'm free.....", I moved a bit closer to him as though I wanted a kiss and he withdrew a bit to adjust his gaze on my face. He savored the sensation boiling inside of him and swallowed a lump of saliva down his throat. I knew I was having an effect on him and he seemed to be trying hard to forget something I knew too well he remembered vividly. His hands froze at the touch of my two fingers as he stared blankly at my seductive approach.

"I have nobody to dance with and I mean no one", I whispered with every bit of silence attached to words that came out of my mouth. Perceiving my intentions, he surreptitiously stole his cup back and drank from it. "The party hasn't started yet", "Very soon, it will. So..., what do you say?", "I-",

His words were interrupted by an unexpected loud glitch from the speakers which arrested everyone's attention in the hall and everyone looked in the direction of Ryan holding the microphone at the stage in front of his band. All eyes were now focused on him and for a moment I thought he would be nervous but he seemed more confident than ever as if he had intently wanted our attention.

It became evident that he wanted to play a rock song for the occasion which would start-off the party that had long kept the guests apprehensive. Having gotten the attention he wanted, he coughed twice to ensure that his vocals were ready to perform a live gig with his band.

"Hello....everyone...", Another shrill glitch that was piercing to the ears, accompanied his hoarse voice from the speakers but it was lucid enough for everyone to pay attention to what he had to say. Richard had gotten up from his seat as well and had stood beside me to listen to Ryan whose black guitar dangling from his shoulders greatly matched his rock-star outfit.

He took a slight pause when he noticed Chloe smiling at him from the audience and continued his speech as soon as he was done savoring the attractive eyes of the ladies in the party.

"......uh, there was supposed to be a speech given by one of the teachers before the party as we usually do every year but this time, it's gonna be different.... And I mean different...", He smirked as soon as he was done speaking on the microphone followed by the audience cheering wildly accompanied with shrill whistling which erupted from the crowd after his brief speech. Then he strung the electronic guitar and his partners joined him in kick-starting the party with a rock song. Colorful transition lights emanating from the disco ball above quickly illuminated the gathering as a whole part of the auditorium went completely dark to deepen the effects set in place for the party. Immediately, everyone started dancing to his song which filled the entire hall with the same vibe of a rock musician performing at a live concert.

The noise of guitars being harshly strung rhythmically accompanied by the rhythmic beats of drum being hit on the stage, almost deafen the ears of guests but they all seemed so captivated by the music that they cared less if they would suffer loss of ears. I joined the crowd to dance the best I could as well but Richard was still lost in his doubts of dancing with the crowd. I called out to him but the loud instrumentation quickly drowned my voice and he was left to watch as everyone was enraptured in the dancing which lasted for over an hour before the next song was played by the disc jockey. Ryan and his band were applauded for their performance and left the stage to join the next segment.