my cheeks flushing as I started to panic. I looked down at the napkin and just saw clean liquid saturating the cloth. Pushing my chair back, I got up, and Jack rose with me.
I sniffled quietly, my hand going to my nose. Our height difference worked in my favor since I could keep my head tilted back as I looked up at him. “Just going to the bathroom. You don’t have to come, Jack.”
He didn’t listen and followed me all the way to the back of the ballroom. I rushed inside and, thankful that no one else was in there, stood in front of the mirror. Reaching up, I pulled the cotton out of my nose and just stared at it. It was saturated to the point that I could squeeze it and watch it drip. I had no idea what was going on exactly, but I was pretty sure this wasn’t just a runny nose anymore. I must’ve been allergic to something. I already had an appointment with the doctor on Monday so he could give me some nose spray to stop this from happening, but until then I was going to have to be careful about not dripping around other people.
When a knock sounded on the door, I opened it halfway and just pushed my head out.
“Everything okay in there?” Jack asked, trying to look over my head.
“Yes, of course. I’ll be out in a minute.”
I didn’t give him a chance to say anything else and let the door close in his face. After tearing up some toilet paper and rolling it into a shape that I could tampon my nose with, I quickly looked myself over in the mirror and noticed how pale I looked. The burgundy lipstick I was wearing stood out too much in contrast to my skin. Grabbing some more toilet paper, I dabbed some of it off, turning it into just a tint of color. Finally exiting the bathroom, I rejoined Jack.
“We can go back,” I muttered as I tried to walk past him, but he stopped me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. We can go.”
“Were you crying?”
I frowned up at him in confusion. “Why would I cry?”
“Your ex-fiancé is here.”
“I noticed.”
“With your cousin,” he added helpfully.
“Really? Where?” I asked in mock outrage.
He sighed and ran his hand through his casually styled hair. “We should leave.”
“You keep saying that, but we don’t need to.”
“Why not? And if you say we made a deal one more time, I’ll carry you out of here over my shoulder.”
His unexpected words pulled a laugh out of me. “You could try and see how that goes for you this time around,” I offered with a little grin.
He didn’t grin back. “You sure about this?”
“Why should I be the one who leaves? I didn’t do anything wrong, so I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. Stop asking me. I’d like to try to enjoy this night.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Rose.”
I stared up at him. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that he was randomly saying things like that when I was feeling so off-kilter around him. “You won’t let me,” I said, choking a little and having trouble finding the right words. “You won’t let anyone hurt me.” I knew—somehow I knew he wouldn’t let anything hurt me.
He released a breath. “As you wish. Ready to go back?”
I nodded then hesitated after a few steps.
“I feel like everyone is looking at us, in there.”
“That’s because they are.” Jack’s eyes moved on my face, then my body. I felt my cheeks heat up. “Look at you. How could they not.”
Oh, geez.
While I was trying to come up with something to say he covered my hand with his. A little surprised, I looked down and then up to him, but he was looking straight ahead. As another round of applause broke out in the room, we stepped back in again. Because of all the waiters rushing around, we were walking really slowly, and that’s how I felt a small hand on my leg as I was passing a table.
“Jack, what a surprise to see you here!” someone said from our left, blocking our way back. As Jack was shaking hands with the man, I glanced back to see a little girl quickly turn her head away when our eyes met.
When I tried to pry my hand away from Jack’s, he stopped talking and looked down at me questioningly. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered, smiling at his friend before retracing my