Playing With Fire

Andrea's POV part 2

“Okay. So, no dancing I suppose.” He put his hand down and let out a small chuckle. “You are really something.” The way that he stands exudes confidence, maybe some sort of arrogance, and a sense of disbelief that he couldn’t believe that someone actually said no to him.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…I am not entirely one for dancing.” I shrugged. The thumping in my chest quickened slightly. Being around him is making me nervous, but something about him just makes me drawn to him.

“Then how about we take a walk outside in the gardens. Get to know one another, and maybe I will be lucky enough to end up dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room.” He put his hand out again, waiting for me to take it.

“Oh, well you better go find her.” I laughed to myself. Nice joke. Interior eye roll.

“I have.” He stopped waiting this time and grabbed my hand himself.

“Smooth.” His grip on my hand was gentle, but enough force for me to know what he wanted. As we held hands and he brought me out through the patio doors that led to the lantern lit garden of the hotel, I couldn’t help but feel the sense of warmth and tingles that were erupting and traveling up my arm. There was a sense of home, familiarity in his touch.

The garden was beautifully kept and you can hear the music from inside the ballroom play through the speakers, to make sure the others who wanted to venture out here for some fresh air were still able to enjoy it. The paths were surrounded by different roses, leading to a beautiful gazebo placed in the center, making it one of the focal points. The Gazebo was adorned in twinkle lights and sheer lace around the poles, creating a welcoming and romantic ambiance.

We walked, hand in hand, palm to palm, slowly throughout the garden, leading to where the gazebo sat. “So, tell me about yourself mystery woman.” He turned his head down to look at me. His soft green eyes were just telling me something, bringing weird sensations to my chest.

“Well, there’s not much to know about me. I am just a girl, here, at a dance with her best friend, with some guy, trying to get to know her. I’m a girl, just trying to be brave.” I shrugged and he let out a small laugh.

“I suppose that’s something. You won’t tell me your name. You won’t dance with me and you won’t tell me about yourself. You truly are a mystery. And obviously very brave, since you’re taking a chance at talking to me, a stranger.” He shook his head.

“Well, telling you my name would defeat the purpose of the masquerade ball and I can tell you about myself, just ask me a question, not just some generic statement.” I smirked to him.

“A woman who likes to play games. I like that. So, tell me, what do you do for a living?” I looked up and we were slowly approaching the gazebo. I can now see the benches that lined the perimeter on the inside.

“I’m working as an emergency doctor here at Del Rosa.” I looked forward, turning my head away from his eyes. I literally could get lost in them.

“That is amazing. You can’t be more than what, 22, 23 and you’re a doctor? That is…wow.” He really did seem impressed.

“25, but that is sweet. But yeah, but right after high school I had something happen to me that well, put me into a deep depression and my best friend pushed me out of it and when it came time to go to college, I just concentrated on school and pushed myself.” I said to him. “Sorry, I don’t know why I told you that…” I blushed in embarrassment. Why did I tell him that?

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry you went through that. A lot of people go through time periods of depression, I know I have, so no shame with that.” He nudged my shoulder. “But still, medical school in 7 years, that is truly amazing.”

“6 years but yeah, my friend and I just really didn’t want to spend a lot of time in school, so we loaded our credits to the max every year and took summer courses so we can get, even though the average for 8, by cutting the last couple years out we were able to come home.”

“So, your friend is also a doctor?”

“Surgeon.”

“You two are truly amazing. It makes me feel like I haven’t done much with my life.” He chuckled. “So, you grew up around here? I’m just assuming because you said home.” We made it to the gazebo and he escorted me to the bench where we sat down to get comfortable, our conversation just seemed to flow naturally.

“Yeah, she has always pushed me. We wanted to do something meaningful with our lives. But yeah, we both grew up here, graduated from Del Rosa high. But, enough about me, what about you, what do you do?”

“Del Rosa High? I graduated from there as well. But overall, nothing much, just things here and there.” He shrugged his shoulders letting out a small internal chuckle.

“Now whose being mysterious.” I c****d an eyebrow up. “Come on, spill it.”

“Only because you opened up to me a bit, but I work at the local fire house, engine 218. I gotta put these muscles to use somehow, so why not help people?”

“And you say I’m amazing. What you do is truly remarkable.”

“Nah, it’s nothing. I like helping people. Some people think that us firefighters have some sort of hero complex, but we just like to be looked as like normal people. Nothing special. We have a job we do; we love what we do, it just happens to help protect others.” He shrugged. He was humble about what he did. You can tell he had a passion for it, but he wasn’t one to go around bragging that he was a firefighter to impress people.

“How come I haven’t seen you around here? I’ve been home for the past 4 months and this isn’t exactly a large place, since you know, most people know everyone. We even went to the same school, so how can I not recognize you?” How could I have not noticed a hot new firefighter in town. They always were coming into the emergency room after some of the tougher fires to get checked on if the EMT’s were busy with the survivors and what not.

“You know what’s funny, I don’t remember seeing you around myself, because, if I have, I definitely would have remembered, but anyways, I just got home last week. My dad got me the job at 218, so I officially start next week. I’m sorry if it came off as misleading. I was active duty in the Army for the past 7 years and I pushed through some paperwork so I can go into the Army reserves.” My breath hitched for a moment…Army…he grew up here…no…

“Wow, um…well thank you for your service.” I smiled up at him.

“Don’t. Like I said, it was a job and I did that job. No thanks needed.” The music continued to play in the background.

This couldn’t be Liam right? He was still active duty. He wasn’t home.

“So, how did you manage to get an invite to this shindig?” I needed more information to be 100% sure if it was him or not. His green eyes did seem familiar, but there are a lot of me that have blonde hair and green eyes, but Liam wasn’t built like this. He had muscles, but the man in front of me, had muscles. The more I looked at him, more of the memories of Liam came. I pushed him in the back of my mind for so long, that they were overwhelming me. The smile. The posture. The gleam in his eyes. The smirk. The tingles.

“You tell me, how did you get an invite?” He asked me. Typical Liam, always turning the questions to me.

“My dad got an invite, but he wasn’t up for it so he asked if I could go in his place to make sure the donation he wanted to do to the charity came through.” It wasn’t a lie; my father wasn’t entirely up for it. After my mother passed away when I was in school 3 years ago, he hasn’t been the same.

My mother ended up have a brain aneurism. She would have consistent migraines, but we didn’t think anything of it, until he came home from the restaurant he owned in this very hotel and she was on the floor. That was one of the hardest phone calls I ever got. It also fueled me to push through medical school quicker, because if the doctors in the emergency room did process the scan when they should have which could have potentially saved her life.

“I see. Well, I’m glad you’re here instead of him. It would definitely be awkward if I did this to him.” He leaned in and kissed my temple. I froze in shock and turned to look at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that. I just…I don’t know mystery girl; I feel like I can be me and be comfortable around you.”

He stood up and turned to face me and held his hand out. “Now, I think it’s time for that dance.” I looked at his hand a took a deep breath. I placed my hand gently in his and stood up. He twirled me around to the music that played. The one thing I did like about this ball, is that they played a mix of different music, but to the taste of the ball, nothing too crazy. “What’s your name” by Chase Rice played over the speaker. I loved country music, living in Texas, it’s a must.

“Isn’t this song convenient.” I laughed as he swirled me around

“Well, it’s perfect, because all the questions in this song in this song are the questions I want to ask you.” He pulled me closer, dancing to the music. The way his hands landed on my waist brought the heat and tingles throughout my body. This was definitely Liam. But something was different about him…something changed…

“So, what’s your name? Where you from? What’s your drink when you get drunk? What’s your sign? What’s your song? I want to know what turns you on. What you wear when you get home? Who do you call when you’re alone? Every guy in here is thinking the same thing, girl what’s your name?” he sang the lyrics to me as we danced under the twinkle lights. My chest hitched and my breathing quickened. “Yeah, we’ve never spoken and you’ve never met me before, I’m pretty sure. I can see you in the dark, I can see you in a dress, I can see your pretty head sleeping on my chest. I can’t help it, it’s out of nowhere, oh but girl, I gotta go there…” he whispered in my ears.

I stopped dancing and he just looked at me. He brought his finger up under my chin and lifted my face to look at him. I couldn’t help but have my eyes water staring at him. The memories all came flooding back. The time where he first kissed me in my room at 13, when we started dating when we were 16. The two years we spent together. Our first night making love. The heart break I went through when I saw him kiss Cindy, the pain I went through, going through the most terrible moment of my life during the summer without him because I was too damn stubborn to talk to him, the crushing moment when I saw him leave to go to bootcamp from afar because I was too scared to look at him. The time when I showed up at his bootcamp graduation and seen him there for the first time in months in his uniform and he didn’t know I was there…

“I’m from here, born and raised. Malibu and pineapple. Cancer. Call me by Shinedown. Gentle touches, emotions, and honesty. Sweatpants and a long sleep shirt. I don’t call anyone because I don’t have anyone to call…” I whispered to him. He stared at me with his mouth slightly ajar.

“And I’m pretty sure we met before…” I said to him as I pulled away, letting a tear fall down my cheek. “I can’t…” I turned from him and started down the short 3 stairs from the Gazebo and headed down the path back to the dance. I needed to let Jay know I was going home. I couldn’t do this.

“Stop, please!” he yelled, rushing after me. Damn heels. I would totally be able to go faster if I weren’t wearing these damn things.

I’m sorry, I had a wonderful time with you…”

“Liam. My name is Liam Belmont. I grew up here, graduated 7 years ago. I went into the Army right after high school, leaving everything and everyone I love here. Please…tell me…what’s your name…” He pleaded. I paused mid step. I turned around and looked at him, tears streaming down my face at this point. I don’t care if I look horrible. I just needed to get out of here.

“Liam…” I whispered, my instinct coming a reality. The pain from what I felt 7 years ago was all resurfacing. “I can’t…I can’t do this…not with you…not again.” I turned back around.

“Again? So, I do know you! I’m not going crazy.” He ran and caught up to me and grabbed my hand, making me stop again. “This has been driving me crazy all night. I felt like I knew you when I saw you from across the dance floor earlier. I felt like I knew you when I grabbed your hand. I felt like I knew you when I looked into your eyes. Please, tell me your name, it is literally driving me crazy.”

“Please Liam…just…let me go. Forget about me. Live your life with the girl you love. Don’t do this to me…not again.” I tried to pull me hand away from him but he wouldn’t budge. He took his other hand and took off his mask, revealing the matured features of the boy who broke my heart.

His eyes burrowed deep into my soul, pleading for me to say something. His light scruff matured him, making him even more handsome that he did before.

“I am going to reach for your mask and take it off. I need to know who you are.” He pulled me closer to him as I struggled away.

“You can’t. You can’t do that to your girlfriend. Please, let me go. Please, just…forget about me.” I turned my head away.

He cupped my face and looked me right into the eye. “I don’t have a girlfriend; I haven’t had a girlfriend in years.” And he brought his lips down and kissed me. And if I told you that kiss didn’t do something to me…I would totally be lying.