All the Feels (24 page)

“I’ve already got plans to hold our places for the
Starveil
panel,” Brian announced. “Joe’s going to tag me off for bathroom breaks.”

“You’re coming to that, right, Liv?” Joe chimed.

“I’m, uh … not sure,” she said, flashing to Tom Grander’s face and feeling the familiar pang of guilt.

“But you have to be there!” Ivy gasped.

“You came all the way to Atlanta for this!” Kelly echoed.

Liv’s phone buzzed three times in a row, Sarah typing as fast as her thumbs could move.

“I’ll think about it, guys, I promise,” Liv said. “I mean, I
want
to.” She winced. “I really do, I just … I’m not sure if…” She closed her eyes, remembering Tom’s seething words. “I just don’t know if I can.”

The table erupted in chaos.

“But you HAVE to go!”

“Liv, PLEASE!

“… the whole point of coming!”

Buzz … buzz … buzz … buzz …

“… what you’re talking about!”

“… have to be there!”

“Please, Liv. PLEASE!”

Liv shrank back. She hated conflict, and here she was, caught in the middle of it. “Oh God,” she moaned.

Xander stood, and all eyes turned to him. “I’m truly sorry to interrupt, but Liv and I really must go.” He pulled out his pocket watch, flicked it open, then closed it with a snap. “Time to go, Liv dearest. The train’s leaving the station. Good-bye everyone! Have a wonderful evening.”

He gave a brief bow to the group, then tossed down a twenty to cover his share of the meal; Liv did the same. Brian eyed the pile of cash, but the server swooped in and took it away.

“It was delightful meeting you all,” Xander said, waving happily. He offered his arm to Liv, and she grabbed hold of it.

“But you can’t leave!” someone called. “Stay!”

Liv pushed past the chairs, eager to escape. “Bye!”

Outside she burst into a peal of laughter. “Oh my God, I was scared I’d have to admit what happened with Tom Grander!”

“I could tell.”

Liv shook her head. “I don’t even want to know how they’d react if they heard what he said to me.”

Xander shrugged, heading down the street at a jaunty pace. “I’m sure they’d be fine.” He snorted. “Or at least most of them. As to Brian … I’m not betting on that horse.”

“Thank you for coming along,” Liv said. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

Xander’s pace slowed. “Why?”

“Because … I assumed my friends were bothering you.”

Xander chuckled. “Not at all, dearest. The stress directed at you concerned me, but the rest?” He waved his hand in the air. “Not so much. People are people, Liv, and at Dragon Con, it takes all sorts.”

Liv’s footsteps slowed. “So you decided it was time to leave just because
I was upset
?”

Xander winked. “Something like that.”

*   *   *

When Liv and Xander came in off the street, the music inside hit them like a wall of sound. Liv stumbled through the crowd, barely avoiding a head-on collision with a group of
Battlestar Galactica
fans dressed in military garb. They laughed and shouted, “So say we all,” as they neared. Liv looked past the viper jocks to the vaulted atrium. Busy a few hours before, the Marriott was now bulging at the seams.

Celebrities mingled with their fans. Cosplayers posed with tourists. People danced and drank with Sodom and Gomorrah–like abandon. There wasn’t a set dance floor, just knots of people pulled into motion, others joining and then falling away as the urge took them.

“Told you yesterday was a warm-up!” Xander shouted over the cacophony.

Liv tried to answer, but her words disappeared into the roar of the music.

When the Marriott’s crowds became too much, they headed to the Hyatt, where a drum circle was being held. A pounding rhythm filled the air of the dimly lit room, dancers—in costume and in street clothes—moving to some primal beat. Liv watched, rapt in the moment.

A smile stole over Xander’s face. “You ready to connect to your inner hippie?”

“I—I don’t know,” Liv said, her eyes widening as a troupe of belly dancers shimmied through the growing crowd. “I think maybe I’ll stand at the side and watch.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Xander said, stepping nearer.

“What?”

He was almost against her, his body starting to bob in time to the rhythm. It should have been a laugh-worthy sight: an aristocrat nodding his head to a primitive beat, but somehow Xander made it sexy.

“C’mon, Liv,” he purred. “I’ve seen you dancing. I
know
that you can move. This is exactly the same.”

Liv let out a high-pitched giggle. “But this isn’t dancing.”

The bouncing moved from his legs to his hips.

“I beg to differ.”

Liv glanced over his shoulder to the growing crowd. Everyone else seemed caught up in the movement. “I don’t know,” she said. “There’s no music, just drums. It’s…”

Xander’s fingers slid up her arm to her elbow, resting there. “Try to let go,” he whispered. “Feel, don’t think.”

“I can’t.”

“You can.” He moved a breath closer. “For
me
, dearest.”

Liv closed her eyes as his hands drew her up against him. A giggle rose up her throat, but the sound died as Xander’s hands circled her waist.

“Let yourself go loose.”

“I … I don’t know how,” she gasped.

“You do.”

His hands moved her hips back and forth—guiding rather than forcing—until his beat became hers, and suddenly she
was
moving, her body bouncing along to the sound of drums. Liv’s lashes fluttered open to find Xander staring down at her. His teeth flashed white in the dim room.

“And now, we start to move…” And he pulled her into the dance.

*   *   *

The second leg of the night was spent in the Centennial ballroom, where they regained their breath at the
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
marathon. Liv sat at Xander’s side, his arm looped over the back of her chair. He gave a whispered commentary as the vlog series played on the projection screen. Liv grinned and laughed and sang, but her mind was caught on one detail: that having Xander’s arm around her felt inexplicably
right
and she wanted more. Dragon Con felt more magical than ever.

When the marathon ended, they returned to the Marriott’s main atrium. It was awash with people, and cosplayers outnumbered the nameless fans two to one.

“You were right,” Liv said. “I should’ve brought a costume.”

Xander grinned as he led her to a knot of people dancing in the center of the floor. “Admitting it is the first step.”

He began to gyrate in time to the pulsing techno beat, and this time Liv took her place at his side with no prompting. “What’s the next step?”

“What?!” he shouted.

She threw her arms over his neck, pulling him forward. Xander’s eyes widened, his gaze dropping to her mouth and back up.

“I said,” Liv shouted, “what’s the next step?”

Xander grinned. “The next step will be coming back with me
next
year and bringing a costume for each of the days.”

The music changed, and Liv twirled out of his arms. “Maybe,” she teased, winking at him over her shoulder. “Haven’t decided yet.”

He followed her dance movement through the crowd. “Maybe’s not good enough,” he growled as he caught her hand. “But I’ll take it for now. And then I’ll work on changing your mind.”

Breathless, Liv danced closer. “Good…”

Liv and Xander danced endlessly, only stopping when exhaustion had them wobbling on their feet. They stood at the side of the floor, people-watching. Xander’s hair was matted with sweat, cheeks pink. His waistcoat hung unbuttoned, and his shirt was open enough to show a wide swath of muscled chest. When Liv saw it, her stomach tightened, and she looked away before he could see her blatantly staring. For a moment, she saw a familiar glint of blond hair, and her breath caught in her chest. She was certain she recognized the profile as Hank’s.

The man turned.

Tom Grander, surrounded by his entourage, stood a stone’s throw away from her. Their eyes met and caught. If hatred had a voltage, Liv would have been electrocuted on the spot. As it was, she was trapped in place. Her lungs refused to breathe. Her legs refused to move. Horrified, Liv watched as Tom leaned over to the man nearest him, whispering something in his ear. The other man, too, began to stare.

“Liv? What’s…?” Xander’s tone shifted. “Oh, that arrogant bastard!”

“I gotta go.” Liv forced her legs to comply.

“Go where?” Xander shouted.

“Bathroom break,” she said, staggering slightly. “Back in a sec.”

She found the hallway leading to the restrooms but accidentally walked into an unlocked storage closet rather than the facilities. It was only then that Liv realized the lineup she’d seen wasn’t for a panel, but for the use of the toilets. After waiting in the bathroom line for an interminable time, she hid in the stall for ten full minutes, but there were too many people waiting to stay any longer.

It was time to head back to the atrium.

She headed out of the bathroom, aiming for the elevators.

“Hey!” someone shouted. “Hey, I get that!”

A man grabbed her arm, and Liv jumped.

“What?” she gasped.

A man in Mad Hatter cosplayer grinned down at her ample bosom. “My other ride’s a star freighter.” He laughed. “Like
Star Wars
, right?”

“
Starveil
,” she muttered.

“I want a picture with you, babe.”

“No thanks,” Liv said, walking away.

“Just a picture.”

“No.”

She took another step, but the costumed man followed. “Hey!” he shouted. “I said I want a picture!” His tone grew belligerent.

Liv kept walking.

He followed.

“Hey! Don’t be such a bitch about it!”

“Sorry!” Liv said, not looking back. “But I’m with someone.” Her heart danced against the walls of her chest. The room, packed, made it difficult to get away.

“HEY, YOU!”

She peeked over her shoulder and yelped. The Mad Hatter had almost caught up to her.

“I don’t want to fucking MARRY you!” he yelled. “I want a PICTURE!”

Suddenly the crowd parted and Xander appeared. He looked up, catching sight of her expression. “Liv? You okay?”

“Time to go!” she gasped, pushing through the quicksand of the crowd. “Now!”

The Mad Hatter closed in.

“I know what you’re like! Fake geek girls who think they can just wear a fandom shirt and pretend they’re hot shit!” His voice rose until it was a roar. “I said I wanted a PICTURE! Hey! You listening to me?!”

Liv reached Xander’s side, but he didn’t go with her, he kept stalking toward the Mad Hatter. Seeing them, Liv realized they were dressed as two sides of a strange nineteenth-century coin.

“Begging your pardon,” Xander snarled, “but the lady very clearly said NO!”

The Mad Hatter’s attention jumped over to Xander. “This has nothing to do with you, asshole! So fuck off!”

Xander’s lips tightened into a white slash of indignation. “If it concerns her, it concerns me. Your behavior is utterly repugnant.”

The crowd turned in interest, watching the dispute grow. “And what’re you going to do about it?” the Mad Hatter sneered.

As Liv watched, Xander pulled his gloves from his pocket and slapped the Mad Hatter across his face. Despite the hum of the room, a loud pop echoed forward. The action was so bizarre, so out of time, it made no sense. The Mad Hatter jerked back. People broke into applause.

“What the hell!” The Mad Hatter rubbed his cheek. “Did you just slap me with your fucking glove?”

Xander rose to his full height. “I challenge you to a duel, sir!”

“To a duel?”

People around them lifted their phones, recording the action.

“Er … something like that.”

The Mad Hatter grinned. He cracked his knuckles. “You are so fucked, prissy boy.”

Xander took a half step back. “Oh dear.”

With a shout of pure rage, the Mad Hatter lunged. The crowd gasped. Xander spun on his heel and sprinted straight toward Liv, his face white with terror.

“RUN!” he shrieked.

Liv didn’t know whether to laugh or scream, so she followed Xander. The two of them bolted into the crowd, stopping only when nine floors and a locked door separated them from the crazed con-goer.

Liv slid the bolt into place. “That was just nuts!” she wheezed.

Xander flopped down onto the hotel room’s couch. “The demented fan,” he panted. “Now
that’s
an experience I could have done without.”

“Me too.” Liv giggled.

And with that, they both fell into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

*   *   *

Liv woke in the darkness of the unfamiliar room. Heart pounding, she tried to get her bearings, but nothing made sense. There was a window on her left, but it was on the wrong side for her bedroom. She was warmer than usual, and she could hear the faint sound of laughing and talking coming from far away. She frowned. It wasn’t her mother’s voice.

Where in the world had she—

“You need more room?” Xander whispered.

She jerked as she realized that the warmth she was feeling wasn’t just the coziness of a bed, but of Xander’s arms wrapped around her. Flashes of the night returned.