Entangled (Entangled Trilogy #1) (11 page)

When I sensed Adrian and James, a
weird tingling feeling washed over me and somehow, a part of my
brain knew that Adrian and James were in the room, watching me and
every single move I made. To be honest, the room was pretty dark,
but had a single chandelier hanging from the ceiling above,
lighting up the middle like a spotlight being lit. The room was
filled with red ribbons, balloons and props and even the fading
light that the chandelier cast was a light shade of red. They
really outdid themselves with the catering and
everything.

“
Oh c’mon, Alice. Are you still
hung up on the fact that you rejected three guys? C’mon, they’re
all a bunch of lame-os. You deserved better than James in the first
place. He’s a wack. Adrian seems like a really nice guy, on the
other hand. You shouldn’t have let him down,” Maddie droned on,
snapping me out of my reverie. That girl could talk alright. Mark
had asked her out and Maddie let him down, none too gently, of
course. I kind of pitied him; Mark truly loved Maddie, but she felt
nothing for him but hatred. She should at least give him a chance.
Speaking of which . . .

“
H-hey Maddie,” Mark waved to
Maddie as he made his way towards us on cue.

“
Oh, it’s you,” Maddie sneered.
Seriously, try being nice to him for once.

“
Yeah. I was wondering if you
would like to dance with me. Just one dance, I promise,” Mark
vowed. Before Maddie could answer, I felt someone come up behind me
and wrap his arms around my waist.

“
She would love to,” said Lucifer.
Oh, hell to the no. He was not going to put his dirty little hands
on me. As Mark steered Maddie away, her face had concern, mistrust
and anxiousness scribbled all over it. I felt bad for her; that
poor girl has been through a lot lately, but Mark still deserves a
chance.

“
Lucifer!” I practically yelled as
I pivoted to face him, still caged up in his arms.

“
Well, hello there, Rosie. Whoa,
is it just me or is it suddenly very hot in here?” Lucifer said,
fanning himself. I snorted at his lame “romantic” line.

“
Oh, save it for someone who
cares,” I retorted. He was suddenly taken aback and he loosened his
grip on me. I took this opportunity to slip past him and away from
his grasp. I walked into a wall; well, I thought it was a wall
until it wrapped its arms around my waist and pulled me close to
it. Apparently, it wasn’t a wall, just a deceiving fallen angel. I
looked up and met his steady gaze.

“
Wow! Ang—erm, I mean Rosemarie,
you look so—,” James started but I used that same line I used on
Lucifer to stop him.

“
Save it for someone who cares,” I
said, stopping him. Hurt clouded those beautiful baby-blue eyes of
his and I almost regretted those words. Almost.

“
Alrighty lovebirds, time to start
our dance. This year, we are having alternating dances. Each of you
will start off as a pair and as each song changes, you’ll all
change partners,” Krystal said into the mic. Great, I was stuck
with James.

“
Remember folks,
you all have to dance or else . . . you know . . .,” Kira giggled
into the mic. This was even better. I wasn’t about to find out what
would happen if I didn’t dance so I took James’ distraction for
granted and slipped away from his embrace. What was even better was
that now I was in Lucifer’s arms again.
Two times a charm.

“
Ah, we meet
again, Rosie. So tell me, why did you run away from me before?”
Lucifer said as he pulled me closer and closer to him until our
face was mere centimeters away from each other’s. I tried to shift
a little in his arms, but his grip on me was a bit
too
tight.

“
Because you scare me,” I admitted
as I gave up on all my escape plans and stopped fighting him. I
wrapped my arms around his neck and held on which caused him to
smile; he actually smiled a real smile. Lucifer looked even better
when he smiled and I felt myself smile back, my anger melting
away.

“
I’m sorry Rosie; I just never
meant to scare you or anything. I just wanted you all to myself.
Will you forgive me?” Lucifer asked as all those hard features of
his softened. The hard sparkle in his eyes softened as well and I
felt as if I was in a trance.

“
Yeah, I will accept your apology.
Just a quick question though. What are you?” I asked, unable to
stop those words from slipping away. Lucifer laughed. He pulled me
even closer and hugged me. He nuzzled his face into my neck and I,
probably in instinct, held onto him tighter, my grip on his neck
tightening.

We stayed like that for about five
minutes, just listening to the music which was pretty
long.

“
Lucifer?” I asked.

“
Yeah?”

“
Why are you so quiet?”

“
I’m just thinking of a way to
tell you something,” Lucifer responded as his lips moved against
the skin on my neck, sending shivers throughout my body despite the
amount of body heat in this room.

“
What is it? You can tell me
anything,” I said, surprising myself. It felt as if I’ve known him
for a long time.

“
It’s just- I love you, Rosie. I
really do. I just wish I was here earlier to tell you that. Then,
maybe, just maybe, you could’ve been all mine.”

“
Umm . . .”

“
It’s okay. I know that you don’t
love me. I get it. I just wish I could . . .,” He trailed off.
Instead of finishing his sentence, he leaned down to close the
distance between us completely and as our lips connected, I felt
warmth course through my body. I don’t know why but I kissed him
back. He tried to part my lips with his and I let him. Before he
could do anything else, he had to pull away.

“
Lucifer, what are you?” I
whispered, lightly touching his cheeks.

“
Rosie, I am a—,” Lucifer started
but was cut off by the beginning of the next song. I knew that he
wasn’t ready to let me go but he had to. I melted into the crowd as
James caught hold off me and instantly pulled me closer to him,
that same warmth vibrating off him in waves.

“
Hello, Rosemarie. It’s really
nice to see you again. You look lovely,” James grinned from ear to
ear. He looked as if he didn’t remember anything from our previous
encounter.

“
Yeah, nice to see you too,” I
said as I wrapped my arms around him. James laughed as he buried
his face in the crook of my neck, sighing. He still acted as if we
were a couple. As much as I found that irritating, it kind of made
me feel special.

James pulled away and smiled down
at me.

“
That’s because you are special,
Ange—err, Rosemarie,” James said as he corrected himself. He was
having a hard time not calling me angel.

“
You can call me Angel again. You
are definitely having trouble staying away from that nickname,” I
smiled.

“
Wanna know what else I have
trouble staying away from?”

“
What?”

“
You,” he whispered seductively in
my ear.

“
Ummm . . .”

“
Angel, I have a confession to
make.”

“
Ummm . . .”

“
I love you, Angel. I still love
you to this day. Will you please be mine again? Please?”

“
Umm . . . James, I—,” I started,
but my words were silenced by a pair of warm lips. Great, more
kissing. What is up with people today? Unable to resist the
longing, I melted into his kiss. We pulled back, both of us in dire
need of oxygen.

“
Angel, I have to warn you about
something. Please, listen to me carefully. This is very important,”
James started and I nodded. Before he could go on, Krystal
announced that we have to change partners and I had to leave
him.

Someone else caught me and we
slipped into dancing mode but I couldn’t tell who he was. His face
was covered by the mask. James and Lucifer were easy to recognize,
but him, not so much.

“
Wow, Roza. You look beautiful
tonight,” Adrian breathed as realization dawned upon me.

“
Thanks, Adrian,” I said as I
wrapped my arms around his neck and he instantly hugged
me.

“
Roza, can I ask you something? A
lot of people told me that you had an accident before. Can I ask
you to describe it please? If you don’t mind that is,” Adrian
asked.

“
Well, it was on Christmas Eve and
. . .,” I started and before I knew, I had eventually told him my
whole story. In the end, he gasped.

“
You-you’re m-my,” Adrian
stuttered as he took my face in his hands. I wonder what this was
all about all of a sudden.

“
You’re my Roza. It really is you.
I’m not dreaming, am I? You’re here,” Adrian smiled as tears of joy
slid down his cheeks. He bent down to kiss me and I don’t know why,
but I kissed him back as if I just got him back from death. When we
pulled away, I was filled with curiosity.

“
Adrian, what are you talking
about?” I asked. Before he could answer, the next “change” had to
be done. I moved back muttering “No, no, no, no, no” under my
breath. As I moved to stand about two to three feet away from
Adrian, James and Lucifer joined them both. James was now in the
middle with Adrian on the right and Lucifer on the left. I got the
same image again. This time, it had more details.

There were three doors, each
leading to a specific place. The middle one would lead you to Earth
while the one on the right would lead you to Heaven and the one on
the left would lead you to the Abyss. That was better known as
Hell.

“
Angel, don’t you want to be
mine?” James asked, extending his hand towards me as the other two
did the same.

“
Rosie, don’t listen to him. You
were meant to be with me. Come on now.”

“
NO! Roza, don’t listen to any of
them. They are all just a bunch of phonies. I am yours and you are
mine. We were meant to be.”

“
No! Angel, you are mine. Don’t
you get it? You’re meant to be with me.”

“
Won’t you be mine?” all three of
them asked as their voices began to fade. They were all fighting
over me. I couldn’t believe it. The next thing I knew, the room
started to get darker and darker until all I could see was black.
The last thing I saw was the trio heading over to catch me, but I
was already out of their grasp.

I saw a picture of three doors for
some reason. One door led to Heaven, located on the right side.
Another door led to Earth and it was located in the middle while
the third door led to Hell, located on the left. As the picture
faded, I saw Adrian, James and Lucifer lined up. Adrian was on the
right side, James in the middle and Lucifer on the left, just like
the door-thing picture. They were just so . . . similar and
familiar, yet distant and different. Inside my mind ran a familiar
poem:

Outside lives a girl with a smile
that will brighten up the room,

Yet inside hides a girl with a
frown full of despair . . .

The poem sounded as if someone one
was singing it in my head rather than reciting it.

Outside lives a girl with eyes of
joy that brings you to ease,

Yet inside hides a girl shedding
tears of sadness . . .

The room was suddenly spinning
around me.

Outside lives a girl with a
beautiful laugh that’s contagious,

Yet inside hides a girl screaming
her lungs out in unwanted anger . . .

I somehow had trouble breathing
and my eyes had trouble focusing.

Outside lives a girl with the
personality everyone envies,

Yet inside hides a girl full of
insecurities and shame . . .

There was supposed to be some sort
of message hidden in that poem. I couldn’t even pinpoint
it.

Outside lives a girl who is
fearless and tough,

Yet inside hides a weak girl who
lives in fear . . .

Everything was starting to become
blurry.

Outside lives a girl full of
life,

Yet inside hides a girl full of
pain, wanting to die . . .

I was completely aware of the trio
watching me. I thought I saw Maddie trying to break out of Mark’s
embrace.

Outside lives a girl with a
perfect image,

Yet inside hides a girl with
regrets and mistakes . . .

I felt my knees go weak. Now,
everyone was watching me.

Outside lives a girl of
innocence,

Yet inside hides a girl with
tremendous guilt . . .

Where have I heard this poem
before? It’s so . . . familiar.

Outside lives a girl with goals
and aspirations,

Yet inside lives a girl lost in
confusion . . .

At last, my knees gave out. This
couldn’t possibly be happening to me again.

What you see on the outside is my
personal disguise,

What hides underneath you can’t
even begin to imagine . . .

Before the rest of the poem could
finish, I was already consumed by the darkness. For some reason, I
was conscious until the poem finished. It was almost as if the poem
sucked away all my strength, leaving me in despair, confusion and
darkness.