"Julian Draft"

<This is a beginning any suggestions highly appreciated>         
  The banquet hall for the honor student’s dinner has been elegantly transformed into a Ball Room. The windows are draped with dark purple sashes, golden ties holding them back; the scarlet glow of the setting sun floods through each floor to ceiling window casting a spell over Elaina. The cherry wood tables polished for days, let an amber sparkle dance over their surface. The silverware is really silver and Elaina giggles wondering which student will plop into a pumpkin at midnight.
         
  She is nudged into a wobble and realizes Julian has sidled up to her while her thoughts floated in the decadence of the room. She wraps both arms around him encircling his arms and chest. She holds onto his body squeezing tighter, her face buried in the curve where his bicep met his heart, Julian’s arms remain plastered to his sides. She wants to feel him struggle to free himself. Not a struggle to part, but one that would end with his arms cradling her back. Then she could kiss his neck and smell the elusive and expensive cologne he dabbed lightly under his ears. 
         

  “You can release me,” he laughs. “It is just a dinner. Not good-bye forever.”
         
  She lets go and turns to lean against the wall beside him. Her legs slide forward as her back finds the wall’s support

  “I know. But tomorrow…”
“Hey!”

  Julian faces her and with one finger lifts her chin. She is five feet four and a half.  He’s close to six three. She looks up into his dark eyes. She sees the love for a child shining back at her.
         
“Tomorrow is tomorrow. Who knows maybe I will scoop you up and we’ll hit the road.”
         
  The idea of him scooping her up and them riding off in no specific direction lifts her spirit. She smiles and her pale blue eyes shine. His dark eyes brighten at her response and he turns back to lean against the wall, looking over the crowd. Her eyes settle amongst them as well.
         
  Some people sit at tables, laughing, talking; sharing memories even tears. But the water of those tears are not complete sorrow. They are soft waves. They roll briefly down the shores of a cheek and break. She watches two girls in such a manner. The dark one wiping at her left cheek and laughing while the girl with long sun streaked hair shakes her friend’s arm; the gesture much like Julian tipping her chin and yet very different altogether. These are not good byes. They are farewells. Elaina can feel the room full of farewells. People reassuring each other that after graduation they will have lunches, they’ll visit as often as possible. Standing by Julian, she only feels goodbye. He teases her with the open road. For him it may be a distant possibility, but she knows. Elaina always knows. When Nicole approaches them Elaina hates being right.
         
  “Hey gorgeous,” Julian smiles and pulles Nicole into his arms.
         
  Nicole turns her head to face Elaina winks and beams at her. Elaina smiles back a small dark envy quickly subdued by her love for Nicole.
         
  “Let me go, you’re wrinkling my dress!”
         
  Nicole steps back and runs her hands down the length of her body, studying the black gown for anything too stubborn, any wrinkle her slender hands can not coax back into place. Elaina thinks of her simple black dress with a small silver border at the neckline and hem. Nicole’s hugs her perfectly. Around her waist are golden ties intertwined in a crisscross pattern that makes the young Athena now shine like the full fledged Goddess on earth. A remnant of Greece brought back from statues into a woman from a small Virginian town.
         
  Julian watchs her; a worshipping stare. His love with long dark ringlets pulled into a twist, some escaping and falling about her oval face. Her hazel eyes are heightened into kaleidoscope orbs. The dress brings out the gold and her joy makes the green speckles look like tiny stars. She finally looks back at him. Elaina wants to avert her eyes but is  mesmerized by her friend’s radiance. Never has Nicole looked so regal. She dwarfs everyone. Elaina scans the banquet hall and notices several guys by the small bar watching Nicole. Their lips move as they speak to each other but their eyes remain on Nicole, they roam her. Small glances at Julian reveal their envy. Elaina takes note that not one glance, not even a nanosecond worth, comes her way. She laughs and it breaks the conversation between Julian and Nicole.
         
“What’s so funny?” Nicole asks.
         
  She moves to Elaina and embraces her. Then like an older sister pushes her back and twists Elaina side to side inspecting her. Nicole’s smile speaks first. She lets go of Elaina and crosses her arms.
         
  “Elle, you are perfect. I spent hours with my hairdresser. You can not imagine the time it took to find this dress. And look at you. The silver was a good choice. You added it right?”
         
  Nicole knows Elaina can not afford the boutiques most girls at the University overwhelmed the week before graduation. Nicole recognizes the little black dress as the one Elaina had worn three years ago at homecoming.
         
  “Yep. You like it? It’s simple but I did not want to go overboard.”
  “Your eyes mirror the ocean. Overboard!  You Elaina? Never.”
         
  Julian and Nicole laugh. Elaina wants to cry. But soon breaks into a giggle and finally they all laugh and link arms, Nicole in the middle, heading for a table. Nicole moves ahead of them and lays her hand on one of the round tables. She turns her head and cocks her hip against it.

“I bet you it is the flower,” Julian whispers to Elaina.
         
  Elaina sees the wild orchid in the center. She looks at the design of the tables confirming Julian’s suspicion. It is the center table if you map the room into a spiral. All the other tables have tiger lilies. The table Nicole has chosen is surrounded by six empty ones, all with lilies; only the center table sports an orchid. Julian swings his arm around Elaina’s waist and looks down at her.
         
  “Yes, orchid?”
         
  Elaina nods her head at him. They always communicate in fragments and half sentences. Elaina thinks about it when they reach the table. Nicole pulls back both of their chairs and makes a sweeping wave with her right hand adding a curtsey, low and formal, as Julian takes his seat.
         
  “And for the Queen…”
         
  Elaina waits for Nicole to sit and the two girls stare at each other.
         
  “Elle, you are the Queen. Sit, please?”
         
  Elaina realizes she has deferred to Nicole automatically. If Julian was the King, Nicole was the Queen. Nicole looks sad after Elaina sits and she moves to her own chair. Elaina is still thinking about the way she communicates with Julian. They know each others thoughts. Nicole and Julian often get into winding conversations that take ten more minutes then necessary to reach an understanding. She ties it back into her Queen theory.          

  Kings and Queens would speak that way. A servant girl gets it in one or two words. I am not the Queen, Nicole; she thinks to herself then looks up to see her best friend staring at her. The sadness in her eyes has sharpened. Concern and curiosity fight for expression.
         
  “Hey! Hey! Beautiful People!”
         
  Ron Coulter slides into the fourth chair, winking slyly at Elaina. For the first time in two years Elaina is elated by Ron’s intrusion. Ron is Julian’s best friend. They met three years ago on the soccer field. The bond they formed in competition transferred into a social connection that mirrored their athletic skills. The coach quickly saw how they were the fastest and smartest of his team. He easily found the backbone of the two. Ron was able to turn on a dime, squirrel his way around opponents with amazing tricks, the ball never in danger of interception. But it was Julian who saw the big picture. Like wolves, they would maneuver down the field, Ron keeping the other team frustrated, trying to gain the ball while Julian positioned himself near the goal. Once Ron saw Julian in place, he would make his last sweeping pass to Julian. Only a stunned goalie between the dark wolf and his prey; Julian raises the cheers to a frenzied scream as he scores.
         
  The trick lay in the freedom Ron gave Julian. While Ron danced, feigning the monstrous struggle to keep the ball, Julian would lope down field watching for the gap to open. Like a storm chaser picking the exact cloud that would drop a twister, Julian was able to watch the formations shift and break until he had his free zone. They had a signal. Only Elaina and Nicole noticed it at first. Julian would bend forward as if he was catching his breath. Ron kept the other team focused on the ball, kept them thinking he was trapped; they never noticed that he was able to watch Julian and flip the ball in chaotic rhythms. When he saw Julian’s signal, he burst from the tight pack of opposition leaving them sweaty and bewildered; watching as the real threat pounded the ball into their net. State champions all three years. The signals changed, Ron changed his dance here and there but it was always the same.
         
  “Grey, Jules? You would pick Grey. Nice. Once again you and Nikki have managed to make the rest of us look like lab rats, black, cloned rats.”
         
  Ron laughs, he snorts at the end and kicks back; his feet on the table. He wears his soccer cleats. He slips his arm through Elaina’s, a crooked grin on his lips as he challenges Julian with a trump card look. Nicole starts giggling. Elaina shakes her head and waits. Ron slides his hand into hers, she gives him a wary glance.
         
  “All of them Elle, that’s right all the dances are mine. Last night my little Dahlia; no slippery exits. You will be mine. I saw that palm witch two days ago. She promised her love brew would work. Now I must get you some champagne and clench this deal.”          

  Elaina decides to feed his sarcasm, with her own. She grips Ron’s hand keeping him at the table.
         
  “What that incompetent charlatan did not tell you, Ronny, is you cannot cast a love spell on a stronger witch.”
         
  Ron stares at Elaina. She sees him weighing her words. She restrains her delight, keeping her lips tight and her eyes cold. He tries to let go of her hand, looking to Nicole for help.
         
  “Elle, stop it. He’s been in love with you all these years and I think you have finally scared him off. So stop!”
         
  Nicole and Elaina burst into laughter. They laugh harder when they notice Julian and Ron staring at them at a loss for words. Bewitched, confused, the two men look back at each other and nod. They get up and head for the bar at the far right of the room. Elaina slaps her hand on the table and she and Nicole sit back and slowing regain their composure.