Vanessa was pacing Perri's room. He was very rarely on time because of all the things that he has to juggle but this was cutting it a bit too fine especially as he wasn't answering his phone. She wondered whether she should head to the briefing without him. What if something had happened? she nearly threw up as panic induced bile rose up her body at the thought of him lying somewhere lifeless. She clutched her stomach in an effort to centre herself.
Perri burst into the room throwing the door open so wide it slammed loudly on the door stop making Vanessa scream. "Where were you? Do you know how late we are?" she shouted. Furious at him but more furious at herself for worrying like he belonged to her.
"I'm so sorry, I had to help out someone." He muttered, scooping her up in a hug. Vanessa breathed in deeply into his shoulder, she told herself it was because he was crushing her with his too tight hug. He let go and shed his coat, hooking it on the wall and took her hand. "Come on," he said pulling her out of the door.
Perri hauled Vanessa down the corridor, she tried to pull her hand back so she could slow down, she was almost at a sprint trying to keep up with his long strides. His grip was like iron as he was focussed on not being any later than they already were. He stopped just before the briefing door so they could catch their breaths. He looked back at Vanessa for the first time since leaving his room. She was sweating, gasping for air and trying to fix her hair with one hand. Her eyes were wet but there were no tear tracks down her face. Perri felt a massive pang of guilt. He felt her weakly pull at his hand and realised he was still holding hers so he let go. He watched her rub her hand and also realised he might have held it too tightly and felt an even bigger pang of guilt. She wasn't looking at him but at some random point on the floor. He went to hug her again but she jumped back and put her hand out to stop him.
"I'm OK Perri, I just need to get in there and sit down" she hissed. She straightened up, pushed her shoulders back and put on her best pro skater smile, threaded her arm around his elbow and said through her teeth. "Let's go."
The director's voice cut through the chatter in the room. "Welcome Perri and Vanessa!" The room cheered, Perri sheepishly waved to the people in the room whose eyes were on him and his professional skating partner. A floor manager stood up from table 8 and motioned for them to take to the two empty seats. Perri tried to nonchalantly search for Laura but there were too many people and he found himself seated before he could locate her. No sooner than he had sat down, the meeting began.
Perri didn't absorb any of the information he was given, he mindlessly played with the papers in his pack while he ran through his first proper encounter with Laura. He wanted to say her name out loud there and then, but that would have weirded out the rest of his table. Before he knew it, the briefing had finished. A lady leaned over and smiled at him. "I've seen you and Vanessa practice; I think you're brilliant! You're gonna win!" She breathed, reaching out to touch his arm. Perri smiled back through his horror. He hated the pressure of high expectations.
"Thank you, but I just want to stay upright!" he joked. His standard response. He could hear Vanessa huff next to him, and his guilt came flooding back. He turned to her. "I really am sorry you know."
"It's fine", she replied, "I'm used to your terrible timekeeping." Even he could tell it was anything but fine, but he decided he wasn't going to make things worse by saying something stupid. He noticed that people had started to get up from their seats and banal muzak began to fill the room. Perri groaned as that could only mean one thing....networking. Vanessa loved to mingle so she was up and away, Perri wondered sadly if she was networking or escaping him. Staff had started to refill drinks, he had missed it because of his late arrival so eagerly waved a tray holder over. He swiped a glass and poured himself a sparkling water without paying the tray holder any attention. He realised a beat too late, that he was being quite rude and turned to thank them, but they were already serving the next person. His stomach dived to his feet as he recognised the server's hair, he would know those silky, wavy locks a mile away. He was damned if he was upsetting two women tonight.
Perri jumped up from his seat and slalomed through the other bodies and finally caught up with Laura. He raised his hand and ran through a range of ways to grab her attention before finally settling on tapping her shoulder. She turned around ready to hand a drink to whomever was demanding one. "Oh Perri" she said in surprise, he was the last person she expected to see after his dismissal of her at the table a moment ago.
"Sorry about that, I meant to say thank you for the drink." he shouted. He needed to be heard over the room chat and music.
That's ok," she replied, she didn't shout so it was hard for him to hear her. He stood closer and bent down so his ear was by her face. He then did something he wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing before, but he felt almost compelled to place his hand on Laura's waist so she couldn't walk away too soon.
"What?" Perri asked, Laura was taken aback by how close he was, she could actually smell him, and was annoyed with herself for taking a deep breath in to catch more of his scent. She thought about moving but realised his hand was on her waist, she couldn't pull away without it becoming a big thing, that was what she told herself anyway.
"I said it's ok," she repeated, getting flustered, he was too close. Perri raised his head just enough to talk in her ear.
"I don't want you to think I'm one of those diva celebs, I'm not gonna demand a bowl of blue m & m's." Perri's breath tickled her ear and Laura suddenly found her tray very heavy.
"Is everything ok Laura?" a worried looking woman asked, it was her supervisor. Perri had forgotten he was in a room full of people, and also cameras. He watched as Laura looked like a rabbit trapped in headlights and wondered if she had forgotten too. He let go of her waist and watched Laura hurry away to the other side of the room. The supervisor turned to Perri, she still looked concerned. "Was she bothering you?" she asked.
"No, I was trying to get the whole bottle for my table" Perri lied. He was terrible at lying he decided. He went back to his table and picked up his water, wishing for once that it was something stronger.