Ethically Speaking

1.9

•- Elijah Fields -•

I could not help myself.

Dancing with Quincie felt like everything else in the world had vanished. Her body was pressed to mine and my hand on her bareback. There was comfortability in the way I held her tight and we swayed to the music off in the distance.

"You didn't tell me you were coming tonight," Quincie pulls away from where her head had rested on my shoulder.

Forming my answer I look off into the distance.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to come to be truthful," I pause to read her confused expression, "Everything that has happened with Katie, and...us, I just didn't want to risk anything. But the thought of not coming made me feel like an awful person. Your father has done a lot for me, and I knew you'd be here."

Despite the darkness that consumed us, I could see the flush to her cheeks as she turns away.

Incapable of predicting my own actions, I move my hand to her jaw and tilt her face in my direction.

"Quincie..." I say her name just above a whisper as I was unsure of what it was I wanted to tell her.

"We should go," she interrupts me before so much as a thought could form.

My eyebrows furrow as she pulls away from me and I'm met with the fear of having her body untangled from mine.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I'm quick to ask as she starts to head back up the dock.

When she doesn't reply I feel entitled to chase after her. And so I do, grabbing her arm and pulling her gently so I could see her face.

Quincie's eyes were struck with regret and the feeling made my stomach drop.

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask, knowing full well that I was breaking many rules in just being alone with her at that moment.

"No, Dr. Fields. I think we should get back to the party before anyone notices we're missing."

Quincie was becoming a master of disguises.

The way she masked her inner frustrations was almost unnoticeable. Had I not been the one holding her in my arms and swaying to the distant music as if we were the only two souls, then I would believe she truly felt herself in a situation that required a quick escape.

"What did I do?" I ask again, now feeling like I'd ruined something.

Her piercing eyes glance to her hand which I'd been holding this whole time. She pulls away from me and drops her arm to her side.

"My friends are probably wondering where I am," she does not look back up to meet my eyes, "Thank you for the dance and the kind gesture, Dr. Fields. But I think it best if we don't stay out here by ourselves for too much longer."

When her head finally lifts she only looks at me for a second before racing towards the tree to grab her disregarded shoes.

As her shadowed figure runs up the path back to the party, it takes all of me not to chase after her and beg her to stay.

•- Quincie Jackson -•

I had practically run to the backyard where guests were enjoying themselves and the joys of the Jackson household's parties.

My eyes were pointed down as I went in hopes of avoiding eye contact with anyone I wished not to see.

But, because of my clumsiness and lack of paying attention, I push into someone who is quick to grab at my shoulders to steady me.