Steel Rose

Chapter 68

Belle Pov

It takes my eyes a moment for my eyes to adjust to dark. It doesn't take as long as it should, even though not one light is lit in here. Moving figures, people, covered in blues, reds, greens, oranges, purples, and many other colors made from the rubbing bodies, light the room in a bright frantic rainbow.

The music pumps loudly, along with the roar of a crowd, filling my limbs even before Kenneth and I can completely make our way inside. We step in onto a balcony, which runs the entire length of the room, a long set of stairs leading down on both sides. People lean on the balcony, holding colorful cups, which I assume are filled with alcohol, chatting and laughing as people shoot thick spurts of paint down into the crowd. Down below, a large crowd jumps and screams along with the music.

I take in the sight with awe. I would never imagine anything this wild. I would never imagine anything so, alive. I feel adrenaline rush through my veins, lighting my core. I could get lost in that. It shocks me out of whatever idea of a party I previously had.

"Crazy isn't it!" Kenneth shouts, struggling to be heard over the crowd. I almost forgot about him. "Come on!"

He leads me towards the left, one hand securely at the bottom of my spine. It would be easy to get lost in here. He leads me towards a long table, filled with various colors of neon paint. I take in the mess with a sense of wonder. I even purposely step into a spilled orange paint as Kenneth takes a fresh paintbrush from a skinny woman, splattered with paint.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"You wanna get painted?" He replies back. "I guess I should have asked first, sorry."

I turn to the different colors, imagining the girl with the butterfly. "Red," I say. I point to my shoulder and gesture down to my elbow. "Here."

Kenneth nods examining my limb. "Anything in particular?"

I shake my head. "No."

Kenneth grins. "Perfect."

Kenneth turns me so my arm faces him and dips the brush into the glowing red paint. He surveys my arm for a tense moment before placing the brush on my shoulder. I flinch away from the cold and Kenneth smirks at me. I watch in fascination as he glides the brush over my skin, the bristles ticking. I watch as his eyes focus on his task, painting looping circles and dots down my arm in an interesting and hypnotizing pattern.

He continues this work, switching to green for my other arm. Orange for my left leg, and blue for my right. And when he reaches my face, I can't hold in my gasp when I catch the reflection of the dim lights in his eyes. They look darker and more intense than I've even seen before. He holds my gaze for a moment, letting the moment still and sink in. I find myself having the sudden urge to reach out to him. I have the sudden urge to-

"There you two are!" Mora exclaims making us jump from our trance and dip our heads in embarrassment at being caught at...whatever that was. Mora walks up to us, a neon yellow cup in her hand, her eyes lit with zest. Her white clothes are splattered with blue and green. "I've been looking everywhere."

"We've been here the whole time Mo," Kenneth tells her, his lip curling up in amusement.

She hooks her arm into mine and the other into Kenneth's, and I worry she might smudge my paint. "No way are you two going to sit back at this party. Look at you," she gestures to Kenneth, the liquid from her cup slightly splashing onto his shirt. "You've got nothing on you."

Kenneth sneers at his wet shirt. "Well not anymore." He grumbles.

Mora either doesn't hear or brother or pretends she didn't and instead lets out a loud laugh. "This is going to be so much fun!"