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The Charity Benefit (2) - The Charity Benefit has drawn a social crowd and they seem keen to make conversation as well as friends. The room is full of compliments and kind words and every now and then it looks like you're catching someone's eye and one person in particular seems to be paying more attention to you than the others. The stranger lingers by a display table showcasing some of the donated auction items. They look familiar but you can’t quite place why. If you try to approach them, the stranger suddenly seems to disappear before your eyes. It might be easy to assume they got lost in the crowd, but any examination of the room makes it hard to tell where they’ve gone. More than that, it seems like sometimes you catch a glimpse of them in one part of the room only to see them disappear in the blink of an eye and immediately appear across the room in a different spot entirely. It’s impossible to get close to them, and the sensation of eyes on you never really fades.
Abbie was used to being the center of attention. She was a performer, after all; people ought to have their eyes on her. Specifically, they ought to have their eyes exactly where she wanted them to be. That being said, in this specific moment, abbie did not want eyes on her. She was at a fancy benefit she absolutely did not belong at, and surely, if anyone realized who she was or that she was just a street rat, she'd get thrown out, no matter how fancy her dress was--long, silver on top fading into pink, and sparkling the whole way down--or how nicely she'd done up her hair--allowed to grow out, the past year, and pulled into a pretty braid that she wound into a bun behind her head. She was never going to be one of the upper crust that actually belonged at these types of parties, and it would be painfully apparent to anyone who looked too closely at her jewelry or her dress and saw that even though they looked fine at a distance, they weren't. At all.
So the sensation of having eyes focused on her was...disconcerting. She disliked feeling watched without knowing who her audience was, and her eyes darted around the room until they locked with...
With the most beautiful woman Abigail Oxton had ever seen.
She was tall, dark-skinned, and brown-eyed, with long chestnut waves falling down her back and framing an elegant face. Her gaze made Abbie's heart stutter, and for a moment, Abbie swore she knew her. A guest at the hotel? someone who had attended one of her shows? No, surely someone this beautiful would have stuck out in any crowd.
She was hovering by one oft he auction tables, and Abbie hadn't bothered much with those just yet, because she really didn't have money to be spending, but she still found herself drawn through the crowd and to where the woman stood.
And then, as she watched, the woman disappeared.
What....in the world?
Abbie moved through the crowd and to the table, looking around as she went, but the woman was gone. It was as if she'd simply vanished--and without Abbie's line of sight being broken. That, Abbie had to admit, was a hell of a magic trick. Something she only wished she could accomplish. Still, she kept looking, because...well, because Abbie wanted to meet her. To ask why she'd been watching. To find out if she wanted something.
Alas, it proved impossible; no matter how much Abbie searched, she couldn't seem to lay eyes on the stranger. She swore she saw the woman out of the corner of her eye a few times, but when she turned to look, she was always gone.
And the whole time, she swore there were still eyes on her. As if the woman was still watching her, just out of sight.
Abbie shivered. That was...not what she'd expected at a fancy society party.
Honestly, she just needed to find her friends. She would feel much better if she was with them. Surely no one would question her if she was surrounded by people, laughing and talking.
She slipped back into the crowd, and wished that the sensation of eyes following her would go away.
