* * * * *
An hour and a half later, as Claudia stood to the side of the snack table where her date had virtually parked himself all evening, she laughed at the irony of the situation. There was Caera who was desperate for a break and a chance to sample the Valentine cake but who couldn't break away from Brian, who continued to whirl her around the floor.
Claudia herself had only danced two or three times, and she was beginning to feel neglected. So far her prediction concerning Valentine's Day disasters was coming true. Ana looked pleasantly happy when she came to the snack table with Justin Porter. He got them both a glass of punch, and Ana shot Claudia a sympathetic look and gestured to Corey Richardson. Claudia shrugged, and Ana and Justin soon moved back onto the dance floor.
Ten minutes later, Claudia decided to take a walk around the room; she was sick of being bored and ignored, and Corey didn't seem to notice much when she told him she was leaving and wouldn't be back for a while. He was probably too bloated to move.
As Claudia strolled down the hallway, seeing all of the happy people, she felt even more miserable and so slumped on a chair at the side of the room, her mind drifting into a daydream about how she wished the evening had progressed. A minute later, a familiar figure walked past, scanning the room for someone. Claudia was disturbed and looked up.
"Alex?" she thought aloud.
He turned around, surprised to see Claudia behind him.
"Claudia, you're just the person I wanted to see." Alex moved to her left side and seated himself. "The guys and I have been miserable these past two weeks," he began, faltering on the word "miserable". "We didn't mean for you all to get mad at us, and we still want to be involved in the search." Little worry lines furrowed his forehead, and his lips compressed to a thin line.
"It really upset us when you girls wouldn't tell us about the new clues you'd discovered." Alex almost whined. Claudia was beginning to regret their little prank. Could she tell him that it had all been a joke without his getting angry?
At that moment, Claudia noticed something in Alex's hand. It looked like--a flower? "What's that?" She gestured to his hand that dangled over the other side of his chair.
"Oh," Alex suddenly remembered what he'd brought with him. "This is for you, Claudia. It's my way of apologizing for all those mean jokes we played on you on Valentine's Day. You probably don't remember, but..." his voice trailed off as he brought up a single red rose and gave it to her.
Claudia was stupefied. Of course, she remembered all of the jokes, but she was so excited that the cycle of sour Saint Valentine's Days had finally come to an end that she didn't hold them against him.
"Where's your date?" Claudia inquired with a grin, fingering the rose's petals and drinking in its scent.
"Oh, uh, well y'see, I came alone." Alex stuttered a reply. "Where's yours?" He asked, looking around. Claudia laughed.
"He's at the snack table. Where else?"
"Well then, what say we have a dance?" Alex suggested, giving her his arm. "Shall we?"
"Maybe one," she smiled. During their dance, Claudia saw Andrew apologizing to Caera who had managed to break away from Brian for a minute. Momentarily abandoned, Brian pestered Justin into going to the bingo room with him, and shortly afterwards, Todd meandered over to Ana and struck up a conversation.
"I have an idea," Claudia told Alex, "let's all go outside to the courtyard. We've got some things that need to be cleared up."
"I'm game." Alex replied exuberantly. "This dumb dance is no fun, anyway." Claudia signaled to Ana and Caera who came over, closely followed by Todd and Andrew, and then she told them her suggestion. Alex held her hand as they hurried to the exit, and he kept the door open while Claudia led the way outside, where the bright stars twinkling above in the midnight black sky told her that everything was going to turn out just fine.