Chapter 8: Genna

Once we crawled into the limousine the ride was very quiet. Crew was sitting right next to me. Our outer thighs are just centimeters apart. Arianna sat across from me. Her face showed she was thinking about something, and whatever she was thinking of did not make her happen. Her face was tense. Muscles in her jaw twitching every once and a while. I leaned over in Crews direction.

"What do you think she is thinking about," I whispered.

"I have no idea," he whispered back. Arianna looked at Elijah.

"I think she is thinking about him," I whispered, gesturing at Elijah. "Clearly she is not happy either,".

"I hate how he acts. He refuses to get to know her just because of his father," Crew hissed.

"Who is all going to be at the banquet tonight," I asked Crew, my voice still a whisper.

"Well my parents for one thing. Elijah's Father. Along with governmental and military leaders from other countries," he whispered back.

"Why so many important people? To night is just basically just a rehearsal dinner for tomorrow,"

"There are some trade deals we have to work out with these countries. Which means we have to act like we are in love because if they see we, the leaders, are not happy with our traditions. Then it makes the country look as if we are weak," I whispered in a stern voice.

"That makes some sense, but why tonight? There are other days we could do this,"

"Because some of these trade deals have a time limit to agree on. Before the documents have to be redrafted," he whispered back. Elijah noticed that Arianna was watching him. He glared at her and turned back around. Crew was not happy with this reaction. His jaw clenched and he kicked Elijah in the shin. Elijah glared at Crew. Crew gestured with his head at Arianna. Who was now leaned back against the seat her arms crossed and brows furrowed. Elijah rolled his eyes at Crew and went back to looking out the window.

What an asshole. He is getting married tomorrow to her and he won't even talk to her. So imacher, just like a little toddler not wanting to eat his dinner.

Crew sat up straighter, and cleared his throat. Glaring at Elijah he said,

"I suppose this is the best time to say we need to be on our best behavior tonight. Which means we have to act like we enjoy each other's company, and act as if we are in love. Tonight makes or breaks our relationships between many countries,". Elijah sighed.

"I know tonight is important. You don't need to remind me," Elijah said looking at Crew, then Arianna. Arianna offered a smile at him. He just turned back around and looked out the window again.

"So how much longer until we arrive?," I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Just a few more minutes hopefully," Crew said, smiling at me. I smiled back.

I am grateful I was stuck with Crew and not Elijah. Crew as so much easier to talk to. He actually wanted to talk to me, unlike Elijah. Elijah acts like he doesn't care about Arianna. Although that is clearly not true because of what happened last night. Why would someone do something like that? I feel bad for Arianna that she has to deal with him.

A few minutes later the limousine turned into a circle drive around the road that led us to the front of a huge building. In the center of the circle drive was a little round flower bed, full of bright colored flowers. The building was beautiful. It was illuminated with lights. The building had a huge entryway. The limousine pulled up next to the building.

A man came up to the vehicle and opened the door for us. We climbed out of the limousine and it drove away. The man led us to these huge entryway doors and he opened them for us. We entered into a huge hallway lined with columns. The columns were wrapped with stringed lights. That went all the way up and down the columns.in between the columns sat pedestals with vases full of flowers. Down the hallway stretched a red carpet. Leading from the door we came into a huge double door on the other side of the hallway.

Crew turned to me and held out an arm for me. Wrapping my arm in his we lead the way to the other door. Once we reached the door it opened for us. On the other side of it stood a Butler dressed in dress pants, with a tuck in white shirt and bowtie. He stood straight and ready to take command.

"Prince Davis and his future fiance, Genna Miller. Prince. Garcia and his future fiance, Arianna Smith," the Butler bellowed to the room full of people. The room filled with happy cheers as everyone stood up and welcomed us. I glanced at Crew. he was smiling and waving. I followed his lead. I smiled and waved excitedly at the crowd in front of us.

Crew walked us through the crowd to a table at the head of the room. Sitting down. Arianna sat to the left of me, on her left sat Elijah, and another man I did not know. The man looked to be in his forties, he looked alot like Elijah. He had pepper and salt sprinkled beard and hair. His eyes are bright blue. He was wearing a dark gray suit and tie. That must be Elijah's father, I thought to myself. Crew sat to my left. To his left sat a man and a woman. Both that man and woman looked to be around the same age. The woman had blonde hair and green eyes.she was wearing a cute white and black polka dotted dress. The man had fawn colored hair, and was wearing a gray suit with a tie that matched the woman. Those must be Crew's parents, I thought.

Servants started to walk around the room serving food. One came up to me.

"Soup or salad my Ladie?," he asked me to hold out plates to me.

"Salad please," I responded. Another servant came up to me. This one was in a little bit of different clothing. His pants were a little lighter than the others. His shirt was also different. His shirt was more of a cream color rather than white. I looked around the room, spotting about five others dressed the same. Thinking to myself it must just be a shortage of uniforms. The servant held out two plates for me to choose from. I chose the steak. One more servant came up to me. He offered me water and I accepted it. Elijah's father stood up holding a champagne glass and yelled excitedly to the crowd of people.

"To our children. May they live happily forever with their future fiance's!,". I felt a smile across my face as the crowd held up similar glasses and cheered.

The food was exquisite. The salad was fresh and crisp. Topped with a delicious Caesar dressing on it. The salad also had a bunch of rich vegetables like thinly sliced carrots, cumbers, parmesan cheese, and sunflower seeds. The salad was so good I wanted to ask for another, but I still had a steak to finish. The steak was so good. It was perfectly cooked. The inside was a nice pinkish color, while the outside was thoroughly cooked. There was no fat that I could taste. The steak was so tender and juicy. Although the steak was very good I did not have enough room in my stomach to fit it all.

When everyone was done eating tables were moved out of the center of the room, to make a dance floor. Music started playing, it was classical of course. People started to dance to the music. It was so beautiful to watch. Crew held out his arm again and I took it. We started walking around the room, talking to people I had never seen before. We eventually came up to the woman and man from earlier. The ones with the matching tie and dress. Crew let go of my arm and went to hug the woman. Stepping back next to me he said,

"Mother, Father. This is Genna,". The woman walked up to me and gave me a polite hug. The man then reached his hand out and gave me a firm handshake.

"Genna, this is my mother, Emily and my father, Oliver Davis," he told me.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Emily said, a smile stretching from ear to ear. We continued to walk around, talking to more people.

Crew eventually led me to the dance floor.

"Do you know how to dance the waltz?," he asked as if it was a challenge.

"You better believe it," I said with a smirk on my face. He pulled me onto the dance floor and we started to dance. We spun in circles, wrapping around the dance floor like there was no tomorrow. Our eyes locked on each other as we moved. The whole world disappeared as we danced. Seconds turned into minutes. Songs bled together as we twirled.

Eventually we stopped heading to the edge of the dance floor. We were breathing so hard as if we had just run a mile. Walking back over to the table we sat. I took a few sips of water as we sat in silence. I looked through the crowded room for Arianna. She was standing alone on one edge of the room leaning against the wall. She was looking at something across the dance floor. I followed her gaze. Elijah was talking to some girl. I poked Crew in the arm.

"Do you see that?," I said pointing at Arianna.

"No, what? Wait, where is Elijah?," he asked. I pointed across the room to where Elijah was sitting talking to the girl. Crew was not happy to say the least. He stood up and was about to march over there, but I grabbed his arm before he could get out of reach.

"Don't we can talk to him about it later. Plus I am starting to think if you keep riding him to get along with her the more distant he will become from her," i said pulling back toward his seat. He sat back down reluctantly. We sat and watched the crowd for a while. Letting the music fill our ears.

When I noticed some of the servants moving back and forth carrying something big and black back and forth. A blood curdling scream filled the room.

Bang, Bang, Bang!

Gunshots filled the room. Before I could blink Crew pulled me to the ground and under the clothed table. A round of shots were fired. I tried to pull out of Crew's grip but he held strong.

"Where the hell are you going?," he whispered as the room filled with screams. I felt tears starting to form behind my eyes. I blinked them away fast.

"I need to find Arianna. She won't be able to handle this," I said panicked. I could hear more screaming and people running around. Crew pulled me into his arms, my back to his chest. He held a hand over my mouth and whispered in my ear,

"They will hear you,". My pulse increased, as the tall form walked and stopped right in front of the cloth on the table.

A scream erupted through the room. A scream for help, for someone to save her. I knew whose scream that was. I felt hot tears pouring down my face. Crew's grip tightened around me. He realized it at the same time I did. It was Arianna's screams that filled the room. I thrashed against Crew but he would not let go.

Bang!

The screaming stopped.