The Masked Feelings

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, straightening my dress for about the twentieth time. I was unusually nervous. I wanted this to be perfect every detail. I wanted the engagement, and that included the reaction. I was sure that Sara and Pilar were going to want to rip my head off for keeping them in the dark about this. I ran my brush through my hair, yet again, and scanned my make-up, checking for any flaws. It had been annoying me about how much make-up I'd been wearing recently. I normally don't wear make-up and with Cristiano back I didn't need it so much, but it had become routine. "Hey babe, you ready?" Cristiano asked suddenly from the door frame making me jump. I placed a hand over my heart as it raced. I looked in the mirror at Cristiano and he looks hot. A plain white t-shirt, a black blazer, black jeans with vans.
"Yeah." I replied, checking myself for the last time before turning around and walking over to Cristiano. He chuckled and took my hand, leaning over to kiss my hair as we began walking.
"You jumped out of your skin back there!" Cristiano teased and I pouted. I hated how jumpy I was. Ever since I was a little girl I would jump out of my skin if someone so much as tapped my shoulder. It was an irritating habit which I could not explain so much as I could get over.
"Well I wasn't expecting you to be there!" I explained as Cristiano held the front door open for me.
"No, you were too busy checking your make-up for the tenth time!" Cristiano mocked as I rolled my eyes to me. He held the door open for me to get into the car.
"Whatever." I replied, unable to come up with a better return. Cristiano chuckled again as he started the engine.

"You ready to do this?" Cris asked after he parked the car and turned off the engine. I knew that he was talking more about my emotional state than my physical. Truth be told, I was nervous. Hell, who wouldn't be nervous about telling your best friends who you've been avoiding that you're now engaged to the man who has broken my heart, cheated on me twice and abandoned me and his daughter for a year? I let out a sigh and smiled, putting on my brave face to prepare myself for the night. I walked out of the car and took Cristiano's hand as we made our way into the party. The music was already played and a few guests had already arrived before us which made me flush with embarrassment. Cris and I made our way over to the guests and greeted them one by one apologizing for being slightly late to our own party.

After 20 minutes of socializing the room was filling with more and more people. Sara, Pilar, Iker and Sergio still had yet to arrive and I was worrying whether they would come at all. The atmosphere was tense as Cristiano and I made our way over to greet Karim who had bought a date with him who introduced herself as Sarah. I smiled at Sarah sympathetically as they left, knowing that Karim had every intention of having a one night stand with her. I liked most of Cris's team-mates, but I had a personal disliking for Karim. When I first met him he made 'the moves' on me even though he knew that I was with Cristiano. Ever since that night I have disliked him, and done my best to stay clear of him, but even with Cristiano by my side, I still felt uneasy. Then I realized as Karim and Sarah walked away and the feeling remained, that it wasn't Karim that was giving me this feeling. Something was wrong. Something was going to happen, something bad. I knew it. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, and a few seconds later Cristiano and I laid our eyes on them Sergio, Pilar, Sara and Iker. I immediately made my way over to them and hugged them all tightly. Cristiano gave them awkwardly polite smiles. I wish that they'd move on from what Cristiano did, I get that it was a jerk move that caused me a lot of pain, but if I've moved on from this they why shouldn't they?

Another 15 minutes later and the atmosphere hadn't changed, and my feeling was getting worse. "Ok, what's the matter with you?" Cristiano asked calmly, as he placed his hand on my shoulder, sending fireworks through me. I looked up at his chestnut eyes and found myself lost in their trance.
"I feel like something bad is going to happen." I confessed and Cristiano smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Me too." Cristiano agreed and I raised my eyebrows. So I'm not going crazy? Unfortunately, Cristiano agreeing with me didn't give me the type of console that I wanted. Something bad really was going to happen. My mind considered all of the possible situations that could go wrong. Everyone could boo us and say rude and hurtful things. Someone in the room could be a murderer who abducts Cristiano and never lets me see it again. Just the thought sent shivers down my spine, reeling me back to reality.
"So, what do you think is going to happen?" I inquired in a hushed tone. Cristiano looked to be deep in thought as I line formed on his forehead, proving me right.
"Honestly, I really don't know." Cristiano breathed. I nodded my head and we both made our way to the bar. I ordered an appletini and Cris ordered a beer, both knowing that there was no way that we were going to be able to get through this night without a drink. I hadn't had a drink in 7 years, when I made an agreement with myself to stop drinking as I didn't want to be the type of person who gets drunk all of the time; I wanted to be able to have some responsibility. The cool drink instantly took away part of the bad feeling, but left some of it remaining, unable to take away the full blow. Cristiano looked to have also relaxed a bit, but because I knew him so well I could still see the uncertainty inside of him.

Cristiano and I finished our drinks, and got up from our seats to gather everyone's attention as we made our announcement. "Hi, I would like to thank everyone for coming today. I know that you have all been wondering what the reason is as to why we are throwing this party. And the reason is that Tasha and I wanted to let all of you know at the same time about our news!" Cristiano enthused, holding my hand. I smiled, and lifted my left hand to the audience, displaying my engagement ring to the crowd. Gasps were heard throughout the room which then broke into cheers and relief flooded me.

I smiled at everyone as Cristiano and I received congratulations from many people. We had been talking for a good 10 minutes until I felt the need to use the toilet and excused myself. I walked into he bathroom and used the toilet before fixing my make-up. My eye-liner had smudged a little down my face and so I fixed it before reapplying some more mascara and lip stick. I smiled at myself in the mirror, straightened my dress and walked out of the toilets, knocking into a person. "sorry" I apologized and looked up and felt the air escaping my lungs and catch in my throat. I received a sickly smile before he took a step closer and grabbed my wrist, still holding his wicked smirk that I wanted to slap off of his face. "get away from me." I growled, causing a laugh that sounded more like a cackle to escape his lips. "Cristiano" I called, causing a more sinister expression to cover his face.
"Shut up." He ordered and tightened his grip on my arm causing a large amount of pain, as he threatened me.
"please" I sobbed as tears collected in my eyes, as I begged for him to let me go. He was a cruel person, I knew this from personal experiences. I silently prayed for Cristiano to come save as the smug expression returned to his face.