adventures in vents

“I can’t do this.”

They had just landed on Vox and Darcy’s legs had turned to lead the second she thought about leaving the safety of the engine room to go get “dolled up.”

“Come on, it won’t be so bad,” Miles reassured her. “Shopping might be kind of fun, right?”

Darcy scowled. “No. I think I’m going to be sick.”

“I’ll be with you the whole time,” he promised. Darcy still felt queasy, but she reluctantly followed him off the ship. At least she wasn’t stuck doing this with Daniel or any of the others. She hated that their offhand insults actually stung. They were morons and she didn’t like them anyway, but she supposed it never felt very good being told you were less than desirable. She caught herself glancing in store windows as they walked, making a note of any flaws she noticed in her reflection. She realized she had a little smudge of engine grease on her temple and scrubbed it off so violently she left a red mark.

“Darcy, you’ll be fine,” Miles said, gently nudging her forward when she froze again outside a store full of glitzy dresses. The clerk called out in a chipper voice that she’d be right with them, and Darcy wrapped her arms around herself as she looked around. The place was filled with pretty dresses in silky and glittery fabrics, and Darcy felt bad for walking in wearing faded jeans and her old jacket. She almost jumped out of her skin when the salesgirl and a very posh looking woman appeared next to her.

“Any idea what you’d like?” she asked.

“I don’t know if I can wear any of these,” Darcy mumbled. The salesgirl looked scandalized and the slightly older woman seemed offended.

“I designed all of these myself,” she said. “Is my work not to your satisfaction?”

“No,” Darcy stammered quickly. “Not at all, the dresses are beautiful. All of them.”

They both seemed to relax a little and Darcy wanted the floor to drop out and swallow her.

“I will choose some options I think might be best,” the designer told her. “Irina will prep the fitting room for you.”

Darcy squeaked a thank you and then turned to Miles.

“How am I supposed to talk to some rich playboy?” she asked, a little frantic. “I can’t even avoid pissing off the dress people. There’s probably going to be like, a hundred supermodels there or something. Everyone will be able to spot right away that I’m some backwater gutter rat and probably kick me out.”

“You are not a gutter rat,” Miles said sternly. Darcy was about to argue the point but the designer returned with several dresses.

“These all look too sophisticated for me,” she said quietly. The designer seemed to catch on to Darcy’s self-consciousness and softened a little.

“Nonsense. By the time we’re done, you’ll look like a princess. Your boyfriend will be speechless. Come.”

Darcy and Miles both went red at the assumption that he was her boyfriend, but she didn’t get a chance to say anything before she was hauled off to the fitting room. The dressmaker; apparently her name was Viktoria Stole; had picked out four potential dresses for Darcy to try on. Irina the salesgirl had to practically yank Darcy’s jacket off of her when she got too nervous to get undressed.

Viktoria took her measurements while she stood there awkwardly, typing them into a machine that could help make immediate alterations if need be. Darcy wanted to ask how the gadget worked but she was already being stuffed into dress number one; a lacy black thing. It was pretty, but the skirt was so tight Darcy nearly fell over trying to walk. The second dress was dismissed for being too pale a gold, and then Viktoria held up the other two, eyeing them critically before glancing over at Darcy.

“This one,” she said, handing one to Irina and setting the other off to the side. She and Irina both made sounds of approval though Darcy’s face turned a little red when she faced the mirror. The dress was gauzy and a beautiful shade of emerald, with shimmery swirls of silver and gold lace. It had thin straps for sleeves and the fabric around her midsection was mostly sheer, as was the lower half of the skirt; between that and the giant slit up the side her legs were barely covered at all. She was pretty sure she hadn’t been this close to naked in public since birth, but she couldn’t deny that the dress was gorgeous.

“See? No one comes into my store without finding the perfect dress,” Viktoria said. “We’ll show your boyfriend and see what he thinks.”

“Oh, he’s not my—“

But no one was listening to her. Viktoria fairly shoved her out of the fitting room and Darcy turned red again at the idea of anyone, especially Miles, actually seeing her in the dress. He was patiently waiting out front, glancing up when he heard them come out. He stood up a little straighter while Darcy stood there with her flaming face.

“Well?” Viktoria asked. “Do you think it suits her?”

“I, uh. Yes. It looks great.” Miles’s ears turned a little red and Viktoria seemed triumphant.

“Are you wearing the dress tonight?” she asked and Darcy nodded.

“Then you can go to the salon next door. They’ll help make sure everything is coordinated. I won’t be having any of my designs being overshadowed by the wrong shade of blush. But first, we must find you some shoes and accessories to complete the look.”

“I don’t know if—“ Darcy started. Daniel had just seemed interested in having her stuffed into a dress and having some lipstick slapped on her face.

“That’ll be fine,” Miles said, interrupting her protest.

“Shoes first then. We’ll find whatever else you need while the stylists work.”

Viktoria zipped off and returned with several pairs of shoes, holding them up next to the dress and then tossing aside the pairs she didn’t like, Irina scrambling to collect them. She finally settled on a pair in a shade of gold that matched the lace on the dress.

Darcy was a little dizzy by the time she was forced into a chair while three chatty stylists surrounded her.

“We’ll need something to bring out the green of your eyes,” one of them said.

“We’ll do a partial updo for this long hair,” another added, already undoing Darcy’s side braid. She did her best to hold still as her hair was shampooed to a glossy auburn sheen and makeup was applied to her face. She kept worrying she’d get poked in the eye as some girl put eyeshadow on her, but she had to admit the shampoo they used smelled amazing. This seemed like an awful lot of trouble just to plant a bug on some guy, but all of Daniel’s ideas seemed like too much trouble.

What felt like an eternity later, Darcy was let out of the salon chair, taking in the full effect of the glittery dress and bold red lipstick. They’d covered the freckles on her nose with concealer so they wouldn’t ruin the sophistication of the look.

Miles had at some point taken up residence in a chair to wait for her, and when she was finally released she approached him nervously. He just kind of looked at her for a few moments, which made her more nervous.

“Um. What’s in the box?” she asked, gesturing to the little box in his hands. He glanced down at it and then cleared his throat and stood up.

“I thought maybe you’d like something else to go with the dress,” he said. “I’m not sure if it’s…right, or whatever, but that terrifying designer lady seemed to approve.”

He handed her the box and Darcy opened it to find a handful of pretty hair clips that matched the dress, as well as a little pearlescent moon pendant and earrings to match. She almost wanted to cry but figured the stylists might actually kill her if she ruined their handiwork.

“They’re beautiful,” she said instead, lifting the earrings out to admire them. Miles brushed some of her hair to the side to help her put the necklace on, and Darcy almost coughed up butterflies.

“I don’t think Daniel gave you enough money for all this,” she remarked but Miles just smiled and shook his head slightly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied as she carefully added the hair clips to her fancy and complicated hairdo.

“I hope you and your boyfriend have a good time,” one of the stylists called after them as Darcy put her jacket on over the dress to leave. They both glanced down awkwardly and hurried outside.

“So, Daniel has us set up in a hotel across from where this Thane guy’s party is,” Miles explained. “So I’ll be close by. You don’t need to worry.”

Darcy managed a small smile but she was still nervous. They walked in silence for a few minutes, Darcy tugging restlessly at her jacket sleeves. Miles finally reached over and gently grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Relax. You can do this. You’re smart, and resourceful. And you look amazing.”

Darcy almost choked on butterflies again, ducking her head so Miles wouldn’t notice. She didn’t want to say anything that would embarrass them both. They reached the hotel Daniel planned to spy on her from and went up to the room to find him pacing. Darcy kept her jacket on and tried to hide behind Miles.

“Well, let’s see how it turned out,” Daniel said impatiently. “She has to be able to get Moffett’s attention.”

“You don’t have to be such a dick about it,” Miles told him. Daniel just threw him an annoyed look. Darcy grit her teeth and edged out from behind Miles, reluctantly taking off her jacket and glaring at Daniel while she waited for him to say something snarky. He actually paused his pacing and his agitation turned into surprise.

“See, I told you she could probably clean up nice,” Logan remarked from where he was sitting by the window.

“So it would seem,” Daniel said and Darcy wondered if they were mocking her. Daniel handed her the bugging device and a little card that served as her ticket into the party.

“You just need to get close enough to get this on him,” he explained. He sounded significantly less snappy now, and kept looking her up and down. She sort of wanted to punch him but just took the stuff he handed her.

“We’re counting on you,” he said. “Go get him, kitten.”

Darcy’s nerves came back full force and she glanced over at Miles, who was giving Daniel an annoyed look. But he flashed her a reassuring smile and she tried to focus on that instead of how badly she didn’t want to do this. She made her way to the posh building for the party, not even sure how she made it to the penthouse at the top. Her brain felt fuzzy. She party was clearly in full swing, so she took a deep breath and made her way into the thick of it, scanning the room for Thane Moffett. He wasn’t hard to find, lounging at a table with a bunch of people hanging off his every word.

Darcy rolled her eyes and then moved closer to where he was sitting. She tried to look confident as she walked through the crowd of people drinking and dancing. She was feeling a little claustrophobic, but then she glanced over just as Moffett was leaning back and looking bored with whatever his adoring fans were saying. He looked up at the same moment and made eye contact. He flashed her a smile, which she supposed was a good sign. She turned away from him and snatched a little flute of pink champagne off a floating tray, continuing to move across the room.

Moffett caught up to her as she was admiring the giant aquarium, flashing her another grin. His cologne was too strong and he had clearly tried really hard to make his hair look rumpled.

“It’s quite the conversation piece,” he said.

“I guess it is,” Darcy replied. “It is quite pretty.”

“It does draw the eye, but not as well as other things in the room,” he said and Darcy almost rolled her eyes again. She forced a smile instead, managing to make her way through some asinine chatter about fancy stuff he owned and his brazen flirting.

“But what you really want is the view from the balcony,” Moffett said finally, steering her toward the sprawling deck that spanned the length of the penthouse. There was a pool at the other end, and a rather dizzying view of the city from where they stood. It was impressive, but Darcy was just focused on trying to get the bug on Moffett. Then she could get the hell out of here.