The Ball

She wrapped the sash around her waist, and tied it at the back. She slipped into her heels, a pair she had bought at Estonia’s suggestion yet never worn. She looked for her clutch, found it, then stood in front of her full-length mirror and studied herself. Lithuania cocked her head to the side, amused. It wasn’t often that she wore a dress and prettied herself up. Tying her hair back into a tightly pulled ponytail usually sufficed. But tonight, something was different. She actually wanted to look pretty. She wanted to impress.

She placed her clutch on the table next to the door and brushed the pleats of her dress flat with her palms. The guys would have a laugh, no doubt. Her hair dropped over her bare shoulders in thick ringlets, her earrings peeking through her full wavy hair here and there, unexpectedly, like glistening blue fireflies. Her hair really was beautiful, when she let it show. A deep, chocolate brown with the occasional reddish sheen, depending on the lighting. Marco had told her he’d like to see it loose sometime. Well, this was the time.

Lithuania smiled. Her pale skin was complemented wonderfully by the champagne hue of her dress. She looked beautiful, if she might say so herself. Embracing her feminine side could be fun, after all. It was silly, yes, and superficial, and in the long run rather pointless, but it would at least be a short-lived pleasure, and not just for herself.

A knock on the door. Lithuania held her breath as she peered through the hole, stepped back, practiced her smile, then opened the door. “Oh, hey,” she said, casually. “You’re not late for once!”

Marco stumbled over his tongue, tripping between surprise at Lithuania’s appearance, an attempt to remark on it and simultaneously reply to her comment. “Yeah—sorry—I mean, no. You look—erm—you’re ready, right?” Marco felt his cheeks glow, as he scolded himself internally for behaving, or at least feeling, like a school boy.

“The guys are so going to make fun of me,” Lithuania said, locking the door behind her and dropping the key in her clutch. “I’ve never actually attended one of these.”

Suddenly, Marc’s tongue felt twice its size. “Well, these balls are more or less designed for the guys to have a break and see their girlfriends.” At which point Marco thought maybe he was implying Lithuania was his girlfriend, which he wasn’t, which made him blush further, and forget what he was going to say to begin with. He cleared his throat.

“Well, good thing we’re both single to keep each other company, eh?” said Lithuania.

Marco cleared his throat again. “Well don’t worry Lith. If the guys make fun of you, it’s only because they’re jealous none of their girls look anything like you.”

“You’re so sweet,” Lithuania said wryly.

“I try.”

As they approached the elevator, Marco felt both relieved and peeved that Lithuania had a clutch to keep her hands busy. He pulled his keys from his pocket and fiddled with his keychain.

“Marco,” Lithuania said, her voice steady as she pressed the lobby button inside the elevator. They’d be in the Events Hall, where the ball was being held, in just a minute. “You ever wonder where we’ll be, a couple of years from now?”

An odd impromptu topic, Marco thought, though not entirely unwarranted, considering permanent shipments abroad were underway. “Not really. No.”

“Well we’re kind of kicking ass, if you haven’t noticed.” She was referring to their work together in the training sessions and mock missions. “And if we keep it up…”

“We might hit the high ranks,” Marco said.

“We’d better hit the high ranks,” Lithuania said. “We’ve got to make sure we stick together. We’re a good team, you know.” That was about as suggestive as she felt herself capable of being.

Marco looked at Lithuania, and for the first time that night they made eye contact in earnest. “Don’t worry, a few years from now, we’ll still be—” Marco looked away suddenly, irresistibly “kicking ass...” 

“We’ll be officers…’

“Commanders, even.”

“You sticking around in Antioch?”

“I’m sticking around. You?”

“I’m sticking around,” Lithuania said.

The elevator doors opened, and Lithuania and Marco stepped out into the Events Hall. It was as much as they could do to commit to each other, without actually committing to each other. But in their hearts they both knew that they had, indeed, promised never to leave the other alone.