Selected
Fifteenth

I stared at myself in the mirror. This dress was possibly the most beautiful thing I had ever put on in the entirety of my life. The white material fitted my frame perfectly, outlining every curve. If Vox had loved me in that blue dress, wait until he sees me in this. I started to imagine the way his eyes would rake me up and down. I like the thought of his hungry stare drinking in my body. It made butterflies appear in my stomach. Banging on the door startled me out of my trance.

“Em? Are you going to come out sometime in the next millennium?”

I smiled, knowing that Hal would immediately drop her frustration and gawk at me when I came out in this. “Get your father’s credit card ready, because this one is a real winner.”

I opened the door to the changing room, excited to see Hal’s expression. She didn’t say anything, she just stared at me dumbfounded. Then, without taking her eyes off of me she reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet. She slid the little plastic card and swiped it on the side of the door. I still didn’t understand how this equated to paying for the dress but just went a long with it.

“I’m assuming that means you like it.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, it’s perfect. I told you it would be.”

I frowned and looked down at the dress, “I picked this one.”

Hal shook her head, “You most certainly did not. I did.”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever.”

Hal smiled at me, “Em, no offense, but out of the two of us, I’m the more fashionable one. There’s no way you picked this dress.”

I stuck my tongue out, “Just close the door so I can change.”

She giggled before closing the door for me. “You look fabulous, by the way. Vox is totally going to cry.”

I stared at myself a little longer in the mirror. “Cry? Does Vox cry very often?” I hadn’t seen him shed a tear since I’d been here. I had assumed he didn’t cry at most things, but hell I had only known him for a week, so who really knows.

“Not really, but I bet 100 dollars that he would totally shed some tears for you in that dress.”

I admired myself in the dress for a little longer. Imagining myself walking down the aisle toward Vox. Him, looking gorgeously dashing in his tux and me in this elegant dress. I could imagine the way he would look at me, as if he loved me. Which would be absurd, him loving me. We had known each other a week.

I unzipped the dress and let it fall to the floor, hoping the image of both of us standing at the alter would fall away with it. I didn’t want to think of the impending nuptials. I didn’t want to imagine swearing my life to a man I didn’t love, a man who I barely knew. I struggled with the infernal jeans before finally managing to put them on.

I grabbed my shirt off the floor and put it over my head and stuck my arms through the holes. I picked the dress up and hung it up neatly on the hanger before putting my shoes back on and opening the door. “But you seriously looked amazing in that dress.”

“Thanks.” I grinned at her, “And tell your father thanks for buying it.”

She linked her arm in mine, “It’s no problem. The sensor said it would be delivered by tomorrow.”

“Do I not need to get a fitting?”

Hal shook her head, “No, the room took your measurements. It’ll be sent to us altered to fit you seamlessly.” That was both convenient and creepy.

We walked out of the store and into the open car that was waiting for us by the curb. “What do you want to do now?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, what time is it?”

She looked down at her wrist, “It’s almost three. Dinner is at six. So we’ve got a few hours to kill.” She smiled, “I know,” She then pulled a black thing that looked kind of like a small search engine. “I made a list of things we still need to do for the wedding. Why don’t we…” She touched a few buttons on the screen. “How about we buy some decorations. The flower shop is just around the corner.” She pushed the speaker button and started giving the driver a destination. “I have this amazing idea that will totally blow Mel’s wedding out of the water.”

I walked into Vox’s room exhausted after a full day of wedding talk and shopping with Hal. This whole thing was happening way to fast for my liking and stressing me out. I was tired of looking at three different shades of blue, trying to determine which matched the flowers and the table cloths and the streamers. I just needed some time alone to forget. I pulled the book I got from the library out of my bag and curled up on the bed.

Vox hadn’t been at dinner again. I hadn’t heard from him since he had lied to me at the library. I wanted to talk to him, get a real explanation as to why he left me in such a hurry. I was hurt that he thought he could just fabricate some lie and get away with it. What was he doing that he couldn’t tell me? Why didn’t he think he could trust me? I mean yeah, we have only known each other for a short time, but in a week and a half we’ll be saying ‘I do’. I think that should count for some kind of trust. I shook the thoughts out of my head as I reread the same page for what seemed like the hundredth time.

As I continued to read, my mind started to wonder again. I started thinking about how similar Hal and Clinson Vaughn looked. They had to be related somehow, there was no other explanation for it. They had the same chocolate brown eyes, the same jaw line, and the same smile. I had tried to study her face while she wasn’t looking, getting quick glances and comparing them to Mr. Bly in my head. There was absolutely no way she wasn’t her mother’s daughter, but maybe she wasn’t her father’s. I didn’t replace any similarities. She had more in common with Clinson Vaughn than Mr. Bly.

Clinson Vaughn was in Sector 3 at the right time. And an illegitimate child wouldn’t be publicly announced in a society like this one. Maybe in one of my novels, but even then it would be considered a scandal. This would be the biggest scandal in history. The Selector’s match had a child with another man.

I wondered if Mr. Bly even knew. I mean he had to, right? He had to be curious when he noticed she didn’t have any of his features. He could look up her genetic code at any time. I wondered if Mrs. Bly knew. I wondered if she thought that her affair with Clinson Vaughn didn’t have any consequences. I wondered if Hal knew she wasn’t a Bly.

“Hey, you.” I looked up from my book to see Vox in the doorway. He was grinning from ear to ear. “I wasn’t expecting to see you in here.”

I set my book down, “I wanted to see you when you got home.”

He laid down next to me on the bed, wrapping me up in a hug. “How sweet.” He whispered before he started to give me a trail of kisses along my jaw. When he reached my lips he gave me a long kiss. “How was your day?” He gave me another kiss before I could answer.

“It was good, Hal and I went shopping for wedding stuff.” His eyes danced with fire. I could tell there was one thing that was on his mind, and it wasn’t how my day was. Usually I would feel the same way, but something else was nagging at me.

“Oh yeah?” He rolled me over so he was straddling on top of me. He gave me another long kiss. His hands found the hem of my shirt and started running up and down my back.

I placed my hands on his chest, “Wait.” At first he didn’t respond, “Vox, stop.” He broke the kiss and let his hands rest on my waist. “Can we talk for a second?”

He sighed, letting his head fall in disappointment before rolling off of me. We both sat up facing each other on the bed. He took his hand in mine and started playing with my fingers. “What’s on your mind?”

I had thought about how I should approach this situation all day. I didn’t know how to really start the conversation. I bit my lip and looked down, then thought better of it. I shouldn’t be the type of girl that shies away from confrontation. “I saw your Father after you left.”

He frowned and crinkled his eyebrows, “Did he say something to you? Just don’t listen to him, he's an old bastard that’s just trying to hurt you.”

“Well, our conversation was actually civil. He wasn’t rude or anything.”

“Okay, then what did he say?”

I moved my hand away from his, “He said that he didn’t call you in today.” Vox ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. “So, do you want to tell me where you went?”

He shook his head, “No.”

“No?” Now I was mad. How were we supposed to get married if he wasn’t able to trust me with the truth? “What do you mean no?”

He ran his fingers through his hair again. I could tell he was contemplating, devising, trying to come up with an answer. “Because, I had to do something.”

I kept calm, even though I wanted to raise my voice, I figured I would get more if I at least appeared calm. “Why did you lie to me?”

“Because you can’t know.”

“What do you mean I can’t know?”

“Just trust me okay?” His eyes looked deeply and desperately into mine. “Please?”

“I would except for the fact that you won’t tell me anything. How am I supposed to trust you when you don’t trust me?”

He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine.” He got up and practically stomped over to his desk chair where he had hung up his jacket earlier. He pulled something out of the pocket and then made his way back over to me. He stayed standing as he held out a box for me to take.

“What is that?”

“It’s what I did today. You want to know. You want to ruin the surprise, go ahead and take it.”

“A surprise?” I sat on the bed dumbfounded. What was happening?

He sighed again, obviously more than frustrated. Vox opened the little black box to reveal a ring.

“Is that a-?”

Vox nodded, “Yeah, I know that you’re a little apprehensive of the whole wedding thing. And so I was trying to think of something that would help you feel more comfortable marrying me. And I thought about doing some gestures that a Sector 3 girl would love, but I know that you aren’t a Sector 3 girl. You’re a girl who loves romance and in all of those romantic novels you read, the guy buys a ring, gets down on one knee,” Vox knelt down, “And pours his heart out to the girl. Now since you have to be so nosey, I haven’t gotten to write down everything I wanted to say, so don’t judge me on the speech.”

I couldn’t believe this was happening. Vox was proposing to me? Just like they used to do before Selection, before forced marriage. I could feel myself starting to tear up, this was the most romantic gesture I had ever received.

“Emmary, I haven’ t known you for a long time. I think it’s been a week exactly since we met. But I think that you are the best thing that has happen to me. I think that I couldn’t have been any luckier to have you show up on my doorstep. You are wonderful, beautiful, insightful, and so smart. Even though this isn’t what you are used to, I know that I’m going to do everything in my power to make you happy.” He smiled at me. “Will you marry me?”

I let out a laugh between the fingers that were covering my mouth. I nodded, unable to really speak. His eyes started to twinkle as his smile grew into a full grin. He wrapped his arms around me and I found my voice, “Yes.”

He let go long enough to put the ring on my finger. It wasn’t anything huge and grandiose. It was a simple silver band with small diamonds encrusted and a simple arrangement of diamonds on top. I looked at the ring, twisting it around, letting the dim lighting make it sparkle. “There are exactly 16 diamonds. I hope you like it.”

I nodded and felt myself tearing up again. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him in. I gave him a long kiss trying to express my gratefulness. Vox’s hands found my back again. He chuckled and broke the kiss, “I’ll give you one thing, jeans make this a lot harder.”

I laughed as he went in for another kiss. My hands went to the hem of his shirt and started tugging the hem. He got the hint and stopped kissing me just long enough for me to pull his shirt over his head. He brushed my hair out of my face before continuing to kiss me.

There was a knock on the door. Vox frowned at the knocker before yelling at them, “Go Away!” He gave me a small grin, that fell as soon as the knocks came again. He rested his head on the crook of my neck, “I’m sorry. Give me a second.”

He rolled off the bed and started walking toward the door. I grabbed his hand “Wait.” I pulled him in for another kiss before he went to answer the door.

Vox opened the door just enough to see who it was, “Go away, Hal.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt things.” She must have noticed his missing shirt. “But um, there’s some serious news.”

Vox’s tone changed at Hals’ words, “What? What happened? Are you okay? Is,” He paused.

Hal nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine. We’re all fine.”

“Okay, then what is it?”

“It’s Felicity. They, they found her body. She’s dead, Vox.” Hal’s voice started to quake before she burst into tears.

Vox wrapped her in a comforting hug. “I can’t. What? Do, do they know what happened?”

“They haven’t released any other information, just that they are investigating her death.”