Page 6 of Across the Universe

But there is no doubt in Bill’s mind that the minute they step out of the grand ballroom, the gloves will come off, and Jo’s real feelings about this evening will bubble to the surface.

Bill stops walking. “Jo,” he says, unsure what will come out of his mouth next. He doesn’t know what to say, only that he needs to stop her from walking out and forcing him to follow. “I need to talk to Arvin North.”

Jo turns to him, her beaded clutch purse held in one hand. She frowns. “Can’t you talk to him at work? He’s probably spending time with his wife, Bill.” The comment is not untrue, but it’s also a pointed one that reminds Bill that hehasn’tbeen attentive enough to his own wife throughout the evening.

But Bill feels determined to change the course of the coming events; he doesn’t want to leave the party and spend the rest of the evening in a tense deadlock with Jo.

“I need to talk to him now,” he says, setting his empty glass on the tray of a waiter as he passes by. It takes every ounce of willpower that Bill has not to search the dance floor to see whether Ted Mackey is still holding Jeanie in his arms. “This can’t wait.”

Jo, visibly exasperated, puts a hand on her hip. She looks like she’s about to say something, but then doesn’t. Instead she waves a hand at the ballroom vaguely. “Go,” she says. “Do what you need to do.”

Bill glances at his watch; it’s after eleven, and the mood in the room has grown progressively more festive. The women have shed their gloves and purses, leaving things on the linen-covered tabletops, and the men have loosened their ties and taken off jackets. The dancing has a frenetic feel to it, and the laughter goes on longer when people joke, making the amount of alcohol that’s been consumed completely evident.

With a peck on her cheek that feels like he’s kissing a cement wall, Bill turns and walks away with purpose, determined to find Arvin North and get to the bottom of what exactly Ted Mackey does and doesn’t know about the future of the space program.

“Bill!” Todd Roman, wearing a party hat that’s slightly askew atop his sandy blonde head, raises a hand to get Bill’s attention. Todd’s wife, Barbie, is draped over him, her wispy blonde hair escaping its chignon as they sway together. Her eyes are closed dreamily. “I’ve been looking for you!”

Bill is mildly curious, but he’s on a mission. Rather than stopping to find out what Todd wants to tell him, he waves back but doesn’t break his stride.

Many of the women on the dance floor look like they’ve spent the evening sipping cocktails ahead of the glass of champagne they’ll have at midnight, but even for all of their careful sipping, they’re already well on their way to being plastered. Bill steps between couples, putting a hand gently on the back of one wife so that she won’t back up into him, and he gives a small salute to a man he recognizes from the third floor at work.

“Hey,” Bill says, tapping Vance on the shoulder as he dances with Jude. Vance turns his head to him, lifting an eyebrow but saying nothing. “Have you seen North anywhere?”

Vance glances at Jude, who has her temple resting against his chest as they sway. He speaks in a low voice, as if he’s holding a sleeping baby: “Saw him over by the bar a while back.”

Bill pauses to consider the fact that maybe Arvin has also been imbibing all evening, and that perhaps he’s not coherent enough for a work discussion. “Was he drunk?”

Vance gives a light, scoffing laugh. “North? Drunk? No, he looked right as rain to me. Now his wife…”

Bill catches himself before he makes a joke about drunken wives; everyone in their immediate circle is well aware that Jude has battled her own alcohol problem, and as he glances at her now, he assumes that she’s not drunk, just dancing happily with her husband. But, either way, it’s none of his business, so Bill pats Vance on the shoulder twice to say thanks for the info and walks on.

At the bar, Bill sees a line of Cape Cookies waiting for drinks. His first assumption would normally be that they’re the wives of his coworkers, but not a one of them is in gloves, and none are wearing wedding rings. They’re also quite young, extremely lovely, and possessed of a singular look in their eyes that Bill associates with the women who hang out at The Black Hole and avail themselves to astronauts and pilots. The look they all have is one that is best described as ravenous. Each time Bill finds himself in their presence, he realizes that he is not predator, but prey.

“Ladies,” he says with a slight tip of his head. A brunette lifts a fresh cocktail and sips it through a little straw as she looks him up and down. “Happy new year.”

“And to you,” the brunette says, managing to make those three words sound as suggestive as possible.

As North is nowhere near the bar, Bill moves on. He doesn’t need to get caught in a conversation right now, and he most certainly doesn’t need any more whiskey in his system.

Bill is scoping the area as he walks the perimeter of the ballroom, and along one darkened wall he nearly bumps straight into Jeanie Florence.

“Bill,” she says, stepping away from him. He stops in his tracks, looking at her. She’s still alone, and she’s clearly been standing against the wall, watching everyone else as they drink, laugh, and dance. “I thought you left.”

Even though finding North is his top priority, Bill pauses; Jeanie has been considering his whereabouts? This gets his attention.

“No,” he says, “I didn’t leave.”

Jeanie chuckles. “Obviously.”

“Why aren’t you dancing?”

“I was, but…” She trails off. “I don’t know. I was thinking of leaving, but it’s awfully close to midnight now. I felt like maybe I should stick it out. Wait for the confetti to fall or something. See if 1966 starts with a bang.”

Bill is watching her face as she talks, and for the first time in hours, he feels like everything else that’s going on around him is simply background noise. The most important thing in the room is Jeanie and the look on her face, which is a little sad. And then the image of her dancing with Ted Mackey returns with a vengeance.

“You and Barbie’s brother looked pretty cozy,” he says.

Jeanie squints her eyes like she’s trying to follow, and Bill remembers that she and Barbie don’t necessarily know one another all that well.

---