When I arrived home after work, I headed up to my apartment, stopping at the door when I noticed a small brown box sitting beside it. I bent down, frowning as I picked the box up and headed inside.

After I locked my door and sat down my purse, I sat down on my couch and opened the tiny box, pulling out a piece of white paper.

It read. I sat the paper to the side and reached into the box, pulling out a pair of diamond earrings. They were beautiful, I thought as I inspected them. Had Lee gotten them for me? The thought made me happy.

I dropped the earrings back down into the box and glanced over at my phone. It was now five thirty, I had a good hour and a half to get ready before I had to leave for the party.

I sat the box off to the side and headed back into my room to take another shower and start getting ready.

After I had showered and gotten my dress on, I reached for my flat iron, planning on straightening my hair for the night when I decided against it. I'll just wear my natural curls, I told myself, they looked better with the dress anyways.

I sat the straightener back down and grabbed the box of earrings from earlier, slipping them on. I took a quick look at myself in the mirror admiring how everything had came together. I smiled slightly, thinking what Lee's expression would be once he saw me in the dress.

As the clock struck six twenty, I hurried and grabbed my purse, throwing my wallet into it and slipping on my heels. I applied a little bit of lipgloss. I had opted out on the eyeshadow, but had managed to put on a little bit of blush and highlighter to make my cheeks pop.

There - perfect, I said to myself as I looked at my reflection once more before heading out of my room door, shutting off all the lights behind me as I exited my apartment to catch a taxi.

- - -

Victoria looked beautiful tonight, but then again she had always had a knack for looking impeccable no matter where she went. Her bright red hair hung in loose ringlets around her shoulders, her long dark green dress falling to the floor. She had one of her arms looped together with Phillip's as he smiled down at her.

"Victoria, you look so pretty." I announced as I walked up to her. She pulled away from Phillip and pulled me into a hug.

"And you look absolutely beautiful! I knew that dress would suit you." She exclaimed, pulling away before glancing around my shoulder. "Where's Lee?" She questioned.

I smiled at her. "He's coming. He just got a little caught up in traffic." I informed her and she nodded.

"Good, I can't wait to see him. I wonder how he's going to disguise himself tonight." She winked.

I laughed. "As long as he's not wearing a mask, it's good." I told her.

Victoria chuckled a little. Her eyes landed on my earrings. "Those are so pretty. Where'd you get them from?"

I felt my hands reach up to touch them. "When I had got to my apartment today it was a box sitting outside my door and these were in the box." I shrugged.

Victoria grinned. "Ooh, who knew that Lee was such a romantic." She nudged me. I rolled my eyes.

"He is sweet." I replied back just as one of our co workers walked over and pulled Victoria into a conversation about where the extra Christmas lights were stored.

She turned to me, groaning. "I'll be back, Simone. I'm going to go and help them get the lights from out back, okay?"

I nodded to her. "You're fine. Go and do what you have to."

Phillip placed a hand on her shoulder. "Would you like for me to come and help?"

Victoria glanced up at him gratefully. "Yeah, that would be great. Some of the boxes are too high for us to reach anyways." She told him, looking back over at me. "We'll meet back up with you in a little bit." She said, heading off in the other direction with Phillip in tow.

I glanced around the room, taking in the beauty of everything as I walked over to the refreshments table and grabbed a glass of tea. I took a few sips before a warm hand found its way onto my shoulder. I turned my eyes to the side, my mouth forming a smile.

"Lee." I said happily, knowing that it was him even though he was wearing a pair of black sunglasses and a small top hat with his black tuxedo.

He removed his hand. "Hopefully I'm not too late. I know I probably look a little crazy, but I didn't want anyone to notice me. I think this will do the trick," he motioned to his attire before dropping his hands back down to his sides. "You look beautiful. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in." He said, reaching up a hand to touch one of my curls, pulling it slightly and watching as it bounced back to its previous form. "Curls." He said slowly, "I like the look on you."

I smiled. "Thanks, and you don't look that crazy. I actually like the whole undercover look you have going on." I laughed, crossing my arms around my chest.

Lee laughed as well before grinning. "So now that I'm here. What do you suppose we do?" He asked, glancing around the room to see other people mingling amongst one another. Music played softly in the background and a few people were slow dancing. Lee turned his gaze back down to me. "Do you want to dance?"

I immediately shook my head. "No thanks, I'm not much of a dancer." I told him, "How's about we grab something to eat?" I suggested.

He shrugged. "I could eat," he replied, "but first, where's the bathroom? I'd like to wash my hands."

I raised an eyebrow. "Germaphobe?" I teased.

"Nope, just cautious."

"Do you need me to walk you there or just tell you where to go?"

"You can just tell me where to go. I'm sure I won't get too lost." He replied, although I knew he was joking. I pointed him in the direction of the bathroom and watched as he turned around, heading in the opposite direction of me.

As soon as he was out of sight, a man bumped into me. "Excuse me," he said, regaining his balance as he held up his plate of drinks. "Would you like a drink?"

"Sure." I said, taking one and watching as he scurried away. My lips touched the glass, the cool wine slipping through my lips. I held my glass down as I continued to watch everyone else, wondering if Lee had gotten lost or not. The thought made me chuckle.

"Simone," that deep voice said from behind. I didn't have to turn around to know whose it was. I frowned slightly before turning my head to the side to see Jason dressed in a black tuxedo, a red tie hanging from his neck..almost the same exact color as my dress. I shook the thought away as he nodded to me. "Wow, you look amazing." He said, his eyes trailing up my dress until they had found my eyes. "How's your night going so far?"

I gave a strained smile. "It's going fine. It's kind of strange not seeing you in your plaid shirt and khaki shorts, you know." I tailed, attempting to make conversation.

He smiled back. "Well, yeah, I figured I'd up my dress attire since it was for a party." He shrugged, his gaze falling on my earrings. "I see you liked your gift. I knew they would look nice on you."

My hands immediately reached up to touch my earrings, a sinking feeling in my stomach. "What?" I managed to get out.

"The earrings. I got them for you. I'm happy you like them." He told me as if he was trying to get me to understand him better.

"Jason," I said, "I don't know why you left these outside of my house, in fact I don't even want to know why you did it. But here, you can have them back." I quickly took them off, placing them in his hands.

He frowned. "But I thought you liked them. You wore them."

"That's because I didn't know that they were from you. I thought, I thought they were from someone else."

Jason's left eye twitched slightly before he threw a hand around the back of his neck, rubbing it sheepishly. "Haha, you know what, you're right. I shouldn't have did that. I don't know what I was thinking, I just thought that..never mind." He smiled again, "I'm going to get something to eat. I'll see you around later." He waved as he left.

I jumped when I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

"Lee!" I demanded, my head snapping around to him. "You scared me."

He frowned. "Why are you so tense?"

I swallowed the bile that wanted to come up in my throat. Truth was, I was scared..and a little creeped out that Jason had been the one to leave those earrings for me and at my house for goodness sakes! The fact that he had been wearing a tie that matched my dress only made me feel more sick. I needed to sit down. "I'm sorry, I'm just feeling a little light headed." I told him.

He placed a hand on the small of my back. "Do you want to go and have a seat somewhere?"

I nodded.

After we found a table to ourselves, I sat down and Lee pulled out a chair next to me. "Better?" He questioned.

"Yeah," I replied.

Lee watched me for a moment. I wished that he would stop because I knew what he was trying to do. He was still trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

"What?" I asked, breaking him out of his focus.

"Weren't you wearing earrings earlier?"

"I, I took them out. They kept getting caught in my hair." I lied. Lee didn't seem to believe my answer, but he didn't pursue the topic any further.

We soon fell into a conversation with one another, discussing when he would leave in the morning to go back on tour and everything he would be doing. I tried to stay interested in the conversation, but found myself tuning out every word as my eyes scanned the room, paranoia becoming my new friend.

"Hey, Simone, are you listening?" Lee waved a hand in front of my face. "Victoria and Phillip are motioning for us to come and sit with them."

I turned my head around to see Victoria motioning for us to join them at their table before looking back at Lee. "I'm sorry. Let's go over there." I said, letting him pull me up from my chair.

As we made it to their table and took a seat, my eyes immediately connected with Jason's, who was standing several feet away as one of his coworkers talked with him. Jason caught me watching him and smiled.

The action caused that familiar sensation of bile to rise in my throat once more. I needed to get out of here, I thought again, pushing myself up from my seat.

Victoria was the first to grab my hand. "Hey, what's wrong?" She said worriedly.

"I think I'm going to be sick." I got out, dizziness suddenly hitting me. I felt myself wobble slightly as Lee and Phillip both shot up from their seats in an attempt to catch me as I fell backwards, darkness surrounding me.