“Where the hell is Dorian?” Nina asked. “He was supposed to be here half an hour ago.” Most of the founding club members, along with about five or six other new guys were behind the curtain in the auditorium, adjusting ties and doing last check-ups to make sure everyone was presentable. They’d all agreed to put in the effort to at least look nice if not formal.
“He said he was coming,” Wolfgang replied, tugging at the collar of his shirt. “And there’s no way Reina would let him skip out on this.”
“Still doesn’t explain....” Adelaide was interrupted as the doors to the backstage were thrown open.
Dorian stood in the doorway, casually adjusting the cuffs of the tuxedo he was wearing. He looked a bit more like a butler with his dark grey waistcoat under the jacket whose coat tails moved leisurely with his steps. His hair was also slicked back and ran into the collar of his shirt as he readjusted his long black tie.
“Sorry I’m late,” he apologized. “Took a little longer than normal to get ready. Doing my hair was murder....” He looked around at all of the dropped jaws in his direction. “Oh, come on, this isn’t that strange to see me like this, is it?”
“Well, I mean, no but,” Analisse began. “It’s just...did you really have to go this hard for it?”
“You all said I’m going to be the money maker,” he reminded them, pulling on a set of white gloves. “So I thought it might be best to just give the best I have....” He moved passed them and poked an eye through the curtains on the stage. “Not a terribly big crowd tonight, is there?”
“It’s about what we were expecting,” Analisse admitted. “But I imagine that some of these people have brough some of their personal pocket savings or have allowances that give them a ton of wiggle room.” She joined him by his side and made a curious noise. “Is that Reina?”
“Where?”
“There in the back right, feet up on the chairs in front of her.” Sure enough, there she was, on her phone and wagging her foot. Dorian felt his phone buzz and saw that she wished him luck with whoever got his time. “I thought she couldn’t make it?”
“Must’ve lied so that she could get a stab at Dorian,” Jean teased. He looked at her with what he hoped was a surly glare but wasn’t exactly sure. Was that why she was in the audience? If it was, then he had little doubt that she’d have enough to outbid any of the other girls. “Anyway, we’re starting soon. We’d better get into place.”
With Analisse working the lights and the curtain from backstage, Jean welcomed everyone who’d shown up and thanked them for arriving at this somewhat unorthodox fundraiser. She explained how things were going to work and instructed everyone to have the paddles that Nina had made at the ready if they were bidding. Dorian sighed and leaned against a wall as the first guy went out. He looked new and not at all nervous.
Most of the bids went by pretty quickly as the evening went on, starting kind of low but nearing a hundred and some even passing like Nina and even Wolfgang. Reina kept texting Dorian, assuring him that she had him covered in case the girl who was looking to get him wasn’t her. It was hard to tell how serious she was about that. If he was honest with himself, he would one hundred percent be down to have a legitimate date with her, but he wasn’t sure if it would actually mean something if it happened.
“Well, thank you everyone who’s contributed so far, but I think it’s time we pull out the big guns,” Jean announced. Analisse gave Dorian a reassuring smile as he tugged his sleeves into place and flicked an errant strand of hair out of his eyes. “Despite the rumors you’ve probably heard, he is in fact still single, and I think quite a few of you were hoping for this. Dorian...get out here.”
He took long strides and kept his posture straight as he emerged onto the stage, briefly looking out at the crowd. There were maybe five girls there, some of them looking expectant but Reina having a confident smile. He hadn’t expected many as the others were taken out of the auditorium, but it was still more than he’d thought. Reina offered him a thumbs up which he answered with a smile which probably looked better than his nonplused expression before.
To say that Dorian was paying no attention to what was going on would be an understatement. He had told everyone that he was basically just going to stand there and look pretty, and they had all agreed that that’s basically all any of them really needed to do. It seemingly didn’t take very long for someone to win the bid, Jean announcing for Reina to join Dorian in the back room, signaling Dorian to leave while she thanked everyone for coming and appreciated any donations they had made even if they didn’t win. He thought that last bit was a tad odd but wasn’t completely sure if that had been a part of the plan.
“Congratulations,” he offered, kissing the back of her hand. “Is this the reason you decided to skimp on us?”
“I didn’t skimp on you all,” she countered. “I just...had other plans....” He rolled his eyes but smiled down at her. “Doesn’t matter now, anyway. I’ve paid for the honor of your company.”
“I don’t want to know how much,” Dorian said. “I assume it came out of your cosplay money?” Reina shrugged. “Well...good to know since we’re supposed to start working for that event next month....”
“You two are cosplaying next month?” Wolfgang asked as he passed, yanking off his tie.
“That’s the idea,” Dorian said. “Well...I mean it’s the club going too, isn’t it? Or are we changing that plan?”
“Who are you two going as?” Nina questioned.
“You’ll just have to find out,” Reina smiled. “Anyway, Dorian, back to the matter at hand. Our date....”
“How stereotypical are we going to be?” he began. “Just holding hands or are we going even further?”
“Hand around the shoulders?” Reina suggested. “Maybe around the waist if you’re feeling a little brave. How do you feel about going to the movies?”
“We’re better than that. What about the aquarium in town?”
“Oooo,” she grinned, impressed. “Breaking tradition, are we? Romantic walk in the park in the evening? Maybe dinner at your place?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Dorian agreed. “We can even cook together if you want....” His voice tailed away a bit as they both looked at their friends were staring, slack-jawed at them. It had occurred to neither of them how it sounded with them seriously planning what they were going to do on what was, to the others, a casual date between friends. “Well then...it’s a touch late, so I think I’m going to head on out.”
“Same,” Reina added. Without another word, they turned and walked out of the school, trying not to laugh at their friends’ expressions until they were well out of earshot. Honestly, he’d imagined the night to go much worse than this, already having something simple planned, but he was more than happy to through that idea out the window. And besides...he was going out with Reina...for real this time.
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