Dinner arrived not too long after they had all given up on the silent auction portion of the evening - your typical choice of beef, chicken, fish or the usually bland veggie platter. Nothing to rave about as it was pretty much the same meal one got to eat at all the other such events before and after this one. But pleasant company and decent conversation can distract anyone from such fund raiser dinners. And it was enjoyable, at least until someone brought Batman into the conversation.
Bruce had plenty of practice in keeping himself relaxed and easy going when talk turned to such topics. There was always a brief moment where his body unconsciously tensed up, but never long enough for anyone to notice because no one generally paid that much attention to him in that way. It was hard though to judge how people were going to react to the topic. He decided to sit this one out unless they specifically asked for his opinion, and was not paying full attention until Lenorah spoke up.
"I don't think it's that at all." her voice was steady.
"You don't think such a man is mentally unstable?" one of the other women asked.
"Not at all. I don't think he's any different from any of these other people in the news. I doubt that everyone in Metropolis thinks that Superman is as great a wonder as the Daily Planet makes him out to be. Granted I don't know either man personally, but I wouldn't be one to judge in such matters."
"That is one of the best arguments in favor of Batman I've heard in a while." Mr. Furin stated. "But still, why choose a bat as a personal mascot?"
"You always ask that question dear." Margorie added.
"I have yet to receive a convincing answer." her husband quipped.
"Well, think about it. Partially thanks to bad vampire movies, and general misinformation, the average person is afraid of bats. Although most of them are harmless and only eat things like insects or fruit, people fear them. They're generally nocturnal animals, so night and darkness adds to the whole thing."
"See, now that's a good convincing answer. Not that any of us will ever know, but I could believe that." Mr. Furin raised his glass in toast.
The conversation was interrupted as the announcement went out that the live auction would be starting in just a few minutes. This sent most people scrambling for the brochures and paddles they had stashed under their seats when dinner had arrived at the tables. Thankfully there were only six items up for bid, and Lenorah was actually interested in the sculpture donated by a local artist. It was an abstract piece, but the picture intrigued her. She would have to see how the bidding would go however, because she set a spending limit that she loathed to go over. It was second to last, so she could space out until her turn.
Things moved fast, and before she knew it the piece she wanted was up. Bidding went faster than she had anticipated, and soon had to quit when she reached her highest limit of a million dollars. It kept going before it started to slow around 2.5 million to a smug looking woman a few tables over (though that could perhaps be attributed to Lenorah's slight feeling of jealousy right then). Her eyes roving the room, she did not see Bruce raise his hand until the slightly startled auctioneer announced bidding had jumped to five million to the man in the front.
Her head whipped around to stare in wonder at the back of Bruce's head. His actions stopped the auction cold, no one quite wanting to make such a large jump in their bids. The auctioneer recovered soon enough and quickly moved on to the last item. Bruce turned back to the incredulous looks waiting for him around the table.
"You must be one hell of an art lover son." Mr. Furin chuckled, with a shake of his head.
"That's as good an excuse as any other." Bruce replied with a slightly sheepish grin.
"You do realize I may decide to not speak to you for the rest of the evening." Lenorah muttered.
"You could always come visit and see it."
"Now that's just grinding the salt into the wound, you evil man."
"I am truly sorry. Does this mean I have to dance by myself now?"
"There's dancing involved? I thought this was an evening of mediocre food and humiliation by auction." Lenorah very nearly stuck her tongue out at him, but decided that might not go over quite so well.
"Now now children, if you can't play nice..." Margorie scolded.
"Would saying he started it be too childish at this point in time?" Lenorah smiled.
"Probably, but I don't think any one here will mind." Bruce said.
"If I wasn't impersonating a lady of society this evening, I would stick my tongue out at you, taunt you and douse you with a glass of water. But the dress and the jewels say I should behave myself."
"Remind me never to get on your bad side young lady...I have a feeling you could turn out to be particularly vicious." Mr. Furin said.
"Harold!" Margorie exclaimed through the laughter going around the table.
"What did I do now? And can I distract you from it by asking you to dance my dear?"
"Sometimes you are the most impossible man I have ever met. And yes, you can distract me with a dance."
Lenorah and Bruce stayed at the table a while longer after the other couples had moved to the dance floor. He was slightly worried she was honestly a little mad at him, seeing as how they did not know that much about each other yet.
"You're not sitting there thinking I'm really mad at you...are you?" Lenorah asked.
"Ah..well..."
"I sometimes don't know when to shut off the connection between my brain and my mouth. It usually gets me in trouble."
"I have to say it is refreshing when a woman with something interesting to say does speak her mind."
"You've experienced a shortage of women with interesting things to talk about?"
"I've done some stupid things on occasion. They were all really nice girls...just not always ones for talking."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"Earlier, when they brought up Batman, you seemed a little tense. And you tried to show you weren't interested in the conversation..." Lenorah trailed off, not quite sure where she was going with this train of thought.
"Rather observant, aren't you."
"It's something of a bad habit I guess. I have a lot of those."
She chose to ignore his deflection of the question that had not really ended up as a question and turned her attention to the glass sitting on the table in front of her. Someday she would learn to shut up before she ended up with her foot halfway down her throat. A great way to start out when she had just met a man...being herself usually lost her the majority of interested parties.
"It's nothing against the subject. Just something that's been discussed and picked apart over and over and quite often ends up with angry people. Tends to ruin one's evening."
"That is completely understandable."
"Do I get a question now?"
"I'll give you another one, since you just asked one."
"Would you like to dance?"
"I would like that very much."
"You do realize this is not considered proper. I have just met you after all."
Bruce smiled as he followed Lenorah through the door of her apartment. It was indeed rather improper, but it seemed as if neither of them wanted the evening to end just yet. Seeing her place from the inside was a nice difference. The decor was comfortable, clean and had a slight modern look. Nothing cold and impersonal though. This was a comfortable space a person could actually live in. From the few pieces of art he could see displayed, he could see why she was interested in the piece she had bid on. There was even a corner in the living room it would look ideal in. Which made him that much more glad that he had given them her address for the delivery instructions. What she would think when it arrived he was not sure, but he felt it would be worth it either way.
"You are rather trusting in someone you just met today." Bruce said with a smirk on his face.
"Well, I don't figure you for the maniac killer type. And I do know how to defend myself if the situation calls for it."
"Self defense class?"
"Four older brothers." Lenorah replied with a grin.
"Ah, yes, I could see that."
"Do you have any siblings?"
"No, just me."
"Yet another thing for me to be jealous of. I'm always jealous of only children."
"Not all it's cracked up to be."
"The liquor cabinet is over there Help yourself to whatever you want. I really need to loose this dress, if you'll be alright on your own for a few minutes?"
"I'll be fine."
Lenorah returned a few minutes later, clad in jeans and an over sized hooded sweatshirt. Bruce found himself feeling very overdressed at that point.
"So, are you secretly wealthy or something?" he asked taking a seat on the couch.
"Something like that. I don't really like what money does to people, so I try not to advertise that I have it. I don't need a million fake friends."
"You had some interesting observations on Batman earlier. Most people don't take the time to defend him like that."
"It's not like I know him any better than I know you, but I have met and talked to him. He didn't seem like a nut job to me. Course, I'd also had most of a bottle of wine by that point. Poor guy probably thinks I'm some crazy ass woman with nothing better to do than get drunk on Friday nights."
"I've only known you a short while, but I doubt you're that much of a crazy drunk."
"Oh, ha ha. You're a funny man. So what does the great Bruce Wayne do when he's not in a board room or escorting young models about the town?"
"Nothing much, I'm a pretty boring guy."
"Somehow I don't quite buy that."
"Really, I don't do anything all that exciting."
Lenorah kept any further comments to herself, but Bruce could tell she certainly did not buy his "boring guy" routine. Most women did, but they were generally more interested in his bank account than they were in anything else. Lenorah though had no need for his money, so that just might mean she would be interested in him for who he was. But could she really reconcile his two halves into the whole? There was a faint glimmer of hope, yet it was certainly too soon to say for sure. He also was not sure how he felt, or could feel even, towards her. It would be an interesting trip getting to know her though.