"I know your father is being a pain about this, but are you going to play along?" Selina asked Arthur.
"Yeah," Arthur sighed. "I have to, don't I? Otherwise, he won't shut up about it."
Selina sighed and shook her head. "It's all so stupid. I'm sorry you have to go through this."
"Yeah," Arthur nodded. "Me too. I just can't get the look on Lily's face after I told her I had to end things out of my mind." Then his phone rang and when he saw who it was, he sighed. "Well, look at that? Duty calls." He then gave his mother a hopeful look. "Are you sure that I can't be drunk before I go?"
"No," Selina shook her head. "Don't you want to be able to look your father in the eye and tell him that you put forth your best effort?"
"Yeah, I guess," Arthur nodded and finally answered the call. "Hi, Dani. You wanna go out tonight?"
"Or we could stay in," said blonde Dani's breathy voice. "It doesn't matter to me."
"Yeah, let's do that," Arthur got out, even though his stomach was twisting and he was regretting even answering the phone. "Let's stay in." The she paused. "Are you heading out the door right now? I hope you won't keep me waiting long. I really missed you."
"Oh, I'm leaving right now," he said. "Don't worry. I'm on my way."
"Good," Dani replied. "Can't wait to see you. Are you eager to see me?"
"Yeah," Arthur lied as he made his way to his car after waving goodbye to his mother. "Of course I'm eager to see you. Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know," Dani shrugged. "You could just be stringing me along while still thinking of that other girl."
"That isn't true," Arthur lied through his teeth. "I'll be at your house soon. Don't keep me waiting."
"All right," Dani told him. "I won't, don't worry."
When he arrived at Dani's apartment, she smiled and let him in. "I'm so glad you came," she said and helped him take off his coat. "So glad you came to your senses and dumped that redhead. She's nobody. You can do better."
Arthur's fists clenched and he bared his teeth while doing the best he could to resist the urge to slap her. Instead, he grabbed her and kissed her.
"Well, that was sudden," Dani said with a smile when they pulled apart. "I'm glad to see you haven't wasted any time."
"Y-yeah," he got out, the heady smell of her perfume making him feel a little sick. It was as sweet as the pastel design of her apartment. "I guess."
"I had someone bring in some appetizers," Dani told him as she led him to the dining room. "Are you hungry?"
"Not for food," Arthur got out, hoping that she wouldn't figure out he was faking. "For you."
Dani smiled and purred, taking his hand and leading him to the bedroom. "I like a man who knows what he wants," she said. "Now, sit down on the bed and I'll go change. I won't be long, I promise."
So he did what she asked, sitting down on the bed and removing his shoes and socks, and trying, just for the sake of his sanity, to picture what she might look like when she emerged from the bathroom. But to his frustration, every time he tried to picture Dani, who was voluptuous and blonde, of course, red-haired, slightly smaller-figured Lily would pop up behind his eyes instead.
"No," he growled and swatted at the air, hoping to make the images go away. "Leave! I don't want you here!"
"What?" Dani asked.
He opened his eyes. She was wearing a white lace bra and panty set under a gauzy white bathrobe. He looked her over and tried to feel something cause even he had to admit that she wasn't an unattractive woman. But no matter how he thought about her, with clothes on or off, he couldn't feel a thing.
"You look hot," he got out and began undressing. "I can't wait to get you naked."
"Oh, you flatterer," Dani giggled and put a hand on his bare chest before kissing him. "You'll just say anything, won't you? I like that in a man."
They got each other naked and climbed into bed where they clung to each other, kissing hungrily, over and over. It took longer than Arthur thought it would for Dani to realize that nothing she did, not kissing him, not running her hands over his body, not even applying gentle pressure to his cock did anything to really arouse him.
"What the hell is going on here?" She asked. "Why are you doing this to me? You promised me a sexy evening and I'm not getting anything here!"
"I can't explain why!" Arthur cried, genuinely shocked that even involuntary arousal wasn't kicking in with her. "I really can't. I'm not intentionally screwing you over, I swear."
"There's screwing going on," Dani narrowed her eyes, got on her bathrobe, and glared at him. "It's a shame it's only metaphorical and not literal. If we're not getting anywhere tonight, and it doesn't look like we are, I want you to leave."
"Well, it's good that I know now that you only like me for my body!" Arthur snapped, flushing with embarrassment even though there was nothing bad about this situation. He clearly was so enamored with Lily that he wasn't aroused by anyone but her any longer. It was just a fact he would have to accept.
"Shut up!" Dani told him. "You know, I'm gonna call all the other girls and let them know how much you let me down so they don't have the same horrible experience."
"Well, you do that," Arthur replied. "I don't give a damn." He then strode out of the room and grabbed fistfuls of appetizers, stuffing them in his mouth as he left and slammed the door loudly behind him.
"Why are you back so early?" Dorian asked Arthur when he arrived home. "Don't tell me you ran out on Dani."
"I didn't run out on her," Arthur shook his head, barely able to hide his grin. "She asked me to leave."
"Why would she do that?" Dorian wanted to know.
"Well, it seems I had some difficulty performing this evening," Arthur told him. "And before you accuse me of trying to sabotage everything on purpose, I really made an effort. I did. But it just…it wouldn't happen."
"Well, it's okay that it didn't work this time," Selina encouraged, stopping Dorian before he could open his mouth to berate Arthur some more. "Sometimes, people just have off nights. There's always later."
"Oh, I don't know," Arthur shook his head. "Dani was pretty mad when I left. She's probably called the other girls by now and told them about my shame. I'll probably never get another date again."
"I'm sure that's an exaggeration," Selina said, giving him a wink with her back to Dorian as she put her arm around her son. "Maybe you just need to rest up a bit and things will be fine after."
"Maybe," Arthur agreed with an exaggerated sigh. "We'll just have to see." He strode off and once he was out of earshot, that's when Dorian spoke.
"I know he says that he didn't mess things up with Dani on purpose and I want so badly to believe him, but can you blame me for thinking that this is some ploy so that I'll allow him to get back with Lily?"
"No, because he's not an idiot, and he'd have to be an idiot to think that screwing things up on purpose with Dani would assure him a pathway to Lily," Selina pointed out. "And why would he fake having an off night if it wasn't true? Cause that sort of thing gets around and if he inherited his manly pride from you, I don't think he could handle the backlash."
"Oh, very funny," Dorian scowled. "You might want to sheath that sharp wit of yours, my dear. It could be dangerous." He then strode off, Selina's giggles ringing in his ears.
The next day, Arthur's guess that Dani called everyone she knew and told them about his failure was proven correct the minute he stepped into the lunch room. Everyone was silent for a moment and then the room erupted into laughter. He caught Lily's eye, and of course she wasn't laughing. She just looked confused. He sat down at his usual spot with his fan club because of course they wouldn't refuse him. He could probably be as impotent as he could be and they would still find something about him that attracted them.
It didn't surprise him when their entire lunch conversation, led by Dani, was about his failure. It was as if they didn't even see him. Like they didn't even acknowledge his presence. But he kept his chin up and listened their mocking, his eyes on his lunch, which he ate as fast as he could before picking up his empty tray and striding with dignity from the room.
On the way out, he felt someone grab his hand. "What was that about?" Lily asked when he turned around. "That was brutal, whatever it was. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he sighed. "You don't have to act like you care about me. I don't deserve that." He then pulled his hand from her grip and went to do some studying in the library before his next class.
"A little bird told me that what happened between you and Dani last night was the talk of the lunchroom today," Selina remarked as she and Arthur drove home. "Are you okay? Do you need to talk about it?"
"No," Arthur shook his head. "It's fine, really. They can laugh all they want. I don't care. What happened happened because I feel things for Lily that none of them will probably ever feel and that makes me proud, not embarrassed."
"That's very mature," Selina smiled and nodded. "I'm very proud of you."
"Have you talked to Dad?" Arthur asked. "Does he still think I faked it on purpose?"
"I hope he's over that," Selina replied. "But you know that you really did your best to do what he asked when you really didn't want to, so you have nothing to feel bad about."
"Thanks," Arthur smiled at her. "I'm glad someone else besides me realizes that."
"Don't worry," Selina assured him. "You know I do."