Several silent beats passed after two jaws hit the marble floor of the hallway. Sighing and shaking his head, Quatre began to walk in the direction of his room. Duo and Hilde exchanged looks, and Hilde started to sputter.
"Babe, you stay here. I'll go find out what's going on," Duo said reassuringly to his still shocked girlfriend. He began to run to catch up with Quatre. "Hey, Q-man, wait up!" Falling in step with his friend, "You mean that you just slept with the chick you stabbed you nearly to death?"
Quatre suddenly became frustrated with the entire situation. "Yes, Duo, but that's all we did. Sleep."
"Then why is your shirt open?"
Quatre looked down to see his bare chest. At first he didn't know how to respond. Then he decided to shift attention away from himself. "You really are a simple creature, Duo."
"Me? Simple? I'm not the one following my 'fencing foil' into enemy territory, if ya' know what I mean?"
The blond stopped abruptly. "Fencing foil? Where to you get this crap?"
"It all comes from my fertile little mind," Duo replied proudly, with an extremely broad smile.
With eyes turned heavenward, Quatre inquired, "Allah, what is this? A test? I mean Duo, no sex? It's like high school!" Then turning back to his laughing companion, "Hilde's and your room is two doors down on the left. I think you should let her lay down for a while, before more people start to get here."
"Good idea, Q-man!" Significant winking. Eyes rolling in response. Duo fairly skipped down the hall toward a still shocked Hilde. "Hey, babe…." His voice trailed out of Quatre's mind as the two parted ways.
Quatre finally made it back to his room. Leaning his back on the door, he sighed. He thought of Dorothy, her lavender-gray eyes, her golden hair, her snowy skin, her shapely body, and his thoughts quickly charged toward the impure. 'Dorothy….' He shook the thoughts out of his head and began to prepare for the upcoming day. He had to prepare for the barrage of questions which he would, no doubt, be fielding. 'Duo has such a big mouth. At least it's only friends that are coming today. I need to figure this all out before the ball, though…." Quatre let the thought trail off and hastened to get ready. 'Cold shower, light clothes, no thinking about how Dorothy is so obedient when I have her underneath me—ah! Stop that! Get ready!' Still hot and bothered, Quatre decided to accede to his better judgment, for now.
When the host finally joined his guests on the patio behind the house, he found that they had multiplied in his brief absence. Dorothy was sitting off to the left with Relena, framed by the foliage of the wisteria growing along the patio railing. Relena was talking excitedly, and Dorothy listened attentively, while somehow appearing aloof. The aloofness distressed Quatre, but he did not have time to consider why, as Duo came up to him put an arm around his shoulder and began dragging the blond toward another group of people. Turning his attention to these people, Quatre found himself surrounded by Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei. Then he saw Hilde, Catherine, and Sally sitting on the right side of the patio, all extremely involved in a jolly conversation. Before being swept up in conversation, Quatre spared another look at Dorothy, who was now smiling with Relena. Dorothy looked up and locked eyes with Quatre briefly, and then he saw it. The coldness. The frost that had covered her entire demeanor returned. That was all Quatre could manage to understand, as he allowed himself to assume a similar mask. That of the care-free, rich, affable host.
