Work had been a real slog. It was the odd sensation of wanting it to be over quickly while simultaneously wanting it to last forever. Lena had told her to meet her at the venue. Jess had assured her it was because Lena had to be there early and had no time to pick her up. She refrained from throwing in a counterpoint. She could not help even reading into that, Jess may have been softening the disappointment or hinting there to her there was something more by not shooting it down.
The line was moving at a scary pace, doing little to delay the inevitable meet with Lena. Her heart was racing and her whole boy was tingling. Any notion of keeping her composure was shot when the person behind her checked if she as alright. It had been easy enough to blame the cold and stay in this giddy state. Whatever reasoning Lena had for inviting was swirling around her brain, between daydreaming and being shunned if she did ask what this was. Each quick step forward was more difficult than the last, the elaborate entrance to the Gala's space loomed over her. She swallowed hard when she got to the front, her throat was drying up as she presented the invite to a disinterested looking bouncer. His eyes flitted down the list and he marked something down. She was gestured through to a bag check. With a quick rummage from more personnel at her side she peered into the gala itself. It was a modern, open space. Hourglass shaped tables were dotted around the edges with a string quartet up on a stage to provide some inoffensive background noise to the many guest's chatter. Servers were deftly weaving between them and going from table to table with numerous champagne flutes and fancy hors d'oeuvres on offer. Any other day she would be excited to see the plethora of food on display. Now though she felt woefully underdressed. She had been too distracted in the line to notice the other guests. It was only now she took in elaborate gowns, shiny dresses and smart tuxedoes as far as she could see. She tucked in her shoulders and looked down at her more reserved, grey choice. With security satisfied she stepped through. It was largely open air with glass panelling and elaborate lighting fixtures all along the edges. She looked around for any sign of Lena to no avail. She awkwardly stood on her own looking around, she at least spotted Jess looking over her own checklist. She caught her eye and Jess beckoned her over. Jess herself had of course skated the line between business and the elaborate dress code in perfect style with her outfit. She moved toward her as hurriedly as she could get away with in the casual atmosphere.
"Hi Kara, been here long?" Jess said, glancing up from her tablet.
"What is this?" Kara said gesturing to her dress.
"An excellent choice in clothing, Miss. Danvers," Jess said.
"Excellent, everyone else is dressed to the nines," she said.
"Everyone else?" Jess said, raising an eyebrow and immediately picking out several people who were not quite as dressed up. "The only people dressed like this is a red-carpet event are the wealthier donors. That's like 10% of the guests at a push. You're doing the flustered thing again." Kara took in the patrons with a more critical eye and had to concede that perhaps she had been a tad selective in her nervousness.
"Sorry," Kara said.
"You know I would never steer you wrong. Now, don't look but Lena is coming this way…" Kara immediately did a full one-eighty. "You are so useless" was muttered by Jess. Kara did not care. It took all of her willpower to keep her jaw from dropping as Lena's stunning visage was floating toward her. She wore a long black asymmetrical dress, lace covered her left arm and shoulder with a sleeveless right side. Reflections gleamed from her diamond necklace and earrings as she glided gracefully by some of the light fixtures. Lena's face lit up when she saw her and she quickly moved in for a hug. Kara, still slightly dumbstruck and distracted by her sweet perfume took a moment to hug her back.
"Kara it's so nice to see you," Lena said, pulling back. Her smile was captivating and her eyes sparkled in the light.
"Erm... er…" Kara was getting cottonmouth and any hope of her brain to kick into gear to find words was a lost cause. She jolted at sharp poke in her back, presumably from Jess, and came back to some sort of vague sense.
"Hi Lena, thanks so much for inviting me," she said, secretly relieved. Lena nodded slightly.
"And Jess, don't work all night. I don't want to have to order you to put that tablet down and enjoy yourself ,"
"Thank you, ," Jess said. Lena looked back at her.
"Well Kara, I have mingling to do. Care to join me," Lena said.
"Yes," Kara said immediately, realising after the fact she perhaps came across a little too eager. Her brain was still yet to kick into gear and also was no closer to knowing exactly what was going. Lena turned, her arm was slightly out. Kara stared at it, she adjusted her glasses trying to figure out if this was idle or an invitation. She cocked her head going over angles and how silly she would look if she was misjudging the gesture. Before the steam started blowing out of her ears a gentle, but unexpected shove forced her forward. Her heels betraying her and she had to take Lena's arm for balance. Her heart stopped as she stared at their linked arms. Jess then brushed past.
"I'm going to have some of that fun now, . Find me if you need anything," Jess said. Lena rested her other hand on Kara's arm. It took immense concentration to keep any semblance of cool as excited tingles rushed through her arm and an uncontrollable smile crept onto her face.
"I will, Jess." Lena said, moving off, Kara happily in tow. She looked around the room, nervous to look at Lena for want of the ability to be able to string coherent sentences together. Lena drew a lot of attention as they made their way through the talking guests, occasionally stopping by for quick and polite pleasantries. Kara went through the motions, trying to get any sort of clue as to what exactly was happening. All she could manage were niggling doubts that this was just Lena being friendly and a gracious hostess. Lena stopped her little patrol by the string quartet.
"So Kara, enjoying yourself?"
"Oh, immensely. Although I have to admit I feel a little underdressed standing next to you," she said. Lena chuckled.
"I'm the hostess, I have to put in the extra effort or the donors can get a little moody. You don't have to resort to such extremes to look good. Don't worry, you look absolutely fine by my side," Lena said.
"Oh, you'd look good in anything," she said instinctively. Lena smiled.
"I'll remember that for next time," Lena said and carried on moving again. Kara was practically being dragged along, she had frozen. Trying to pick up if that had been flirting and what "next time" had meant. She had heard that sort of thing said between friends all the time. She was probably just overthinking again, she did her best to cool off.
"Just enjoy the time with someone you like," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Lena said.
"Oh… Er… I'm having a great time," she said. Lena gave her a bit of a look.
"Glad to hear it," Lena said. Time was blurring by as she was caught in Lena's hypnotic presence. Being introduced to various people, unable to stop herself giggling gleefully every time Lena called her the best reporter in the city to whichever guest approached to try and grab Lena's attention. None of these conversations lasted long. Lena was determined to stay on the move, her deftness at dipping in and out of conversations was masterful. Pleasantly exchanging conversation with her in between these guest appearances. The quartet switched to something a little more upbeat as the two of them found another break in chatting.
"What time did you get in by the way? I was keeping an eye out for you from the start," Lena said.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was told being fashionably late was the "done thing" for events like this," she said. Lena chuckled.
"I never was one for that rule, but I guess I did rather spring this on you without warning or etiquette tips," Lena said. Kara smiled, cursing Jess for that particular advice in the back of her mind.
"Well, I know now at least," she said.
"That you do, you've been an absolute lifeline for these stuffy suits that all want a piece of me tonight," Lena said. Kara glanced away, she wanted to take it for a compliment. That stupid doubt that she was just a shield for Lena crept in.
A pressure was building, each interaction only raised more questions. She was practically putting together a spreadsheet in her head of what could be seen as friendly or misread compared to a column of what could be interpreted as more. The parading round the room, the linked arms. Joyful conversation and compliments all night long alongside being a prop or these nicer moments merely being there to humour her. The dizzying array of reasoning rushed around her head. She wanted to get off this wild ride and settle one way or another. She was being dragged away from another inane conversation for another interlude. The music played away and the party chattered around them.
"Are you alright, Kara?" Lena said, her smile fading for the first time all night.
"Hmm? Yes, I'm great," she said.
"It's just, you've seemed a little distracted all night," Lena said.
"Distracted? No, this is great. It's all great," she said. Her ability to think straight was once more under assault by Lena's intense gaze and the thick soup of thought flying around her head.
"Great… Kara, you can be honest with me if you're bored," Lena said without a hint of annoyance. Kara was distraught, she had been so caught up in her doubts that they had bled into Lena. She was stuck for words, the world seemed to stop.
"Is this a date?" she blurted out, louder than she intended. Luckily no-one seemed to take notice.
"What?" Lena said, taken aback.
"Is this a date," she said, far more quietly. Her heart was in her mouth. Infinite anguish fluttered through her as everything felt like it went dark and the only other person in the area was a confused Lena. She could not take it back, she had screwed everything up by following the advice she knew to dismiss. She started to think of ways to escape the party as fast as possible or even dive under the stage to hide.
"Well… yes," Lena said.
"I can't believe I… I'm so sorry… Kara said, her train of thought plummeting straight back to Earth. "Wait… yes?"
"Was that not clear?" Lena said. Relief flooded her, all the weight and pressure flew away in an instant as she hopped forward and hugged Lena. Lena tentatively hugged back. Kara pulled away with a huge grin on her face. Similar seemed similarly calmer since having broached the topic of her boredom.
"What did you think this was?" Lena said. Kara sheepishly looked at her feet.
"I don't know. I guess I thought it could have just been a social or friendly invite. I mean it was a big public event and you never specified. I just didn't want to read too much into it," she said.
"If you weren't sure, why didn't you just ask?" Lena said.
"I… Er… it didn't occur to me," Kara said. Alex and Jess would be smug to no end when she told them, she pushed that thought away as a laughing Lena offered her arm again.
"Well now that's cleared up, let's hope you can enjoy the rest of the night," Lena said. She gleefully took her arm with a slight skip in her step. What followed was a magical evening, now she was paying attention she started to recognise some of the icons of National City and having Lena merrily introduced her to them. They laughed, got to know each other better, exchanged the odd story. After all this, she was even playing it cool from time to time in their conversations. Toward the end of the night, Lena had to pull away. She took the stage for the obligatory thank yous, the amount of money an everything that went along with hosting the fundraiser. Kara was on boar with playing t cool, proudly watching her own the moment instead of jumping up and down in joy.
"You and seem to be awfully close tonight," Kara actually id jump as Jess seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"Judging by your, well everything, I'm guessing whatever this turned out to be what you wanted," Jess said.
"Yeah, it's going really well," Kara said. She had thrown all her energy into playing it cool with Lena and did not even bother containing any excitement. Jess had the grin of a snarky response, she abruptly stopped herself instead rubbing her forehead.
"Is there a problem?" Kara said.
"Reality just kicked in. My friend and my boss are dating, this could get weird," Jess said.
"Yeah we are," Kara said, looking at the politely clapping crowd. All of them were paying attention to the wonderful Lena.
"I'm going to get myself several drinks now. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Jess said. She slunk off before Kara could respond. Lena finished her speech and did some mingling solo, working her way over to where Kara was stood. She watched on, happily at ease with the events of the night.
Things were winding down, the valets were in full swing and most of the guests had filed out. Lena was thanking quartet as they began to pack up. Kara was leaning on one of the tables, trying to look cool and collected as Lena strode over.
"Well Kara, you made my night infinitely better. I'd love to do this again some time, perhaps something more intimate," Lena said.
"Oh, I'd love that" she said.
"You can pick the place this time, I very much look forward to it," Lena looked to move off. She stopped herself after a few steps an turned back with a mischievous look. "This request is most certainly for a date."
She disappeared amongst the reaming staff. Kara felt a warmth inside her like none other and was grinning like an idiot. She happily stood there reminiscing over the night with Lena and how wonderful it had been. Until her face dropped again. Lena had told her to pick the venue of her next date. So many possibilities and why they were terrible ideas overwhelmed her in one ghastly moment. She scurried off as fast as she could in her heels. This was urgent, Jess had to still be around somewhere.
Thanks for reading, I threw this together in a day in a fit of lockown boredom so hope it's a decent enough standard.