"Hey, buddy. How was your weekend?" Frankie asked at school Monday with a waggle of his eyebrows.
"Why don't you tell me how my weekend was since you think you know," Loid said preparing himself for the slew of teasing.
"Henderson asked me about you. Dominic too."
"What?! Why?"
"Apparently someone caught you with Yor Briar at the hospital, so Henderson was asking about when you two got together. I told him a year ago."
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
Other students in the courtyard turned to look at them.
Loid flushed and pulled Frankie to a less populated area of the courtyard. "I need you to tell me everything you know about this now."
At the same time in a different part of campus, Yor walked by Camilla who was perched on the steps of the Cecile Hall dorms flanked by Sharon and Millie. "Hey, Yor. Exciting weekend?" Camilla asked with a smirk.
Yor recognized that Camilla was the cat and she the canary. "Not really."
"Hm… That's not what I heard."
"Yeah, Henderson asked us about you," Millie jumped in. This earned her a thwack on the hand from Camilla.
"A staff member at the hospital caught you in a compromising position with Loid Forger. How inelegant," Camilla grinned at the dig.
'Shit,' Yor thought but kept silent. She knew better than to interrupt Camilla.
"So when Henderson interviewed us about you and Forger, we told him the truth."
Yor sighed in relief.
"That you started dating Forger last year."
Yor went bright red.
The campus-wide intercom buzzed, "Would Yor Briar and Loid Forger report to Housemaster Henderson's office please? Yor Briar and Loid Forger to Housemaster Henderson's office."
The pair of students met outside the door to Henderson's office. Both paused partially from the dread of this summons and partially due to the awe they felt at the sight of the other.
Henderson opened the door without either of them knocking. "There you two are! Please do come in. It wouldn't do to have you gawking outside my door all morning." He led them inside and noted that the Forger boy held the door open for the Briar girl. 'Elegant,' he thought.
Henderson motioned for them to join him at his small table which was set for tea. Once again, Forger gallantly took charge, leading Briar to the chair on the right side, pulling it out for her, and waiting for her to rest delicately in the chair before seating himself on her left. Henderson nodded in approval.
"Thank you for heeding my summons, Mr. Forger and Miss Briar. Would you care for some tea?"
"Yes, thank you, sir," the pair said together.
It had been years since Henderson had seen such elegance. He knew what he must do. As he poured the tea first for Miss Briar then Mr. Forger and lastly himself, Henderson said, "Now children, I received reports of your elegant behavior this weekend at the hospital. The assistant pharmacist had nothing but praise to bestow upon your names after seeing how gently you treated each other. However, they did inform me that you also collided into each other dropping over a hundred important brochures and caused the pharmacy to have to remake an entire floor's order of medicine due to Mr. Forger throwing the medicine."
Loid and Yor flushed thinking about Saturday. Neither noticed the other's blush. 'Of course this would get back to Henderson. Everything always seems to,' they both thought.
"Under normal circumstances, such a performance would merit tonitrus bolts for both of you; however, I have also been informed by your classmates that you two, Cecile Hall's most elegant students, are an item. Congratulations are due to you both."
Both Loid and Yor struggled to mutter their gratitude.
"As you may have noticed, the students of your grade have become inelegant in their romantic behaviors."
Both students could remember several recent incidents of accidentally running into other students making out in the more public areas of the school.
"It is time to put a stop to this behavior, and, to do so, I am implementing The Elegant Love Society which will be a gathering of young couples at our academy to remind them of decorous behavior, supervised by myself of course. I would be delighted if you would be the founding pair of the society."
"Housemaster, sir, I'm afraid we can't—" Loid began.
"Mr. Forger, I will politely remind you that this is the alternative to a tonitrus bolt for each of you. I doubt that your mothers would be terribly pleased to hear that you've received another bolt."
He was correct on that count. Loid already had three for refusing to join extra curriculars and generally not having school spirit, and Yor had two: one the fault of Camilla and the other for an assignment Yor handed in late.
Yor patted Loid's left hand that was on the table. "It's okay, Loid."
Loid watched her sweet smile with a matching smile of his own, again, the doing of his body rather than his brain.
"Excellent, it's settled then. Miss Briar, I would like you to recruit any couples you know in your grade, and, Mr. Forger, I would like for you promote the society on the morning announcements and at the lunch hour. Thank you again for meeting with me. I look forward to working with you both on the society."
Henderson allowed them to finish their tea before escorting them out of the door. He noted that Yor and Loid were still holding hands as they left. 'Very elegant,' he thought. "Oh, and congratulations once again. You truly make a lovely couple." He closed the door.
The pair loitered by the door once again, hands still clasped, staring at each other though this time for another reason.
'Now I have to keep myself from falling in love with my girlfriend,' Loid thought.
'How am I supposed to stop myself from falling for my boyfriend?' Yor thought.
Yor turned the key in the lock of her family's apartment at 7:02 pm. Monday nights were the one time she let herself resent Camilla who forced her to join the Cooking Society even though Yor was a terrible cook. When she opened the door, she was confronted with the sight of her mother on the couch watching the door.
"Oh, hello, mom. I'm surprised to see you home so early," Yor said.
Her mother smiled. "I received a wonderful phone call today and knew I had to meet you when you got home today. Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend, Yor?"
Yor felt the heat rising in her face. "What—how did you know?"
"Housemaster Henderson called me at work to let me know that you would be joining a new society."
"Oh, how thoughtful of him."
"Enough about Henderson," her mother patted the couch next to her. "Tell me about your boyfriend. What's his name? When did you two get together? What is he like?"
Yor set her bag by the door and mindlessly sat by her mother. "His name is Loid Forger."
"Um-hm."
"We got together a while ago." She wasn't sure what the correct answer there was. The true answer was, of course, that they got together today, but given what Camilla and her henchgirls had told Henderson, who knows what Henderson told her mother.
Her mom nodded.
"He's—kind," she whispered.
Yor's mother giggled and wrapped an arm around her daughter. "I'm so glad to hear that. You'll have to invite him for dinner next Saturday."
Yor thought about introducing Loid to her mother and brother. She pictured him smiling and asking polite questions about her family and playing with her brother, and her brain just stopped.
"Do you think he's available next weekend?"
Her brain started again. "Sorry, but no. We're both volunteering at the hospital every Saturday for the next five weeks. We have to have time to study."
"Oh, of course! How lovely that you volunteer together. Yes, well be sure to ask him about coming for dinner six Saturdays from now."
"Yes, ma'am." She excused herself to study.
Loid walked home from school with Frankie, who lived in the same building, every day after school.
Frankie laughed. "I can't believe Henderson set you up."
"Let's not give him all the credit. Someone else planted the idea in his head." Loid jabbed his friend in the side with his elbow to stop his laughing.
"Come on, Loid. Don't pretend like you aren't happy about this. You've been talking about this girl for three years, and now you're dating her. It's your dream come true."
Loid had to admit that Frankie was right; well, he would be if Loid were genuinely dating Yor, but their relationship was a sham to avoid tonitrus bolts. "Shut up, Frankie."
The boys continued up the stairs to the Forger apartment where Loid's mother greeted them at the door.
"Loid! I'm so glad your home. How was your day? Oh hi, Frankie," his mother said.
"Hello, mother. My day was fine. We're going to study now," Loid tried to excuse himself.
"No you are not, young man. You are going to stay here and tell your mother why you kept your girlfriend a secret from her."
Frankie chortled.
"Uh—" Loid said.
"Don't worry, Mrs. F. They were keeping it from all of us for a year. We just found out this week," Frankie said.
"Oh, I see. They must have been shy about it. Well, I don't blame you, Loid. First love can be scary," Loid's mother said.
Surely Loid was hearing things because there's no way his mother just said 'love' referring to Yor and himself. Loid found himself feeling a bit warm.
His mother wrapped him in a hug. "Aw, honey. There's no need to be so embarrassed. It's very normal to have a romantic partner at your age."
"Thank you," he muttered.
His mother let him go but kept a hand stroking his hair. "What's your favorite thing about her?"
"Her legs," Frankie said between laughs.
Loid would've shot Frankie a mean look, but he knew it wouldn't do anything. "Her strength."
"Oh. Physically or strength of character?"
"Both."
His mother smiled softly at him. "She sounds amazing. I can't wait to meet her. You'll bring her around next weekend, right?"
Loid pictured his mother showing Yor his baby pictures and telling her all the embarrassing stories about him. Just the thought of Yor in his home was enough to trigger all the psychosomatic symptoms of his crush. "I can't. We'll be at the hospital."
"Oh, that's right. That's for the next five Saturdays. Shoot. Well, you'll have to ask her over after that. How is she supposed to know what a good husband you'll make if you don't cook for her?"
The thought of him being Yor's husband was too much for Loid to take. He hid his face in his hands and tried to think about his algebra homework instead.