May knew that when you were rich, you did a lot of fancy things, but to dream something and to live it were two entirely different things.
Said brunette pinched herself to see if she was dreaming.
She wasn't.
When she had woken up, May found an envelope half way under her door. Remembering what she had done to Drew the previous evening, she was surprised that he had chosen such a...quiet method. When Drew gets a snowball to the face, bad things happen.
May expected a parade to wake her up, with a band playing her out of the hallway.
When May opened the envelope, she found a fancy piece of paper. How can paper be fancy, you ask? It looks official: it had beautifully printed vines creeping up the sides and edges of the paper. Not only that, but the letter itself was typed. When May saw it wasn't hand written, she thought something must be up. Is this Drew's way of pranking her?
Reading the note, she found it was not a note, but rather an invitation. Drew had sent her an invitation to go to an exclusive business meeting, and after a ball.
'Oh...my...' She thought. May had never gone to something like THIS before. Much less how upscale she could tell it was going to be. It was a black tie event with all of the business men and women who would be attending... with a creative twist. Masks were required. For the first portion AND ball portion, a mask was required because the theme was a masquerade.
With this knowledge, May walked down the stairs to the lobby of the pokecentre to find a patient man in bright clothes. He had so many suitcases, May wondered how long it took him to drag them all in there. Once he spotted it, however, May soon learned. This man didn't look like it, but he was very strong.
May had never met this man before in her life. All she could tell from him was that he was very into fashion.
May also learned that he was sent there for her. Those suitcases had clothes. She was to choose herself a dress and a mask.
The man had pushed May all the way up the stairs and back to her room. Once walking inside the room, he layed out multiple dresses on the bed.
And here May is now.
All of the dresses were absolutely stunning. They all looked equally expensive. But it wasn't only dresses; there was also heels, and jewellery.
May spent ten whole minutes picking through and looking at the dresses, but only one had caught her eye; a deep sapphire blue shirtwaist dress. When she stepped into the bathroom and tried it on, she found it also fit on her perfectly; like it was made for her.
May felt like Cinderella.
The bodice was not too tight or too loose. The bodice had soft laces in a serpentine pattern on the front, but only a few on the back. The skirt part of it rested on her hips, while the rest of it trailed to her ankles. When she put on the matching blue heels and a sterling silver necklace with multiple sapphires on different levels hanging from her neck, she felt like royalty.
And that was the problem. She felt like royalty.
May didn't think she was deserving of this treatment. Business and balls totally wasn't her world. Coordinating was. May now wondered how Drew was even spending time on coordinating when he had so many... other things to do. That are more status-building than coordinating, too.
Then May began to think. What would she do in this function? She had nothing to contribute to this event; if anything she was brought as a...date. When talking to Drew, if she even got to talk to Drew at all, she would constantly have to keep in mind her manners. That means she would have to be formal and not tell too much about herself to others who belonged in that scene. She would probably be looked down on a lot, too.
Well, maybe, maybe not.
Then it made sense.
This event was Drew's way of punishment.
This was going to be a long day.
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When May stepped outside of the pokecentre, earning many glances along the way at the fancily dressed woman in blue, holding an equally blue clutch under her arm, she stopped infront of a limo.
Was May really expected to get in one of those?
It was really cool looking, though...
And May did always want to go in one...
The chauffer opened the door for May, and she climbed in and made herself comfortable. If she was going to be tortured for hours on end at a boring business meeting, then she might as well enjoy the little things while she still had little things to look at.
xXxXxXxXxXx
When May entered the large ballroom, she was denied her wish of entering unannounced. The second she stepped through those doors, the chauffer had loudly declared her presence. Standing in the doorway, all she could do was wave shyly.
Being greeted wasn't so bad. She had expected many hateful glances.
Not one in the large crowd was hateful.
However, she did get looks of jealousy from the younger women, smiles from the older women, bows from the younger men, and uninterested side-glances from the self-important and older men. Which, for the record, made up the majority of the men who attended.
When everyone turned back to their own affairs after her introduction, May sat at a table on the left side of the room, where the tables where, and sat in her assigned seat at the table closest to the far corner of the room.
It quickly became evident to the girl that Drew had not done her any favors here. His seat was to the right of hers, which was painfully empty. Because Drew was nowhere in sight, May had to speak with the other occupants at the table...which she was less than pleased about.
All were the older and self important men. While May smiled outwardly to them, she was screaming at him in her head. The mental screaming drowned out the soft classical music that was being played for the guests.
She came to it again when a grey-haired man offered May his hand. May accepted his gesture for a handshake.
His shake was a bit too firm for her liking. May wanted to furrow her eyebrows at the obvious show of dominance, but let it go, remembering where she was, and who she was representing.
It got harder and harder to do that as time wore on.
By late afternoon, she was ready to kill every man at the table. Drew was still nowhere in sight, but the men kept her company... sort of.
They talked, but May's mind was elsewhere. They were not directly speaking to her after all, but rather just to anyone who was listening. It also wasn't talking so much as it was rambling. What got on May's nerves pretty quickly was the fact that the only thing each man talked about was himself, and his own acheivements.
She noticed that her enviornment was very ritzy and as upscale as she was treated. The soft carpetting was a deep majenta, reminding May of, what in her mind made sense, could be raspberry wine. It had bright yellow stars sewed into the patterns of it, as well, with very small dots of green.
The walls didn't have too much colour to them, but May expected that. The walls were made of marble, and were coloured a light beige. May pictured someone spattering coffee on the walls for that particular shade.
The tables were all identicle, including the one May was sitting at. The wood was a very deep brown, but very smooth from the copious amounts of polyurethane coated on it. They had tablecloths on them, of course, which were a rich emerald green. On top of this cloth layed empty plates not yet served, and always full glasses. What was in the glass differed from person to person. The most common drink, though, was a very expensive brand of champagne. May normally didn't approve of the consumption of alcohol, as light as it was, but decided to let it go just this once.
Maybe it would loosen the stuffy people up. She herself nursed a diet soda.
Then there was the people. Oh, the people. Everyone was, without a doubt, dressed up to the nine; and why wouldn't they be? Meetings like this were their lives. May thought that was kind of sad, if this is what they did all day. Sad as it might be, though, May had to admit that it seemed to work. The clothes everyone in the room sported definately didn't come cheap.
Men were sporting immaculate black dress shoes, so polished they reflected even the smallest beams of light. They proudly wore black suits and ties, with slicked back hair. All the women wore flowing silk gowns, with countless layers of gems on their necks and fingers. May found them a bit prissy, though, and equally as stuffy as the men; they wore their hair back in tight buns, not a hair out of place.
That, to May, screamed 'High-Maintenance.'
xXxXxXxXxXx
May had been walking back and forth the entire morning and afternoon between her seat and the snack table with cute things like finger sandwiches and punch for the more.. younger guests. The dainty women kept their distance from such 'distasteful', as they called it, hors d'oeuvres, so May had the table mainly to herself, save for one or two of the younger men. Half the time May wasn't particularly hungry, but excused herself to go and lean against the table, looking like she was doing something, anything, to get away from her seat.
It was a very long day.
xXxXxXxXxXx
By the time Drew did finally arrive, it was early evening and the appetizers were beginning to be passed around from table to table. May was thankfully at her seat when Drew arrived, When his presence was anounced and May turned around, she thought that was the first time she had ever seen Drew himself in a suit. While his parents sauntered over to another table, Drew made a bee-line for May.
On his way there, May saw that in comparison to the other gentlemen at the event, Drew was three-quarters to half the size of them, but oddly enough, figuratively stood twice as tall. His calm expression revealed his confidence, along with his posture of a straight back, shoulders back, chest slightly up, and his head held high, as well as his long strides. The younger ladies swooned at him, but he didn't notice or could care less. His eyes were locked across the room on the silhouette of a certain brunette haired girl.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Upon reaching the table, Drew shook hands with the other four men sitting with May. He didn't need to shake May's hand, for his smile was enough. Taking a seat next to May, he was just in time to take a selection of the appetizers as the waitor came around to them.
May was appauled, though she did well to hide it. She had heard jokes about the weird things rich people dared to put in their mouths, but never actually believed it.
She was sorely mistaken.
May learned that, as it turns out, rich people really do eat things like Magicarp eggs. Eww.
Said girl settled for a light salad.
xXxXxXxXxXx
The other men ate hardily, but Drew poked at his salad. He wanted to try to appologise to May in some way without words, so he took the same thing she did. After all, imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery. Luckily, May got the point he was trying to make and smiled in responce.
While the four men talked amongst themselves, Drew took the opportunity to whisper to May.
"How was the day here?"
May was simply too happy that Drew was finally there to be mad at him.
"I think this is the most boring event I've ever been to in my life."
Drew quietly chuckled. "Payback sucks, but the punishment should fit the crime, which this did not. So I have to say, I'm s...so.." Drew finally choked it out. "Sorry."
May knew he didn't say that often, if at all, so felt honored he even tried.
"I forgive you."
Drew tucked a strand of hair behind May's ear.
"And I know, these are quite boring. I don't even like them myself, but when your family is, in a sense, famous, this is what you have to do."
May's nose twitched in curiosity. "I know that torture wasn't the only reason you brought me here. I want the truth. What was the main reason?"
Drew grinned, not at all donning the look of a deer in the headlights. He decided for now that it would be best to not answer. He didn't have to anyway, as the pasta and other dinner foods were being served.
xXxXxXxXxXx
When dinner was over, the hired band had played louder music, signalling the beginning of the leisure half of the gathering. May had her mask around her neck the whole time, but now put on her black mask, to reveal to anyone who looked, what her mask was.
The mask was a small one, only enough to cover her eyes. There was no stick, but a band that securely held it in place. The sides were shaped like butterfly wings, eyes as deep as the ocean itself peering out from beneath it. Drew was quite pleased, and pulled on his white hawk mask, covering his eyes and nose.
Drew had offered his hand like a gentleman, and when May accepted it, like he knew she would, he whisked her away to dance. May chose that moment to bring up the topic again.
"What was your other reason?"
Drew's lips turned to thin lines, which May could only guess out of what, but she knew by the tone in his voice.
"To give you a good sense of what you might go through. I will tell you this twice; and this time is the first."
May cocked her head to the side. Drew twirled her and pulled her back, May attuning to his grace. She was with every step, and never missed a beat. Right as the song was ending, Drew thought he'd play her game.
"I know you may not like these gatherings, but understand that, as earlier said, neither do I. But sometimes there is just no choice. You could say I pulled you here for a reason and be purely right."
Drew's next words were barely above a whisper, and May had to lean in to hear. The message was received; she was to listen. Carefully. As he said them, the words rung clearly in her mind.
"This is what it means to be with me."
xXxXxXxXxXx
The two danced until midnight, and just before the strike of twelve o'clock, as Drew spun her, May let go of his hand and lost herself in the crowd, slipping out the door and out of his notice. She sent her message clearly then.
Drew searched the crowd of people for May, but it was no use. Everyone was wearing masks, and though May's was unique, there were many similarly shaped. She had managed to slip right between his fingers, but he had no regrets. He knew where she had gone, so it didn't matter anyway. He took that moment to walk home. His parents could figure out soon enough where he had walked off to. He had stayed as long as he needed to.
On the cold walk home, Drew didn't feel the cold, nor did he hear the crunch of fresh snow beneath his feet. The snow was coming down hard, so it would be hard to see any figure that was in it. It did not deter Drew, because he knew where his home was without looking. He also knew where the pokecentre was.
A grin spread across his face as he thought of what she was trying to tell him.
In her own way, she had told him that she accepts that lifestyle, but she also has her own. She accepts the two merging, but not without consequence.
Drew knew this long ago, and showed not a hint of having problems with the idea. He was ready to face the dilemmas, one day at a time, whenever they presented themselves.
His grin only grew at the bottom line of her silent statement. Their actions both shared the same implied meaning.
I understand.
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I have a feeling my writting style is showing change here. For better or worse I wonder?