The party was soon the talk of the campus; how could it not be? A party hosted by the Ootori family, in their residence, was a big deal. The party was by invitation only, although so many people had been invited that it hardly mattered. Even that Michael boy had been invited, although the mere thought of him made Kyoya's fists clench and his lips curl in disdain.
The one person who hadn't been invited was Chantelle; childish though it might be, the little snub made Kyoya feel slightly better about the entire debacle. Imagining her scowling expression as she had to admit that she hadn't been invited to the big party was an enormous source of entertainment for him in the following weeks.
Of course, what he hadn't anticipated was that over the course of the weeks between his invitations going out and the party, Shana and Michael had inexplicably become as thick as thieves. They hung out together all the time now, and every time he heard the rumours that they were going out together, his face would pinch up and he was hard pressed not to slug whoever told him.
Kyoya sighed and took his glasses off, placing them on the table and rubbing his eyes with his fists, a habit he'd picked up as a little boy and hadn't been able to shake. The past few days had been particularly grueling; closing three business deals, making all the last-minute arrangements for the party, and keeping up with his studies for the upcoming exams. He wondered why he had to go to school for four years to learn all the things he'd known since he was like ten years old, for a piece of paper allowing him to do things he'd been doing for six years already.
The party was tonight, and he really hoped that Shana showed up – it would all go to waste if she hadn't. Haruhi and Kaori were under strict instructions to bring her here even if they had to tie her up and stick her in the boot of Tamaki's limo. Even though it sounded appalling to do something like that to Shana, it wasn't really. Tamaki's limo was so ridiculously luxurious that even the boot had air-conditioning and a nice, soft carpet. He wondered if Tamaki had gotten around to installing the mini-fridge he'd wanted to, and the chair.
Sighing again, he put his glasses back onto his face and went down to check on the party preparations. He found the place in an uproar; servants were hurrying about, the butler and footmen were directing caterers and the external suppliers for everything he'd arranged, and his housekeeper stood on the stairs overseeing everything with a severe frown.
"Everything looks like it's going well," he remarked to the housekeeper as he stood on the steps next to her. "Yes, it is," she replied coolly. "After you had a fit and fired three maids when the previous caterer cancelled, no one dares to make any sort of mistake." She glanced at him shrewdly, and asked rhetorically, "Is there any reason why this party is particularly important to you?" She knew there was, of course. In the first place, Kyoya rarely threw parties, and when he did, he'd always handled it in a very cool and detached manner.
"Yes, there is," he replied unnecessarily, but didn't bother to elaborate. The middle-aged housekeeper nodded, taking the hint, and dropped the subject.
He continued down the stairs, doing his 'intimidating all the servants so they're more productive' walk, as he strolled through the dining room, the ballroom, and finally to the foyer, where the guests would be entering. Leaning against the grand double doors of the mansion and looking at his house, he wondered if his guests would be suitably awed. The grand foyer was carpeted in a soft, plush, expensive carpet. The corridor yawned, large and impressive, lit by chandeliers made of the finest cut crystals.
Of course this wasn't impressive to him; his family home in the suburbs of Tokyo was much more decadent. Still, he figured it would be enough.
Walking into the ballroom, he looked approvingly at the decorations that were being set up. Although he'd left most of it up to the discretion of his housekeeper, she'd done exactly what he'd wanted. It seemed like things were going well, so he retreated back into his suite of rooms.
Shana lay on Kaori's bed, floating in the grey area between sleep and wakefulness. She yawned and turned onto her side, reaching for a pillow as she began to drift into sleep.
"Wake up!" Kaori exclaimed as she jumped onto the bed. Shana jolted awake in a panic, before seeing that it was just Kaori and turning onto her belly. "Go away," she mumbled, burying her face under Kaori's pillow.
"No! You have to get ready and I know you aren't going to do it yourself, so we've brought the heavy artillery," Kaori said as she picked up a pillow and began hitting Shana with it. "And don't you dare fall asleep on my bed, you keep drooling on my pillows," she added.
Shana lifted the pillow on top of her head for a second to give Kaori the hairy eye. "Just five more minutes," she moaned, burying her face back into the mattress. Kaori frowned. When she got up to move off the bed, Shana thought she'd won, and settled in for a nice long nap.
Suddenly, the sheets she was lying on were lifted and she was rolled off them and onto the ground. Lying on the carpeted floor, blinking to clear her eyes, she made out four grinning faces staring down at her.
She sat up and rubbed her hands over her face. "You guys suck," she grumbled, as she started to stand. "And what are you doing here," she asked rhetorically, glaring at Sakura and Michael.
"I know you, and you're going to need some major help with the whole formal look." Shana rolled her eyes but accepted the explanation with a minimum of grumbling.
"What about you?" she asked Michael. "You were supposed to pick me up at seven."
He shrugged. "I'm gay, honey. I probably know more about this stuff than you ever will. Also playing dress up with you sounds fun." She glared at him. "So you're just here to play dress up dolly with me?" she asked.
"Well, I wouldn't put it quite that way, but yes, that's right. You even look like a doll," he told her. She glared at him.
"Stop glaring at Michael and take a nice bubble bath," Haruhi commanded, tossing a big, fluffy towel at her, and the lingerie that Shana had bought specially for the occasion – she hadn't wanted to, but Haruhi and Kaori had insisted that nothing she owned would fit under her dress and forced her to buy a new set of lingerie.
"Where's my dress?" Shana asked. She was absolutely not about to sit around indefinitely in her lingerie, which consisted of a tiny thong and a matching push-up strapless bra. It was definitely not something she was comfortable with, but of course, Haruhi and Kaori had absolutely insisted.
"You are not going to destroy your dress by soaking it with your wet hair!" Sakura butted in, frowning. Shana sighed, resigned. "Fine, give me some clothes to wear at least." Haruhi went over to the dresser, pulled out a tank top and shorts, and threw it at Shana.
"Do you have to throw everything at me?" she asked, shaking her head resignedly as she walked into the bathroom and locked the door. "And no one better bother me for the next hour!" she yelled as she started the water and dumped a healthy amount of bubble bath into the tub.
"Remember to shave! And moisturize!" Kaori yelled right back. Shaking her head, Shana stepped into the bath and sighed as the warm water leached all the stress and tension from her body. It really was incredible how her friends could make her go from a restful state of sleep to tense and annoyed.
Half an hour later, the loud knocking on the door stunned Shana, and she jolted. "I don't hear any splashing! Are you washing your hair or did you drown in the water?" Kaori shouted. Water sloshed over the edge of the tub as she jumped, and she grumbled as she got up and grabbed her shampoo.
Fifteen minutes later, she was out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. Kaori walked into the bathroom next, and exclaimed loudly at the mess she found in the bathroom. "Oh my God! What on earth did you do here!" she cried out, surveying the huge amounts of water that had sloshed out of the tub and soaked the bathroom mat.
"You scared me when you suddenly shouted at me," Shana explained. "It's a natural reaction to jolt."
Grumbling, Kaori shut the door and soon they could hear water running.
"Okay babe, we're going to turn you into a swan tonight," Michael told her, smiling excitedly. Shana could practically see him rubbing his hands together in evil glee as he surveyed the many products on the dressing table, ranging from hair care products to every single makeup item that the four girls had – and that was quite a bit. She guessed that between the four of them, they probably had every colour and shade of every product there was.
"Don't you have to get ready and make yourself pretty or something?" she grumped at him, rubbing her hair vigorously with her towel. When she was satisfied that is was as dry as she could get it, she shook it back out and picked up a blow-dryer.
Haruhi retrieved the dryer out of her hands. "You suck at drying your hair," she told her matter-of-factly. Shana huffed. "It's not like you're much better at it," she complained. "You did pretend to be a boy for an entire year."
Michael quickly snatched the hair dryer. "I'll do it," he said. He proved adept at it, too; giving her a nice shiny blow-out. Shana wondered why she was even surprised; Michael had proven to be a man of many surprises.
She turned her head left and right, admiring her hair in the mirror. "This is nice," she said approvingly, looking up at Michael in the mirror. He grinned evilly. "Oh, we're not done yet."
By the time it was time to leave, Shana's face had about a ton of makeup on it – all tastefully applied, of course – and her hair was elaborately done in a sleek and elegant updo that she had never seen before, on anyone.
"This hair is awesome," she told Michael, admiring it in the mirror. He grinned proudly in response. "It is, though, isn't it? An experiment that turned out very well, if I do say so myself," he said, almost preening.
He then quickly showered and changed; the girls marveled at how he managed to get ready in fifteen minutes. They sat around talking about random things as they waited for their ride to pick them up.
They didn't have long to wait; ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Haruhi excitedly exclaimed, "Oh, that's Tamaki!" as she hurried to the door and quickly slipped her feet into her heels before opening the door.
"Ah, my beautiful princess, you look so exquisite this evening!" Tamaki cried out dramatically as he literally swept her off her feet, leaned her back, and kissed her romantically. Even as she huffed at him in annoyance, her amusement was apparent in her manner and the twinkle in her eyes. When he let her up, he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her close to his side, where she snuggled contentedly.
Shana looked at them enviously for a moment as she watched the two of them interact. "I'd tell you that you look handsome, too, but you already know that and we don't want your head not to be able to fit in the limo," Haruhi said teasingly.
"Oh, you wound me, my fair lady!" Tamaki exclaimed as he threw his head back and pressed a hand to his heart. Haruhi rolled her eyes, picked up her clutch and, holding Tamaki's hand, dragged him along to the lift.
The rest of them followed, amused by their banter. It had been a bittersweet experience for Shana; watching the two of them interact had been fun, and they were entertaining as always, but she found that it made her miss Kyoya all the more. Tucking her hand into the crook of Michael's elbow, she sighed. He shot her an understanding glance and squeezed her hand.
In the limo, Sakura and Kaori both snuggled up to their significant others and Shana sat with Michael, talking about random things to try and pass the time away. Shana found herself more grateful than ever to Michael; he was incredibly intuitive and had realized almost immediately how sad her friends' perfect relationships made her. She just hoped that the party wouldn't be too harrowing an experience.
Kyoya stood near the entrance of the ballroom in which the party was being held, smiling and greeting guests politely, although it was the last place he wanted to be. He wanted to run to the entrance of the house and wait there like a faithful puppy for Shana to arrive, but it would be unacceptable.
Turning away from the daughter of a particularly well-off business mogul from Ouran, who was also one of his fans from his Host Club days, he turned back towards the grand double doors and his breath caught in his throat. His fellow Host Club members were here with their dates, and Shana was with… Michael. He frowned at the unexpected kink in his plans.
Still, he found himself ignoring Michael entirely, a surreal experience for the Ice King who missed nothing, and focusing all his attention on Shana. As if in a romantic movie scene, he could swear that the whole world faded away until it was just the two of them, and had he mentioned that she looked smoking hot?
Her classic little black dress was strapless, with a sweetheart neckline, and ended at mid-thigh, with rows of rhinestones beginning at her hip and stretching out halfway across her skirt. There was a fine line between sexy and trampy, and she was skating really close to that edge, but being Shana, she managed to pull it off incredibly well. So well, in fact, that he found himself fighting an erection.
Looking around the opulently decorated ballroom, Shana had to marvel at the beauty of it. The Ootori family didn't do anything by half measures, and this wasn't an exception in the least. The floor was tiled with marble, and enormous chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Waiters walked around the room with trays full of snacks and beverages.
Sweeping her gaze across the room, her eyes found Kyoya and she was absolutely transfixed. He looked incredible in his tux and seemed so comfortable socializing with so many people. Then he looked away from the young woman he'd been talking to and glanced her way.
Their gazes met and held for a moment. It was a strange experience for Shana, feeling all those conflicting emotions rising in her. A part of her wanted to scream and run all the way back to her dorm and hide under her covers – not that she could run very fast, wearing these stiletto heels – but another part of her wanted to scream and run into Kyoya's arms. But neither would have been appropriate, so she just stood there and stared.
Yay! It's done! Haha sorry I went so long without updating this; I was epically busy with schoolwork and all, plus I had some writer's block… ._. So yeah haha. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, although I don't really think it's some of my best work. For those of you who reviewed to motivate me to write more, thank you so much! You guys are really awesome.
I will be accepting suggestions for the next chapter since it's nearing the end of the story, so what would you guys like to see? (; Please review and tell me!
Love,
Peachy Hikaru