Golden thorns chapter 36
Jet was the first to speak up.
"Wow Marie. You look… wow…" the poor, inarticulate fool. From behind her Jo gave her a little shove in the small of her back.
"Get out of the way girl, we have places to be." She wore a dark red dress that brought out her red highlights, which were uncharacteristically loose around her shoulders. Devlyn groaned, rubbing his face.
"Next time can you not make such a big entrance? They always seem to end up with me getting more bruises."
"Sorry, next time I'll be more careful. Anyway we should go." Marie said as she walked over to Jet. He jumped up and they linked arms before leaving the dorm, deep in conversation. Jo and Devlyn stood side by side, mouths agape. Coran watched them, amused, before getting up and tapping them on their shoulders.
"Let them go enjoy themselves. C'mon, I feel like this is going to be a good night."
Upon entering the hall they discovered it to have been tastefully decorated with white ribbons and colourful streamers. Balloons were weighted to the ground and a row of chairs stretched around the edges of the room. Coran saw towards one wall was a large round table with a vase full of white roses in it, one wilting slightly. Weiss was there poking it and apparently trying to stand it back up. A lost cause. It was quite clearly dead.
Focusing his attention back to his immediate surroundings he noticed Yang stood behind a wooden pedestal, greeting students as they arrived. He gestured to Devlyn and Jo and they made their way over to her.
"Oh hey guys. Coran, I see you made it in the end." She made a note on what appeared to be a guest list. "That's you ticked off. You are now officially here, so go enjoy yourselves." They thanked her and made their way into the room. Jo saw some of her other friends and went over to catch up, leaving Coran and Dev alone amongst the plethora of students.
"Ugh, I hate mingling." Coran sighed, "I'm going to get a drink."
"Think I might join you in that." Devlyn replied as they made their way through the crowded hall.
A glass of punch later and they were both feeling a little less insecure. They sat on the side lines and watched the couples dancing to the waltz that a small band was playing. As one piece ended and another began, Jo came over to them with a grin on her face.
"Are you two really going to just sit there all night? Get up and do something."" She lunged towards Devlyn, who jerked back.
"I'm not going to embarrass myself out there. Who do you think I am?"
"A boring old fart with no sense of enjoyment. Come on!" she grabbed him by the wrists and heaved him out of his chair. Coran laughed as he watched her drag him out onto the floor. He swept his gaze over the crowd before settling on Weiss. Strangely she was alone and looking a bit forlorn. He made up his mind and wandered over to her.
"Hey Weiss, how's things?"
"What-? Oh it's you." She replied, and unamused expression on her face. "Look, I read your note. I know what you're going to say and I don't wa-"
"D'you know, I don't miss this, all this pointless small talk and socialising." He looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry for being impatient. I'm still getting used to this 'friends' thing. I think I need some more practice." She glared at him, sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose and slapped him round the face.
"You are going to be the death of me Silverthorne." Then she relented and smiled at him.
"I guess I deserved that." He said, massaging his jaw. "So what happened with you and Neptune? I thought you were into him." He thought he saw her shoulders sag slightly
"It… didn't work out…" Never mind, it wasn't his business anyway.
"im sorry about that."