~Debutante Dramatics~
Chapter 2
The invitation came four days later. It was white and lacy with gold lettering. Shaggy had told his mother about Daphne's party, but it was not until the frilly invitation came that she truly began to get excited.
"A tux. We need to rent you a tuxedo. Oh, you will look so adorable," she cooed.
Scooby-Doo snickered. Shaggy shot him a glare. It did nothing to lessen the laughter. "What's, like, wrong with my blue one?" he asked.
"Do we need to bring a gift? Or is this more of a your-presence-is-enough event? Of course, a little gift to give her after the event wouldn't be a bad idea. Did Daphne say anything about presents?"
"She didn't say anything about getting a present."
"And your hair. Sweetheart, I know you usually like to keep it as is, but you will need to comb it or something. This is a very special event."
"I know, Mom. I know."
Shaggy did know. In fact, after his mother's constant badgering about what he must or mustn't do was starting to make him nervous. The scrawny youth was not familiar with such parties. Sure, some of Daphne's birthday parties had been more proper upon her parents' persistence, and he had had to wear nicer clothes and wash the smudge of dirt off of his face that always seemed to appear out of nowhere. But never before had he attended something so high up on the classy scale.
A million uneasy feelings washed through Shaggy. He cared about Daphne. She was his friend. A really, really good friend of whom he may or may not feel slightly flustered around because his heart speeds up and his lungs don't seem to work properly. He didn't want to do anything to embarrass her. Especially on such an important night for her. And his mother was not helping to calm his nerves. But she was helping to get him ready so he couldn't really complain.
"I almost forgot. We will have to go shopping to get a new pair of shoes for you. And socks. And—"
A shrill ring cut the woman off.
Shaggy beamed as he pulled his phone from his pocket, eternally grateful to whomever the caller was who got him out of his mother's ramblings. "Hello?"
"Hey, Shaggy."
Shaggy's heart kicked up half a notch. "Hiya, Daphne. Like, what's up?"
"I was wondering if you could stop by my house immediately and then possibly tell my parents I had a prior engagement with you for which I am running late? I would really appreciate it."
"What for?"
"I can't tell you right now. I only have a few seconds. They'll be back and then I'll be trapped. Please just do it. I promise to treat you to burgers, or hot dogs, or frozen yogurt, or—"
"Like, say no more, Daph. Scooby-Doo and I are on our way."
Another voice on Daphne's end of the phone can be heard. "I have to go. Please hurry." A quick request then click. Daphne hangs up.
"That was Daphne?" Shaggy's mother asks. He nods. "Did she say anything about bringing gifts?"
"No, Mom. I have to go."
Her son is already halfway out the door when Mrs. Rogers calls after him, "Be back before dark!"
Ten minutes later, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are standing in front of the large double doors of the Blake Mansion. Before ringing the doorbell, however, they stop to catch their breath. It surprised Scooby that Shaggy could run so fast while not being chased by a ghost. But after thinking about it, it was not all that surprising. This was, after all, Daphne they were helping out. Not that Shaggy left Velma out to dry when she needed his help, but still.
"I want a rink," Scooby declares.
"You can have a drink…" Shaggy pants, "after we help…Daphne out."
Shaggy rings the doorbell. The large sound reverberates throughout the entire house. A butler opens the door.
"Yes?" he asks pointedly when he gets sight of Shaggy.
"I'm here to see Daphne," Shaggy declares.
"Miss Blake is currently occupied. Come back later or make an appointment."
The butler begins to shut the door.
"No, wait!" Shaggy puts his foot in the door. "I do have an appointment. Well, actually, Daphne has an appointment somewhere else, but she's late so I came to get her. Can you, like, at least ask her please?"
The butler doesn't look too pleased, but he opens the door wider, allowing Shaggy and Scooby-Doo to walk inside.
"Stay here," is the butler's only order before strutting away. No, wait. It isn't. He turns back at the top of the stairs and calls down, "And keep your dog in line."
"Rog? Where?" Scooby-Doo appears confused as he looks around.
Shaggy scowls at the retreating figure. What rotten cheese did he eat?
A different butler, one Shaggy actually recognized, comes forward. He looks at the stairs then back at Scooby. "Forgive Mr. Fredrick please, Mr. Doo. He is new and not yet aware of all the goings on at Blake Mansion. Can I get you something to eat while you wait for Miss Blake?"
Shaggy smiled. He could see Scooby still desired a drink, but Daphne told Shaggy she wanted to get rescued from this place. Something keeping them in the house would not be good. "Like, no thanks, Jenkins."
"Then that will be all?"
"Yep."
"Rep."
"Very well." Jenkins gave each party a slight bow. "Mr. Rogers. Mr. Doo." He then turned and walked away.
Shaggy and Scooby wait a few more minutes before they finally hear chatter from upstairs. Scooby-Doo raises his ear. He picks out Daphne's voice along with that of both her parents, but there are other voices. Voices he does not recognize. Voices he does not like.
The new butler appears at the top of the stairs. He quickly steps to the side as Daphne rushes down the stairs, followed by her parents, two unknown adults and a boy. The boy keeps in step with Daphne while her parents try talking reason into her. The other two adults are whispering to themselves quietly as they watch the girl descend the stairs.
"Daphne, honestly. How could you forget you had plans when such good friends of ours were scheduled to come?" Mrs. Blake scolded.
"Young Master William, I am very sorry for the visit being cut short," Mr. Blake apologizes to the boy.
"It is alright. I know I shall have more time with Daphne down the road." Young Master William gives Daphne a charming smile which she pretends to not see.
Shaggy instantly dislikes Young Master William.
Daphne finally reaches Shaggy. The look of gratitude she gives him is brief because a second later Young Master Williams and the rest of the party reach them.
"Who might this be?" the boy asks in a heavy English accent.
"A friend," Daphne says. She places her hands on Shaggy's shoulders and begins guiding him to the door, but is stopped by a sharp, "Daphne!" from her mother. Daphne sighs and turns Shaggy back towards Young Master William. "Shaggy, William. William, Shaggy."
William sticks out his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Daphne's is a friend of mine."
Shaggy takes William's hand. It surprises Shaggy how tight the English boy's grip is. When he lets go, Shaggy feels the need to massage his hand, but resists because of the judgmental looks he is getting from William's parents. Scooby gives the throbbing hand a lick. Shaggy scratches the back of his ears gratefully.
"And who is this?" William asks. He reaches down to pet Scooby-Doo, but Scooby, seeing what the boy did to Shaggy, growls in protest. William retracts his hand in fear.
Shaggy again pets Scooby behind the ears. The "Good boy, Scooby" goes without say.
"Don't mind ol' Scoob here. All bark, no bite."
"Exactly. Now may we please skedaddle? I don't want to be late. I can't thank you enough, Shaggy, for reminding me about my plans." Daphne tries shooing the boy and his dog towards the door.
"What exactly are your plans, Miss Blake?" One of the two strangers asks. Shaggy guesses they are William's parents. The man has the same accent as the boy.
"I had made an appointment with…" Daphne pauses before sneezing. "Oh. Pardon me. Yes. And I really must be getting to…" Another sneeze. "My goodness. What is in the air? Thank you for your visit. I am sorry to have to leave and cut it short. Come again any time."
Despite protests from her parents, Daphne manages to get Scooby and Shaggy out the door.
"Who—" Shaggy tries to ask, but Daphne holds her finger up to his mouth to silence him.
"Uh-uh. Not yet," she says quietly. Daphne quickens her pace, wanting to get far away from those people. She can still feel their eyes on her.
It is not until they are three and a half blocks away that Daphne finally slows down to a stop and parks herself on a bench. Shaggy takes a seat beside her. He would not be so winded after the fast walk if it were not for the fact he practically sprinted the entire way to her house. His legs are thankful for the break. Scooby-Doo flops himself down on the sidewalk. His tongue is out as he pants for air.
"Like…you gonna tell me...what's going on now?" Shaggy asks, still a little breathless.
Daphne, who had closed her eyes and leaned her head back, peered at him through one open eye.
She sighs and sits up straight, opening both eyes. "Sorry about that. I just could not think of any other way to get out of there. Thank you for saving me. You are officially my hero for the week."
Shaggy fights the blush tinting his cheeks. "I am happy to be of service to the beautiful princess."
Daphne blushes too. She fluffs her hair. "Thank you, but do not say that right now. I don't feel beautiful at the moment. I'm a mess. I am all flustered from running away from the Evil Prince Charming and his manipulative parents. They have my parents deep under their spell. It's a good thing my knight in shining armor showed up when he did."
In order to keep Daphne from seeing his deepening blush Shaggy bends over and scratches Scooby's back, allowing his rather long hair responsible for his nickname to shadow his face.
"Anything for you, Daph. But, like, who were they?"
"Reah," Scooby pipes in. "Rey are rot rice."
"No, they aren't nice," Daphne confirms. "The Johnson family is part of some high end British family. William's father is some sort of helper for the assistants of the royal family's long distant cousins or something. I don't even remember. But William uses that as an opening to tell me all the fascinating things about his life," Daphne says sarcastically. She groans and drops the sarcasm. "I could not stand it one more minute. He is the most boring person on the face of the planet. Plus, he has problems with people in a lower rank than him."
"Oh yeah?" Shaggy says casually. His mind travels back to the tense handshake.
"Yes. Along with telling me all about his fortune, he manages to weasel into every conversation different ways he does not like the 'common folk'. He even said that my house was quaint. Quaint! I don't usually care about money, but that guy grinds my gears. Jeepers, I could just—just…I don't know, but I can promise you it will not be pretty."
Daphne slumps in her seat. Scooby-Doo senses her distress and lays his head on her lap. The girls smiles at the dog and pats his head.
Shaggy still can't figure out something. "Are they friends of the family or something?"
"Or something. We only recently met them through mutual friends. Because of their supposed importance, Mother thought it would be a good idea to have 'Young Master William' be my escort for my debutante. Ugh! How could she? She let my sisters pick their escorts. Why not me?"
"Who would you have picked?" Shaggy asked. He told himself to not hope for his name as her answer.
"Anyone but him. I would have picked the guy that smells like moldy bread who works at the Laundromat over him."
"That bad huh?" Shaggy gives a small laugh. "Well, you are free now. Want to call up Fred and Velma and hang out someplace?"
Daphne groaned. "I don't want to be near more people. I've had my fill of them today." Shaggy is surprised by the antisocial remark from Daphne, the social butterfly herself. But when she suddenly brightens, he sees the butterfly coming back. "Let's go do something just the two of us."
"R-Really?" Shaggy stutters. He cannot help the grin as it spreads from ear to ear.
"Yeah! You and I haven't hung out in so long. And besides, I'm supposed to be attending a 'thing'. My parents won't expect me back for a while. I could use a break. What do you want to do?"
Shaggy shrugs. Anything would be fun. He would be with Daphne. Just him and her. And Scooby-Doo of course. But no Fred or Velma. He can't remember the last time they did something without them.
"Hmm." Daphne tapped her chin while in thought. Shaggy notices her nose scrunch. "I know!" she exclaims. "We can go miniature golfing."
"Groovy!" Shaggy's smile widens if that's possible. He loves miniature golfing. It helps that he is so good at it, but he isn't one to brag. And now he would be hanging out at one of his favorite places with one of his favorite people. This day has gotten significantly better. Shaggy holds out his arm. "Shall we, Princess?"
Daphne giggles and takes his arm. "We shall."
The rest of the day breezes by pleasantly. Shaggy and Daphne enjoy their time at Pete's Put-Put Party Palooza. Because Shaggy insists upon paying for the tickets to play, Daphne buys all the snacks. Scooby-Doo finally gets his drink. Even though Shaggy offers to pay for the snacks too, Daphne waves it off. She insists on it. After all, Shaggy had saved her and put off his whole day for her. It's the least she could do. Shaggy, being the gentleman his mother raised him to be, didn't like having a girl pay for him. So while they were playing, although Shaggy won, he did not drive her into the ground like he usually would when playing with the gang. He didn't not beat her, though. Daphne would know if he threw the game. He is just too good at it. She wouldn't be pleased with the charity.
"You are going to be a putt-putt champion someday, Shaggy. I just know it," Daphne says as they walk to her house. Shaggy insisted upon escorting her back with Scooby-Doo trotting along loyally beside them. The sun is setting and Daphne is sure the snooty family is gone. They never stay anywhere after eight that is not a formal event.
"Maybe," Shaggy says, shrugging.
"Don't be so modest. You're really good."
"Like, thanks, Daph."
"I speak only the truth."
"Oh, hey, my mom wanted me to ask, do we have to bring you gifts for your debu-thing?"
"Debutante," Daphne corrects. The short pause before answering tells Shaggy more than the verbal answer he is given. "No. You being there is present enough for me."
"They're required aren't they?" Shaggy calls her bluff.
Daphne bites her lip. "Sort of, but you don't have to get me anything! Really."
"What do you usually get for something like this?" Now that he knows it is proper to get a giftShaggy is determined to get her the best.
"Nothing really important. Jewelry, money to donate to a preferred charity, jeweled picture-frames, other things…"
"Zoinks," Shaggy mutters. No wonder Daphne didn't want him to know about the gifts. They're expensive. Daphne is trying to save him the trouble.
"But as I said before, you being there is present enough. I have enough jewelry to spare and who cares about money? I just want you there, Shaggy. Please?"
In Daphne's insistence, she links both her arms with one of Shaggy's and pulls him to a stop. She looks at him until he makes eye-contact. The determination in Daphne's eyes reminds Shaggy of her stubbornness. She won't let him go until he agrees. So he does.
"Alright. Like, no presents."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Good. You can tell the others too. I just want my friends there. My real friends."
They resume walking. Shaggy notices that Daphne does not unlink their arms. He doesn't mention it in case she comes to her senses and breaks the contact.
Blake Manor is soon reached. That is when Daphne releases Shaggy.
"Thanks for today, Shaggy," she says with a smile.
Shaggy gulps. He notices that the colors of the sunset match Daphne's hair and make it glow at this time of day. "Like, no problem."
"Rey," Scooby says indignantly.
Daphne giggles. She reaches down and scratches the Great Dane's neck before bending over and kissing the top of his head. "Thank you to you too Scooby-Doo."
Scooby smiles and gives a quiet "Raw" before ducking his head bashfully.
"So, like, when will we see you next?" Shaggy asks. He wouldn't mind "rescuing" Daphne again.
"Actually, this might be the last time we see each other before the party. The other debutantes are coming tomorrow and staying until the party. We're going over the details of the party—again. Which means I'll be too busy to escape. I'm sorry." Daphne doesn't have to fake the disappointment in her voice.
"Oh." Shaggy's voice matches hers in sadness.
"But I'll see you at the party, right?" Daphne asks.
"Yeah, of course."
"Great." Daphne opens the door a crack before stopping. She pauses then turns around and throws her arms around Shaggy's neck. "Thank you again, Shaggy. I'm lucky to have you around. You're a great friend." Just as quickly as it happened, it ends. Daphne disappears behind the large doors that close with a loud thunk.
"Raggy? Raaaaagy?" Scooby nudges the hand of his loving owner who remains immobile. Scooby-Doo stands on his hind paws and push his owner with his forelegs. Shaggy stumbles backwards, also stumbling out of his Daphne-induced trance.
"What? Oh. Thanks Scoob." Shaggy pats his best friend's head.
"Reah, reah, reah," Scooby chuckles. He can't help but be amused at his friend's goofy smile. It isn't the first time a certain red-head has scrambled the young man's brain.
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo reach home half an hour after the sky turns dark. Half an hour after his mother told him to be home. She gives him an earful until he gets in that he asked Daphne about the gifts and no, he doesn't have to bring one. Mrs. Rogers seems relieved to hear this, and it eases her mood somewhat, but she still orders her son to march upstairs to his room.
Shaggy lies on his bed, staring at his brightly colored ceiling. Presents may not be required from close friends, specifically him by request, but that hasn't stopped the beatnik's mind from searching for something. What did Daphne say again was appropriate for these things?
Jewelry: no.
Money: no.
Fancy-schmancy Picture Frame: No.
That last one does give him an idea, though. Shaggy gets off his bed and seats himself at his desk. He pulls out the needed supplies and gets to work. It may not be the expensive stuff she's use to, but he's going to try his best to make her smile.
Points to anyone who can name the What's New Scooby-Doo? Episode where Shaggy is a putt putt Champion. It's canon there. I promise.
Read, review, enjoy!
~Adair