At one point, a balding man in glasses got onstage to announce the auction would start soon. He said something about the cause and thanked everyone who had donated something to be auctioned. That was cool, I supposed. So these fancy pants just tossed out things they didn’t use any longer and made money for good causes? I’d never understand this social level.
This was Luke’s level.
He hadn’t said that, but given the event where we met and his snooty-britches mother, I could do the social math. We were leagues apart. Maybe his reaction to my true self was exactly what should’ve happened. What did a starving nineteen-year-old college student have to offer a man like him anyway?
Savannah came around a few times in her black cocktail dress, which reminded me how ill-fitting my clothes were. The trousers were loose, and the jacket didn’t hang across my shoulders correctly, making it droopy instead of sharp. Nothing like Luke’s had fit him. He’d probably had it tailor-made.
Ugh.
Fuck.
I’d never get that man out of my mind.
Once the auction began, I hung out where others who weren’t participating gathered. Rows of chairs were set up near the stage, where a few pieces were already displayed. Paintings, sculptures, an envelope—mysterious—and a few bottles of wine.
It was just as I imagined, with a gavel to open each bidding and close it. The auctioneer had a weird way of speaking that those bidding understood, I supposed, while another man spoke normally about each object.
“The next item is a lovely 1989 Vie de Ruisseau Chardonnay from the personal collection of Luke Dorset.” The man gestured to the side just as Luke stood and bowed several times as the crowd clapped softly for him.
He was here.
Fuck.
He washere.
What should I do? Should I make him aware I was here? Would he think I was stalking him if I didn’t do it before he saw me?
Luke bowed one last time, then smiled toward the back of the room. Smiled in my direction. It hadn’t beenforme, because when he saw me, he froze, paled like he was about to faint, and quickly turned around.
Fuck!
This was bad. At best, he had to think I was indeed a stalker, and at worst, I was planning some huge scene to out him for kissing a guy.
Jesus, of all the dumb ideas. I didn’t belong here, and I was never giving in to Savannah again.
The auctioneer started with an opening bid of two thousand dollars, and people actually bid on it. For one bottle? Hands were lifting left and right, and the amount kept getting higher.When it was finalized, Luke’s wine was sold for twelve grand. For one bottle of wine.
Unbelievable.
The man who purchased it made his way to Luke, who stood, looking not so pale now, and they spoke for a minute.
The cat was already out of the bag, but I didn’t feel right staying here any longer. It’d been entertaining when I could people-watch and inwardly chastise their oddities, but now, Luke was here. I’d been mocking the same social class he belonged to. The fun was gone, and guilt replaced it.
I slunk as far away from the auction as I could. Savannah still had to be here for hours, so I couldn’t leave, not yet. I glanced over my shoulder. Luke spoke with a few others in a small circle of men ranging in ages. He seemed confident in that space, no longer ashen and wilting. God, he was fucking fine.
He’d gelled his hair again tonight, and not a strand was out of place. It suited him as much as the wealth surrounding him. His clean jaw was boxy but not brutishly so. It was his wide smile that softened him. And when that smile rose high enough to light his eyes, he was fucking beautiful.
When the men around him laughed heartily at something that was said, Luke’s smile fell as he glanced around the room. Before he returned his attention to the small crowd, he regained control of his expression.
I turned and studied the food. Luke wasn’t my anything. I didn’t deserve to ogle him from afar like some heartsick weirdo.
Other items were sold for the remainder of the evening as I waited for Savannah to be dismissed for the night. Staying in the back of the great ballroom, hiding, ducking, facing away, I all but stood in a corner with my tail between my legs to not be noticed again, to not intrude, to not scare him more than I already had.
Tuesday 6:19 PM
Percy
I think I should go with you next time.