To my great relief, watching a movie with Jack alone was not even nearly as uncomfortable as I feared it would be. The way he had grilled me about my job, income, and finally even past girlfriends, had me almost thinking he was fishing for blackmail material to get back at me, and I was fully expecting it to continue once Mia was out of hearing range. That changed when John McClain blew half his magazine into one of the baddies from underneath a table, and both of us quoted the iconic line “Thanks for the advice!” in unison. We looked at each other and just started laughing.
It was like one of those old stories about two guys getting into an argument in a bar, settling it with their fists, and then drinking together afterwards as friends. He was my mortal enemy when he was still in high school, but that ended when I knocked him on his ass. Instead of carrying a grudge against me for it, it had somehow put us on equal ground. I shook my head at the realization when I noticed that it was time for my roll call.
I was assigned to Mia, which I had expected, since we were roughly the same age and it would be less conspicuous if I was near her. So, armed with a radio, I changed into my suit and took position at the front of the stairs, waiting for her to show up. When she did, however, my jaw involuntarily dropped.
She stepped out of the room, shortly followed by Nora, both of them wearing matching long, chiffon evening dresses. While Nora’s dress had a dark gray base color, topped with a beaded, light gray sheath around her shoulders, Mia’s dress was the exact same, only with the color scheme inverted. Both of them had their hair in a french twist, their faces enhanced by the most subtle makeup that merely accentuated their entrancing features, and they even wore jewelry that wouldn’t pull any attention away from their faces. They saw me standing in the hallway, stopped, and looked at me with expectant looks.
“Wow.” I finally said after finding my voice again. “You’re beautiful!”
Since I did not address either of them specifically, nor both of them at the same time, each of them took my comment personally. And in quite different ways.
“Why, thank you, young man!” Nora beamed, as she stepped next to me and hooked her arm into mine. “Flattery will get you anywhere!”. Then she looked at her daughter, waiting for her to join us.
Mia was still staring at me. When she had stepped out of the room, she looked at me with an almost smug grin, like she was daring me to give anything other than a compliment after seeing her dolled up. Hearing my compliment, though, her eyes had widened and her mouth had opened a little, before she blushed and averted her eyes. Apparently, calling a woman ‘beautiful’ was a little beyond the scope of what she expected from someone who’s not her boyfriend.
She finally caught herself, gave me a happy smile as she hooked herself into my other arm, and we made our way into the main hall. To my slight irritation, she held onto my arm even after Nora had excused herself to find her husband. And, even though it made my job a lot easier, I was even more irritated when she kept holding on to my arm throughout the entire evening. She even kept me close while she talked with some of her girlfriends from the cheer team, who also had influential parents that attended this party. At least none of them were brave enough to ask about it, or even point it out.
I found myself actually enjoying the evening. This might not have been the kind of party a regular seventeen-year-old would think about when intending to have a good time, but it was the first party I got to attend in general. Also, after everything that had happened between us since I became her chauffeur, and everything Nora had informed me about, it was also a lot easier to accept my enjoyment of Mia’s presence than Ava’s. A few times, I even forgot that I was there to work. That changed rather abruptly, when I was called over the radio.
“Rainbow!” The angry voice of our on-site commander called out his favorite nickname for me, which, as I was assured, had nothing to do with my sexual orientation, but something about not having gone through basic training. “Front Gate. Now!”
“What’s up?” Mia had somehow immediately picked up on my concerned look.
“Don’t know, yet. Got called to the front gate.”
“It’s not...” Now she was concerned as well.
“No. If it was anything safety-related, they wouldn’t call your escort away. And, yes, I heard how that sounded. Don’t you dare call me a Gigolo when I get back.” I grinned to calm her, and she actually slapped my chest after snorting a short and unladylike laugh that somehow turned my grin into a smile.
My good mood was not to last. When I arrived at the gate, the man in charge was waiting for me on the inside of the driveway.
