May 4

[notfaking_it]

When their roles are posted, Lily smiles knowingly at Nina across the small crowd of mostly disappointed dancers, then crosses over to her and tells her they're going to have a party to celebrate. She tells Nina to invite whoever she wants, says she'll host it, it'll happen this weekend, then she disappears to make plans. She leaves Nina without time to protest on purpose.

On the night of the party, she has drinks and food set out in her kitchen. She's invited most of the people she knows and even a few she doesn't -- dancers, mostly, because she doesn't want to leave them out -- and there's already music playing even before anyone has arrived. The intention is to be casual, relaxed, but there are pills in Lily's pocket, for anyone who knows her well enough to ask, for anyone she thinks might need to relax a little.

Nina's doing better now, but Lily has no problem helping her come out of her shell if it comes to that. And she has no problem helping anyone else either.

Comments

[badtotheclone]

I shake my head in answer to her question. I can see why Lily might think that, but it's actually a lot more simple than that and slightly less sad on my end. Not that doing something to make your girlfriend happy is necessarily sad.

"I mean, she did want to come, but I would have come anyway. You're my friend, you invited me to a party, so I came."

[notfaking_it]

"Well, that's unexpectedly sweet," Lily says, her smile growing. Some of the time she's still not convinced Kaine isn't at least a little bit confused by her, but it's nice to hear all the same. "Alright, so since you came because I invited you, I won't try to make you mingle or anything. You can hang out by the wall and I'll hang out with you for a little while."

[badtotheclone]

"Great, now everyone is going to want to come over here because it's where you are," I say, although one corner of my mouth tugs up just a bit, an almost smile so she knows I'm kidding.

"And just for the record... how would you make me mingle?"

[notfaking_it]

"If I couldn't drag you around the party, I'd bring people to your corner," she answers with a sweet smile, knowing he wouldn't like that much. Even if she threatens it, she probably wouldn't go through with it. "I know pretty much every person here and it's my duty as hostess to make sure they all meet each other."

[badtotheclone]

"Then I'd have to go hide up on the roof or something," I tell her, grinning a bit. Actually, I don't think I would. I imagine Lily has pretty decent friends that I wouldn't completely hate.

[notfaking_it]

"As I recall, the roof isn't such a bad place to be," Lily answers, with a grin and a teasing, suggestive lilt to her voice. It's been awhile since that night and plenty of things have changed, but she can't resist the opportunity to bug him about it, especially when he'd avoided her in the weeks following.

[badtotheclone]

"Personally, I enjoyed it more once we came down from the roof," I say, managing to flush only a little bit. I even look her in the eyes for a bit before having to duck my head. I have to admit that Lily was probably the best person I could have done something like that with, and not just in terms of how good it was. Most other people it could have gotten really awkward.

[notfaking_it]

"I'm impressed by how little you blushed," Lily says, laughing, pleased that he's made a joke about the situation. It's easy for her, but it's always been easy for her. She knows it isn't the same for everyone and she knows Kaine's life has been very different from hers. "We'll call that a step up."

[badtotheclone]

"What the hell would the next step be?" I ask. I'm pretty sure joking about it is the pinnacle of steps or something. Not that I knew 10 seconds ago that there were steps, although I like that she thought the joke was funny.

[notfaking_it]

"I'm not sure yet, we'll have to figure it out when we get there," she decides, but she's still smiling. It's nice to see him a little loosened up, even if he's still not interested in mingling. She wonders if that's something Cass has done or if he's just adjusting to life in Darrow. Either way, it's a good thing, she thinks, and she's glad to see it.

[badtotheclone]

"Well you just let me know when you find out and I'll work on it."

I don't really want to work on anything like that, but she's got this big grin on her face, how can I not at least try? I'm not sure if I hate this 'having friends' thing or not.

"Congratulations on the new role, by the way," I say, switching the subject.

[notfaking_it]

"Thank you," she says, tucking her hair behind her ear as she smiles. "It's going to be interesting with Nina as the Prince. I think... she's a beautiful dancer when she really lets herself go, I think this could be incredible."

And she's worried, a little. Proud and excited, but worried. She'll have to watch, she thinks, try to help Nina find a balance. She won't push, not like before.

[badtotheclone]

"I'm sure it will be," I say, meaning it. I have absolute confidence in Lily's dancing ability and if she says that her friend is also very good, I'm sure that she's very good.

"We look forward to watching."

[notfaking_it]

"So you and Cass will come, then?" she asks, smiling. Sometimes she's still surprised by how many people are willing to come to the ballet. In New York, they'd been struggling a little, trying to find not only investors, but people willing to come and watch, willing to pay the outrageous ticket prices.

[badtotheclone]

"Probably multiple times," I admit. Bringing Cass to the ballet is probably one of the best things I've ever done in terms of making her happy. I have no doubt we'll go see this performance several times.

[notfaking_it]

Lily laughs, but it pleases her that Cass seems to like it so much. For as much as she knows it isn't for everyone, there are always people who truly love it, people who used to come to every show they did, people who gave them standing ovations, brought them flowers. Sometimes she forgets about that. "I'm glad she enjoys it," she says honestly.

[badtotheclone]

"Me too," I say, giving a small smile. It's almost strange how nice it is to make someone so happy, even someone I really care about. It feels like I'm doing something wrong.

"But I'd better let you get back to your party. I think I might even try and mingle some. By which I mean I'm going to walk from this wall, over to the one across the room and hang out there."

[notfaking_it]

"Ooh, but maybe the other wall is the next step," she says with a laugh, laying her hand on Kaine's arm and giving a light squeeze. "It's just a little bit closer to mingling, I'm proud of you." She's teasing a little, but she is glad that he's come.

[badtotheclone]

"I'll head nod to someone along the way," I reassure here. "That way I can count it as a full mingle."

Which, honestly, is more than I would have even joked about before, so I guess I am becoming more social. Hell, I guess the fact that I'm here is proof of that.

[notfaking_it]

"Try that guy," she says, pointing to Alexander. "He's very friendly, I'm sure he'll nod back." He may also actually talk to Kaine, which is what she's hoping for. Anyone else might just let him sneak by without actually saying anything.

[badtotheclone]

"Okay, I'll consider giving it a shot," I say, although I'm pretty sure that I won't. Actually, thinking about it I feel like shit for basically lying to Lily, so now I'm going to. I hate my life.

[notfaking_it]

"Only if you want to," she says with a grin, patting his arm lightly. "I'm going to go grab another drink, do my hostess thing for a bit, but I'll come see you and Cass later, okay?"

[badtotheclone]

"Okay," I say with a nod. "She'd like that."

I'm sure Cass would love to ask Lily all sorts of questions about the upcoming performance and just generally enjoy talking about ballet with someone as knowledgeable and talented as Lily.