Deviance | 18+ | ✓ | REWRITING

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The three of them settled on that, Caleb promising to bring and introduce his girlfriend.

For once, Marie looked forward to her birthday.

✥  ✥  ✥

The event was extravagant - much more than what Marie was expecting.

The three students looked slightly out of place amongst the older and more mature crowd. Marie reminded herself to thank Ashly for forcing her and Caleb to dress more business formal than casual. Ashly donned a fitting formal midi-skirt with a blouse, Caleb wearing a simple dress pant and dress shirt set. Marie opted for a modest, A-line navy dress that flowed gracefully at her knees.

The three friends checked in at the front of the venue, which was a grand establishment just outside the city. They were given name tags and their assigned seating spots, all together at one of the many organized tables.

The center grand room of the venue was packed with white-clothed tables, highly important-looking people mingling, and an impressive stage towards the front. It looked more like an elite charity event than some lame research conference Marie was expecting. 

Thanks to Ashly and Marie taking much longer than promised to get ready, the three were already late and got to skip the socializing before the event. They introduced and talked a bit with the people at their table, which included two doctoral candidates and an engineering professor.

The event progressed in quite a blur for Marie. Ashly had been right about a number of academic figures from around the world attending, as Marie recognized a plethora of accents from different countries speaking. Nevertheless, there was one certain professor of abnormal psychology that the student was patiently waiting to see...

Marie unconsciously bit her bottom lip at the sight of Nathaniel confidently making his way to the stage in graceful strides. He wore an all-black suit which was only highlighted by a silver pocket square. His brown waves were parted and styled elegantly. But it was his tall build that dominated the stage with ease that had Marie - along with others in the audience - staring with their mouths slightly agape.

The middle-aged woman who had introduced the professor handed over the microphone, obtrusively eyeing Nathaniel up and down. Marie had to look away and stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Nathanial commanded the stage with no effort, effectively introducing himself and his area of study.

"Now, I know a lot of you are already familiar with my work, but I was told to keep this event PG," Nathaniel snidely commented, garnering a respective laugh from the audience.

The rest of Nathaniel's talk was just a captivating as the man himself. He spoke about the intersection between psychology and law when it came to the insanity plea, a familiar defense seen in fictional crime shows to infamous trial proceedings involving big names in media. Nathaniel spoke about the role of psychology in these cases, going into the work being done to standardize and better understand the controversial subject to aid both defendants and prosecutors.

He ended the presentation by crediting the lawyers working alongside him in the project and - as expected - garnered the loudest round-of-applause of the day.

Nathaniel's talk had concluded the event, with closing remarks and donor gratitudes taking place after. Yet Marie's mind kept wandering...

She could feel herself getting restless. It frustrsated her the extent to which the professor had an effect on her. Along with the antipicaton for whatever he had planned after...

Marie tried to shake the thoughts from her head. She needed some space. 

"I'm gonna head to the lady's room," Marie informed Caleb and Ashly as the main portion of the event now ended, the remaining time being for networking. Marie began making her way around the grand room in hopes of finding an exit to get some fresh air.