Saturday arrived fast and I was just getting into the gorgeous dress, that Gabriel had adjusted to fit me perfectly, when he, without even knocking, entered my room and stood all of a sudden behind me.
I jumped, when he laid his arms around my waist from the back, as I hadn't heard him come in or approach me.
"Holy crap!", I yelled, while I whirled around to hit who ever was attacking me, when I noticed his usual work attire and saw his shocked face and stopped right away, letting my arms drop to my sides.
"You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that!", I scolded him.
But Gabriel just laughed it off and turned me completely towards him, to then bent his head and kiss me very passionately.
"Wow", I whispered, "how did I deserve this personal visit? And what if anyone had walked in on us?"
He shrugged, then pecked my lips again.
"They are all busy right now. Nathalie is helping Adrien to get dressed, your mother is preparing snacks for the dance and the bodyguard wouldn't come up here, so....", he explained with a blissful smile.
"But what if...", I began to be immediately interrupted by another kiss.
"You told me, you never went to a dance like this, so I thought you would enjoy dressing up in a real ball gown and going there with a just as appropriate dressed man at your side!", my boss told me with a smirk.
I gasped, giving him a puzzled look.
"Are you saying, that you will be the one, who...?", I wondered very carefully, to see him bent his head to confirm it.
"I just thought, it would take a bit of the pressure off of your shoulders, when I was there too and would be the one, monitoring the whole thing and intervening if necessary. That would leave you being the cool, older friend, instead of the stupid chaperone!", he mused.
"But....how are you going to explain, that you and me will be going to the dance together? Won't it be rather strange?", I asked nervously, "don't get me wrong, I would love to be there with you, but I don't want to cause any rumours or even worse. I....", I looked to the floor, feeling totally embarrassed by the thought of 'the' Gabriel Agreste taking me, one of his employees, to a ball in his son's school.
He cupped my cheek and bent down to whisper:
"Maybe I should try a little more formal? Like that", he bowed deeply, then said not just my first but also my last name then added solemnly: "Would you please go to the dance with me?"
My face hot and red, not knowing, where to look, I nodded vigorously.
"I would honestly love to!", I finally responded.
Gabriel gave me a loving smile.
"Great!", he exclaimed, then started to grin and said cockily, "though I would rather undress you, turn around and let me zip you up!"
I did and he pulled up the zipper on my back, lamenting, because it got stuck in the lace. He then tried to get it free and managed after at least two minutes, now kissing up my spine, while he followed straight his hand closing the gown. There was another moment of struggling, when he came to the last few inches, but then he simply opened the strapless bra, I was wearing and pulled it out of the dress, to then easily finish.
Holding the removed piece of clothes in front of me, he explained:
"I don't think you'll need this. First, because I obviously did make it too tight to wear anything underneath and second", he paused and cupped my breasts, while placing a soft kiss on each areola, making my nipples stand and show through the fabric, "your breasts are beautiful and in the absolute right place without it!"
"Th-thanks", I said blushing, not being used to be complimented like this by him.
He took both my hands into his and kissed the back of each, then said:
"I'll go and get into my suit, while you can do your hair and makeup. But....", the tall man came very close now, stroking along my cheek with one hand, then brushed his thumb over my lips, "...don't overdo it. You look very pretty naturally. No need to ruin your beauty with any cosmetics, love!"
I felt, like I was simply melting into the ground. From being flustered, from feeling touched, from having a whole swarm of akumas soaring through my stomach. FROM WANTING HIM RIGHT NOW!
"You are getting me into a very special mood with the things you say!", I whispered into his ear, then tenderly bit his earlobe and let it slip out between my teeth very slowly.
Gabriel took a sharp breath and grabbed the small of my back to pull me close.
"I like that mood! Keep it for later, we need to get dressed and finished! Oh and, to your concern about what people are going to think, I told the principal, that your father recently died and that you are my number one model, who is a wonderful singer and dancer, yet has never been to a dance herself, because of putting too much time into working and education. He of course was immediately thrilled by introducing you to his students as a wonderful role model! So, neither of us needs to worry for their reputation, okay?", he informed me sweetly.
"But what if someone figures out, that the 'role model', who is somehow responsible to keep everything moral, has been screwing around with her boss for more than two weeks already?", I mused and made him smirk over my choice of words.
"So we're just screwing around? I thought we were...well....a little more than that!"
Seeing me looking at him, completely speechless, he pecked my cheek and winked, telling me, while he walked out of my room:
"Get ready, I'll be right back!"
The butterflies in my belly were now becoming so many, that it already made me feel a little sick. Despite knowing, that imagining a future between us or even him feeling true love was a dream, which would never happen, I couldn't help but feel incredibly excited. Letting myself fall backwards onto my bed, I squealed happily and stayed like this for a moment, before I went into my bathroom, to do my hair and makeup. Being willing to do everything, to make Gabriel feel just as bubbly, as I did right now, I followed his advice and did only a light eye makeup and put on some lip gloss in the same shade as the dress.
My hair was held back by two strands from the sides of my head, right above my ears, which were braided with a third taken from the back of my head, so it would stay out of my face, yet still fall lightly over my back and shoulders.
I had given the shoes, I was going to wear a lot of thought, being stuck between the last two pairs of the five I owned, that would match the dress. Knowing, that Gabriel was taking me, my decision was quick. I chose the one, that made me taller, to make it easier to dance with him.
Taking a look at the time, I gasped, it was only half an hour left, until I had to be there, as I was supposed to attend a short meeting with the other parents who were supervising the whole event and the teachers in the principal's office.
Adrien would be driven by the Gorilla, as he and his friends called him, after the man had brought me, or now me and Gabriel, to the school, to pick up Marinette all gentleman like at her home, meeting her parents, taking pictures, getting 'the' talk from her father, probably.
I giggled at the thought, Marinette being all nervous and even more clumsy as usual already, to then having to watch her dad saying a lot of most likely very inappropriate things about girls and boys and bees and flowers to the boy she had the crush of the century on. And imagining Adrien, all innocent and polite as he was, listening to Mr Dupain, while he was talking about 'him' and Marinette getting too close and doing 'things' was hilarious. I wished I could watch.
Eventually putting my shoes on, after having everything else done, I was looking for my coat, when I noticed something bothering me.
"Crap", I hissed. Now that everything was in place and the way I wanted it to be, I needed to pee. So, trying to lift up the skirt of my dress without getting it too wrinkled, while balancing on my too high heels, I tried to hang it over my shoulders, so it wouldn't drop into the toilet, without ruining my hair. As I pushed down my laced panties, the skirt of course slipped off of my back and fell down again, so I started to pull it up again, wiggling backwards with tiny steps, due to the underwear around my ankles, and eventually felt the cold porcelain on the back of my knees and sat down onto the plastic seat.
I sighed in relief, hoping that getting everything back in position would be a little easier. It wasn't. The silky fabric got stuck in my underpants when I brought them up again, twice, and I angrily slammed down the lit of the toilet and placed myself on top, when I then tripped and almost twisted my ankle. I managed to not hurt myself, but I needed to sit down and take a couple of deep breaths, feeling so incredibly worked up because of that tiny thing, that I would've liked to just stay home and cry into my pillow.
Now I eventually could understand, why many girls made such a fuzz over their prom. They wanted everything to be perfect and then those small, meaningless things became huge and spoiled their special night completely.
But I wasn't going to let that happen to me. I straightened my back, got onto my feet and fixed my appearance, then walked confidently back into my room.
I almost bumped into my 'date', who was just about to knock on the door, asking, if I was still getting ready.
I told him about the annoying little incident and he laughed about my exaggerated anger and now, that he was here with me and I was finished I laughed along, wondering, why it had upset me so much in the first place.
"So are we good to go then?", Gabriel asked me. He wore a black tuxedo, with a scarlet shirt underneath, just the same shade as my dress, a handkerchief in a slightly brighter colour in the pocket on his chest and a two coloured bow tie, the rear part was scarlet too, while the front part was just black. He looked truly hot. While I was checking him out, he had looked me up and down, the creator of the dress I was wearing, searching for any flaws, he had overseen, to then take a few steps back and look at my overall appearance, taking a sharp breath and let it out through his teeth, making a soft, whistling sound.
"You, my darling, look absolutely stunning!", he blurted out, making me blush once again. I lost count on how many times he had my face heat up and change colour already.
"Well, you look quite, uhm, handsome and.....well....hot too, if I may admit!", I tried to sound confident.
My boss smirked and winked at me, then held out his arm:
"Come on, the sooner we're there the sooner we'll be on the dancefloor. I want you to have a very special time tonight, my love!", he cooed and I slipped my hand under his arm to place it on his forearm, while he led me into the hallway and down the stairs to the front door.
Once again we almost crashed into my mother who almost let the boxes with the refreshments for the ball drop, when she saw us.
"Hey maman!", I greeted, to what she blinked several times and examined both our attires with narrowed eyes.
"Doesn't your daughter look absolutely gorgeous?", my accompany now asked her.
"Y-yes, Sir, she absolutely d-d-does. B-But, what is going on here?", she wondered, pointing at his festive appearance.
"Well, I have eventually decided, that I should be spending more time with and for my son, and as your daughter has never been to a dance before, I figured, I could not only make Adrien happy tonight, but give the young woman, who brought my latest designs on the top of the list, a night to remember. I certainly hope, you give me your blessing, for taking her to the middle school dance tonight!", he said the last sentence with amusement and even my mother began to grin.
"I'm sorry!", she hummed, "but all these rumours after the masquerade ball and the live performance at the fashion week just made me a little overprotective and paranoid. I really was considering, if you were trying to make her do things, that aren't in her contract. If you know what I mean. I am really , really sorry for that, Mr Agreste. And I feel bad for thinking that way, after all you did for us!"
"Maman!", I scolded her, "it's not very nice, to think something like that. And even if anything like your dirty mind made up was happening, it would be my problem and not yours. I am an adult, you know, and I can make decisions of my own, so please stop accusing Gabriel of trying to hurt me in any way!"
She quirked an eyebrow at me, then scoffed and said pensively:
"Gabriel, huh!?"
I tightened my grip, my fingers digging into his arm, when I shouted:
"Just stop it, Maman. You're embarrassing me and yourself. Just let me have a bit of a life, please!"
"As what? As his..."
"Careful!", the man at my side now hissed. The angerm that could be heard in the almost soundless spoken word was enough for my mother to lower her gaze. She was already turning around to leave, when Gabriel bent down and whispered into my ear:
"Don't part your ways in anger, love. It will only spoil your evening!"
I sighed and nodded.
"Maman! Please, I swear to you, it's in no way, as you think it is. We've been working on some very special and very secret things, and tonight is just to get a bit of distraction, to be functioning again. We....", I looked up at him, hoping he would play along, "we just get along very well and it's nice to talk and spend time. I even got him to read a real book. I have never had any friends, I liked to spend time with. Even if it feels strange to you, we're friends, who have similar interests and who enjoy their work. So don't make it dirty by imagining things, Maman. I beg you!"
She sighed, then nodded.
"Fine, you're right. But please, whoever you were with, sweetie, keep the volume down, the cleaning woman and the gardener were talking about it all day, last week!"
I blushed deeply and so did Gabriel. Luckily my mother had already turned around and was rushing back into the kitchen. We looked at each other, both grinning sheepishly, when he gently laid his left on my hand, that was still clenched around his arm, then he softly stroked over my fingers, making my tension slowly resolve. He gave me a questioning look, while pointing his head towards the door and I nodded. So we continued our way to the door and eventually got into the back of the limousine and were headed towards the Francois Dupont school.
After getting the instructions from principal Damokles, we slowly walked into the gym, which obviously had been decorated by Marinette and her friends, according to the by now to me familiar style. There were fairy lights and electric candles spread everywhere, the walls were covered with shiny curtains, which reflected the lights almost as much as the vintage disco ball that was hanging from the ceiling. A special highlight though, was the replica of a volcano, they had placed in the middle, and which was pouring glittering lava. I chuckled over this particular piece of decoration. Gabriel noticed and followed my gaze, then squeezed my hand lovingly, asking:
"It's interesting. So...uhm....do you like it here? And with me?"
I gazed around, making sure, we were still alone in here and quickly laid my hands around his neck to pull him into a tender kiss.
"I love it!", I whispered into his ear.
"That's wonderful, dear. Let's get to our positions then, so we can protect the students from, how did he call it, moral decay!"
He said that with a contemptuous grin and I laughed, saying sarcastically:
"Yeah, as if those fourteen and fifteen years old teenagers would turn this into an orgy or something!"
The students arrived short time later, all being rather reluctant at first, nobody daring to start dancing. Then Adrien came to us, Marinette holding his arm, as he had offered it to her and neither of them had an idea when to let go again. So to not break any society rules, they just stayed like this, the girl's cheeks a shining pink, stammering more than speaking naturally and the boy looked, as if he was sweating, but tried to not let anyone see.
"Father", he pleaded, "why don't you start dancing? When you did back at home at the ball, the people all were astounded. Maybe after that, others will start too!?"
The usually reluctant and antisocial man looked at me, then back at his son, teasing him with:
"Well, why don't you make a move, Adrien? As far as I recall, you didn't just make a very cute and beautiful couple, but you also did very well on the dancefloor!"
I nudged my elbow into his side, as I could already see Marinette panicking and uttered:
"That's actually a wonderful idea, Adrien! Shall we, 'Sir'?"
He acknowledged the Sir with a scoff, then held out his hand for me to take and together we walked onto the dancefloor, while Adrien signaled Nino, who of course had put together the music, to start a song for us.
The Dj nodded and started one of the songs from the ball in the Agreste mansion, knowing, we could dance very well to those. Just that this time we not only danced around each other, this time we knew how the other tasted, how our skin felt while we were touching, how very much we were longing for each other. Keeping in mind though, that this was a school dance and still early in the evening, we tried to perform as innocently as possible, but there were those moments, when he grabbed the small of my back, to press me firmly against him, when his hand brushed along my back ever so tenderly, when he bent me over his knee and let his fingers softly stroke along my leg before he held my thigh to keep me steady.
The teenagers were applauding after we finished the first dance of the evening and eventually Adrien dragged Marinette and Nino to the middle of the gym, his best friend taking Alya's hand on the way and pulling her with them, so, to not stand in between the whole school, embarrassing themselves, both couples started to slowly dance too.
Soon others joined them, some seemed more familiar to each other and were swaying around rather close, while most of them kept an arm length in between them, at least!
Adrien and Marinette did so too, until Alya whirled around them and laid her best friend's arms around the lad's neck and placed his on her waist, then danced back to her own boyfriend, getting close again.
The young model stood there for a moment, feeling a little overwhelmed, then shrugged and relaxed into the connection, even leaning in and closing his eyes, while laying his cheek onto hers.
I pulled on his father's arm and when he looked at me, I pointed at the couple and whispered:
"Look! Aren't they cute?"
Looking over to his son, he began to smile. A loving smile, that he let me see for the first time, as if he had never before noticed, while talking to the young man, that he was his son.
".... lo!", I heard him call.
"What? Did you say something?", I asked and shook my head, because I had not heard him at first.
"I wondered", the somehow completely different acting man repeated, "why you keep staring at me!"
"Oh", I breathed, then explained a little louder, "I just thought, that this was the first time, I saw you smile the way you just did, when you were watching Adrien and Marinette. The fatherly pride suits you!"
"Oh, really? I didn't even notice, I was smiling!", he looked over to the swaying couples again, then back at me. "May I ask for another dance, Mademoiselle?"
"Bien sur, Monsieur!", I replied all ladylike.
Nino had started a complete romantic dances playlist, as it seemed and just as we stepped in between the teenagers, a little faster one started, that made me feel as if I was in some eighties movie, like dirty dancing or so. It was incredible, feeling our bodies grind on each other, our legs crossed, so we were rubbing our intimates on the other's thigh, my hands lying temptingly on the back of his neck, while his were on my hips, almost on my buttocks, stroking a little bit up and down, making my upper body bent down backwards and then up again, as I at the same time moved my torso to the left and then to the right, through which my very sensitive clit was pressed even firmer to his leg and I could hardly hold the moan in, that was about to slip through my teeth. I bit my lip, to do so and could feel Gabriel's grip narrowing around me, while he inhaled sharply through his nose.
"We should calm down a little bit", he hummed the next time our faces came close, "would you like to have something to drink?"
"Hell yes, I could use some!", I agreed in a low tone, to which the famous designer took a hold of my hand in front of everybody and interlinked our fingers, before he pulled me towards the table with the refreshments.
I glanced around, seeing Alya raising both her eyebrows at me, then she grinned viciously, when I shook my head to stop whatever she was planning to do. I saw her pout, but she then shrugged and nodded, signaling me, that she'd text me later, to which I nodded and turned back to my escort and the beverage he was offering me. It was bright pink and smelled sweet.
"What's that?" I asked, crinkling my nose, from the obtrusive scent.
"I don't know, but it's the only thing they have despite the poisonous green stuff over there!", he explained laughing.
"Let's go and at least have a look at that, because I think, I'm going to end up in a diabetic coma, if I drink this!"
Miss Bustier, the classes teacher approached us and shook her head.
"Oh no, not at all, there is no sugar in it. Neither in the other punch. It's just food colouring and some kind of additional flavour, and I think, some vegan sweetener, which Mylene suggested. It's all very pro health, pro nature and pro animal rights!", she shouted towards us from behind the refreshment table, where she and another teacher, Miss Mendeleiev were watching over the bowls so nobody would try to spike the drinks with something alcoholic.
The latter shielded her mouth from the red haired woman and hissed:
"If you want, I can add some vodka to your drinks. But you mustn't tell anyone. I would never make it through this evening without pouring a little booze into mine!"
I chuckled, but shook my head.
"No, thank you", I responded secretively, "but after I had a little too much the last time, I wouldn't even want to start, while I am supposed to watch those kids!" I glanced at the man, who was standing next to me, yet a little behind, from the corner of my eye and saw him smirk.
Miss Mendeleiev though shrugged and muttered to herself:
"Supposed while watching the kids. How do you think, I bear them all week?"
I turned around very quickly and pulled Gabriel out of their side, before I broke into a guffaw. Noticing his bewildered expression, I told him, what I had heard and he instantly joined me. Having rather antisocial tendencies, he could very well understand her point of view.
"Let's drink to that!", he exclaimed, "cheers!"
"To all the drunk teachers out there!", I joked, and took a zip of the odd fluid.
I felt the urge to throw up the very moment it touched the tip of my tongue, but I ignored that and swallowed it down. Pressing my lips together, I tried to hide the gagging, the strange beverage caused and carefully placed the cup on a small, round table, to then bring a bit of distance in between me and the drink.
"Are you alright?", the grey haired man asked with concern and despite still feeling a little nauseous, I nodded.
"Yeah, it's just that stuff, I told you, I wouldn't be able to get it down. Maybe it's sugarfree, but, try it and you'll know, what I mean! It's like drinking liquified fondant. Disgusting!", I tried to explain.
He carefully drank a little bit, then shrugged and emptied his cup.
"It's very sweet, but once you got over that, it tastes rather good. Sorry, that you didn't like it. Would you like to try the other one?"
I shook my head vigorously.
"No way, I think I'll just try plain water. Nothing can go wrong with that, right?", I laughed.
Being all gentleman, Gabriel now offered:
"Then let me at least get you some water, or I will feel completely useless as your date!"
"Okay, sure. But please don't leave me on my own here for too long. Those kids keep staring at us and they are starting to scare me a little bit!", I pleaded, seeing him laugh at me.
"Relax, love, I won't take long. I somehow feel, as if my behaviour to avoid other human beings is rubbing off on you!"
"That's not it. Just look around. Someone must have mentioned, that I am here as your date and not as your employee. They are staring and they are gossiping. Just don't do anything to draw any more attention, okay?", I now begged and his smile changed into a frown.
"Come!", he suggested and held out his arm for me to grasp, "we'll go and get you some water together. So if they want to talk behind our backs, they can do that way easier as if we stay here with them!"
We left the gym, our arms entwined and went towards the locker rooms, to fill a fresh paper cup, made of recycled paper of course, with some cool and fresh water. I gulped down the first to then do a refill and took a seat on one of the benches. I was exhausted, though the evening had begun just about an hour ago. I was used to being observed, but only when I was up on the catwalk. As soon as I left and got backstairs, I was mostly a normal girl. This, being here as Gabriel Agreste's date for the dance, though under the excuse to be chaperoning, was tiring and annoying.
My boss and secret lover sat down beside me and observed me for a while.
"Are you sure, your alright? You look a little pale!", he then inquired.
I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder.
"I can understand, why you try to stay away from the public, if it's always like that or even worse", I hummed, "I wouldn't have imagined, that eyes, which are simply watching, can be so bothering and almost painful to bear. If I just imagine, how that must have been for Adrien, and probably still is. Though he's old enough to handle now, but raising a child like that, under constant observation by.....by everyone..... It makes me angry Gabriel, angry on you and your wife, that you would even let that happen and worse, make him even more famous. I really feel bad for him right now. It's incredible, that he turned out to be so sweet and kind and good to the bone!"
I could feel him tremble beside me. I had lifted my head back up, while I was getting myself all worked up and now I didn't dare to even look at him. His grip was painful, when he reached for my upper arm and turned me around to face him. He gritted his teeth and took deep heaving breaths, while his grasp tightened, now around both my arms.
Then he suddenly let go and was about to run outside, when I caught his wrist and pulled him into my arms.
"I am sorry, I don't know, what came over me. I know, you didn't want to hurt him and I am sure, that I am just becoming a little paranoid, because I saw Alya notice our interlinked hands. Please don't leave now. Let's talk about it. I....I would li....."
Then everything went dark.