Dorsai - Jan

Especially for someone like Mary Alice."

"*Especially* for someone like Mary Alice.", I agreed.

We finished out the song, and were on our way back to the table when the band decided that another slow tune was called for. I walked Susan back to her seat, and was surprised a bit when Robyn got up.

Back out on the dance floor, I held her close as I told her "I'm sorry if I upset you, Robyn."

She pulled back a bit to look at me in confusion for a second before putting her head on my shoulder again, saying "What on earth are you talking about?"

"That little incident with Mary Alice's boyfriend."

She snorted, and said "Hell, that dipstick needs his ass kicked.

Besides, why would I be upset that you would care enough about me, and the rest of us, to be willing to stand up to him like that? If anything, it makes me kinda horny, having you talk him down like that!", pressing herself against me.

I sighed, and said "Sheesh. Some women. Absolute animals when they see two bulls butting heads.", teasing her.

She laughed, and said "No, not two bulls. One strong, wise old bull, and one sorry excuse for a calf."

After that, the rest of the dance was quiet, and sensual – until the band decided that some more of the current popular tunes were overdue.

We walked back to the table, and I held her chair for her, then sat down myself. Some more of their friends stopped by, and a very few of them were invited to join us, which they did, eagerly. They, and the rest, spent no small amount of time in little huddles as they exchanged what could only be gossip about who was with who, and wearing what. At one point, I caught sight of a photographer wandering around, and promptly bribed him to get photos of me and the rest – not only as a group, but individual shots of me with each of them – portraits and full-length, in an assortment of poses. I gave him my card and told him to call me – I'd want plenty of copies of the photos.

As the night went on, I continued to take the girls out on the dance floor during the slow tunes. With Kelly and Jan's encouragement, I even invited a couple of their friends out, which they happily accepted. The boyfriends were less than thrilled, but tolerant – particularly since I didn't hold their girlfriends nearly as close as I did my bunch.

Eventually, though, I started to see them getting tired, and asked one of the people that had been tending to us to let our limo driver that we would be out shortly. "Which one?", he asked. "You'll know when you see it,", I assured him. In a minute or so, he was back, and nodded to me, smiling.

At that, I quietly suggested that we call it an evening – claiming that I was tired. There was a little grumbling, but only a token amount: I'd been right about their energy levels. Goodnights were passed all around, and with a final kiss on the hand of their friends, I got us moving toward the door. When we made it outside, our limo was waiting, the driver standing next to the open door – and plenty of other couples standing around to watch, and spread the story of how we were traveling.

With all of us inside, we headed back to my place, again enjoying a glass of champagne along the way.

When we got home, the driver held the door, of course, and I was the last one out. As I stood up, I passed him a $100 tip, and told him "I'll be letting your boss know how good you did tonight. It was good work – keep it up." He quietly thanked me, and waited until we were all inside before getting back in the car and driving off. Clearly, a professional that took pride in doing his job well.

With all of us finally home, and free to just let go, all of them found seats in the den – leaving me my favorite chair. I could see that the excitement, hour, and champagne had hit all of them, and told them that if their parents okayed it, they were welcome to stay the night; otherwise, I'd be happy to drive them home. The result was a brief argument about who got to call home first – all wanted to stay.

In short order, though, they got it organized, and each made the necessary call – and in every case, the parents told them they could stay, provided I didn't mind having them. In a couple cases, I had to speak with the parents myself, but that easily satisfied them – they'd apparently seen beneficial changes in the girls, and learned that those changes had started with me; none of them hesitated about trusting their daughters to my care.

With the necessity of going home eliminated, Susan was the first to remove her jewelry, and hand it back to me so I could put it back in the case Paul had provided, before standing up long enough to take off her dress – without the slightest trace of concern or hesitation. The rest quickly followed, and with all the jewelry accounted for, I closed the case and set it aside to enjoy the sight of all of them for a few moments before taking off my clothes, as well. In a short time, the cat made an appearance from under the couch, yawning and stretching before trolling for affection – and getting it from every one of them. Jan suggested coffee, and we all readily agreed – she headed off to the kitchen as Kelly went back to the bedroom to put away her things.

As the aroma of the coffee filtered into the den, Candice looked me in the eye as she said "Dan, I want to thank you for tonight. I did something silly, and hurtful, and almost missed the happiest night of my life – except for one!", she grinned. "If it wasn't for yours – and Kelly's! – love and kindness, I would have missed out on it. It makes me realize just how much both of you DO love us, and makes me love you that much more, in return."

The others quickly added their agreement, and as Kelly and Jan entered the den again, began chatting about the evening, and all that had happened – without once mentioning Mary Alice or her boyfriend. All of them were simply thrilled at the way the entire room had gotten quiet when we entered, and they laughed themselves to tears at the memory of how the woman at the door changed her attitude when she found out who I was.

They didn't delay in comparing their own outfits to those worn by other girls, and quickly realized that they'd been not only the best dressed, but best outfitted of anyone else in the room – and that with a few notable exceptions, were the envy of every other girl that had been there. It was Sandra that told me – with the rest of them listening – that my kissing the hands of the girls that had stopped by had been a phenomenal hit: those that hadn't stopped by would be kicking themselves for days was their collective opinion. And they also knew that more than a few of those girls had noticed how their boyfriends all but stared at the dresses they'd worn.

They also quickly reached agreement that I'd been the best looking guy there – almost entirely due to the fact that I had worn a tuxedo that was obviously mine, and fit me the way clothing should. While some of the guys had tried more 'modern' styles, I'd stuck with the more traditional approach, and the quality fabrics coupled with simple style and proper tailoring just made me look better – classier, and far more mature and refined. They all figured they would be getting a lot of questions about me the next few days – and quietly plotted to keep the answers simple and brief, so as to make me seem all the more mysterious and romantic. Within hours of my visit to the school, word had spread that I had not only squashed Jenkins, but gotten the Bishop involved, as well. There were also some rumors about him being fired, but since he was still there, those stories quickly died out. All told, I was apparently both held in awe of what I'd done, and shrouded in mystery because of how little was actually known about me, and how few had actually seen me.

As the coffee disappeared, so did their enthusiasm for staying up even later. When I suggested that it was time for bed, all of them got grins on their faces before Robyn asked "Okay, who gets to sleep where?"