Who: Trip and Lily When: Evening Where: The Moriarty Party
Lily's day had been busy but productive - she'd gone to the studio in the morning for a workout, her first since being released from the hospital, and it had felt amazing to be able to stretch and dance and just forget about everything from the past few weeks for a little bit, at least. Then it was straight home to shower and back out to the salon. Her mother had booked them for some serious pampering - massages, some sort of ridiculously messy French face and body goop she couldn't pronounce, hair, nails, and makeup. The result was that pretty much all of Lily's day had been lost inside that damn salon, with barely enough time to get home and get into her dress, but it had been super worth it.
Thanks to all that time spent letting other people doll her up, Lily was glowing. She gave herself props for the dress she was wearing, having found a surprisingly elegant piece in one of the mall shops the girls had visited. It was a deep purple satin and chiffon affair that set off her tan; its strapless design left her shoulders and upper back bare. A small band of sequins gathered the chiffon over the bodice in an empire waist, leaving the chiffon overlayer to fall in a sweeping drape over the skirt. Her hair was actually styled for once instead of her usual messy tumble, swept up in a loose chignon that left tendrils free to frame her face. A small strand of pearls around her neck and matching stud earrings finished the look, and her makeup was subtle but effective, all long, dark lashes, blushing cheeks and pink lips.
Her mother was on purse duty since she and Lily's dad likely would be too busy schmoozing to do anything fun like dance, and Lily would be busy all night flitting around from friend to friend. Friends she was currently in search of, actually. Pausing at the edge of what seemed to be a sort of impromptu dance floor, Lily scanned the crowds of glittering finery for a familiar face or two.
To say that this was about the last place Trip Banks wanted to be tonight would be a huge understatement, but when mommy and most especially daddy insist you go to 'the' party of the season, well... So Trip had come to make an appearance, appease the folks and at some point, hopefully with one or several of his friends in tow, make a great escape and possibly throw a little impromptu pool party at his place. Sure he'd catch hell from the 'rents once they returned home to a back deck full of teenagers, but it's not like it would be the first time and strongly worded admonishments really didn't have quite the power to intimidate once you were technically an adult, even if you still conducted yourself as a sixteen year old.
Trip hadn't been there long, long enough in his opinion however, but that was not one shared with his father, who was busy introducing him around to those he considered very important people. Trip had another word in his mind for them, but that wasn't really polite to say aloud. Finally excusing himself to 'get a drink', one he wouldn't be coming back with as he'd had quite enough, thank you very much, he made his way to the opposite side of the room from where his folks were still busy schmoozing, Trip went about the task of seeking willing participants in the upcoming disappearing act. He scanned the room for the familiar faces he knew should be there and a slow smirk played on his face as he spotted candidate number one and made his way over, stopping just behind her, giving her a light tap on the shoulder.
Lily was so busy looking around for people she knew that she totally missed the one coming up behind her. She turned at the tap on her shoulder, face lighting up immediately when she recognized her crush. The one she would never, ever admit to anyone and kept super tight under wraps. Because it would kill her if he ended up like most other guys in seeing her as way too young. "Trip!" she exclaimed happily, stretching up on her toes and throwing her arms around him. It was, she noted with pleasure, less of a stretch than usual because she was sporting three-inch heels. He smelled good, she noted before letting him go, and made sure to keep that thought as secret as she could. Just in case.
"How are you?" she asked, hand smoothing briefly over the skirt of her dress. "Did you come with anyone? Have you seen anyone else we know? And holy crap, have you ever seen a place like this? I mean, damn it's fancy."
Trip couldn't help but chuckle at her exclamation of his name, it was always cute when she got excited like that, he thought it was really quite adorable. "Hey short stuff," he responded, wrapping his strong arms around her tiny form to give her a little squeeze. The heels were likely a very good thing considering the couple inches he'd grown since the end of the school year. Releasing from the hug, Trip took a small step back to take a good long look at his lovely young friend all dolled up.
"I'm good, really good. Happy to see you here and looking none the worse for the wear, all things considered." He said with a slight nod. "You're the first familiar face I've seen since I got here," he answered, looking around the room. "This place is just a bit ostentatious, definitely something else..." Trip paused, giving his friend a warm smile. "You however, look particularly lovely this evening, I do hope you'll be saving me a dance tonight..." He finished, adding a flirtatious little smirk. Yes, he viewed her as an adopted little sister, but he was still a rather shameless flirt.
Wrinkling her nose at the nickname, Lily punched him on the shoulder. Not as hard as she could have, of course, but enough to get her point across. "Don't call me that," she admonished. She hated people calling attention to the things she didn't like about herself. Then she smiled, since she wasn't really that mad. "You look good, too," she said, preening just a little under his regard. "Well, I spent long enough primping," she joked. "At least the bruises are mostly gone." There were a few lingering smudges at the corner of her elbow where they'd taken blood most often, but those were easily covered with makeup.
She grinned. "Of course I"ll save one for you," she said. "I have to dance with all my friends." Though she'd probably enjoy it more than with, say, Gabe in whom she had zero romantic interest. "Besides, who else would I dance with? Random crusty old guys who only got invites because they're loaded?"
Trip chuckled at the shoulder punch, even at her hardest it likely wouldn't have caused too much pain, she was a tiny thing after all. "Sorry, sorry!" Trip exclaimed putting up his hands in mock defense. He really didn't see anything wrong with her height, short, tall, anywhere in between, Trip didn't have a particular height preference where the ladies were concerned, it was really a non issue. He smiled briefly when she told him he looked good too, the tailor had done a good rush job on adjusting the length of his pants and arms of his suit jacket. The smile however faded when she mentioned the bruises, it was probably the first time since he'd heard about it that it really sunk in with full weight. "You're okay, right? I mean, really okay?" He asked in a rather serious and concerned tone that was normally uncharacteristic of him, but seeing a person he genuinely cared about had a bit of significant impact.
"Well I'm glad I rate above random crusty old dudes, I'm touched Lily, truly." He quipped, adding a little mock pout just for added emphasis.
"I'm fine," Lily said, warmed by his concern but not the type to dwell. If she could help it, and the best way to avoid that was to avoid talking about it at all and pretend like everything was cool. "Totally fine, so stop being a downer." She rolled her eyes, completely unaffected by his pouting. "Dude, you should never try that look ever again," she informed him with a grin. "I'm the one who does the puppy eyes and the pouting. Guys don't pout, they... do something manlier."
"Okay, okay, you're fine, just checking... see if I show genuine concern ever again." Trip teased, giving shrug of his shoulders. He'd still feel the concern, of course, but he'd return to keeping said concern to himself for now. "Babe, I'm far from a downer, I'm the life of the fricken party... maybe not this one, but the one later tonight should be good." He smirked. "Manlier? Oh Lily, you sure know how stroke a guys ego, don't you?" He laughed, shaking his head.
"I think if you were really concerned, you would've come see me at home," Lily teased, though she didn't mind so much. Her mom had gotten pissy whenever she'd tried to move around too much those first few days. "You should know by now I'm not the girl you go to when you want your ego inflated," she said, grinning. "I must be honest in all things. I'm like that sitar-playing midget from Moulin Rouge."
"Oh I know, Lil, I know. You're a very forthcoming girl, I'm sure if I scanned your mind real deep, I'd find you hold absolutely nothing back... right?" He smirked, it was an idle threat, he honestly made a good effort not to probe the minds of his friends if he could help it. And where his female friends were concerned, well, there were even more reason not to go digging about. God only knew what you would hear and not be able to unhear, best to err on the side of caution than go looking for potentially awkward situations. "Moulin Rouge is a chick flick... never seen it." He lied, he'd seen it, in fact he'd seen it more than twice, but that was only because his mother had a weird thing for Ewen McGregor.
"I didn't say I said everything that crossed my mind," Lily pointed out, calling his bluff. "I just said I was honest if you asked me and I don't sugarcoat." She kept the brief flash of nerves off her face at the thought that he might be poking around, but she knew Trip didn't like to do that with his friends. And she'd kept her secret this long, not like he'd ever noticed she was hiding anything anyway, so she wasn't worried about it getting out now. "Moulin Rouge is totally not a chick flick," she argued, snickering. "It's about two dudes fighting over a Parisian whore and the loser getting blitzed off his ass on absinthe. That should be right up most guys' alleys."
"Girls and their secrets, the money I could make unlocking the feminine mind... and yet I'd rather make films, go figure." Trip mused, shrugging his shoulders at his own oddity. "And randomly breaking out into song, I mean, c'mon, who really does that? I wouldn't be caught dead doing that kind of nonsense. That's what makes it a chick flick." Trip defended his assessment of the film, even if he had been rather impressed at how well Ewan carried it off without looking like a total horse's ass.
"So, I might be having a little after party at my place, nothing big, just a few friends, quite intimate... can I count on you to make the escape with the rest of us?"
"Gabe mentioned we might all be doing something," Lily said, nodding. "I'm definitely there, even if I have to sneak away from my mom. If she gives me shit I'll just tell her I'm staying at Charlie's and we'll go from there." Easier to sneak away from Charlotte's place than her own, with her mom being all hypervigilant and all.
"That's my girl," Trip grinned. "Whatever it takes," he added, glancing over to the nearly empty dance floor. "So I know I'll be seeing you tonight, but, how 'bout giving me the honor of the first dance of the evening? I promise not to step on those pretty little toes..."