groovygamers.com

Megan finished running the lip gloss over her lips as she looked in the mirror.  She had just applied the last touches of makeup for her evening out at the First Thursday hosted by the numerous art galleries in one of the trendier areas of Chicago.  It only took a little bit to add that something “extra” to her considerable natural beauty, so the final process of getting ready had not taken long.

Moving over by her closet, she looked at herself in her full length mirror one last time, smoothing our her Carolina Herrera knit polo sweater as she turned slightly to one side.  She was also wearing a hydrangea print skirt, also by Carolina Herrera, that went down to her knees.  Because of the cold, she was wearing black pantyhose that were somewhat thicker than normal to help keep her legs warmer when they were walking from gallery to gallery.  Black Christian Dior heeled sandals completed her outfit.

Perfect.  She thought as she moved back over to her dresser to take out the dropper from a bottle of Dior J’adore perfume, running the sides along either side of her neck, and then a small drop to the base of her throat.  Then she took out the final touch from the case sitting on the top of the dresser, a string of Tiffany pearls.  Once that was properly in place, she was on her way downstairs, grabbing her white Versace coat as she went.

“Mom, I’m on my way to get John!  We will meet you two at Michelle’s gallery at seven thirty like we planned!”  She called out towards her parents room as she went.  To make the logistics easier that evening, Megan had rented a town car to get her and John to and from the art district.  She did not have to wait too long after getting downstairs for the black Lexus to arrive and was then on her way to John’s.
   
A short while later she was making her way up to the front porch of the Elliott’s lovely Victorian home and ringing the doorbell.

Megan heard John call to his folks, "That's Megan, I'm leaving."  and a moment later he opened the door.  He had on a suit and tie, and for a minute he looked like an entirely different person than the John she knew.  Hair combed back neatly, sharp suit, and dress shoes.  He stops when he sees Megan.  "Wow."  he says, blinking, "You look great."

Megan smiled brightly at John’s compliment.  “Thank you sir, you look marvelous as well.”   She said as she stood up slightly on her toes (the heels helping with that already) to give him a quick kiss before smoothing out his tie.  “You look like a doctor.”

“We should get going, never know how traffic might be.”  She said as she held out her hand to lead John to the waiting car.

They had no trouble getting into town, and the driver dropped them near their destination with some time to spare.  John gave Megan his hand and helped her out of the car, then wrapped her hand around his arm as they walked.  "So, how am I supposed to behave here?"

After taking his offered hand out, Megan wrapped her arm around John’s arm as they started towards the first art gallery they would be visiting this evening.  She smiled at his question, thinking it might be fueled by a bit of nervousness.  “Just your normal calm and well mannered self should be more than fine.  If you throw in some smiles, I am sure you will make a great impression.”

Looking over and up at him, she added, “never know, this could be a good networking opportunity.  There is almost always a few doctors at these, and there is a chance either a faculty member or administrator from the University of Chicago could be attending as well.”

"Well, let's hope I don't trip and fall flat on my face while trying to sound all smart and stuff then."  he says with a smile.

Megan laughed lightly.  “I don’t think you have to worry too much about that.” 

As they came up to the entrance to the gallery, Megan gave John a quick bit of background so he would not go in completely oblivious.  “The owner of this gallery is Michelle Reiner, an old friend of my parents.  She has a great talent at spotting promising new artists, and is very good at building long term relations with clients.  My family basically just provided a good bit of the start up capital for the gallery, both from my parents directly and from my and my bother and sister’s trust funds.  So we have a pretty good stake in the gallery.”

There is a good number of people here, and as you enter the gallery John's shoulders tighten and he glances around the room, a smile on his face but the intensity in his stare Megan usually sees when there is trouble.  "Maybe I should have told you that crowds make me nervous."  he says softly to her, keeping his smile up and trying to look casual.

Megan gives John a sympathetic look as he tenses at the crowd.  She felt badly to have placed him in a position that caused him such discomfort.  “In the future I’ll try to find things that involve less crowds then.”  She whispers back.  “But just try to relax, and look at this as practice at getting more used to them.”

She reaches down and laces her hand in one if his, giving his a squeeze.  “Just remember I’m here for you.”  She said, hoping that might relive some tension.  She then begins to lead their way through the crowd, looking for either her parents or Michelle, whomever they should happen to find first.

Megan's parents are with a small crowd near the gallery owner.  The conversation seems to be the art and it's resonance with modern culture, with some polotics thrown in from time to time.

Once she sees her parents and Michelle, Megan steers herself and John that way, stopping a moment by waiter to order them both a non-alcoholic drink and pointing over towards where they would be.  The pair of teens are soon over at the small group, Megan guiding them over near her parents.

”Good evening everyone.”  She said to the group in general before focusing on her parents, “we made it.”  Turning then to Michelle, she continued, “hello Michelle, good to see you.  The place is busy as usual.  This is my boyfriend, Jonathan Elliott.”

John smiles and shakes hands, and Megan notices that her father's handshake lingers.  "John, nice to finally get to spend some time with you.  I've heard so much about you."

John smiles and nods, "Yes sir."  John ends the handshake and turns to Michelle, "Ma'am.  I really don't know anything about art, but the gallery itself is lovely."

Michelle giggles and shakes John's hand, "That's alright John.  The best thing about art is that you can appreciate it without having to know anything about it."

Megan mentally rolled her eyes at her father’s lingering handshake and comment.  But it was hardly unexpected, and something she hopped John was not surprised by either, after all, her father had done a background check on him.  But the good thing was they were around a lot of people, so her father’s attention would often be diverted quite a bit as he worked on networking.  “Dad, your making it sound like I have been keeping him hidden from you.”  Megan said jokingly.

The blonde teen smiled as John spoke to Michelle.  The honest approach was probably a very good one, far better than trying to pretend you knew more than you did.  “Any new additions since last month that your particularly excited about?”  Megan asked Michelle.

(ooc SO, I figure after chatting some with Michelle, Megan and John will likely follow her parents as they make their way through the gallery talking with people)

After moving around the gallery and chatting with assorted people, Megan's folks find a corner to stand iin and watch the room.  "So, John."  Her father begins, "I hear you're planning on being a doctor."

"Yes sir.  That's part of the reason we moved here, I want to attend university in the city."

Megan is standing off to one side as her father beings talking with John.  She gave John a reassuring smile and then turned her attention to her mom.  “So how long before were you and dad thinking of staying till we moved on to Ralph and Steve’s gallery?”  She asked, mentioning the other gallery her family had ownership interest in, and  then taking a sip of her virgin margarita. 

"Dad wanted to try for about an hour here and then half an hour for the other stops. "

The blonde teen nodded and then leaned in to whisper.  “I hope dad doesn’t grill him too hard.”  She figured John most likely hear that, a thought that made her smile slightly.

"I certainly hope your run ins with the law wont jepordize your shot at med school."  Dad said, glancing around the room with a smile.

"No more then yours stopped you from becoming a lawyer."  John replied.

Dad looked at John for a moment, his head slowly nodding.  "So, have you considered a specialty yet?"

"Paranormal medicine.  It's an exciting sub-field and not many doctors go that route.  A good way to distinguish myself."

"Why don't your two head on to the next stop."  Mom said, "We'll meet you there."  She was giving dad the look that meant she wasn't happy.

Megan almost sighed as her father started out on some of what he had learned from the background check, but John had immediately countered.  It seemed to defuse things some, but sure did not make her mother happy.  Megan nodded as she took John’s hand.  “Okay, we will see you there.”

Picking up their coats at the door, the two were soon out into the cold air.  But despite the cold, the sidewalks were actually filled with people, making their way from one gallery to another.  White lights were everywhere, making the scene rather festive, and reminiscent of the holidays.  “Well, guess that wasn’t too unexpected.”  Megan said as she and John started towards the next gallery.  “Oh, and just to give you fair warning, Ralph and Steve both live ‘alternative’ lifestyles.  So, expect compliments.”

"By alternative I'm guessing you don't mean they're in a band?"  John said with a smile.

Megan chuckled at John’s comment.  “No, they are not in a band.”  It was a few blocks from Michelle’s gallery to the next one, but they soon arrived.  “Okay, here we are.  Don’t worry, they can seem flamboyant, but they are pretty much harmless.  And they know tons of people in the city.”  With that, Megan lead John inside.

"OH MY GOD." is the greeting they get as Megan and John come inside.  Steve glides across the room and hugs Megan, "You look stunning child."  Then he turns to John, "And you brought a snack."  He smiles and puts ahand on John's shoulder, "I'm kidding of course.  I'm Steve."  He looks around, "That man over there with the cane and ascot is Ralph.  You are?"

"Elliott, John Elliott."

"Wll Elliott-John-Elliott welcome."

Ralph comes over and hugs Megan, giving her a kiss on the cheek.  "I'm so glad you made it.  With all the craziness going on at that school of yours I was afraid you'd have been spirited away to a European boarding school by now."  Ralph's voice is high for a man of his size, and he seems to puncuate every sentence by putting his perfect hair back in place, as if it could move out of place with all the hair spray he has in it.

Megan smiled broadly as she returned Steve’s hug.  “Thank you, your looking marvelous as always.”

As Ralph arrived, she hugged him back as well, and gave his cheek a kiss in return.  “I wouldn’t have missed it, even if I had been sent to Europe.  But there has been o talk of talk of that, yet.  There was a bit of talk when things first started happening about sending me to Fenwick, but I talked him out of it.”  She said in reply to his comment about the troubles at Oak Park.

“Which is good, otherwise I would probably never have met John.”  She said, grinning as she glanced over at him.  “He just recently moved here from the DC area, and we have been dating for three weeks now.”

"Well, It was great to meet you John, but I must mingle."  Ralph said, twirlign and moving back into the crowd.

"So, tell me John."  Steve began, "What do you know about art?"

"Less than I know about fashion."  John said with a smile.

"Oh, we'll soon fix that."  Steve said as he took John by one arm and Megan by the other and proceeded to give them the grand tour and try to give John the crash course in art appreciation.

Megan gave Ralph a quick wave as he turned to make his way back among the crowd.  She turned back to John and Steve, smiling at the conversation and John’s admission of what little he knew of art.  Letting Steve take her arm, she followed along with him and John as they began to make their way through the gallery.  She tried to note some of the newer additions that Steve and Ralph had added since last time she had been here.

“Some wonderful new pieces Steve.”  She said as the tour came to an end near the bar and snack tables that had been set up for the event.  “How is everything else going?  You still with Marko?”  She asked as she began spreading some brie on a cracker at one of the snack tables. 

Steve made conversation with Megan, and continued to educate on the basics of art appreciation, while pointing out various wardrobe mistakes of the patrons quietly.

It wasn't long before Megan's parents arrived.  Her mother came to join them while her father stopped to talk to a couple of other gentleman.

Megan's mother was greeted with the same affection as Megan, and when her father came over there was a handshake and a polite exchange of first names.  "I have to go."  Megan's father says simply, "I need to negotiate something, I wont be late."  He kisses Megan on the cheek and her mother and then heads out of the gallery.

Megan smiled as Steve made comments about some of the fashion mistakes of a few of the patrons as the two talked.  When her father came over and excused himself, she smiled, “we will see you later daddy.”

After he had left, she moved over near John, taking a drink of her non-alcoholic cosmopolitan as she quietly asked, “so, other than my dad acting like a bit of a jerk, are you enjoying things?”

It takes John a minute to focus his attention back to Megan.  "Oh, yeah.  So far it's been great."  he says with a smile.

Megan gives John a curious look.  “What are you listening in on?  Is there something going on somewhere?”  She asks, as his attention was off somewhere else, which usually meant he was on the lookout for trouble.

"Ah, nothing I guess.  Lots of sounds together make a mess sometimes.  I think I hear things, but then when I listen to individual conversations I don't find what I think I heard."  He takes a sip of her drink, then makes a face.  "What is that?"

Megan’s curious look became sympathetic.  “I guess that is part of why you don’t like crowds.”

She smiled as he took a sip of her drink.  “Cranberry juice, sweetened lime juice and orange juice.  A non-alcoholic Cosmopolitan, in the real version the orange juice would be Cointreau and there would be vodka.”

She looked out over the crowd and said.  “There is a patio area out back, where much of these events take place in the Spring and Summer.  Probably empty right now if you wanted to get outside and away from the crowd for a little bit?”

"Yeah."


"I hope the real ones taste better than that, for the sake of all those people who actually have the ones with Vodka."  he looks around the room shaking his head.


"No, I'm fine in here."  he says, getting a glass of water from the bar, "Or, I will  be when I have the taste of that aweful drink washed out of my mouth."

Megan chuckles at John ‘s comments about the drink.  “Yeah, the real one does taste bit better.  I have had a few sips of one before.  Guess your not that into mixed drinks?”

"Mixed drinks are fine, as long as they don't taste like aluminum."  he says.

Megan stuck out her tongue and smiled.  “Guess it’s an acquired taste.”  She waited while John got his drink and then looked around a moment.  “So if crowds can be somewhat disorienting, are things where there is a focus better?  Like when we went to see Seth play?  Do you like the symphony?”

"Symphony is good.  We went in Baltimore a few times and Philadelphia.  My mom is a fan.  Concerts, movies, any place where the crowd isn't the main source of noise.  When I was little it used to be really bad, all the noise used to make me sick.  Now it's not that so much as I can't listen to everything at once and it's hard to not try."

Megan listened, nodding as she silently berating herself for not considering the potential drawbacks of John’s hearing.  “I’ll be sure to avoid things where there will be just crowds like this as much as I can in the future.  We have season tickets to the symphony, so always chances to go see that.”

"That sounds nice.  Maybe we can catch a few small venue shows in the city too."

“That sounds nice.”  Megan said with a smile as she could not help but recall the memory of ceretain events in the “dream”, or whatever you wanted to call it, they had all been trapped in by the witches.  Most particularly when her and John had left the lunch room.  “Shall we get back to mingling some?”  She asked as she looked at John, wondering what he thought about that.  She had wanted to talk to him after the fight with the witches, but with all the police crawling around and everything else, it had not been a good time.  Perhaps they could go somewhere after visiting the galleries to talk.

John and Megan made their way through the galleries.  Megan introduced John to a number of people, and they had a generally good time.  Afterwards John invited Megan to have some coffee and dessert before heading home.

The diner was not far from the galleries.  It was a bistro and John had said his mom loved the apple pie she and dad had gotten here a few days ago.  The pair were seated, and John waited until after the waitress had taken their orders before leaning towards Megan to speak softly, "I get the impression that you've been wanting to ask me something."

Megan smiled at John slightly as she replied., "You are difenatly not obtuse."  Refrencing a joke he had made about himself back the day they had reveled their powers to one another.

She then paused a moment before saying, "I just thought you might want to talk about...what happened, or I guess what we imagined happening, in the storage closet."

Megan notices John blush some at her mention of the storage closet.  "I don't suppose playing dumb would work here huh?"

Megan smiled slightly at John’s comment.  “Nope.”  But then the smile faded.  “If you aren’t quite ready to talk about it I understand.  But I don’t think its something we should pretend didn’t, sheesh, what can we say other than ‘happened’?”

"In a strange way I'm sorry it wasn't real.  I never felt so relaxed in my whole life.  I could totally let go without the fear of breaking something."  he takes her hands in his and looks into her eyes.  "Or breaking someone."

Megan feels her pulse quicken some at John’s touch and, as with crowds earlier, realized how much discipline his powers had required of him for so long, and how much frustration they likely caused as well.  She squeezed his hands in return as she met his gaze unblinking.  “For that reason then, I am sorry it wasn’t real as well.”  She said quietly.

“But in some ways, it was real.”  Megan paused a moment as it was her turn to blush a bit, but kept her gaze on his.  “I know the emotions I felt were real.  Last night, when we stopped watching movies, before the others called us, I was ready to go as far as we did in that dream world if you had wanted.”  She lifted one of his hands up and placed the back of it on her cheek.  “We can’t wish things were different, or easier.  Instead, we find ways that allow reality to be as good as the dream.”

John smiles.  "That would be nice."  he says, "I'd really like to, except."  He looks around the room, then back at Megan, "I'm not ready.  See, when I get excited, really excited, I don't do as well.  When I think about what happened in the dream, I know that excitement would be dangerous."  he pulls her hand close and kisses her knuckles, "I'd like to, really.  But you mean too much to me to risk it until I'm sure I can handle it."

John’s comment about how much she meant to him really caused Megan’s heartbeat to speed up some.  She smiled and nodded.  “Then we wait till your ready.  Its really no different than what many other couples go through, just the reasons are rather unique.” 

"See, this is the kind of thing that always derailed me before.  In Maryland, my other girlfriend and I would have these fights.  She'd think I was hiding something, and I was, and then she'd get mad and I'd feel bad.  I'm glad we can talk, I'm glad you understand."

“I am glad we can talk about things as well, not exactly a common thing you know.”  Megan said with a broad smile.  “And I remember that it was you that helped ensure that we could talk like this, when, after we had only known each other two days, you took a big chance and told me some of your secrets.”

“I’ll always understand, because you mean a great deal to me too.”  She said before she saw some movement heading towards their table.  “Looks like our food and coffees.”  She said with a smile.

John ate a piece of pie in two bites, then flagged the waitress for another.  "I have to become a doctor, otherwise I'm never gonna afford my food bills."

Megan laughed before taking a bite of her desert.  “That sounds like as good a reason as any.”