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"Wednesday night cooking lessons would be amazing. Give me a call if you want to come over next Wednesday and I can make sure that I'm around." She smiled eagerly, excited about having someone around that understood her. At howls question, Calintha nodded. "Yes, exotic. And sure, I don't mind showing off my plants to those that ask. We'll have to arrange something."

While Fallon was on the dance floor, Calintha looked disdainfully at the chocolate placed around her. She ate a few of the ingredients raw, and dipped a single strawberry half way into the white chocolate. Unlike the majority of girls in existence, the blonde haired girl despised chocolate. It made her throat feel gross and she gagged when eating it. The only thing she could tolerate was small amounts of white chocolate, which was devoid of actual cocoa.

She said goodbye to Fallon as she headed out, and blushed a little at Howl's invitation. She was sure that she wasn't as good of a dancer as the other girls at her table, and that fact alone made her nervous. Wracking her mind, she thought back to the one single dance lesson her mother had forced her to. It wasn't enough to be confident, but remembering something about dancing in general was reassuring. Nodding, Calintha stood. "Sure." It wasn't much of an answer, but the poor girl was still on edge.

What a gentleman, he even offered her an arm on the way, which she took lightly. A hint of blush hit her cheeks. "No, I'm afraid that I don't." She smiled nervously as they stepped on to the dance floor, and even more when he offered his hand to her.

Taking it lightly, she allowed Howl to do all of the leading, since she didn't really know what was going on. At least in this situation it was proper for a guy to lead. She had watched Howl and Fallon a little bit earlier, but things that looked simple often were very deceiving. "I'm sorry if I'm a little clumsy." She figured it would be best to apologize first, rather than after she made a fool of herself.

((Please feel free to lead her around as you see fit, since she'll be following his cues anyways xD))

In a reassuring fashion, he uttered so only she could hear "Then this means I will just have to teach you myself." Once her hand was in his, he swung the girl gently into the proper position, setting his other hand respectfully upon her mid-back. He knew many young men who would take advantage of the situation and let their hand wander, but Howl was much more polite. His hand remained sturdy and firmly in place where he set it.

Mentally, he was counting the music, and as he had been instructed many times before, began to lead the young lady in a simple waltz. Perhaps it was not the most smooth dance, since every so often, the girl seemed to trip over her own feet (though he would make no mention of such a thing), but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. "No worries, Miss Calintha," he reassured her gently. "You are doing a lovely job." You never told a young lady she was doing anything less that a wonderful job when it came to dancing. His lips finally dared to offer her a much more handsome smile, his movements remaining quite fluid as they twirled along the dance floor. She seemed a much more appropriate height for dancing, and so he occasionally would pause and dip the blonde girl. Again, where many young men would take advantage of this and sneak a kiss in on the dancing partner's lips, he just remained distant enough to come across as respectful.

It would seem that soon enough, the one song had ended, and at the final dip, he lifted the girl up gently from her lowered position. "Thank you Miss Calintha, for the dance. Do not underestimate yourself, for you were an excellent dance partner."

"No, Miss Calintha, you were most excellent. You are quite the quick learner." He laughed lightly just before she asked her question. And for a moment, he grew absolutely quiet. He managed to maintain a calm, almost thoughtful expression as he guided her back to their table. He obviously was a stickler for manners, for he pulled out a seat and signaled to the girl to fill the spot. Only once the vacant seat was filled did he carefully tuck the chair in towards the table. It would have almost seemed as if he had completely ignored the question yet again as he pulled out a nearby chair so he could take a seat as well.

He brushed a teal lock of hair out of the way of his eyes so his blue-green eyes could look into the girl's darker ones carefully. If anything, her expression seemed to read more of curiosity than anything else.

"To satiate your curiosity, I will offer you this, Miss Calintha," he began. "I am not fond of my schooling situation." It was a simple answer, but it seemed to accurately describe the whole situation for him. Once more, Howl had managed to avoid actually telling which school he was enrolled with. However, this time the question was not so strictly focused on the specific school and just on the reasoning for his omission of a response before.

Though she was correct in her assumption, he did not even acknowledge it with a nod. It was just assumed to be correct at this point. His eyes were more focused on the girl's expression, trying to read her thoughts through her face. She offered sympathy, even if it seemed a touch less warm than most sympathies usually came across. It wasn't forced, but the tone seemed to hint that it was.

He still did not attempt a nod, as if to sympathize with her sympathies, but carefully maintained that calm, pleasant expression upon his face. He offered her two words in response.

"Barren Pines?"

He might have been at Hillworth, but word did get around pretty easily, even in such an institution. Unless Crystal Academy and Meadowview had all gone to the dogs recently, there was no other school he could really think of that could accurately be described as a "disaster."

The rather tense subject had passed, and it was easily noted as Howl's head dipped down, then bounced up slightly for a nod. "I wish you a safe trip home," he offered considerately before the girl swooped in and stuck something to his forehead.

He blinked. He also blushed for a moment. This had never happened to him before. What had she put on his forehead anyways? His fingers rose up to trace the edges of the small paper on this forehead.

Was this a Post-it note?

The blonde did offer an explanation as his fingers plucked the pale yellow square of paper from his face, and though he nodded, he was still absolutely confused by the whole ordeal. Normally you did not label people in such a fashion. Mentally labeling them, perhaps, but not in the literal sense of labeling.

At the moment, he did not bother to read what he had been labeled with, and instead watched as the girl prepared to leave. Had she not rushed off so quickly, he would have taken her by the hand and given it a small kiss. Instead, he simply waved a hand in her direction, calling out pleasantly "The pleasure was all mine, Miss Calintha!" His cheeks were still quite pink after the whole ordeal. After the blonde had vanished, he glanced over the note.

Ah, so her last name was Johnson, he mused, noting she also included a phone number. In all honesty, it was not surprising that he would end up with a young lady's phone number after this evening. Aside from the slip up with the hostess' question, he had been on his best behavior. He carefully folded the small slip of paper and tucked it away in his pants pocket, mentally reminding himself to check his pockets before washing this pair of pants. He eventually stood up, and made his way to the reception area. He still needed to sign that book the hostess had mentioned at the beginning of the festivities.

After he had signed in his most elegant calligraphy, he then went to find Marlo once more. Perhaps the two lads would have interesting stories to share later? Hopefully, the younger Mr. Xanis had lovely stories to share.

It was 10:50. The party would be ending in ten minutes.

Jada nodded to her tablemates, got up, moved towards the door. Staff was already organizing coats and tickets, mentally identifying their owners mingled on the floor. The young hostess pushed a curl to the side of her face, leaned in to give a kiss on the cheek to someone who passed out the door, smiling. There were small purple velvet bags given to everyone along with their coat from the restaurant; a small stemless chocolate rose lay within the bag.

The party had, in Jada's opinion, enjoyed an excellent turnout. There would be one final song on the dance floor, which Jada would not be able to participate in, as she said goodbye to the people who were drifting out the door. As each person left, they were again encouraged to sign the guest book if they had not already. And anyone who had not received more than a hurried greeting coming in would be given a handshake and smile on their way out the door.



((OOC note: Thank you to everyone who hung out in this ORP. I have a list of participating characters as being:

Jada, Fallon, Dale, Damian, Grayson, Alessa, Imogen, Ladon, Tate, Elke, Howl, Pierette, Marlo, Ignacio, Melinda, Aurora, Azzo, Melody, Barnaby and Calintha.

If I missed someone, let me know via PM please! On Tuesday I'll post this rp as finished and put the final post with the names of everyone who participated.))