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Had anyone told the birthday girl that her boyfriend was standing outside her house, shaking with nerves, she would have laughed uproariously and told them that they were ridiculous. Elzo was a lot of things; earnest, adorable, and usually incredibly possessive, but never nervous or unsure. Those were her realms of emotion, and they too were coursing through her veins along with a heady dose of excitement and delight.

Today was the day she finally turned eighteen years of age! That morning her mother and father had woken her up with what they called a 'Certificate of Adulthood', some cheesy framed thing that attested that yes, she was legal. But she still had to listen to them, of course! Things had been done away with, like curfew, and she was planning to make the most of them finally. Audrey was pretty sure her parents knew she'd been sneaking out on weekend nights to spend time with Elzo, and that was fine.

Now, she didn't have to pretend.

Hands nervously fluffed at her blue curls, topped with the large white bow he found so incredibly alluring for reasons she couldn't fathom. The same jewelry from that disaster ball that had turned into a Nega triumph adorned her, along with the dress that had been sitting in her closet forever with the matching needle-thin heels. All in all, it was probably one of her more mature looks, which was the point. Elzo had said he was taking her somewhere 'wonderful', and to look her best. Well, the bluenette young adult had tried, but wasn't entirely sure it was enough.

Jumping at the knock, she wiped her damp palms lightly on the tulle before opening the door to blush at what she saw. Oh yes, Elzo Xanis was positively dashing and looked a bit like Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne - decidedly an amazing thing. "Oh wow. Uhm. Hi." Pink tinge spread down her neck, with a shy smile. Hoo boy.

The flowers were accepted with a bit of a baffled look of pleasure. Audrey couldn't really remember the last time she'd gotten so many fully-opened roses, though it was the single white daisy that came out to twirl between her fingers and slip in with the bow in her hair carefully. There was zero secret that the quick and easy way to the bluenette's heart were through the simple white flowers, though why nobody could ever quite grasp. She just liked them. And it had nothing to do with that boy.

"Mama, do you mind? Don't wanna mess up the arrangement." Shelley lightly patted Elzo's arm in a congratulatory fashion as Jason simply turned his head to nod before looking back at the tv. His baby girl was all grown up, and it was making him just a touch nostalgic and grumpy; he was watching old movies from the 80s. A light jacket was snagged as the newly-turned adult simply grabbed Elzo and pulled him out of the house, down onto the driveway where it would be hard to be seen before her lips came up to touch his softly. "Thank you. They're lovely." It was weird to kiss him in front of her parents, no matter how old she was. There were just some things that were private.

Fingers brushed lightly over his hand with sympathy. "Is it getting any better? I really wish we hadn't gotten separated." Then she could have gone home, and not dealt with that damn fiasco. But no, she wasn't thinking about that, this was Audrey's day. Linarite could go to hell!

Turning her mind from it, her own smile was a tad mischievous. "I don't have a curfew anymore. I wanna fill up the whole night, since I don't have to sneak around anymore. Think you can handle it?" Her hips twisted saucily, the fabric moving with it alluringly. Adorable? Definitely.

No more fake ID indeed! It was the first thing that Audrey had forced her parents to do that morning, was take her out and swap the teenage ID that was vertical, for the horizontal adult one. There'd be another level to get when she turned twenty-one, but that was four years away and not the bluenette's concern. She didn't drink!

The music this early in the night was more big band than city nightclub, something that she didn't exactly prefer, but wasn't displeased by. Even before she'd learned how to dance, trance and dance were Audrey's favorite genres of music, and if she could have a good remix, she'd take it any day. But it was less seductive, and more fun, to dance to big band! More complicated, and eyes contemplated her heels with a bit of trepidation.

"I think that's a cop-out, Elzo. I've handled you for more nights than we ever intended!" It hard to not feel just a bit special, even if guilt was seizing her by the throat every time her boyfriend sent a lascivious look Audrey's way. Eve had told her of his abstaining from something that had been what had landed him in Hillworth in the first place, and it had touched her. Then someone had touched her, and the scales were unbalanced.

However, there was that nurse...oh dear. No bad thoughts! Audrey tamped down on those and smiled as brightly as she could. "Unless, of course, you twirl me so hard I twist my ankle too! It'd be the perfect crime!" Now there was something she knew about!

It was hard to have performance anxiety when she'd been here a million times, even if now they were a touch bit overdressed and doing the wrong sort of dancing. This wasn't a fancy party like Jada's debut or the Halloween Ball, nobody here would really judge the pair if their dancing wasn't show-quality, because it was probably better than anything they could do! It was actually rather comforting, and the praise had Audrey flushing lightly. Once, she buried her face against his chest and laughed with embarrassment as her feet stumbled, but it was all good-natured.

That was, until his hand ran firmly against the part of her body that could best described as her a**. That made her freeze for a moment before laughing again, nervousness rife in the sound. It wasn't that she had a problem with being that close to him, Elzo had gotten her almost entirely naked at least once. Notably was three weeks ago after their last dancing date, where she'd cuddled up against him wearing nothing more than her underclothes and one of his large shirts.

It had been rather comfy.

Quietly, gold eyes met blue and she smiled slowly. "I do know why it's different, but I wouldn't count your chickens just yet. After all...I might change my mind." Unlikely, but you couldn't just let a man think he could have everything! Women everywhere would have scolded her for doing that, even if she did intend to be with Elzo. Forever.

Twirling so that her back was against his front, Audrey squeezed his arms tightly around her with a giggle and a rather pointed rub against him. Minx, yep, that was her middle name.

There were a lot of things Audrey was not fond of, and being blindfolded was one of them. It was an undeniable fact that she was a bit of a control freak, and to give up that control to someone else when used to being in charge was something unsettling at best. However, Elzo'd never even raised a hand to her, and even if he had, there was no way he could actually hurt her. Truth be told as well, the wild car ride through the streets of Destiny City was more than a little exhilarating!

Though did he have to mess up her hair to do it? Small sacrifices, apparently!

"Considering you got me all dressed up, I'm going to say some small dive bar on the outskirts of town with lots of bikers, so that you can sell me to the highest bidder now that I'm legal!" Fingers gripped the dash as she leaned into the turns with laughter. "I mean, that was what you meant right, about tonight being different?" That earned her a bit of a snort from Elzo, and eventually the car slowed and stopped entirely.

Fingers pushed the ribbon back up over her bangs to sit like a low headband, fingers unconsciously fluffing her hair nervously as she then looked out to see one of the nicest restaurants in the city if you were under 30. It wouldn't be out of place to see a young couple on a fancy date here, nor would you have to deal with odd wine aficionados getting too deep into their glasses.

Frankly, she was overwhelmed.

"Wow. You didn't have to...I mean." Elzo gave his name with what seemed to be great pride, and as her chair was pushed in behind her, the girl could only stammer and try to not stare. "I guess I didn't expect all this!" Lightly her fingers stroked across the tablecloth, looking at the menu with a bit of bewilderment. Ordering a drink was easy at least - everywhere had the same old soda.

"Sorry. Not old enough to be guzzling it down yet." It was easy to smile at the waiter, dazzling him the full beam of her happiness and excitement for tonight. Elzo was the one she cared about, and thought that if she seemed too...well..childish, it would ruin things.

What did she care about this guy?

There was a bit of curiosity of what Elzo was doing under the table, and her mind hadn't gone anywhere near the gutter when things took a considerable dive. It wouldn't have been bad that he was texting, but then Nurse Barbie was their waitress? Oh yeah, Audrey could only imagine what he was setting up. What, was he using her excuse to potentially score? There was a decidedly uncharitable bent to the bluenette's thoughts, compounded by a layer of guilt that she couldn't banish the fact she'd been unfaithful, no matter how hard she tried.

It was much easier to think that he was being unfaithful instead! It wasn't something conscious that Audrey was doing, simply how her mind worked after countless years of reflecting her shortcomings onto others. It wasn't attractive, and usually wasn't obvious. Usually.

Trying to keep her expression polite, it was nowhere near as bright and happy as the one the waiter had received a few moments before. "Diana, hm? That sounds perfect, I love any sort of shrimp pasta." The menu closed with a light snap between thin hands, her smile almost as thin as her frame. The bimbo hadn't even gotten far away before a blue eyebrow raised in Elzo's direction. "Nurse Barbie, right? From the other day? Well, she's certainly...packaged." She was ******** hot. It slipped her mind entirely that Elzo'd never known she had seen him feeling up the woman from the maze.

God damn him!

Italy? Alone? Weren't there hot naked women in Italy? Something like that. No doubt from all the stories she'd heard, Giovanni Xanis had a small harem compound where he kept the rapid succession of his mistresses somewhere in that foreign country. The fact that he had ignored her question about Nurse Barbie the Waitress had Audrey biting her lip and quietly digging into the salad. It was absolutely delicious, and the centerpiece did earn her smile - it was totally cheesy, and something Elzo had no doubt arranged.

Maybe he wasn't as bad as she was thinking? There was no way he'd do all this just to get her to put out, when he'd been off for so long. Especially since Nurse Barbie looked more than willing the other night, but it hadn't happened. She would have known if it had.

Wouldn't she?

The eyebrow raised again as she toyed with a dove. "Does it involve a gang full of midgets and the ritualistic removal of my dress?" It was more likely than you thought! Was he texting under the table again? Oh God.