Can't Control

Chapter 9: Gala

Tonight was the night of Lynn's gala, and we had spent the last couple hours getting ready. I planned on arriving early with her, so that she had some extra help setting everything up. Most of her artwork was already on display at the gallery, as she'd gone earlier in the day while I was working at the gym. But we needed to make sure that the catering company was there that she hired and finish up some last touches. I took this Saturday night off from the bar to make it to her showing; I wasn't about to miss this for the world.

Lynn looked super glamorous in the dress she had purchased for her event. It was long and black with glitter towards the bottom and a high slit going up the side. She had glitter lotion on her legs and did her eye shadow bright like her hair with dark eye liner and lashes. I had helped her pin up half of her yellow hair in a wavy bun on her head. If looks could kill, she was a dark goddess tonight.

I certainly felt lovely tonight, but not as dazzling as Lynn. I didn't own many dresses, and I definitely didn't own anything fancy for a gala, so I had bought one recently that I thought was appropriate. It was a black, off-shoulder, slim cocktail dress with lace trim on the bottom and top. The sleeves were long and tight, reaching all the way past the knuckles on my hands. I wore my everyday-wear glass bracelet from Trudgen over my sleeves so it showed, and of course I wasn't going to forget my new First Order necklace that I had only taken off to sleep and shower, as I didn't want it to possibly get damaged.

When we arrived at the gallery, it wasn't very big, but it did have a small stage set up on one-side, bottom floor, and her artwork was displayed on both the bottom and top floor of the small building. Not only had Lynn hired a catering company for the event, but she also hired a small band, a local jazz group, to play some light music. She really made this place look classy.

While we finished up some final touches before opening, I asked her what I've been dying to talk to her about for months. I figured tonight was the night to finally bring it up, since all of the Knights of Ren were coming to support her. "You and Cardo have seemed to have gotten really close over the last few weeks."

Lynn shot her head towards me with a terrified expression. "What?"

I raised my eyebrows at her and smirked. "You. And. Cardo. Yes?"

She looked away and started shaking her head. "Oh, no. No, there's no way—"

"Lynn," I stopped her, and I didn't continue until she looked back at me. "You obviously like him."

"No, there's no way he doesn't have a girlfriend." I dragged her over to one of the high-top tables on the side, and we took a seat.

"He's very eligible," I said. "You two talk a lot, and you've never talked about that?"

She sighed. "Well, I guess I just thought that he had a girlfriend, or even if he didn't, you must like him. And you introduced me to him, so I'm not going to—"

"Wait, wait, wait." I held my hand up to stop her. "You think I like Cardo... like that?"

"Well, yeah." She shrugged. "You invite him over a lot."

"I invite several of them over a lot."

"No, I mean, I feel like I see him there all the time."

I laughed a little. "Dude, I invite him over all the time, because I saw how you two were the first couple times I had him over. You two are so cute together, talking and laughing, and you barely paid attention to anyone else there. Is that why you haven't made a move on him?"