Action (DNF)

Chapter 10: Auction

Already 10 chapters...
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George POV.

My stomach felt as though it was going to explode once we’d finished eating. It was a three course meal, a starter, a main, and a dessert, and the meal was honestly one of the best that I’d ever had. I glanced over at Clay, who was sitting beside me. He was currently in a conversation with Sapnap and Karl, who were also sitting with us.

When I found out about all of them being famous I felt somewhat anxious. Wilbur would often ramble to me about different celebrity dramas during work. He had never rambled about the people sitting around me at the table, but he did often tell me about how toxic famous people could be, and I couldn’t help but worry if the people I was around at the moment were like that.

Clay was smiling and joking around, but there was a chance that under the surface he could be racist, or sexist, or something else equally terrible. He noticed me looking at him and gave a wary smile. “How did you enjoy dinner?” He asked when we made eye contact.
“It was good.” I responded. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“You’re welcome. You’ve been really fun to hang out with the past week.” I looked at his expression, and saw that it was genuine, which relaxed me from my previous anxieties of who he really was.
“Clay, you better be inviting George around more. You two go well together.” Karl said.

“If he wants to, then I will be happy to invite him around.” Clay claimed, moving his hand to rest on top of mine. I allowed myself to squeeze his hand, which he seemed to enjoy. However I moved my hand away when one of the waiters arrived at the table.

“Have you gentlemen finished your desserts?” He questioned, seeming insensitive to the fact that he was standing around a trio of celebrities (and myself).
“We have,” Sapnap nodded, causing the waiter to politely take the plates, somehow managing to carry everything in one trip.

Most of the other tables around had finished their food as well, with waiters collecting their plates before taking them off to the kitchen near the back of the dining hall. I couldn’t help as I looked around at everybody else, watching how they all talked casually with each other.

At some point during this my hand drifted back to Clay’s. Even though I’ve only known him for a week, it felt stabilising compared to everything else happening around me. The blond allowed me to hold him from under the table, while I glanced around taking in every small detail that I could.

I couldn’t help but wonder what Wilbur would think of this. He knew that I was going on a date today which was why he seemed so happy to swap shifts with me, saying something along the lines of ‘it’s about time you got back in the game’. On Tuesday when we next shared a shift he’d probably start drilling me for details about what happened.

The way I knew he would react when I told him that I went on a date with a movie star to one of the biggest events in the country would make him lose his mind. Along with the rest of my coworkers too, most of them were filming tiktoks when it was quiet so they’d obviously freak out when they found out the loser at their job went on a date with a celebrity.

Once everyone had finished their food and all the plates had been cleared away the man who had announced dinner earlier returned to the stage. This time though, a line of men and women all dressed identically went around the tables, handing numbered paddles to all of the people sitting in the room.

A paddle was set down in front of me reading the number ‘404’ in bold black letters. Beside me, Clay had the number ‘70’, Sapnap had the number ‘96’, and Karl had the low number of ‘3’. I looked over each of the different numbers as the person on stage began to talk to the crowd.

“I hope that all of you have enjoyed your dinner this evening.” The man began, looking around at everyone. “And now we are on to the event that you are all looking forward to. The charity auction!” At the moment that he finished there were loud, almost deafening, cheers going from throughout the hall.

Even Clay and Sapnap let out a couple loud ‘whoops’, and while Karl didn’t get that loud he did lightly clap and giggle along with the rest of the group. On stage, the man chuckled and made a motion which got all of the different celebrities to quieten down. All of them quickly did, eager to continue with what was going on.

“Most of you are probably familiar with how this works, but I’ll give everyone a reminder, just in case.” He took a step towards the centre of the stage before continuing for a third time. “All of these items have been brought in for bidding, and each of them are for a different charity. Any money that is spent on items will be donated to that charity to help people all over the world.”

Once again the people sitting in the hall began cheering. I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty by this point. After all, this was all for charity and I couldn’t donate anything to these charities. To distract myself as the man finished off his speech by saying that people could come collect their winnings after the show, I began drinking small sips on the wine I’d been offered, which up until this point had remained almost untouched at the table.

“For our first item up for auction tonight. We have got a dress, worn by actress Alison Pendal during her most famous film in the 1940s. Any money earned from this item will be donated to the International Cancer Research Society. Bidding starts at five hundred thousand.”

A lot of hands raised up the paddle, all shouting out louder bids and the total quickly raised above one million pounds in less than a minute. I smiled around the room, seeing how desperate everybody was to get their hands on that dress. Maybe it just was because I wasn’t some sort of actor and I couldn’t appreciate it.

However, from beside me I could see a similar reaction from Clay, Sapnap, and Karl who were all sitting with their hands holding the paddle’s handle. Our table was the only one that didn’t have at least one person trying to win the outfit of some dead movie star.

I was the only person who wasn’t touching my paddle at all, seeing as I didn’t have enough money to bid on anything. After a few minutes the biddings slowed down when the price reached seven million. It made me scoff, someone throwing away that much money for a dress which was probably worth seven hundred pounds, but I guess it was for charity.

“Alison Pendal’s dress has been won by bidder number 137 for a total of seven-point-three-five million pounds. Congratulations. Come and collect your prize backstage after the auction tonight!” A round of applause went up for the winning bidder, everyone turning back to look at the winner who was sitting a couple tables back.

“Now, our next item up for auction tonight is a statue called the wings of life, designed by famous artist James Barns. Money earned from this item will be donated to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Bidding starts at seven hundred and fifty thousand!”
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1374 words

An auction full of expensive gifts + a certain movie star who feels bad that he brought someone on a date without telling them what was going on (plus he's a rich ass simp and probably wants to fuck George after being single for so long)
What's gonna happen with that?

Also, George is probably gonna get drunk, what is Clay going to do when he has a cute and cuddly drunk brunette to take care of?