Starships

Chapter 14

We all stop in our tracks when Alfred made that announcement. Babs goes to the door, and opens it slightly.

"We will be down soon Alfred. Can you tell the boys to meet us downstairs?" Babs asks nicely. Alfred agrees and I can hear him shuffle away. Babs closes the door and we all make our way around the room to get the final touches. I go to my bag, and get my black heels out. I get them out, and sit on the floor to lace the heels up my legs. Bee shows me a trick. She takes this black tube out of her makeup bag, and opens it. She takes the mysterious clear liquid and draws on my legs. She would take the strings of my heels and stick it on to the tacky liquid. I learned that it is eyelash glue. I thank her for the help and get up. I look in the mirror that Babs has next to her closet making sure everything looks perfect.

"Are we ready?" Donna asks everyone. We all say yes and we head to the door. Donna opens the door and we all walk out, heading towards the stairwell. I am the last one in line. I am still struggling walking in these shoes. I should have practiced walking around my room wearing these. I get the edge of the stairs, and it looks like the stairs grew taller since earlier. I feel someone stand to my left, it is Alfred. He holds out his elbow for support. I take his elbow with my left hand, and I hold onto the railing with my right. Together we go down the stairs. I look up and see Richard at the end of the stairs. He is wearing a handsome tuxedo, with a skinny green tie. He is smiling at Alfred and I.

We make it to the bottom of the stairs. I take my hand out of Alfred's elbow, and he gives me a slight bow. I bow my head down in respond. I look over at Richard.

"Hello Ms. Anders." He holds his elbow out for me to take now.

"Hello, Mr. Grayson. You look handsome."

"You look beautiful, as well." Richard compliments me. I see that he takes notice of every detail. I take the crook of his elbow and he guides me outside. I see adults outside, including my mom and Komi. I shoot Richard a look and he whispers to me, "Bruce makes sure to invite the parents out also."

That makes me happy, especially since I forgot to tell my mom where Wayne Manor is located. We all line up with our dates and pose for pictures. My mom takes pictures along with others. Pose. Picture. Pose. Picture. We soon get into couple pictures and we all move around the backyard. Richard brings me back inside. My mom and Bruce follow. Richard guides me to a different part of the mansion that I did not yet explore. It is an indoor garden. There are beautiful flowers growing all around.

"Alfred likes to garden in his free time." I can hear Bruce tell my mom. Richard brings me to a little wooden bench. I see a plaque nailed into the bench. It read: For John and Mary Grayson. My heart sank. Richard sits on the bench, and I sit next to him. My mom pulls out her phone and tells us to smile. Which we do. I notice behind Bruce and my mom, is Komi with Jason. They are exchanging in a quiet conversation. We walk around to find other places to pose as well. We follow my mom's directions and before you know it, it is time for dinner.

Richard and I head to the dining room. We beat everyone else to the dining room, which is fine. I want to be a lone with Richard for a bit longer.

"Richard, thank you again." I tell him, when we both settle into our seats.

"For what?" Richard asks me, as he is laying his napkin down on his lap.

"All of this. I know it doesn't seem like much to you, but it is to me." I explain to him. I also unfold my cloth napkin and put it in my lap.

Richard adjusts his tie to loosen it, which sent shivers down my arms, "Oh, yes. You're welcome."

I smile at him, and I hear everyone else come into the dining room. Everyone takes their seats and waits for dinner to be served. The parents even had the option to stay for dinner. Alfred gets some help to serve dinner. We had tacos, which I thought is funny. It is funnier, when I found out that it was Vic who requested tacos. We all dig into the meal. We eat exchanging in simple conversations. I can hear my mom getting to know the other adults too, which makes me happy. Komi and Jason are sitting together, again talking and getting to know each other.