the doorman » a.i au

sixteen; "uh, girlfriend."

It turned out that it wasn’t just a dinner. It was a dinner full of glamorous people with black suits and little black dresses hugging their figures faultlessly with blue and red lights shining on their perfectly tanned skin and a posh classical band upfront making their heads bob in approval. Every piece of clothing screamed ‘haute couture’ and portrayed a high value of money that must have been put into them, as did the furnitures which I’m pretty sure were antiques.

I stared at Ashton, completely nonplussed.

“What?” he raised his eyebrows, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to walk into a huge hall with people of a class seemingly as high as the royals’.

“Don’t ‘what’ me! Okay, let's see, first of all, you mentioned dinner and what i had in mind was a chat over simple homemade food on a round table, not 5 tonnes of catered food on posh long tables! Also, you never told me you were rich! Like, I know your dad practically owns the place and stuff but everyone here is basically covered in custom made Chanel and the furnitures are fu- freaking antiques that must have cost like ten thousand each. Look at the curtains, Ash, they’re probably more expensive than my whole life’s worth.” A gorgeous lady in a beautiful red dress flowing down her tiny waist put her hand on my shoulder and interrupted me.

“That’s probably just him being humble, dear.”

Ashton flashed me a grin and then at her as she pulled him into a hug. “Hey, mum!”

Oh. Well, shit. The whole family must be descendants of the most prepossessing Greek goddesses.

I stood awkwardly, watching as the pair of son and mother embraced one another.

“Mum, this is Kara…” he trailed off, as if hesitant to continue, “Y’know, uh, my girlfriend.”

I was so caught up in watching him stone that I didn’t realize I was being pulled into a hug. “You’re as gorgeous as I imagined you to be! Ashton has said so much about you.”

“Just the good things, I hope,” I almost snorted as I remembered the little fart incident in his car, “Hello, Mrs Irwin. It's lovely to meet you.”

“Oh, please, call me Renata, there’s no need for formality within our family. I’d like to chat with you soon and so does my husband. We'll invite you for dinner or something but for now, make yourself at home.”

“Can’t make myself at home when no home was ever this grand for me,” I blurted out.

Fortunately, she laughed, squeezing my upper arms. “I like you already, you're so laid back. I’ll see you later, Kara.”

I turned to Ashton, still unimpressed that I was unknowledgeable when it came to my boyfriend’s wealth and status. “Secondly, I’m wearing a dodgy tight pink dress that’s barely down to half of my thigh and it doesn’t help that my face is caked with make up as compared to the natural beauties in here; I look like a prostitute whose rent is due in 5 hours-“

He silenced me by pulling me to a corner hidden from most guests’ views.

“First of all, I'm sorry I didn't mention this to you. I knew you wouldn't come if I had told you it was going to be grand but I did think this was the perfect opportunity to first introduce you to my parents. Not too much pressure for you because all the attention wouldn't be on you just yet. Also, I'm a hundred and ten percent sure you cracked my mum's shell! Let me tell you, she's way tougher than my dad and you handled the conversation with her pretty well so you don't have to worry about them anymore. Secondly, you look gorgeous and when I say that I really mean gorgeous in the most normal way possible. Not a prostitute kind of gorgeous. Your dress is perfect and I’m pretty sure most of the guests are coveting your figure. And c’mon, Kare, I’m in my doorman outfit, what does that say about me?”