Seven Levels Below

XXVII

There were less old men than he was expecting. Honestly, he didn't know why he thought that a late night party would be full of senators. Of course there were a bunch, but it seemed like the majority of the party guests were around his age—just rich upper-city kids whose parents were probably senators or diplomats or advisors or something. He was a little surprised to see that there were a few other lower-city attendees, but they were mostly older than him and Kirstie.

The staff had apparently been invited to join the festivities, but not many had taken interest in partying with rich kids rather than working or getting the night off instead. Much to Mitch's relief, Avi had opted to join Mitch in his awkward hovering around the edges of the room instead of sitting in the kitchen all night.

When Avi saw Kirstie's dress, Mitch had the delight of watching his jaw drop. Avi had immediately spun around to shake Mitch's hand and gush to anyone walking past the wonders of Mitch's fashion capabilities—much to the amusement of Kirstie and Ben, and the embarrassed pride of Mitch. They had mingled for a while early on, but migrated to circling the edge of the room once Kirstie and Ben had moved to the dance floor. Avi, having worked at the palace for several years, was able to quietly point out people and entertain Mitch with some rather juicy gossip as they slowly wandered the ballroom. 

Speaking of the ballroom, woah. And Mitch had thought the dining hall was big.

It reminded him of the ballroom from that old movie, Beauty and the Beast. The ceiling was a high dome with a massive golden chandelier hanging from the center. Marble pillars were spaced evenly around the perimeter of the room, leaving the open floor for mingling and dancing to the mix of upper-city music. Tall windows lined the outside edge of the round room from floor to ceiling, letting the distant city lights twinkle like stars against the glimmering gold and reflective marble inside the room.

Kirstie and Ben, quite the opposites of Mitch and Avi, had been talking and dancing in the middle of the room. Being social, making friends, etc. That wasn't Mitch's forte, and he was content to see his best friend having a great time. Besides, he and Avi were having a great time drinking champagne and (subtly) ogling all the high class celebrity kids and important people.

As the sky outside grew darker and the music slowly started shifting to more pop and upbeat dance tracks, the older guests had begun to congregate on the balcony and wander off into other rooms rather than join the crowd of teens and younger adults on the slowly forming dance floor.

Mitch had seen glimpses of Scott all around the room. Every time he popped up somewhere, Avi would tease Mitch for staring too hard and poke his side as he encouraged him to go over to Scott. Scott seemed to be pretty busy though, talking to all the fancy people and greeting the guests. Even the ever-optimistic Avi had to agree that Scott's duties as the host were unavoidable for a while, at least.

It didn't stop Mitch from admiring the cut of Scott's suit though. He had changed at some point between the Senate meetings and the party from his formal attire with all the medals and whatnot to a simpler, dark grey suit that looks way more comfortable. Scott had also exchanged the heavy, jeweled crown from the ceremony for a lighter gold crown.

Mitch kind of wanted to pull it off Scott's head and run his fingers through the perfect blonde waves underneath it. But that could be dealt with later.

"Later" ended up being a few hours into the party, when the lights were dimmed and the music was definitely hyping up the younger audience.

Mitch was leaning against the wall behind a pillar, waiting for Avi as he went to get them new drinks, when a hand slid into his.

He jumped and pulled his hand away, spinning at the sudden touch. "What the hell—Scott. I swear to God, someday you're gonna try to pull this shit and I am going to smack you across the face on accident."