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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 21:17:34 GMT -5
"We're listening to Ashton and hopefully guilting out a few more millions," Veidt cut in.
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 21:19:47 GMT -5
"And maybe dancing, and leaving our shoes behind at midnight," she said, poking her friend. She looked on the prospect of dancing with more than a little apprehension, and truthfully didn't expect Megan to either, but it would help her if she could be less gloomy about her prospects.
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Post by Megan on May 3, 2019 21:31:31 GMT -5
"For who? Donald Trump?" Megan said in lip-curling disgust. "Just shoot me right now." "Ashton, maybe," Veidt said lightly, with a you-never-know shrug.
Megan whirled to face him.
"Adrian!"
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 21:32:45 GMT -5
She was thankful that neither Veidt nor Megan was looking at her at that moment.
"Ah yes, the only two men in New York," she deadpanned.
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Post by Megan on May 3, 2019 21:39:07 GMT -5
"I'm not really on the prowl at the moment," Megan said, with another pointed look at Adrian just as an unctuous woman's voice cut in overhead and announced that it was time to find a partner and dance. She smiled in a way that was more of a wince and shrank a little lower in her seat.
"I think I'll sit this out, if that's okay," she said to Veidt, who was halfway up already. "Are you-" "Yes," she said. "I'm sure."
Veidt observed her a moment longer and then, with a sigh, looked to Teja instead.
"Would you like to-"
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 21:42:47 GMT -5
"Oh, no," she said, with an anxious glance at Megan.
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Post by Megan on May 3, 2019 21:45:06 GMT -5
"It's okay," Megan said, taking Teja's hand. "Go have fun. Leave a shoe for a prince."
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 21:50:53 GMT -5
Teja made a face at her as she left with Adrian Veidt. She avoided eye contact with him even as they turned towards each other on the dance floor. She was afraid of how he'd think of her if she were shy or embarrassed around him, and angry - at herself, and at him - that that prospect loomed over her.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:07:01 GMT -5
"This was a terrible night for this," Veidt said, looking back toward Megan. "I can't really understand how nearly anyone here can be so lighthearted so soon after all that happened last month."
There was still a grim set to his jaw as he took her hands.
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:14:23 GMT -5
"Given that he was a close friend of yours, you might be taking it harder," she said, though her heart didn't seem to be in it.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:19:45 GMT -5
"I'm still trying to make sense of the whole thing," Veidt said darkly. "I thought I understood it all much more clearly than I did."
He smiled mirthlessly.
"So much for 'smartest man in the world', hm?"
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:20:48 GMT -5
"Good thing I never thought you were the smartest man in the world," she said drily.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:22:05 GMT -5
"Between the two of us, neither do I."
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:24:15 GMT -5
"The trouble with you," she said, and it came out sharply enough that she paused a relatively long time before taking the plunge on the rest of that sentence, "is that you're just self-aware enough to think you are self-aware. But you aren't any different from any of the other people in this room. And you never were, even before all of...this."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:26:56 GMT -5
"Ah," he said. "Is that all?"
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