Chapter 100: The Prom and a Private After-Party for Two

Mark

One might think a forty-year old man would dread taking an eighteen-year old to a prom, even with the promise of other fathers or men of near similar age there. Their fears might be based on ridicule by the teens, boredom or ennui with the event, inability to carry conversations beyond small talk, inability to dance, and other unspecified causes. This was not my case at all.

I started to build businesses and amass wealth starting at age twelve. By the time I hit high school, I had multiple thriving businesses I ran, and I didn’t have time to squander on going to proms, dances, or other school events. I did occasionally date, and I did go to one prom, but I missed all the others in the interest of business. Further, I didn’t think I was very good date material because I was so focused on working.

Since college, I had gone to many charity events, often taking a date, and more recently one of my ‘wives’. No one seemed to blink an eye that I seemed to show up with a different beautiful woman every time. After all, I was still rated as one of the area’s most eligible bachelors. My dates prior to finding Elsa and Cindy had uniformly resulted in my discovery of applicants for a trophy wife position, bimbos, and/or gold diggers. Since then, my luck had changed completely the other way, encountering only loving women who obviously cared for me far beyond my networth.

I escorted Tori from the building into the stretch limousine. She’d been in the car many times, but this was the first time she was the premiere passenger. Even Marshall, my chauffeur, gave her a huge smile and complimented Tori on her beauty and the dress. He put Tori’s bag in the front of the car with him so he’d have ready access.

The ride to the Marriott hotel hosting the dance was twenty minutes. I served Tori some crackers and caviar and some champagne. She’d had neither, and instantly fell in love with both, not to mention the luxury of riding to your destination in regal comfort.

There were only a few other limos at the hotel. Our entry was spectacular; almost like two movie stars arriving at the Oscars for the Red Carpet. Several of my security staff were already in place, as well as our photographer, Mr. Rice, who had raced ahead to capture our arrival. We were photographed disembarking from the limo, standing in front of the hotel on the Red Carpet, and then after we reached the ballroom and checked in with the two couples handing admissions. They all gawked at Tori and how beautiful she was and how decked out in diamonds.

Everywhere we went, men, women, boys, and girls gawked at Tori, and not in a bad way. They were suddenly discovering they had been going to school with a movie star. She was by far the most beautiful girl in the world, ably enhanced by the spectacular dress and many tens of thousands of dollars in diamonds. She had a high sparkle factor. To cap it all off, she had a smile that defied description as she held my hand or arm and led me around.

Two girls dressed to the nines in more traditional prom gowns rushed up to Tori and greeted her – Naomi and Alexis. She introduced me, and subsequently I met each girl’s father – Bud and Gerald. There was a lot of shaking hands, but the two girls were blown away by Tori, and for that matter, so were their fathers who more or less remained mute. There was no comparison; Tori was in a class by herself.

Tori quickly mastered the virtue of understatements. I believe the initial interchange went something like, “Wow, your jewelry looks so beautiful, almost like real diamonds.” Tori was signing us into the event.

Tori tersely replied, “Oh, they are real.”

There was some stuttering and stammering, and then closer looks at the elaborate necklace. One girl said, “Oh, no. If they were real they’d have cost tens of thousands of dollars.” Her tone was challenging and demeaning, even catty. I noted that both fathers were paying suddenly attention. I tried to act casual and aloof to the question.

As she picked up our programs for the evening, Tori said in a factual tone that didn’t boast at all, “If I remember correctly, I think the tennis bracelet was five thousand, and the necklace was seventy or a hundred thou.” She brushed the comment off and looked around to see whom else was at the function. She asked the two girls, “Have you seen Skye or Darby?” She wasn’t going to take guff from anybody. I got the feeling from the exchange that the two girls were some of the high school ‘bitches’ that needled everybody.

I heard one of the fathers say to the other, “Seventy grand. I don’t make that much in a year.” Both men came closer to me. One asked, “Mark, what do you do, if I may ask.”

I smiled, “I run a little company with several plants around town and elsewhere. My offices are in the Worthington building.” I tried to stay in character and be low key, the way Tori had. I also didn’t like to crow about my accomplishments.

The other man said in a puzzled tone, “I thought the only offices in that building belonged to Worthington Industries.”

I smiled as Tori tugged me away to go meet some other friends. Over my shoulder I said, “You’re right.”

Apparently, Tori had done a good job of protecting her relationship with me and the family. None of her friends really knew who I was or my status. I expected the interchange we’d had at the door to propagate through the room, but fortunately it didn’t. Consequently, I simply became Mark, Tori’s close friend who was serving as a surrogate male family member since her father had vanished years earlier.

Tori explained when no one was around, “Because you are my ‘friend’ instead of a daddy or step-father, we can be a little romantic and it won’t cause a scandal except that of a graduating senior obviously in love with an older man, which I am.” She stood on tip toe and kissed me on the cheek.

I laughed, “Tori, anything I do causes a scandal, but I know what you’re saying. We can dance a little closer and I can kiss you in public.” On that note, I leaned in and kissed her lips. We hung onto the kiss for about ten extra seconds. Wow! I had been missing out on something by not starting my courtship with her weeks earlier.

Tori led us to a table with a large ‘#16” on it – our table number. Two other father-daughter couples were already there: Darby and Frank Winter, and Skye and Jack Brookes. Christy and Russ Glynn came up to take their seat at the same table a minute later. There was the flurry of introductions and handshaking all around the table.

I watched Tori’s interaction with the other girls closely, and they were all genuine friends to each other. Tori also seemed to know Frank and Jack, having met them during visits to their homes to see Darby and Skye.

Darby was in a lovely cocktail dress that hugged her figure and accented her blonde tresses. She looked at least ten years older than she was. Skye wore a long flowing dress that seemed to have no form to it; I realized that was to disguise her heavier body type. She did look quite attractive and even sexy in the ethereal gown. Christy wore a more traditional prom gown, complete with puffy sleeves and a sexy neckline that kept catching the other men’s attention.

By far, Tori out shown them in so many ways, but she didn’t do anything but be a good friend to each of the other girls and try to engage their fathers in various discussions. She was naturally inclined to pull people into the group so they felt included. I had a feeling she’d learned those skills hanging around with Elsa and Cindy.

I watched how the other girls interacted with Tori, and found myself surprised and pleased to see that they treated her as their leader and trendsetter. Tori knew her role, but solicited input from her friends in a more egalitarian manner. Several girls came over from other tables to especially say hello to Tori too, showing the same type of deference to her. A few of them seemed to have heard about the diamonds and wanted to see close up what a high school girl looked like decked out that way.

The band that played for the prom seemed to know their stuff and in my book they sounded good. During a break I got a business card from their leader. I could see them playing part of the time at the Club Infinity.

“Mark, please dance with me,” Tori said in a hopeful tone.

“I’d be delighted.” I escorted Tori to the dance floor where a few of the many couples in the large ballroom dared to dance. We were one of the early ones out there. Tori flowed into my arms, we kissed briefly in a chaste way, and then we started to dance.

Tori was light on her feet, and there wasn’t a false step by either of us. Years earlier I had hired a private tutor to teach me to ballroom dance. I’d religiously spent two hours a week on the subject for over a year until I felt I’d mastered the delicate art of all the popular dances. Tori had obviously spent considerably greater effort. I explained about the old Ginger Rogers quote and book title to her: ‘backwards and in heels.’

As the evening progressed, we had dinner served and I was encouraged to dance with the other girls at our table, so I did. Since all were seniors, I found a safe subject was to talk about their plans after high school. Having traveled as I had, I was often able to comment on a particular city they’d be going to college in, if not the specific university I’d spoken at or knew of research ongoing.

Increasingly as we danced, Tori got closer and closer to me, until we were glued together in an obviously romantic way. I was sure she could feel my excitement with having her in my arms and the promise of what might happen later than evening.

Jack Brookes commented one time when we returned to the table from the dance floor, “You two look more like you’re on a first date than at a daddy-daughter dance.”

Tori grinned at the man and allowed, “We are. Just to clarify, Mark is my best friend and I love the man with all my heart. He’s my older man. I’m so glad we can be romantic together. He owns my heart.” She put her arm around me, and squeezed me to her. I responded with a little peck on her lips, and then shrugged and gave a goofy smile at Jack as though to say ‘I can’t help it if I’m so lovable to gorgeous eighteen-year olds’. The other girls at the table looked knowingly at the two of us; I wondered how much Tori had told them about her plans for the rest of the evening.

Jack grinned, “Do you suppose it’d be all right for a step-father to do that?”

Tori appeared to have some inside information. She said in a stage whisper to Jack, “I think you’d find that Skye would welcome such attention with great enthusiasm.” She grinned, “Why don’t you try it next time you’re on the dance floor.”

Frank Winter shook his head and said almost under his breath, “Damn, if it weren’t for incest I’d be doing that too.”

I turned my head away so he would think I hadn’t heard, but as I did I heard his daughter Darby softly say to him, “What if I didn’t give a damn about what other people thought? What if I wanted a romantic relationship with you? What if I knew that mom would approve and even encourage us?”

Tori winked at me. She had more inside information I realized than she’d alluded to in the limousine when she’d briefly described the other people at our table. My curiosity might get satisfied later if I remembered to ask her about what had been said. I also felt certain that Skye and Darby at a minimum were well-informed about what we’d be doing later.

We danced and chatted for another ninety minutes. As we ended a slow sexy song that I thought was a little uncharacteristic for a daddy-daughter dance, Tori whispered to me, “I think it’s time for us to leave ... and to go to where you plan to make love to me all night long.” I think that Jack heard her comment because his head swirled around to look at us with his mouth agape.

I kissed her forehead, and led her off the dance floor. Frank and Darby were at the table talking in low voices. We bid them goodnight, and I caught some conspiratorial looks between Darby and Tori. The other couples were on the dance floor, so we asked to be remembered to them.

We collected our things, picked up our prom photographs that the school photographer had done earlier in the evening, and connected with the limousine. Fifteen minutes later we were at the City Plaza Hotel. I escorted Tori from the car as Marshall held the door for us. Tori was exceptionally graceful and radiated her beauty to the few onlookers. People on the sidewalk gawked at the gorgeous young woman and her older escort. In the lobby we also received many stares.