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kataylaTitle: Meeting Smile After Smile (Secret Society Girl)
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Spoilers: For all the books.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 524
Summary: Jamie and Amy attend the Rose & Grave Christmas party.
Notes: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thelake, who asked for a private and unseen Christmas tradition at Rose & Grave. (Which this isn't really, lol.)
"Are you ready?" Jamie called from the other room.
I stared at myself in the dingy bathroom mirror. I wasn't fond of thinking of myself as a vain person. I know my worth went beyond that, yet . . . shouldn't I look more impressive? More knowledgable? I sighed.
The Rose & Grave Christmas party would be my first real appearance as a patriarch and I still looked like an undergrad.
Jamie appeared in the doorframe. "What's wrong?" he said. "You look great."
He said it absentmindedly and maybe that should have bothered me, but, instead, it thrilled me. It meant something, to have gotten so far into our relationship that such phrases were commonplace. Gotten to where I didn't need to analyze every word Jamie said or make a list of what he might be thinking.
And if Jamie and I could survive each other, what was a mere party?
"Okay," I said, and smiled at him. "Let's go."
The party had just gotten started when we arrived. Men in suits mingled while the Diggers—the current Diggers—looked on. Maybe Jamie and I were impressive after all. He, a rising law student, and me, jet-setting New Yorker of hot new company Caritas.
"Do you miss it?" Jamie asked.
I looked around the room. Did I miss being an active knight?
1) Yes. Some of my times in college—hell, in life—were in Rose & Grave. I wouldn't have some of my best friends, my job without it.
2) No. Let the active knights have the trouble. Deal with the rumors, the controversy, the headache.
"Not all of it," I settled for saying.
Jamie laughed. "Can I guess which parts you don't miss?"
But I didn't answer and he soon left to talk to a patriarch who was spearheading a senator's reelection campaign. I knew Jamie was aiming for a summer job with him.
I understood him so much better now. His ambition, his goals and his actions last year. Wanting to cling to this place. Clarissa and Jenny and I had taken the train to New Haven together, but when we'd seen each other at the party, we greeted each other as if we hadn't seen each other in months.
Maybe we hadn't. At least, Bugaboo, Angel and Lucky hadn't.
To my surprise, a patriarch cornered me then and began asking questions about Caritas. Fortunately, I could give the talking points in my sleep now. He asked thoughtful questions and, as our conversation came to an end, slipped me his business card and said he thought his company could help ours out.
I stared at the business card in shock. It wasn't the first one I'd been handed, but somehow I hadn't fully considered this aspect of being a patriarch. Maybe the Diggers didn't pull quite as many strings as the world assumed, but we did network. And parties like this were part of that. Maybe I'd missed that as an active knight, caught up in my club's—and my own personal—drama.
I tucked the card into my purse and went off to find Jamie. Maybe this patriarch thing wasn't so bad after all.
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Spoilers: For all the books.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 524
Summary: Jamie and Amy attend the Rose & Grave Christmas party.
Notes: For
thelake, who asked for a private and unseen Christmas tradition at Rose & Grave. (Which this isn't really, lol.)"Are you ready?" Jamie called from the other room.
I stared at myself in the dingy bathroom mirror. I wasn't fond of thinking of myself as a vain person. I know my worth went beyond that, yet . . . shouldn't I look more impressive? More knowledgable? I sighed.
The Rose & Grave Christmas party would be my first real appearance as a patriarch and I still looked like an undergrad.
Jamie appeared in the doorframe. "What's wrong?" he said. "You look great."
He said it absentmindedly and maybe that should have bothered me, but, instead, it thrilled me. It meant something, to have gotten so far into our relationship that such phrases were commonplace. Gotten to where I didn't need to analyze every word Jamie said or make a list of what he might be thinking.
And if Jamie and I could survive each other, what was a mere party?
"Okay," I said, and smiled at him. "Let's go."
The party had just gotten started when we arrived. Men in suits mingled while the Diggers—the current Diggers—looked on. Maybe Jamie and I were impressive after all. He, a rising law student, and me, jet-setting New Yorker of hot new company Caritas.
"Do you miss it?" Jamie asked.
I looked around the room. Did I miss being an active knight?
1) Yes. Some of my times in college—hell, in life—were in Rose & Grave. I wouldn't have some of my best friends, my job without it.
2) No. Let the active knights have the trouble. Deal with the rumors, the controversy, the headache.
"Not all of it," I settled for saying.
Jamie laughed. "Can I guess which parts you don't miss?"
But I didn't answer and he soon left to talk to a patriarch who was spearheading a senator's reelection campaign. I knew Jamie was aiming for a summer job with him.
I understood him so much better now. His ambition, his goals and his actions last year. Wanting to cling to this place. Clarissa and Jenny and I had taken the train to New Haven together, but when we'd seen each other at the party, we greeted each other as if we hadn't seen each other in months.
Maybe we hadn't. At least, Bugaboo, Angel and Lucky hadn't.
To my surprise, a patriarch cornered me then and began asking questions about Caritas. Fortunately, I could give the talking points in my sleep now. He asked thoughtful questions and, as our conversation came to an end, slipped me his business card and said he thought his company could help ours out.
I stared at the business card in shock. It wasn't the first one I'd been handed, but somehow I hadn't fully considered this aspect of being a patriarch. Maybe the Diggers didn't pull quite as many strings as the world assumed, but we did network. And parties like this were part of that. Maybe I'd missed that as an active knight, caught up in my club's—and my own personal—drama.
I tucked the card into my purse and went off to find Jamie. Maybe this patriarch thing wasn't so bad after all.
