Chapter 19: Ruffled Feathers

"A-all to yourself?" Dell clarified.

"Yeah, Bianca's all 'Dell's so cool!' 'Did you know Dell did this?' 'I want to be like Dell'. You'd think the two of you knew each other longer than the two of us. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to get a word in if she were here."

"Ah." That's what he meant. She felt a little disappointed.

"I wanted to be able to chat about old days a bit with you."

Dell smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that, too."

Just then, Dell felt someone bump into her shoulder. She looked around and found a familiar face turning towards her.

"Tim!" Dell exclaimed.

"Oh, hey, Dell!" Tim exclaimed. "Hey, Raph Lagan! Long time no see!" He said to Raph.

"...Hi." Raph returned unsurely, though he still shook Tim's hand.

Dell could see that Raph wasn't sure who the person before him was, so she intervened. "Raph, this is Tim Carlos. He's from the same university we went to."

"Oh, that's good to hear."

"Don't tell me you don't remember me." Tim said looking dejected.

"College was a while ago, Tim," Dell told him.

"Yeah, but he remembers you."

"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Our agency was invited. Since my boss couldn't make it, I offered to go, since I wanted to see Raph Lagan again." He flashed Dell a knowing look. "I mean, it's been a while."

"I guess it has," Raph smiled pleasantly. Then he added, "Oh, excuse us a while, Tim. There's someone we really need to say hi to."

And with that, he led Dell away. Dell flashed Tim a smile and thumbs up secretly before following Raph to the other side of the room.

Raph led her to an elderly gentleman at the other end of the room. The man smiled warmly when they approached.

"Mr. Naslack," Raph acknowledged him with a respectful nod. "I hope you're enjoying the party, sir."

"Oh, I am, I am!" The elderly man looked around happily. "So this is how the young people do networking now, eh? So lively."

Raph laughed genially. "Yes, they are, aren't they? Oh, Mr. Naslack, I'd like to introduce you to a good friend of mine. This is Dell Santos. She's an executive of Kelly Bank."

"How do you do, Ms. Santos?" Mr. Naslack took her hand and squeezed it firmly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Naslack." She smiled at him.

"Dell, Mr. Naslack is one of our investors in ElemTech," Raph explained.

"Oh, really? Rocketship Internet?"

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Santos," Mr. Naslack replied. "I'm one of their smaller, more... traditional investors, as they fondly like to call me."

"I like traditional investors. Less fluff, more bottomline, right, Mr. Naslack?" Dell smiled at him conspiratorially.

This generated a hearty laugh from the elderly man. "Finally! A young woman who understands!"

---

Raph happily took her around and introduced her to various players in the startup and new tech space. And she was happily revelling in his attention when they finally returned to Sean, who was speaking to one of the female models present that evening.

"Sorry, it took a while," Raph said.

The model excused herself when they arrived.

"Someone you know?" Dell asked.

"Yeah, we worked on a commercial once," Sean replied dismissively.

"It's really packed, isn't it?" Raph declared proudly. "So, what do you think of the party?"

"It's great!" Dell replied.

"I've had better," Sean replied.

"Sean!" Dell exclaimed, horrified that he'd actually go so far as to be purposely rude.

"And I've had better company."

"Sean, you're being rude!"

"Am I? I guess that means I need to excuse myself, then." And with a small nod to both of Dell and Raph, Sean left the venue.

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