Chapter 11 Gala

It was the Friday night and Lindsey has been thinking about the gala all day. Her friends kept giving her tips all week. She has only talked to Damian to make sure that they'd be able to find each other at the gala.

Lindsey was going through her closet looking for an appropriate dress to wear for the gala in two hours. She hadn't thought it wouldn't be too hard to find something to wear. But as she looked at the three formal dresses she owned, she didn't think any of them were good enough to wear to a gala full of rich people.

The first one was a maroon dress that reached her mid-thigh. The neckline went deep between her breasts and the straps were thin. She wore it to a wedding of her Father's co-worker. The second one was lavender and off the shoulder quarter sleeve. It was a high-low dress with sparkle on the bodice. This one was her homecoming dress for last year. The last one was black with no back but had long sleeves. It reached her knees and fit her like a glove. She had bought it over the summer to wear at Homecoming this year with her friends back in New York.

They were all beautiful, but all the rich people in Gotham and surrounding areas were going to be at this gala. They would be judging her the whole night. Also, Damian was going to be there. She couldn't be seen with him looking like a charity case. It would destroy his high-class image. And if they figured out who her grandparents were, she could destroy their image as well. Lindsey could ruin everything in one night.

She could just not go. She could text him and say that she had more homework than she expected. But he would see through the lie, they had half their classes together. She could say that her dog died, but Damian would probably come anyway since he loves animals so much. And she also didn't have a dog.

There was a knock at her door when she was picking up her phone to try to find an excuse to send to Damian.

"Come in," she called out.

In came Grandma Holling carrying a garment bag on her arm. She wore a royal purple gown with three quarter sleeves. There was some sparkle on the bodice, but not an overwhelming amount. It was enough to have people want to look at her. Her hair was up in an elegant up-do. And her make-up was minimal, yet still beautiful.

"Oh, good you haven't picked out a dress yet," she said. She lay the bag on the bed and turned to Lindsey. "Dear, you haven't even started getting ready yet. No make-up, hair isn't even started. Is something that matter?"

"How early was I supposed to get ready?" Lindsey asked. Besides I don't know what to wear. I was going to get dressed before I started on anything else."

"Well, that is perfectly fine," Grandma Holling said. "You see, when I first heard of the gala, I had a dress made for you. This designer makes all of the girl's dresses for events like this. I was lucky enough to catch her before she got too busy with this round of dresses. I showed her all the pictures of you I had and told her that I trusted her. And darling, the dress is stunning."

She unzipped the bag to get the bag out. The dress was a lovely shade of cornflower blue. The neckline plunged down to a modest length, yet showed off a good amount of her chest, and was covered in pearl-like beads that led to the back. Strands were placed where she supposed her shoulders would be. Then she turned the gown around. The strands crossed across the back, where there was no fabric. And the back ended right above where her butt-crack would be.

"You're speechless! I knew you would be. I was too," her grandmother squealed.

"Grandma, I'm not going to pull this off! I don't have the body for it!"

"Pish, posh. You're going to be beautiful. Now let me help you get ready."

Mrs. Holling has always been a well-spoken woman. She spoke her mind and didn't care if others feeling got hurt. Lindsey couldn't help but look up to her Grandmother in that way. And that was probably the only way she looked up to her grandmother.

She sat at the vanity while her grandmother went to the bathroom. She came back with a curling iron and hairspray.

"I think curls would be perfect," Grandma Holling said. "All eyes will be on you tonight, Lindsey. You'll have boys tripping over themselves to talk to you."

Lindsey wanted to say that she wished only one boy would talk to her tonight. But she didn't want her Grandmother to have a heart attack only to rise from the grave to tell the press. Lindsey decided to keep her mouth shut and watched herself in the mirror as her grandmother helped her look beautiful.

~*~*~*~

"About time, we're going to be late," Grandpa Holling said.

"Calm down, Wilson. I was helping Lindsey. This is her first High-Class event. Doesn't she look beautiful?"

Grandfather Wilson turned to look at Lindsey. His mouth dropped, and his eyes welded with tears. He walked up to Lindsey and cupped her face in his hands.

"You look as beautiful as Hailey did at her first gala," he said. "She would have loved to see you look like this. Your father too."

Lindsey stopped breathing for a second. Today was the first day she didn't think of her parents. She was too absorbed in thinking the gala tonight and Damian that she didn't think of her parents.

"Wilson, I thought we were going to be late," Grandma Holling said in a mocking tone.

Lindsey and her grandfather continued to stand face to face with each other. Lindsey had tears in her eyes and her grandfather had tears going down his face. It was a beautiful moment. The two of them would probably remember the connection they made that night until they died.

He finally let go of his granddaughter and wiped his eyes. "Yes, yes, did Samuel come back with the car yet?"

"He's waiting outside right now, dear," Grandma Holling said. Grandpa took Grandma's hand and led her outside. Lindsey picked up her dress and followed them.

Samuel was waiting by the car in a back suit and tie. His greying hair was gelled back neatly. He nodded to the three when they walked up to the car. "Mr. and Mrs. Holling. Miss Vindai."

He opened the door and Lindsey's grandparents turned to Lindsey.

"You go in first dear," Grandma Holling said.

"Okay." She stepped up to the car and ducked in. The car was black had the front, where the driver sat, and the back compartment. The back compartment had a normal car seat facing the front of the car, but there was another seat facing the back of the car. Lindsey situated herself on the seat facing the back. She gathered the rest of her dress and put it behind her feet. Her Grandparents stepped in and situated themselves.

"Are you excited, Lindsey?" Grandpa Holling asked.

"That's one way to put it," she said as the car started and drove away from the manor.

~*~*~*~

The car stopped in front of the entrance to the gala. There was paparazzi all along the entrance and a long champagne colored carpet reaching from the road to the door of the event. Light was streaming from the windows, lighting up the street.

It was wonderful, but Lindsey couldn't help but be out of place. Samuel went around to the side and opened the door for Grandma Holling holding his hand for her. She placed her hand in his and stepped out. Next Grandpa Holling exited behind his wife, placing an arm around her waist. Lindsey sat stiff as a board in her seat.

"Miss Vindai, do you need assistance?" Samuel asked.

"No. No, I'm fine, just gathering courage," she said. He laughed at her and held his hand out for her. Lindsey gripped his hand a bit too hard, she heard him let out a low hiss. "Sorry, sorry." She said as she stepped out of the car.

Once she straightened herself flashes started going off. They blinded Lindsey, she lifted a hand in front of her eyes to try to block out all the light.

"Mr. Holling, Mr. Holling! Is that your granddaughter?" a reporter shouted.

"Who are you wearing Miss?"

"Are those real pearls?"

"Are you dating anyone, Miss?"

"This is my granddaughter, Lindsey Vindai. She is wearing an LaRue original, and no they are not real pearls. And to our knowledge she is not dating anyone yet," Grandma Holling stepped in to answer the questions. Grandpa Holling took Lindsey's hand and put it in the crick of his arm. He pulled her along the carpet and passed the press until they were inside.

"I'm so sorry Lindsey, we didn't know they knew about you yet. We didn't know they would ambush you. They can be a little pushy at times, but you'll get used to it."

"Grandpa Holling, I don't know I if want to get used to it. I don't want to live this way longer than it takes me to graduate High School. Everything is so overwhelming," Lindsey said.

"We'll talk more about it when we get home. For now, try to have some fun."

Grandma Holling walked in behind them and put her arm into her husbands with a smile. They walked in together leaving Lindsey in the entrance. She pulled out her phone and quickly found Damian's name in her contacts list.

Hey, Damian. I'm here. I'll be by the drinks table. She read it over a couple times before sending it to him. She finally found the courage to walk in. There were beautiful people all around her.

Women were dressed in their finest dresses, they wore jewelry with large gems. They made sure that they were noticeable with how they looked. Lindsey didn't want to wear anything else besides the expensive dress her Grandmother had made for her. Her grandmother asked her many times if she wanted to wear jewelry or at least diamond stud earrings. She turned it all down wanting to look as natural as possible. The men were dressed in sharp suits. She couldn't tell much difference between the suits, but they could only be expensive.

She found a table with champagne, alcohol, and punch. It was probably for those who were thirsty and didn't want to look or wait around for a waiter. She grabbed a cup full of red punch. She lifted it to her lips, when someone spoke behind her.

"It has alcohol in it," it said.

She jumped and attempted not to spill. She spun around to see Damian standing behind her.

"Is there anything that's non-alcoholic here?" Lindsey asked.

"You have to ask," Damian shrugged.

"Really?"

"I don't know, I've never asked," Damian said.

Lindsey wanted to hit him. "How long have you been coming to these things?"

"Since I was twelve."

"You've been drinking alcohol since you were twelve?"

"I've done worse. I've been driving since I was five."

Lindsey had learned more about Damian in barely a minute they were together at this gala than when they were sitting together at lunch for the past two weeks.

"Your mother had you driving at five years-old?"

"Mother wasn't very motherly." Damian grabbed the cup from Lindsey and placed it on the table. He then stood and looked her up and down. "You look stunning."

Lindsey blushed slightly looking down at her hands. "Thank you, Damian."

"There are a couple things I wish I could change."

Lindsey's head snapped up. She knew Damian was a straight-forward person, but he's never been too rude to her. "What would you change?"

He reached his hand into a pocket on the inside of his jacket and pulled out a handkerchief. He pressed it against her lips and swiped the lipstick off her lips. "That's one. And number two," he pulled her against him as he wrapped his hand around her back. "I wouldn't have this," he rubbed her lower back in circles, "showing so much. It leaves little to the imagination."

Lindsey was breathless. She was putting out small pants into his collarbone. When he had pulled her in, she had put her hands in between them to try to leave some space, but she ended up getting her hands caught between their stomachs. She was feeling more of him than she wanted to.

"What do you mean imagination?" Lindsey asked out of breath.

"Some people like imagining what a lover would look like unclothed," He whispered hotly in her ear. She gulped as she felt her heartbeat sped up. He then let go of her and backed away a step. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Lindsey."

"I wasn't uncomfortable. Just let my heartrate slow down a little," she said as she put her hand on her chest.

Damian looked at Lindsey, she really was beautiful. He looked around to see some of the Gotham Elite boys staring at the two of them. He scowled at them. The reason he did what he did was to get the piranhas away from what he claimed as his. He had seen Lindsey step inside and the boys their age automatically turned their heads to her. He had to show that she was already taken. And he wasn't going to let anyone else touch her. Unfortunately, his plan didn't work very well.

"Damian is everything okay?" Lindsey asked.

"Everything is fine," he said still looking away from Lindsey. He looked back to her. He looked her up and down once more, unable to believe how beautiful she was. "Would you like to dance?"

"Yeah, let's dance," Lindsey said quickly. She may have said it a little too quickly.

Damian held out an elbow for her to take. She slipped her hand in. Lindsey hoped he couldn't feel her shaking, but unfortunately, he could. He placed his free hand on her hand and stroked the back of it softly with his thumb.

Once to the dance floor, Damian stopped them closer to the edge of the dance floor. The gala had a full orchestra playing and the music was soft and airy. The two of them became situated and then they started dancing. Damian lead Lindsey into a waltz across the floor.

"I hope my grandparents don't notice me dancing," Lindsey said as she looked around the hall.

"Why?" Damian was confused about what would be so bad about dancing with him.

"When we go to leave, they'll bombard me with questions. They would ask what I was doing with you, if we are dating, just a lot of questions that I don't want to answer. I don't want to deal with that right now," she said.

"Stop thinking about things," Damian said angrily. "Focus on me."

Lindsey look up at Damian. Why has she taken an interest in her? Of all the girls in Gotham, he noticed her. She wasn't as beautiful as some of the other girls. She liked to think she was smarter than the fake blonde bimbos at school who called themselves the 'Elite'. She would never be as rich as some of them until her grandparents died and she became the only recipient of their fortune.

"Why me?"

"Pardon?"

"Out of all the girls living in Gotham, throwing themselves at you. You never noticed them, but when I came and heard about your reputation, I tried to put space between us. But you kept pulling us closer. Why did you choose me?"

"I didn't choose you. I knew you were different when you first spoke to me. No other girl was like you, timid, scared, yet kind. I didn't look at you and think you were going to the be girl, I looked at you and I knew you were special. Lindsey, my mother may not have taught me many good things, but she did teach me, that there is one person in the world you cannot live without, someone more beloved than anyone else in life. She thought that person for her was Father. And I believe that you could be my beloved."

By then they had stopped their waltz and stood holding each other on the dancefloor.

"You love me more than anyone else?"

"I don't know for sure what love feels like when it's not for family, but I think this is it," Damian said. "I want to learn what it feels like to love someone in a way that you would do anything for them."

Lindsey stood speechless for what felt like the thousandth time that night. She wanted to say something but nothing she thought of came out of her life.

"Excuse me, may I cut in?"

The two of them snapped their heads to a new voice. There stood a boy was blonde hair styled neatly in a blue suit jacket and grey pants. He was looking at Lindsey expectantly. He didn't even seem to notice Damian holding her close.

"It would be rude if I said no," Lindsey said. She looked at Damian who looked like he wanted to kill the boy.

"I'll be back for the next song," Damian said to Lindsey quietly, but not quiet enough for the new boy not to hear.

He handed Lindsey's hand to the boy and nodded at Lindsey before walking off. The two got situated and begun swaying back and forth. He wasn't as god of a dancer as Damian that much was obvious.

"I don't know how you got him to dance with you," the boy said in a joking tone. "It must be some sort of witchcraft."

"He actually asked me to accompany him. I was already attending with my grandparents, so we just met up here."

"Who are your grandparents? Anyone important?"

"The Hollings, owners of Holling Oil."

"You must be their daughter's kid. I was upset to hear about your parents passing. But seeing an extraordinary thing like you makes it better."

"And you are?" Lindsey asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Aleczander Termlock. One of the founding families of Gotham. But my friends call me Alec."

"Well Alec, my name is Lindsey."

"It's my pleasure, completely. But just so you know, Damian is not the best person to be friends with. Or more than friends with. Whatever is going on between you two will only break your heart in the end."

"So I've been told," she muttered to herself.

"Why stick around with him, if you know you're going to be hurt?"

"I tried staying away from him, but he was the one who kept coming to me."

"You must be something very special."

"Not really."

"Or maybe he likes you for something else?" Lindsey felt his hand creep down her open back to her butt. He cupped it softly in his hand.

"Um, can you move your hand, please?" Lindsey asked. She was ready for Damian to swoop in and save her.

"Tell me, Lindsey, what would the great Damian Wayne see in you?"

"Move your hand and I'll tell you."

Across the room Damian had just found his Father. He was talking with some 'friends' with a glass of champagne in his hand. Bruce Wayne could see that his son was fuming even before Damian found him. He excused himself from those around him and walked in between the tables when Damian finally caught up to him.

"Something wrong, Damian?" he asked.

"Termlock is dancing with Lindsey," Damian growled sitting himself in a seat next to where his father was standing. "That little termite doesn't deserve to be in her presence, let alone touch her."

"Did she jump into his arms or was she being polite in taking the offer, Damian?" Bruce asked.

"Have you gotten any confirmation that the tip the GCPD received was correct?" Damian asked, wanting to avoid any questions from his Father.

"No," Bruce said in a lower tone. "But stay alert. Don't be too distracted by her."

"I'll make sure that she gets out safe then I'll join you. That is if anything happens." He stood up as the song ended to return to Lindsey.

"Damian," Bruce stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "she cannot distract you from what is really important."

Damian glared at his father before wrenching his shoulder from his father's grasp. He straightened his jacket before returning to the dancefloor. Aleczander was talking to Lindsey about his family's management company. Lindsey was looking around the dancefloor before her eyes landed on Damian, making his way towards her. She visibly relaxed when she saw him.

Once Damian reached the two of them, he slapped a hand on Aleczander's shoulder, who clearly winced. Lindsey couldn't help but smile at the boy's pain.

"I think I'm going to take back my girl," Damian said as he squeezed Aleczander's shoulder.

"Yeah, man. Go ahead," he said quickly. He let go of Lindsey and maneuvered his way out of Damian's grasp.

Once Lindsey was back in Damian's arms she moved as close as possible to him while still being able to dance.

"How bad was he?" Damian asked.

"To be honest, he tried touching my ass," Lindsey said.

Damian stopped moving. "I guess I have to kick his then." He went to let go of Lindsey but she pulled him back into her arms.

"No matter how much the press would love to see a fight break out between you two, you don't need to fight my battles," Lindsey said. "I'm a big girl who can fight her own battles."

Damian let out a deep breath. "Did he try anything else?"

"He tried saying that you were only with me for my body, and there was nothing special about me. But then I got him on the topic of his family's fortune and he went off," Lindsey said. "I know how to take care of myself. I'm a big girl, Damian, and he's a little boy who thinks a big bank account is impressive."

Damian was only partially listening to her talk. His eyes were trained on Aleczander who had made his way back to his friends. They were all part of the Founding Families and the Highest Elite. Most of them went to Gotham Academy, the other few were homeschooled. Aleczander was talking to them and they were all laughing. He looked over his shoulder at the two of them. Damian glared while Aleczander said something to his friends.

"Damian?" Lindsey tried getting his attention. "Is everything alright?" She went to turn around only to be pulled back by Damian.

"It's nothing, I thought I saw Father doing something he shouldn't," Damian said. Lindsey looked up at him and gave him a doubtful look. "You don't believe me?"

"I've learned not to trust you easily," Lindsey said. "You've hurt me enough already."

"You can always trust me," Damian said looking deep into Lindsey's eyes. Lindsey raised herself on her tiptoes to get closer to Damian. She so badly wanted to kiss him.

It was right before their lips touched when chaos erupted throughout the hall.