betrothed. intended. affianced. :: evan

"Oh yes, I completely agree." Katina nodded as Angela Keyes spoke. The two were deep in a way one conversation that required only occasional nods from Katina. Evan, Anegla's son and Katina's boyfriend, had been involved until five minutes ago when Katina had asked him for a drink.

What the hell is taking him so long? Katina thought. He still wasn't back. And until he returned, Katina was going to be forced to listen to his mother drag on about the elections that were coming up for Lilycove in a few months.

Angela was getting really into it, too. It was like getting teeth pulled, sitting here and feigning interest. She nodded again, smiling and hating her life.

Evan was all too happy for an excuse to escape when Katina asked him to get a drink for her. He took his sweet time too, hoping that by the time he got back his annoying mother would finally be done talking about things no one cared about. Over at the refreshments table he looked around, then discreetly poured himself a glass of wine and downed it. Then he refilled his glass and filled one for Katina, too. The food and drinks were the only enjoyable things about these dinner parties.

He slowly moseyed back, and was happy to see his mother turning and walking away from Katina before he got close. Thank. Gods. He sped up to a more normal pace and approached his lovely (ha) girlfriend from behind.

"Your drink, dear," he said, holding out the glass for her.

Katina let out a quiet sigh of relief when Angela finally walked away.

Douche wrote:"Your drink, dear."

She turned around and gave Evan an icy smile. "How sweet of you, darling," she said pointedly, taking the glass from him. She knew he knew he had taken his time on purpose. Angela was his mother! He should have been the one suffering through that conversation--not her.

Maybe you shouldn't have sent him away, then, Weston commented from her feet.

Which, Katina supposed, was true. But it would have been impolite of her to excuse herself. Excusing Evan was a different story. He could have at least helped her escape, too.

"Anything for my sweetheart," Evan said in the fakest nice-tone-of-voice that was ever used in all of existence, with an equally fake smile on his face. Katina knew how much he couldn't stand her, and he knew how much she couldn't stand him, but they had to play nice in front of the public like this. He sipped his wine, knowing he was gonna need some liquid courage to make it through this party without gagging.

"Enjoying the festivities?" he asked, figuring they should probably be seen actually talking to each other to keep up the illusion.

"Oh, they're lovely as always," Katina said, wishing she could down her glass of wine. Maybe she'd get drunk by herself later.

Classy.

Shut up, you, Katina thought. At least you don't have to make conversation with anyone you don't like.

But she'd already resigned herself to a boring night, so she slipped her arm through Evan's so they could walk around a little together. "Let's stay away from Baldwin Durkit, he pinched my cheeks earlier and couldn't stop talking about how grown up I looked." The one good thing about Evan was that they'd grown up together and hated most of the same clio.

Baldwin was near the front doors, talking to one of the sons of the mayor of Dahlin, who looked bored out of his mind. Poor sap. But better him than her!

"Who names their kid Baldwin?" Evan mumbled to himself. Why would someone want their kid to have two last names instead of a first and last like normal clio? He went to sip more wine only to realize his glass was somehow already empty. When did that happen? Hm, oh well. "Hey, what is this party for anyways?" His parents had explained it to him in detail, he was sure, but he blocked them out so often he couldn't even remember.

"Baldwin Senior, I think," Katina answered, though she really couldn't remember. They had met so many creepy old men throughout the years it was hard to keep them all straight.

Katina noticed Evan's empty glass and rolled her eyes. Sure, she had wanted to drain hers, but she hadn't actually done it. At this rate he was going to be drunk before the party was over. That would actually probably be interesting to see if whatever Evan did wasn't an extension of Katina, herself. But it was.

They'd known they'd were betrothed since they were little, but it was just recently that they'd actually made their relationship official. Something about "being settled means you need to grow up" or something, and lucky for Katina, she'd just settled a few months ago. Joy. Usually Katina was able to weasel herself out of almost anything, but this had been one of the things her parents refused to budge on.

Oh well. At least he was rich.

Evan wrote:"Hey, what is this party for anyways?"

Katina shrugged slightly as they continued to walk. "The new hospital they put up in Lilycove. I think they're christening it tomorrow morning." All the donors were here at the expense of the city, so technically the Keyes' were the hosts. How typical of Evan to not be aware. "So you should probably drink a leeetle bit slower so you're not hung over tomorrow, huh?"

Not that she cared, of course. But appearances.

Katina wrote:"The new hospital they put up in Lilycove. I think they're christening it tomorrow morning."

Oh, no wonder he hadn't remembered. He probably hadn't cared the first time someone told him, either. Sure, it was nice that they were opening a new hospital (that only the richest 5% of clio would actually be able to afford to go to, he though cynically) and all, but why did they have to throw a party over it? Did they do that in other cities too? "Oh. Fascinating," he said in a tone just dry enough to leave it ambiguous as to whether or not he was being sarcastic.

Kat wrote:"So you should probably drink a leeetle bit slower so you're not hung over tomorrow, huh?"

"I've only had two glasses," Evan said, in the process of pouring a third. He wasn't trying to get drunk or anything. He was just so sick of these pretentious circlejerks parties where all the rich old clio congratulated each other about how rich they were. A little buzz would make the evening go by quicker.

"You're ridiculous," Katina said as she watched him. "All I know is you better not make a fool out of yourself, because I plan on looking good."

She shook her head as he started to drink his next glass. What an idiot.

"Why?" Evan asked, taking a drink and turning to face her. "Who cares what any of these clio think?"

The wine must've been going to his head at least a little, because normally Evan himself did care what "these clio" thought. Sure, he didn't like any of them. He didn't even like Katina. But in the world they lived in, appearances meant everything. If he looked bad, it made his parents look bad, which made all of Lilycove look bad, and Evan didn't really want that to happen.

Hm. Maybe he really should slow down a bit. But he didn't want Katina to think he was doing it because she told him to, so he let himself finish the third glass and resolved not to have much more.

"I care," Katina said, as if Evan had asked the stupidest question in the world. She watched as Evan downed his third glass right there in front of her. She got this "are you crazy?" look on her face as he set the glass down on the table.

"As your girlfriend, I'm telling you you have hit your limit for tonight," she told him, even going so far as to setting her own unfinished glass down. Three glasses wasn't a ridiculous amount, but it wasn't proper to chug wine, either. And Katina could tell he was already feeling looser, because whatever he said, Evan did care about appearances. If he didn't, they wouldn't be together.

Gods, Katina was so annoying. What made her think that being his girlfriend gave her the right to tell him what to do or not? He could start drinking straight out of the damn wine bottle if he wanted to, just to piss her off. As satisfying as the look on her face would be, he wasn't tipsy enough to do something that stupid, however, and just turned towards her.

"Well Katina," he said, emboldened by the wine in his system. "As your boyfriend, I'm telling you to get the hell over yourself."

Katina narrowed her eyes at him. "You're going to make a fool out of both of us," she snapped. Why couldn't Evan just be more agreeable? Why, out of everyone, had her parents struck up a deal for him. The Dahlin boys were just as attractive, and their parents held just as much affluence. Why couldn't she have been betrothed to one of them?

"Oh, do I embarrass you, Kat?" Evan asked loudly. Not loud enough for anyone to notice, but loud enough to make Katina nervous that they might. He was thinking that it would almost--almost--be worth it to actually cause a scene and make a fool out of himself, if it would mean dragging Katina down with him. Who knows, maybe if he acted like enough of an idiot, her parents would be mortified enough to call off the whole relationship. If only he were brave enough to try.