Let Me Be Your Prince

@ catharsis.
‘Cinder you have to go to the New Year’s Eve party. Everybody is going, even your horrible step sisters. Nasty bitches. Anyway their going, your step mother is out somewhere at another party across town, you said so. So stop cleaning this already clean house and come with me, your bestest friend in the whole world to this party,’ Cinder’s friend held her hand out to him, adding when she saw the conflicting emotions he was having, ‘come on. Live a little. You can’t let those people run your life forever Cin. Come on. It’s just one night.’

Cinder finally took Leigh’s hand and let her pull him out of the house and in the direction of the mall, ‘I thought we were going to the party.’

‘You can’t go in those rags,’ she told him as she continued pulling him along.

@ HarleyQuinn2016

Arden idly scrolled down Instagram, not really noticing anything that he saw. He was beyond bored, but his driver hadn't come yet and he'd already packed his things, so Instagram would have to do for now. He was staying with his brother for a month, taking an extended break from his classes. A title came with perks, occasionally. It was mostly just a status symbol now, the days of land ownership and peasants over, but the James family had a considerable amount of connections and wealth from those days.

The driver honked, and Arden slung his backpack over his shoulder. It wasn't a long drive, just two hours, but he still wasn't looking forward to it. Travelling made him weary, and he was more than ready for a nap when he arrived at his brother's house. But, Cristen joined them in the car before Arden could make his way out.

"Little brother! I hate to not let you in, but we've got an invitation to a pregame party from Nessa Grey, and you know how she gets if I turn down an invitation."

"You just want the chance to make out with her," Arden teased. Cristen stuck his tongue out and gave the driver the address to the bar, a small yet exclusive place near the club where the actual party would take place later, and he started off.

@ catharsis.
Leigh dragged Cinder inside one of her favorite stores. She began searching through rack after rack, trying to find something that would suit him for the new years eve party. Cinder just stood off to the side, watching her. Moments later she came over with a few things, laying them in his arms before turning him towards the dressing room, 'go try those on please.'

Cinder nodded before walking into the dressing rooms to the left of him. Once inside he stripped off the rags he was wearing to leave him only in his boxers. He looked at the first outfit she had grabbed him. A simple pair of black dress pants, a white button up shirt with black suspenders and a blue and black coat to top it all off. Cinder's outfit . He examined himself in the mirror. It looked nice. Far nicer than anything he's ever owned and he would have to hide it so his step mother and sisters didn't see it.

He walked out, 'what do you think?'

'Turn.'

He turned all the way around for her, letting her view the entire outfit.

She smiled, 'it's perfect. Let's go party Cinder,' she smiled, bouncing and clapping her hands excitedly.

@ HarleyQuinn2016

Much to Arden's amusement, Nessa Grey occupied herself with a harem of attractive young women who were definitely from the local college. Cristen took it in stride and spent most of the time introducing Arden to his many other friends.

A young gentleman named either Colin or Cameron was giving Arden a thorough account of his recent trip to France when Cristen pulled him away. "We're going to be late, come on!"

They we're able to skip the line outside the club, all ten of them filing their way in and upstairs to the VIP room. There was champagne ready and waiting for them, but Arden slipped down to the bar, preferring something stronger, and he didnt want to hear more boring details about Colin-Cameron's walks through the French countryside.

@ catharsis.
He bit his bottom lip as Leigh dragged him to stand in the line. A whole bunch of excited men and women were waiting to get in before them but some of them got bored and left and others got denied by the time they reached the front. Leigh showed the bouncer the ticket she got from a man she had started dating that was the CEO of some company or something close to that. She walked inside and Cinder made to follow but the man stopped him.

'He's with me. My ticket says plus one so move,' she growled at the bouncer who stepped back and let Cinder pass through. Taking his hand, she pushed through the massive crowd of people, heading for the bar, 'I need a drink and you do too.'

'Leigh I dont drink.'

'Order a soda then, but I need one,' she continued to drag him up to the bar before finding two seats. Cinder sighed as he climbed on the bar stool and order a coke from the bar tender who raised an eyebrow in a judging manner before turning to Leigh who ordered a glass of whiskey. The man turned and went to get their drinks. He came back moments later, sliding Leigh her glass of whiskey and slid Cinder his coke but in a kids cup. Leigh narrowed her eyes, 'really? Just because hes not ordering alcohol, your going to treat him like this?'

@ HarleyQuinn2016

Arden ordered a gin and tonic, slightly annoyed with how the bartender bumbled around like the stereotypical frat boy he was. The one good thing about him was how heavy handed he was with the alcohol. He drank it slowly, hoping to avoid more conversations about European vacations that did nothing but bore him. He could only hear so many times about how picturesque the countryside was before he lost his mind.

He didn't notice the man and woman who sat next to him until the frat boy bartender served the man in a brightly colored, cartoon character covered cup. He thought it was just strange until the woman mentioned that the man wasn't drinking.

"This is a bar," the bartender explained, acting like he was talking to child. "It's New Year's Eve. I'm going to treat the kid like a kid if he doens't man up."

Arden rolled his eyes. "You really are stupider than you look. I happen to know the owner of this bar, and I'm afraid he's going to be horribly unhappy to hear about how you treat his VIP customers" --he squinted at the small name tag on the bartender's shirt -- "Brad. I can call him right now, if you'd like," he said and got out his phone.

@ catharsis.
‘Yeah like I'd really believe you know the owner of this club. Okay whatever call him then,’ Brad rolled his eyes before walking away to serve another customer. Cinder just shoved the soda away, ‘you know this was a mistake Leigh. Everybody but you treats me like a child and I'm sick of it,’ he got up from the bar and started to shove his way outside onto the darkened street corner outside of the club. Fireworks were going off in the sky as everybody sang and danced, talking excitedly about the year they had and the year coming up.

He looked down at his crappy taped together phone, seeing it was right around ten o'clock. It wasn't early but it wasn't late either. He could go home and pretend like he never left the house. He just has to get rid of this nice outfit or stash it somewhere but his step mother checks his room almost daily so there's no way he could hide it so he scratched that off his list. Sighing, he sat down outside of the club, hoping he didn't ruin Leigh's night but also not feeling like he wanted to party.

He looked up when somebody sat down next to him, ‘thanks for standing up for me like that but you didn't have to. Not a lot of people do.’

@ HarleyQuinn2016

((Sorry, I moved last week an things have been a little hard.))

Arden glared at the bartender and followed the boy outside so he could console him. There had been no reason for the bartender to act like that, and he made a note to make that phone call the next day. He sat by the boy on the curb. "I don't like it when people have bad attitudes like that. I'll make a phone call tomorrow and see what I can have done about that. He's giving the entire establishment a bad reputation."

@ catharsis.
‘Oh no no no. Don’t do that. I don’t want anybody to lose their job because of me. Really it’s okay. Don’t worry about it,’ he told him, looking over at the other male. He was suddenly struck by how beautiful he was. He was tall, slightly built but not too much, not tan but not pale, dark brown hair that made his eyes pop. Cinder flushed before looking away, ‘you don’t have to worry about that phone call. I don’t want to get anybody in trouble,’ he found himself repeating, ‘I guess I should head home. I don’t want to ruin Leigh’s fun and I’m obviously not welcome there.’

(No that’s okay. I was just wondering if you got my reply. Take all the time you need. I’m in no rush.)

@ HarleyQuinn2016

"No need to leave yet," Arden said with a smile. "It is New Year's after all. You can join my brother and I and our friends. We have the VIP room, so that jerk won't be there. And if you feel that strongly about it, I won't call. It's up to you." He stood up and extended a hand to the boy still sitting. "I'm Arden, by the way. What's your name?"

@ catharsis.
He hesitated for a moment before taking Arden's hand and letting him pull him to his feet, 'my name is Cinder and I guess that will be nice to join you guys and yes I do feel that strongly about it. Don't call anybody about that guy,' he let Arden pull him back into the club to join his friends and brother. A part of him said you don't know this man, he could be dangerous and another part felt like this was right. So he followed Arden into a room upstairs and towards the back. He blushed when they walked inside and instantly all eyes were on him.