True Beauty

Chapter 8: Jerk

It had been a month since that first week of school. Lindsey was enjoying her time in Gotham. Lindsey still hung out with Ryeanne, Kelsey, Blaine, Abigail, Juliet, Giovanni, Noah, and Logan as much as possible.

Lindsey has also been eating lunch with Damian twice a week. They don't talk about much. Mostly they just enjoy being in each other's company. Which was happening right now.

Damian had finished eating and was drawing in the sketchpad for their Art class. Lindsey was silently chewing on cookie as she looked around the cafeteria. There were tons of posters announcing Homecoming at the end of the week. She remembered how that weekend she was texting the girls. She mentioned inviting Damian to go with her to Homecoming. They said she should and told her how to do it, how to bring it up, how she should position herself. Anything you could think of, they told her how to do it.

Now seemed like the only time for her to do so.

"So Homecoming is coming up," Lindsey said shyly. She looked at Damian through her eyelashes. He stopped working on his drawing and looked up at her.

"I guess it is," Damian said. "Are you planning on going?"

"Well the others said they were all going," Lindsey said twisting her hands together beneath the table. "And tickets are going on sale, so I just wanted to know if you were going." She decided this would be a good lead-up to asking him to go with her.

"Father has a meeting he needs me to go with him in Star City for the weekend," Damian said shortly.

"Why so far away?" Lindsey asked incredulously.

Damian shrugged. "Partnership coming up? All I know is that he wants me there."

"You're not coming to Homecoming?"

"No. Besides parties like that don't mix with me. And I don't like sports. So, the whole weekend is just not something I'm in to."

"What if I asked you to be my date?" Lindsey asked. She felt her face start to heat up.

Damian stared at Lindsey. Any other day, he would have jumped at the chance to have Lindsey on his arm. Damian imagined what kind of dress she would wear. Would it be long or short?

Would it be blue or white? How she would do her hair? Up or down? What jewelry she would wear, if any at all? Everything that might have happened that night, whether it be clothes or experiences, ran through his head, all the way down to the underwear she would wear.

"I would have to decline," Damian said reluctantly. He didn't let his tone say he didn't want to say that sentence, but it still came out of his mouth. He wanted to yell at the top of his lungs that he would go with her in a heartbeat. There was nothing more that he wanted in that moment.

Lindsey's heart dropped to her stomach. She really thought he would at least think about it. She didn't expect him to answer no that fast.

"Okay, that's fine," Lindsey said. "I was only trying to be polite, Damian."

"You know that I don't like the school party stuff," Damian said. "You should have known that I was going to decline." He leaned in close to Lindsey. "We may be friends, Lindsey, but I'm still me. I still hate public school. I hate large crowds. I don't like parties. So going to our school's Homecoming dance, no matter with who, is not on my high priority list. Just because you came into my life, doesn't mean I'm going to change. I'm still the same person I was before. Just because you broke down one wall doesn't mean you mean anything important to me."

Damian didn't want to seem like he didn't want to go with her, he wanted her to understand. But unfortunately, he didn't think to check what tone he was saying it in.