to say laurie was good with parties would be a blatant lie; too many people, too much noise, too little personal space

having to greet distant relatives and pretend like he actually knew or cared about them drained him to an unimaginable extent and so he preferred to simply stay in his room, maybe read a book

but on 'important' occasions, james laurence would force theodore to attend his parties

tomight was one of those occasions, if you considered the 55th birthday of his third cousin who wasnt even present important; laurie stood off to the side, away from the dance floor and the mass of talking and laughing strangers

he was scanning the room for anything to distract him from his boredom, and his eyes fell upon you

you looked absolutely breathtaking; shaking your head and politely declining a suitor asking you to dance

as you came over to the table close to him, he snapped his gaze away from you, not wanting to seem like he was staring creepily, though he was rather intrigued by your beauty and the way you had openly turned a rich suitor away

"you don't like to dance?" he asked out of the blue, as casually as he managed while leaning on the railing of the staircase

his uncle hadn't mentioned that your family would be attending the event, too, neither had he told him that they even had a child

suddenly, laurie felt extremely self-conscious; noticing the way he stood and feeling the urge to shift into a different position, being aware of every limb, how his hands were in his pockets and his back was against the wooden railing

letting his eyes roam the room for a second before returning his gaze to you he opened his mouth, feeling the need to engage in conversation with you, but not finding anything appropriate to say, and so he closed it again, looking like a fish on shore