Katherine sank into the seat next to Lewis, and after saying hello to both of the boys, we drove over to where we were picking up Rowe.
“I don’t know why he insisted on being last for pick-up this year,” Katherine said irritably. “I’m always last. Because look at this costume.”
“No Lark tonight?” I asked.
“She couldn’t make it this close to the election. She’s out, knocking on doors for the president or something,” Katherine told me. “You should be glad you haven’t seen her right now. She’s sleep-deprived, food-deprived, and high as fuck on caffeine. She’d probably ask you if you’d voted and then manage to get all of us sick like last time.”
“That sounds like a rough job.”
“Yeah, she loves it though,” Lewis said.
“And she’s good at it,” Penn said.
“We just wish we could have more time with her when she wasn’t utterly manic,” Katherine muttered right as we stopped.
The driver hopped out and opened the door for Rowe. But instead of Rowe, a long, bare leg stepped into the car. That leg was accompanied by a stunning body and a swath of glittery red dress and bright red hair. The gorgeous woman was clearly dressed up as Jessica Rabbit.
“Uh, who the hell are you?” Katherine asked.
“Amanda,” the girl said, holding out her hand.
“I mean…what are you doing here?”
“That’s my date,” Rowe said as he slid into the backseat in a nondescript suit. He nodded his head at everyone. “Sup?”
“You didn’t say you were bringing a date.” Katherine rolled her eyes. “And I told you that you had to dress up.”
“Uh yeah, I did,” Rowe said. “Both accounts.”
Amanda leaned forward, her perfect breasts almost falling out of her costume. “He said he’s dressed up as a philosophy professor.” She ran her hand back through Rowe’s hair. He looked uncomfortable by the whole thing. “I’ve never seen a professor this hot though.”
“Oh dear Lord,” Penn groaned.
“I’m Penn,” Rowe told them easily. “Just look. Notebook.” He held up a leather notebook. “And give me a second, and I can bore you all with useless philosophical ramblings.”
Penn just shook his head. “You astound me.”
“The ethical theory of life is happiness, and happiness is about right or wrong, which brings me to my conclusion that everyone must follow a set of rules to live a life of something, something,” Rowe droned, sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown.
Katherine and Lewis died laughing.
“Nicely played, my man,” Lewis said, shaking Rowe’s hand.
Even I couldn’t help but giggle.
“I do not sound like that,” Penn said.
“A little,” I ventured. “But I like it.”
Penn shook his head, but he was a good sport.
Jessica Rabbit unfortunately tried to carry on a conversation the rest of the way to Club Marquee. The problem was, she was utterly dull and kind of a moron. I had no idea what Rowe saw in her other than her amazing breasts. But…maybe that was enough for him. He seemed to tune everyone out well enough. At least he had that talent. Unlike the rest of us.
We pulled up outside of Club Marquee, and Katherine made her debut in her devil’s costume. She dragged me next to her so that the cameras could see that we were a matched set. After a few minutes of short interviews about the charity event, she whisked us all inside.
Club Marquee was a huge multi-floored club in the heart of the Upper East Side. Balconies overlooked the main floor, which was already packed with women dressed in scantily clad outfits and various kinds of ears dancing with men primarily dressed in suits. The three main bars on the first floor were all packed with people, but Katherine directed us to the open booth area next to the DJ. It was a prime location that overlooked the entire room…while also leaving us visible to everyone in attendance. Exactly how Katherine liked to see and be seen.
I stepped up onto the booth with Penn at my back and was surprised to find Camden Percy already in attendance. He was dressed as Clark Kent, complete with glasses.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Katherine asked.
“Hello to you, too, darling,” he said, roughly gripping her and planting a kiss on her bright red lips.
She pulled out of his grip and rubbed her arm. “I see you haven’t had enough to drink. You’re still being almost pleasant.”
“I’ll be sure to be less pleasant later,” he said and grabbed her ass as she scoffed and pushed past him.