FIN

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STANDING THERE WITH Maria by my side made me feel like the king of the world and I didn’t even mind that Kelly was now openly flirting with Johnny.

I gently put my arm around Maria’s waist and pulled her closer to me. I leaned in for a kiss from which she didn’t back away.

“Where did that come from?” she said when she finally opened her eyes again.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep,” I said.

“You didn’t.”

I noticed Kelly looking at us and the next moment, she pulled Johnny closer and kissed him right on the lips. Johnny seemed slightly bewildered at first, but then quickly recovered and started kissing her back.

I knew exactly what Kelly was doing. She was trying to make me jealous, but her actions didn’t cause me any real discomfort and all I felt was a slight sense of irritation as I watched her sucking face with Maria’s friend.

If she was prepared to throw herself around like that just to get to me then perhaps she’d changed even more than I’d realized and I found myself wondering if I ever really knew her at all.

“She’s beautiful, but she is no good for you,” Maria whispered in my ear.

“I realize that now and I guess I have you to thank for it,” I replied.

Just as everything was getting real cozy between Maria and myself there was a sudden commotion from the direction of the indoor swimming pool. People were shouting, and for a moment I feared that someone might have drowned. Maria and I quickly ran off in the direction of the pool to go and see what was going on.

We were met by a sight the likes of which I’d never ever seen before in my entire life. There was a mountain of foam as high as the roof and it was slowly creeping through the corridor from the direction of the indoor swimming pool.

Drunken guests were running through the foam while laughing and shouting at the top of their lungs. I couldn’t understand what the hell was going on until I saw one of the guests standing there next to the pool with a box of detergent in his hands. He was throwing handfuls of the powder into the pool and people were splashing around to create as much foam as they possibly could.

“Is there anything you want me to do about this?” Jeffrey said.

“No, there isn’t much we can do and I’m sure the foam will eventually subside by itself,” I said. Just please make sure you hide any remaining detergent in the laundry room and lock the door!”

“I will see to it immediately!”

“That really looks like a lot of fun but perhaps we should just go back to the party,” I suggested.

Maria nodded.

“Are you still planning on having the banquet meal at the large wooden table inside the dining hall?” Maria asked.

“Of course I am! There’s nothing like a medieval style banquet to really put an exclamation mark on a party like this,” I replied.

“Okay, I will go and round up the rest of your staff so they can help me prepare the table,” Maria said and quickly disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.

I was really looking forward to the large banquet. I had imported a magnificent long wooden table from England for the occasion.

It could seat around eighty people. I realized that I was facing a little bit of a challenge as far as seating arrangements were concerned.

I’d thought it might be a lot of fun if I set up the seating arrangements with me sitting right at the end on a large chair which looked a bit like a throne.

Right next to it, I had set up another very large wooden chair which I kind of imagined Kelly would sit in as I was preparing the seating arrangements before the party.

The King and his Queen sitting next to each other at the head of the table, but now I really didn’t feel like sitting next to Kelly anymore and if anyone deserved a seat in that throne-like chair next to mine, it was Maria.

I fleetingly wondered what kind of an impression it would make and whether anyone would even lift an eyebrow if I invited Maria to sit next to me.

From the way the party had gone, Maria had become the absolute focus of everyone’s attention anyway and I really didn’t think anyone would think it inappropriate if I invited her to sit next to me.

I found myself reconsidering the entire reason why I’d decided to have the party in the first place. It had been intended as a way of impressing Kelly with my wealth and personal achievements and the way it actually turned out was very different from the picture I’d had in my mind when I was planning everything.

“Can everyone please listen for a moment? There will now be a large banquet in the dining hall and I want to cordially invite all of you to join us!” Jeffrey said over the DJ’s microphone.

I waited until most of the guests had made their way to the banquet hall before walking over.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Kelly was already seated in the large chair right next to mine! Even though I’d originally planned for her to sit there, it now looked totally wrong to see her seated in the Queen’s chair.

I realized that this was no time to make a scene and calmly walked over to my own chair at the head of the table. Maria was already standing there, ready to take everyone’s orders for drinks and to start serving the first of many delicious courses.

“Can you bring me a gin and tonic before I die of thirst? Kelly shouted at Maria and I felt extremely irritated that she hadn’t said, ‘please’.

I quietly sat down next to Kelly and she placed her hand on my leg.

Maria looked over and when she saw Kelly’s hand on my leg, she quickly turned around and walked out. I moved Kelly’s hand off my leg but it was too late. Her gesture had already upset Maria.

I couldn’t go after Maria because it was time for me to make my pre-dinner speech.

“I want to welcome you all to my humble little banquet,” I said to the laughter of everyone at the table. “In medieval times they used to have special servants at a banquet like this to carry the really drunk dinner guests to a corner so they could recover and later rejoin the banquet. But we live in modern times and that means, you will have to drag your own drunken butts to a corner!”

I was going to say more, but realized that my little speech had gone down so well that I didn’t want to spoil it so I just sat down while everyone applauded.

“Your gin and tonic,” Maria said and placed the drink Kelly had ordered in front of her.

This time, at least, Kelly showed some good manners and thanked Maria for the drink.

Maria turned around before I could say anything to her and I felt really bad for the way things had turned out at the banquet.

The next moment, Jeffrey and some other staff members walked into the room with a large stuffed pig on a plate.

The pig had an apple in its mouth and it smelled like a massive mountain of fried bacon.

Jeffrey started slicing pieces of the meat for everyone and soon my guests were stuffing their faces with the delicious food. The staff returned with several other meat dishes and massive bowls of salad. There was the constant sound of champagne corks being popped and a wide selection of red and white wines were available to be enjoyed with the meal.

Just when everyone thought that nothing could possibly be added to the ambiance I winked at Jeffrey.

He pressed a button on the remote control he was holding. The large curtains which hung from one side of the room opened and a bright spotlight shone onto the stage which had been hidden behind the curtains, revealing a trio of dancing girls decked out in 1920s silver and gold dresses.

The speakers that had been set up around the room spilled out Jazz music.

I knew that the music and the dancers weren’t exactly period-appropriate for a medieval banquet, but I didn’t care.

Everyone was having a great time and the only thing which spoiled it for me was that Maria wasn’t next to me.

She wasn’t exactly my girlfriend yet, but she was definitely knocking very loudly on the door of my heart. I realized that I would have to have a very direct and intimate talk with her before the evening ended.

I didn’t want to leave things hanging, especially since I had been the one who had crossed the line between us.

“I really thought you drove magnificently earlier tonight,” Kelly said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Thanks, although it looked to me as if you were more impressed by the way Johnny had driven,” I said.

“Are you referring to when he kissed me?”

“You didn’t seem to mind.”

“And what about when you kissed your little maid in front of everyone?”

I didn’t feel like having an argument with Kelly right there at the table while everyone else was having such a great time so I didn’t say anything else.

I wanted to ask Maria to go outside with me so we could talk. The only thing that stopped me from getting up and walking over to her was that such an action might embarrass her.

I didn’t want to stress her out in any way so I decided to wait until after the banquet was over before speaking with her.

It was now time for dessert. Jeffrey and the baker wheeled the massive six-layer cake into the room.

Jeffrey cut large pieces of the cake for everyone and also motioned for the other staff to bring in the carts with ice cream and pastries.

My guests dug into the desserts.

I looked out at the scene in front of me and was pleased with the way things were going.

One of the dancing girls was on Rockwell’s lap while he fed her ice cream and sponge cake.

Michael Stone was holding out his glass for some more champagne and a powerful businessman, just a little further down the table, was standing on his chair and singing at the top of his lungs while everyone around him applauded.

Everyone was having a great time and the banquet was a wild success.