[invite] Last Monday Night

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia laughed when Claire said she wasn't Julia Stiles, "I know you're not, but you do have some dance moves. So stop talking and dance with me." Dancing was one of Natalia's favorite things to do. They weren't even dancing for five minutes and Claire had already stopped and was heading over to Anthony. Natalia stopped her dancing as well and crossed her arms against her chest and rolled her eyes as she heard Claire yell, way too loudly. Natalia couldn't help but laugh lightly at her best friend. She really was great at making a scene. Natalia noticed that she wasn't the only one watching the interaction between the three of them. Claire was pulling Anthony towards her and Natalia unfolded her arms and went back to her dancing. Claire and Anthony stopped halfway in the middle of the floor and Natalia just spun around and moved her body to the beat. She smiled when Anthony and Claire got to her. "What a display." she joked to Claire."Hey you. About time you decided to join the land of the living. Why'd you jump out of my car like that?"

A few more minuted of their dancing and here came some guy with a drink for Claire. Natalia stopped dancing once again and stood next to Anthony, looking at the guy. Natalia looked up at Anthony who was already looking down at her. She looked back to Claire when she said that Mason wanted to talk. This guy didn't want to talk, at least that's what she got from the look in Anthony's eyes. Natalia quickly grabbed Claire's hand, "You have all night to talk. I'm not going to want to dance all night." she said before she pulled Claire back onto the floor more. That was a total lie. She gave Anthony a look and then brought her attention back to Claire.


OUTFIT: click.

[Hope Sophia Drake]

Hope opened the door to their home, closing the door behind her and going into the living room where she waved to some friends before heading to her room real quick to drop her purse on her bed. She grabbed the brown paper bag our of her purse, just another addition to the variety of alcoholic beverages that the party goers had to choose from. Hope checked herself in her floor length mirror, debating changing her clothes before deciding she didn't really care all that much. She left her room with her bag, shaped like the bottle now after holding it around the neck, and headed into the kitchen where she found both of her sisters, looking fabulous as always in each of their own ways. It was funny, for being so similar in so many ways, they were all so different too, and their fashion sense was no exception. Destiny was in her typical short, strapless, hugging her awesome booty type of dress. Faith was in her cute but not hugging me too tight jeans and a not revealing but still makes you wonder what's under there top. And Hope was just wearing her usual distressed jeans with a shirt that hung off her shoulders loosely; understated but still sexy. She had walked in right in the middle of one of Destiny's, "Ohmygod, I'm loosing my game," freak outs. Hope shook her head, "Des, you're hotter then most every girl here and even the pretty ones wish they had your charms," she smiled raising her eyebrows. She hugged Destiny and then Faith, "I love you guys, seriously. Best looking triplets in Manhattan. Sorry I wasn't here earlier, what did I miss?" Hope set her bag down on the counter and hopped up beside it, sliding herself onto the counter beside her sisters. "What, are the fish not biting tonight or what? Where's sexy Anthony at? And sexy Ethan? Sexy Stefan?" Hope knew all of the guys that Destiny had ever set her sights on, but she hadn't actually checked out the party guests when she had come in. Had the guys all brought dates? Who were Destiny and Hope supposed to mack on? Faith, she usually stuck with Curtis, however platonic she insisted that was. But Hope did not hurry her ass home to find there were no available hotties. That could be a potential problem.

Speaking of Curtis, Hope looked across the kitchen and saw Curtis, to whom she jokingly saluted, "Hey Curtis, I see you're failing to put the moves on my sister. That's okay, we'll all understand when you finally come out of the closet." Hope joked, winking at him. It was standing joke that he was gay since he never tried anything with Faith, specially since her sister was totally gorgeous and he was blind if he didn't think so. Hope tugged casually at the necklace that hung past the hem of her cropped of shirt and grinned at Faith. It was that triplet telepathy thing, she knew Hope was only just joking around. When was she not? Hope turned and picked up her bag, sliding the bottle out and holding it up in front or Destiny, a full bottle of Barcardi 151. "Well Des, if you can't actually fuck them, then fuck 'em." She shrugged, grabbing some shot glasses and then went to the fridge, digging through it and finding a can or Red Bull. "Chaser? Yes? No?" She figured she'd ask, but she thought she knew the answer. She looked to Faith too, "You in? What about you Curtis, gonna get drunk off your ass and build up the courage to make a move on my Faith?" Hope laughed, shaking her head and then poured them all shots.


Outfit

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony smiled at Destiny when she said she didn't have a date. "Yeah neither do I." Anthony quickly brought the cup to his mouth when he realized that he was making this easier for Destiny to try to get him and harder for him to get out of it. He smirked when she said that he never disappointed. Anthony was saved by the bell, well saved by Claire, before he could think of anything to say. Anthony slightly nodded when Destiny asked if he was dating someone. Just a few moments ago he said he came here without a date and now apparently he was dating someone."Sorry Destiny, I was trying to tell you. You just weren't making it easy." he shrugged and started walking with Claire, "Thank you for the beer." he raised his cup to her and then walked with Claire until she stopped him. Anthony looked down at Claire. "I know you do and I wasn't really trusting her either. I was trying to tell her." he said as he wrapped Claire in a hug. He stood back up, "You're right. I'm going to take every chance I can get to touch you tonight." he winked and then followed Claire over to Natalia. "Do you ever not dance?" he laughed and finished off his beer.

"Yeah I know, I just needed to get into a party, ya know?" Anthony explained his jumping out of the car. He pulled Claire closer to him, facing him, and smiled down at her. He looked up in time to see Mason coming over, he stopped dancing and just watched him as he made his way over to Claire. He stepped back as he watched Claire take the drink from him and then give him a look over the cup. Anthony looked down at Natalia and then back to Mason and Claire. Natalia grabbed Claire and Anthony was grateful for that. He watched Natalia pull Claire deeper into the living room and into the crowd more and then he turned to Mason, "Dude, that is not happening." He kept his eyes locked on him.


OUTFIT: click.

[Destiny Anne Drake]

Too much for them. Yeah that sounded a hell of a lot better than losing your oomf at such a young age. But then she mentioned Ethan and Destiny frowned again. “Yeah but if I’m not losing my oomf then explain to me why Ethan Fox just looked at me like I was …. I don’t know. Ugly. Or poor.” She took in a deep breath as she looked around the kitchen. So far her luck with the guys that she used to be very well acquainted with was 0 for 3. Destiny looked over her shoulder and turned around as she saw Hope come into the kitchen and smiled. “ Hey you,” Destiny smiled faintly as Hope complimented her, talking about her charms. “ Yeah well anyone can have my charms with the right push up bra” she said sarcastically as she leaned back against the counter and sighed. But she groaned as Hope listed off each of the guys she had just missed on. “ Apparently Anthony and Stefan are dating someone? Ethan saw me and ran the other way.” she said pursing out her lips in thought.

After a few moments of deep thinking she snapped her fingers and pointed. “ I got it!” she yelled out, looking between Hope and Faith. “ They’re gay!” she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean seriously. Those three boys do NOT date. They just don’t. Those poor things must have gotten so hung up on me.. and you can’t split me between three guys. Atleast.. not in a classy way. And they just can’t imagine ever finding a girl like me…. So they turned gay…”. Destiny sighed, before looking back over at Hope who was holding out Bacardi 151 to her. She scoffed as Hope asked her if she wanted a chaser. “ Life doesn’t give you chasers when it’s a bitch.” she said before she took the bottle and took a few drinks from it. She took in a quick breath and scrunched her nose. “ You!” she said, pointing at one of the boys in the kitchen. “ Lucky night, buddy’. She wiggled her fingers in a wave at Hope, Faith and Curtis before she grabbed the guy by his shirt and started pulling him into the living room.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire laughed at Anthony’s comment about Natalia, mainly because of how true it was. That girl would dance to elevator music, but it was absolutely one of the many reasons that she loved her. They were alike in so many ways, but so different. For instance, their passion for dancing, it was there and they both loved it, but their style was completely different. They could understand each other and at the same time appreciate each other because of their uniqueness. “ I think I handled myself pretty well thank you,” she said off handedly as Natalia teased her about going over to Destiny and Anthony. She couldn’t help but smile again as Anthony pulled her closer to him. That boy. He had no idea how perfect he was. And seeing some girl hit on me, kind of reminded her how attractive he was. Not that she needed that much reminding. She stood onto the toes of her heels as she placed her hands around his neck and kissed him quickly. Ethan wasn’t in the living room from what she could tell and it wasn’t like any of them were friends enough with him to tell him about his little sister and his best friend. Plus, there was something kind of exciting about pushing the limits and seeing what exactly you could get away with.

The music was a lot easier to dance to than what had been on the cruise and now that there was a different set of butterflies that she felt for Anthony, she could relax a bit more and just have fun dancing instead of trying to impress him or whatever she had been doing on the cruise. But Mason had approached her with a beer, and she sure as hell wasn’t about to turn that down. While she was taking a drink he had said that he wanted to go upstairs and talk, which Claire thought was really sweet. But Natalia pulled her hand talking about how she wanted to dance and how she wouldn’t want to dance all night. “ But yes you will” she said, clearly confused as she followed Natalia further into the floor. She looked over her shoulder to see Anthony still standing there before she frowned to herself and looked back at Natalia. After a few seconds she smiled and rolled her eyes, giving in to dancing with her best friend. Like always.

[Mason Alexander Sutton]

Mason smiled, taking a step back to head upstairs since Claire had agreed to come so quickly. ‘ That was easy’ he thought to himself but quickly stopped as he watched Natalia pulling Claire further into the floor. Awesome. He was getting blocked by Hannah Montana. Of course the girl who didn’t even drink was going to cause him to lose a night of fun. He thought Natalia was a really cool chick, but she was sort of ruining his plans. He sighed, but looked at Anthony as he made his comment. Mason made a face as he looked at him. “ Dude what is your problem?” he asked casually. When girls asked that it seemed to be insulting, but guys wouldn’t necessarily jump into a fight just because of it. Him and Anthony were friends and he was sort of acting like a jackass to him lately.

“ Man you know how this works. Usually I’m more on my game, but this girl is different. She’s challenging. “ he said with frustration, giving a small shake of his head. “ It’ll be worth it in the end. I think… I mean come on…. Ballet dancer,” he said, giving Anthony a look that clearly suggested what he was thinking. He looked back over at Claire and Natalia, watching them dance. They were both gorgeous in his opinion in different ways. And if Anthony hadn’t made a move on either of them yet, then maybe he needed to start asking himself why. Maybe there was something wrong with each of them.

[Stefan Michael Thomas]

Stefan got a confused look on his face as Destiny asked if she was getting punked. He looked down at Hillary with a smile and then back to Destiny when she said it was good seeing him, "Yeah you too." He guided Hillary over to the couch and sat down. He noticed Esta and Nate in the kitchen, "Oh ,they did make it." he said as he waved to them. "Now you can meet Esta." he kissed Hillary and then looked at her. "I know I sat this all the time, but you look beautiful." He kissed her one more time." How did I get so lucky to have you?" he smiled and drank some beer.

Stefan looked over the crowd dancing and saw Natalia pulling Claire more into the people and Anthony giving some guy the stare down. Claire had explained the whole situation to Stefan earlier at dinner. He personally thought that they should just tell Ethan and get it over with. Ethan was a cool dude and all, but when he got mad, he was like Dalton, maybe not as bad, but close. Stefan had no idea how Ethan would react when he found out they were sneaking around his back, in his house too. Stefan looked over at Hillary, "Wanna dance?"

OUTFIT: click.

[Hillary Rachelle Jones]

Hillary did her best to not make a confused face as she watched Destiny speaking to herself, and then walk off distractedly. She laughed as she looked at Stefan. Maybe he just had that effect on girls, he certainly had it on her when they had first met. She took a drink of her beer before she was led over to the couch and sat down by Stefan, leaning into his side and holding her beer over his knee as she crossed her legs.She looked up as he said that she could meet Esta and gave a small smile. She’d heard a lot about Esta from both Stefan and Kristen and was looking forward to getting to meet her. How often did you get to meet a beautiful, Italian foreign exchange student that was living with your boyfriend. “Aw yeah that would be nice,” she said , trying to see where Stefan was looking so she could see her. Hillary puffed out her cheeks and sighed as Stefan asked how he was so lucky to get her. “ I was desperate?” she joked before she smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.

Hillary placed her elbow against the back of the couch and rested her hand in her hair as she watched Stefan. His attention was placed on Natalia and Claire but he probably had no idea how many women constantly checked him out. She smiled as she watched him lost in his own world and oblivious to the effect he had on women. “ Do you have any idea what you do to people?” she asked curiously, almost awestruck by how modest he was. She smiled as he asked if she wanted to dance and leaned over to kiss him, gripping her hand against the front of his shirt. “ Come on,” she said , lowering her hand to his own and stood from the couch, pulling him with her towards the floor and to Natalia and Claire.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia smiled and just shook her head lightly when Anthony said he needed to get into a party. Anthony was a partier, but Natalia could tell that there was something bothering him. She couldn't tell exactly what, but there was something. Natalia looked at the two as they were dancing and she just smiled, so cute. She turned with the beat once more, she didn't want to see a kiss between them. That way if Ethan asked if she had seen anything, she could say no without lying to him. Natalia really hated having to lie, especially to Ethan. She never could. Every time Ethan brought up Anthony and his mystery girl or anything about Claire and Anthony, she would either change the subject or say something, not major or giving any details, so she didn't have to lie. Natalia didn't know how Ethan would feel when he found out that she knew and didn't tell him. It really wasn't her place to tell him, but she still felt guilty. She brought her attention back to Claire and Anthony and just watched them dance together.

When Claire finally gave in and started dancing again, Natalia smiled. "I know I'm going to want to dance all night. I just didn;t want you going upstairs with him alone. He gives me the creeps." Natalia looked over at Mason and then fake shuddered and looked back at Claire. "He didn't want to just talk...he was going to try something with you." Natalia stopped moving when the song stopped and looked over in Mason and Anthony's direction. Anthony seemed to be handling it very well. Natalia scanned the rest of the crowd, looking for Ethan. He was nowhere in sight. She puffed out her cheeks and sighed quietly. The music came back on and Natalia got right back to dancing, taking Claire's hands in her own. She smiled as Stefan and Hillary joined them on the floor.


OUTFIT: click.

[Anthony Marcus Owen]

Anthony pulled Claire closer to him as she quickly kissed him. He looked down at her smiling and then looked over at Natalia, who was turned around, and laughed. He looked back down at Claire and placed one more quick kiss on her lips. He knew what Talia was doing and he wasn't going to put her in a position where she had to lie. Natalia was such a sweet girl and his best friend, he wouldn't do anything wrong to her or put her in any position that would make her uncomfortable.

Anthony kept his eyes on Mason as he explained Claire being a challenge."Dude, I know your game. Claire isn't going to fall for it." he looked over to where Claire and Natalia had gone and sighed and then looked back to Mason. "I care about this girl, always have. She means a lot to me. I know you, I know what you can do and truthfully, I just don't want you doing it to her." The look in Anthony's eyes and the expression in his face showed how serious he was. "I don't trust you with her. You are my boy and all, but I don't want you trying to get with her, understand? I will come after you and you'll have her brothers too. I'm pretty sure she made it clear that she only wants to be friends." Anthony finished his beer, handed Mason the cup and then smirked, "Enjoy the party." he walked away and headed to Natalia and Claire and now Hillary and Stefan.


OUTFIT: click.

[Nathaniel Kyle Peterson]

Nathaniel heard his phone go off but didn't check the text message since he knew that it might be from Esta. He couldn't believe that he's always getting late, mostly everything when it has to involve Esta. Standing there in front of the closed door, he ran his hand through his hair then fixed it. He felt like he over did it with his outfit. Its too good to be true. Nathaniel thought to himself. It didn't take Esta to open the door. He smiled at her as he moved aside for her to close and lock the door. When she complimented him, he chuckled lightly. It was nothing compare to what how gorgeous she was looking in that dress. "I over did it, didn't I? And you look beautiful." Nathaniel walked with Esta to his car, he opened the door for her, closed it once she was in. He walked around his car, got it, and drove to Drake's place. 

"No. I don't know them," Nathaniel answered her question as when he lulled up at the house. He parked his car, hopped out of the car, walked around the car and opened Esta's door. Nathaniel placed his hand over Esta's looped arm though his. He didn't know anyone there other than Stefan and Esta. Walking in the house, he let Esta take the lead since he was her date. They stopped in front of a girl that he didn't know, he had a smile on his face as Esta talked to the girl. "hey. Nice to meet you," He said after Esta introduced each other. He didn't know that Stefan had a sister, maybe he did but he had forgotten about it. Speaking about Stefan, he saw him waving at him and Esta. He waved back and mouthed, hey to him.

Looking around the kitchen as many people came to get drinks, he smiled at them. Nathaniel got close to Esta's ear and whispered, "I'll get us a drink." With that he left Esta's side to get both of them drinks. Nathaniel grabbed two cups and poured beer in it. He walked back where Esta was, gave one cup to her then took a sip from his. "I would've gotten you a refil, but you already have some left in your cup," he told Kristen before taking another sip of his beer.

outfit; here
tag; esta, kristen
notes; none

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire couldn’t help but smile as Anthony pressed his lips back against hers. It was so strange how kissing him was becoming normal , but at the same time still sent chills through her. She knew that Natalia didn’t mind that they were ‘together’, but she avoided seeing any part of it so that she wouldn’t have to lie to Ethan. Smart girl. She narrowed her eyebrows as Natalia said that Mason didn’t want to talk to her. ”Well that seems silly. Why would he say he wanted to go upstairs to talk if he didn’t really want to talk? Every time I wanted to hook up with Anthony when we were friends you never heard me say, ‘ Hey Anthony. Let’s go talk’ she said, casting Natalia a look with a lifted eyebrow. Claire rolled her eyes at Natalia and smiled as she shook her head before she looked back at Anthony joining them and smiled again. But this time Destiny was making a b-line for him. She placed her hands on her hips and watched the exchange between them before she looked at Natalia. “ That. BITCH” she said with frustration before she took in a deep breath and grabbed Natalia’s hand, pulling her towards the kitchen. Natalia didn’t drink. That didn’t mean the rest of them didn’t. “ I told her, I TOLD her that the girl he was seeing was psycho,” she said, which was kind of ironic. Talking about yourself in third person, even if Destiny didn’t know she was talking about herself, wasn’t the best way to look sane.

“ Ethan!” she called over to her brother as she saw him leaning against the counter in the kitchen. Claire smiled as she saw Faith, “ Hey sweetie, great party,” she said to one of the two Drake sisters she didn’t want to strangle at the moment. Claire focused back on Ethan and tugged Natalia by her before she reached him. “ Shots,”. Ethan leaned away from the counter. ‘Everything okay?’ he asked. “ I’m fine, thanks Oprah. Shots” she said before she lowered her hand from Natalia and opened the bottle sitting in front of Ethan and started separating out little plastic cups to be used as shot glasses and started pouring herself and Ethan drinks.She downed three quickly, before Ethan took the fourth from her. ’ Yeah I’d rather not have Dalton kill me, thanks’ he had said which made her frown and look over at him. She made a confused expression as she saw Ethan smiling at Natalia. Did he just wink at her? What the hell. “ Oh my god just go dance with each other,” she said as she looked between the two of them.

[Destiny Anne Drake]

Dancing with this guy she had no interest in quickly got boring. Chasing after someone when they were dating someone wasn’t fun, but having something handed to you on a silver platter wasn’t fun either. She looked through the crowd to see where Anthony had hone. He had been the perfect mixture of chase, and be chased, before this “girl” came into the picture. Whatever, they were young. They were supposed to be having fun right now, not be tied down in controlling relationships.He was talking to some guy she didn’t know, which was pretty rare, but as he made his way from him Destiny put her hands against the chest of the guy she was dancing with and pushed him away, making her way towards Anthony. “ Owen,” she said from behind him before she grabbed his forearm to turn him around. ‘You can’t come to one of my parties and not dance with me,” she said while tilting her head to the side and letting a smile slowly spread across her lips.

Destiny stepped closer to him and gripped against the strings of his hoodie to lessen the distance between them. “ It’s a dance, Anthony. What’s the worst that could happen?” she asked , almost too enthusiastically with a devilish twinkle in her eyes. “ Come on.. if you can’t dance with a girl, then there’s some bigger problems in your “relationship” ‘ . She stepped back slowly , going deeper into the crowd, pulling him with her the best she could. It wasn’t exactly the easiest to move in this dress but she was trying to move deliberately, curving her body in the most convenient positions to try and get his attention.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan sighed as he took a drink from his cup, having separated himself into the kitchen, again, since Destiny had left and gone to the living room. No place was safe apparently. He was sure that Anthony had Claire and Natalia under control. Hell, Natalia could handle herself most of the time. He looked up as he saw Claire dragging Natalia into the kitchen, throwing a quick greeting to Faith. Those girls were tiny but they seemed like little hurricanes when they were frustrated. ‘ Shots!’ Claire had yelled at him and he leaned away from the counter, wondering what was going on. “ Everything okay?” he questioned, looking more at Natalia than Claire. Natalia was more honest with him than Claire was. It made no sense to him whatsoever, but out of the two brothers Dalton was always the one that Claire told the most to. He made a slight face as Claire called him Oprah and started pouring shots. He took two, trying to keep up with how quickly she was drinking hers. She was already trying to take her fourth one when he finished his second and he reached over quickly and took it from her. “ Yeah, I’d rather not have Dalton kill me, thanks” he said with a shake of his head before he downed the shot before Claire could. He looked over at Natalia and smiled. Even in shorts and a regular shirt she was still the most stunning girl in the room. He grinned, throwing a quick wink at her before he looked back over at Claire.

Telling him to dance with Natalia? Not a problem. ‘ If I have to,” he said, giving a serious nod to Claire before he reached down and took Natalia’s hand, heading into the living room. He smiled as he turned back around to face Natalia and stepped closer to her. “I hope you weren’t looking for some sort of a break from the endless dancing I’m sure you were a part of,” he said with a smile. Natalia danced like her life depended on it. All the time, no matter where she was. Ethan looked up to see that Destiny had set her sights back on Anthony. “ I’m so glad she’s trying to get with him instead of me,” he said, looking back at Natalia. He always said he’d be honest with her. “ It puts you in a hard position when you’re trying to stay away from someone so that you don’t hurt someone elses’ feelings,” he said, hinting towards Natalia how he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But at the same time, completely unaware of the very same predicament Anthony was probably in.

[Mason Alexander Sutton]

Mason moved his eyes from Claire and onto Anthony as he watched him intently. He’d known him for years and he’d never heard him talk about a girl like that. Plus, when Anthony wanted to be he could be pretty hell of an intimidating guy. He smirked as Anthony handed him his beer cup and walked away telling him to have a good night. ” Yeah.” he said with a disgruntled tone. Whenever the option of a girl was taken away from him, Mason always sort of felt like a kid whose toys were being taken away. He looked up though as he saw one of the Drake sisters making her way to Anthony and basically dragging his ass to dance with her. He lifted his eyebrow in amusement before he headed over to Anthony, gripping his hand against the top of his arm. “ Part of the reason chasing girls like Claire is fun is because people thinks it’s impossible to get them off their little high horses. But at the end of the day she’s just a girl, who falls for the same tricks that I see you’re still a part of,” he said,tilting his head to Destiny. ‘ There’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition. The only reason you’re interested in Claire is the same reason I am. That’s a pretty good notch to put on your bedpost. When it’s too easy, it’s not interesting” he stepped back and smiled. “ Enjoy the party, man. May the best man win” he said, grinning before he headed into the kitchen.

Mason moved out of the way as Ethan headed out into the living room with Natalia and looked over people scattered in the kitchen to find Claire. He smiled as he saw her, pouring herself a drink before he came over and stood by her. If his normal routine wasn’t what would get her to give in, then he could switch his game up. Thanks for the tip, Anthony. ”These things are always so loud,” he said, smiling at Claire and took the drink that she offered him. ‘ Do you think Destiny is pretty?’ she asked and Mason made a confused expression. Why would Claire care about Destiny? It hit him as he was taking a drink of the rum and coke she had poured. So she had a thing for Anthony. He lowered the cup from his lips and put on a shocked expression as he looked at her. “There’s other girls here? “ he questioned as he watched her. He smiled as she shook her head at him and smiled. Mason stood up and draped his arm over Claire’s shoulder. “ Come on, let’s go outside. I’m pretty sure there’s an easy way to climb onto the roof. I figured we’d give the stars something pretty to look at,”. Mason picked up Claire’s drink and held it in one hand with his own as he led her outside.