Oz frowned and worried the tip of one canine with his tongue. He did not want to take Thomasina to the ballet. He took lots of people to the ballet because it gave him a convenient route to schedule trysts after the performances, and a handful of his friends had commented on how he often seemed distracted during the shows. None of them had yet pieced together that he was only distracted when Sophia was on stage, but Sina would. She was smarter than most of his friends, and more perceptive (not a high bar to clear on either count). She probably wouldn't jump to an accusation based only on his watching a particular dancer more closely than the others — Sophia did tend to stand out whenever she was on stage, so he had that working in his favor — but it might be enough for her to pay more attention if the ballerina's name ever came up in another context, or if they happened to be at the same event in the future, and Oz didn't want Thomasina paying more attention.
He could skip the ballet and take Sina somewhere else, but then he had to think of an excuse to change his plans. If only he'd had the forethought to consider this before he'd said he was attending the ballet, he wouldn't have ever had to say anything about it. Now that he had, though, he worried that changing activities would either look suspicious or sentimental, and he wasn't sure which was worse. (Not to mention if he came across as openly sentimental by suggesting they do something she liked, that would be suspicious in and of itself).
Perhaps they could go to the ballet and he could make it a rule not to actually watch the performance. The box was private enough that he could have pulled Thomasina back for some... activities that one didn't normally accomplish in public... during the height of Sophia's stage time. The problem with that was that what might not have been visible to the rest of the audience would have been visible to her from the stage. Sophia knew he was married, of course, and if he'd had to write her and cancel their plans so that he could entertain his wife she would have understood without a question... but that didn't mean she would be thrilled to be treated to a view of him feeling his wife up in the middle of her performance.
"Why'd they cancel your shift?" he asked, with a little of the irritation he felt at the situation seeping through to his tone. "That doesn't usually happen."
He could skip the ballet and take Sina somewhere else, but then he had to think of an excuse to change his plans. If only he'd had the forethought to consider this before he'd said he was attending the ballet, he wouldn't have ever had to say anything about it. Now that he had, though, he worried that changing activities would either look suspicious or sentimental, and he wasn't sure which was worse. (Not to mention if he came across as openly sentimental by suggesting they do something she liked, that would be suspicious in and of itself).
Perhaps they could go to the ballet and he could make it a rule not to actually watch the performance. The box was private enough that he could have pulled Thomasina back for some... activities that one didn't normally accomplish in public... during the height of Sophia's stage time. The problem with that was that what might not have been visible to the rest of the audience would have been visible to her from the stage. Sophia knew he was married, of course, and if he'd had to write her and cancel their plans so that he could entertain his wife she would have understood without a question... but that didn't mean she would be thrilled to be treated to a view of him feeling his wife up in the middle of her performance.
"Why'd they cancel your shift?" he asked, with a little of the irritation he felt at the situation seeping through to his tone. "That doesn't usually happen."
MJ is the light of my life <3