"You don't have to rub it in." Darcy turns back from the windows. "I'm going to go mingle."
You follow Darcy back into the Derby Room. On the way, Alex says, "That wasn't well-considered. You put us both at risk."
It was a social thing. No real risk.
"Your breathing and heart rate suggest otherwise. Remember that you're behaving for two, now."
Like you need another voice in your head judging you.
Next
Janice Pulham, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, steps up to the mic. "Please finish dinner, as we're going to move tables to make room for dancing." As if on cue, people dressed too flamboyantly-yet-neatly to be faculty or staff make their way towards the stage. While their clothes make you suspect they're the band, their opening of instrument cases stashed behind the stage confirms it.
"I take it you will mingle?" Alex says.
Probably. Though after what happened to you and Darcy, you're tempted to call it a night.
"If so, will you require another drink?" Alex asks. "I would be interested in you trying more alcohol," they say, like they're trying to demonstrate peer pressure in an old D.A.R.E. anti-drinking video.