It was happening and it was the real deal.

Even though there were speakers on both corners on either side of the end of the massive pool behind the house, Makenna could still hear the same music coming from behind her, from inside the house.

Correction, Mansion.

Although when she arrived, she went straight for the drinks and went outside leaving the dance scene inside and hadn't gone to check out the rest of the Mansion, unlike Lexi and Hee who later joined her to rant about things they'd seen. They'd mostly been speaking over each other, so she hadn't heard clearly anything they were saying and just sat there and smiled at them.

"Hope none of it made it into your pockets."

They looked at her like she was silly for saying that because obviously, they had.

"It's not like they would notice or anything," Hee said,

"I told her not to." Lexi said,

Hee snapped her gaze to her,
"You were the first one to pocket something."

"But I felt guilty almost immediately and returned it."

"You didn't tell me that." Hee said, "I took something only because I thought you did."

"Well, I returned it."

Hee sighed and glanced at Makenna,
"Now I feel guilty."

"You should just go put it back."

"Come with me?"

"Of course."

Hee and Lexi turned around and headed back into the Mansion leaving Makenna smiling to herself glad that she hadn't had to say anything before they both felt bad about what they'd done.

"What's got you smiling?"

Makenna lifted her gaze to find a handsome stranger smiling in front of her,
"Not you."

"Is that an invitation?"

How in the world does that sound like an invitation?
She wondered.

"'Cause if it is then I'd have a blast trying to get you to smile all night, maybe into the morning."

Yuck!

"You know what would make me smile right now?" Makenna held her drink in one hand, the other one crossed in front of her resting on the inside of her other hand

"Tell me."

"You." She smiled at him, "...turning around and walking away." Her smile fell to a straight face before she removed her gaze from him and glanced somewhere else hoping he would take the hint and walk away,

"Your loss."

She said nothing else and he ended up walking away. She sipped on her drink and wondered why some guys even bothered. If she was interested, she would have had her eyes on him like girls did when they were interested in a guy but she had just been sitting there minding her business.

"Who was your friend?" Brandon came around the other side and sat next to her leaving enough distance between them that she wasn't bothered by it,

"Who, that guy?" She glanced at him just in time to see him nod, "I have no idea."

"You haven't moved since you got here."

"How would you know?"

Brandon smiled sweetly as he looked at her side profile as she drank,
"It was a guess but looks like I was right."

Makenna looked at him and noticed something wrong with him sitting there next to her,
"Where's your drink?"

Brandon looked at his hands and then gestured with his palms up like he was also wondering where his drink was,
"Uh, I was going to get one then I saw you sitting here talking to that guy, I came and stayed close just in case you needed my help but you handled that great."

Makenna looked at him with a frown wondering if he'd met her but she stopped and smiled when she found him smiling.

"Honestly, I came in case he needed protection from you."

That sounded more like it.

Makenna had been in more than a couple of fights over the years and Brandon was always the one who got between her and her opponent to pull her away from them. At first, it was her just getting herself into trouble and starting a fight even when the other person wasn't keen on having one. But then, she'd gotten a trainer in her second year and put all that rage into her training and the party fights had dropped. Now, she only got into a fight when it was absolutely necessary.

"Where were you before that?"

"I was talking to the guy who threw the party."

"You two know each other?"

"We went to boarding school together."

Makenna smiled a little having forgotten about Brandon being in boarding school. Brandon glanced at her and smiled,
"What?"

Makenna shook her head and turned her gaze away from him,
"I just forget sometimes."

"Not a word of this to the rest."

"Hey," Makenna held her hands up as best as she could with the drink in her hand, "I've kept your secret for two years. If they ever find out, it wouldn't be from me."

Kent had introduced Brandon to Hee and Makenna in their first year and later on in the semester, Lexi and Collin had joined their small group. Usually, when you meet someone for the first time, not everyone is completely their authentic self at that first meeting but then later on, when you become close friends, you find out they had been weird all along.

Brandon wasn't like that. Brandon was the same person Makenna had met the first time. Yes, she knew more things about him but he was still just the same guy. He talked less and just took a backseat and observed everyone else rather than partake in whatever they did.

"Do you still have your no-dating policy?" Brandon looked at her,

Makenna smiled,
"Yup."

"When you told me about that a year ago, I honestly thought it was a joke and when I realized it wasn't, I figured it would be gone before we graduated."

"And now, do you still think that?"

"We've got a little over a year left, I'm not sure, but I'm hopeful." He smiled but it was gone just as quickly as it came, "For your sake, I mean." He quickly added,

"What about you, what's your excuse, you've got no rules, no policy, what's stopping you?"

"Uh, just haven't found anyone I'd like to date."

"You are so picky."

He looked at her with his brows furrowed,
"I'm not."

"You are." Makenna said, "There have been a lot of girls I've seen hanging around you who I thought you'd go out with because they were less pathetic."

"Wow. Less pathetic is definitely not what I'm going for." Brandon said, "I think we should aim higher."

"Like almost completely not pathetic."

"How about not pathetic at all. Maybe even sweet, friendly, fun even?"

"Oh, no, that's terrible. Let's not go for that."

Brandon laughed and Makenna smiled as they looked at each other.

"Someone like you maybe?"