"Garroth, please help me make sure everybody is on their best behavior tonight," I plead, my button lip jutted out ever so slightly as I look up at him. "You know Hayden better than anyone, and I've only met him a handful of times. I don't want our families to clash more than Zane already makes it happen."

Garroth looks down at me and laughs. He seems to think that I'm joking, but I have never been more serious. Zane doesn't get along with anyone, so I don't expect him to be nice. But I just want one night where mom mellows down and dad turns off his phone's ringer. I don't remember the last time we had an uninterrupted family dinner, and I don't want tonight to become a total reck.

"Little sister, it'll be alright," he says, kissing the top of my head. I had put curls in my hair, and he understood more than anybody that you shouldn't mess with somebody's hair when it's done. If it wasn't for my hair being done, he wouldn't ruffled my hair. "If it makes you that anxious, I'll talk to mom and dad before they arrive. Zane is a lost cause, and I can't see Vylad doing anything purposely to ruin something like this. . . And I'll. . . I'll back off of Laurance for your happiness I guess."

I can't help but let out a little grin at Garroth, wrapping my arms around him. Because of the height difference I am left to stand on the tip of my toes, but it's a hug nonetheless. "Thank you Garroth."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Three separate knocks on the door mean it's my que to let the guests of honor in. It's about two weeks after Laurance and I became a couple, but that doesn't make me any less nervous. I don't talk much to Cadenza, and Alex and I are just friends because of Laurance. I've only seen Hayden a few times, so I really only truly know Laurance.

Laurance smiles softly down at me and leans forward to kiss my cheek before stopping due to realizing there's other people around. "You look wonderful," he tells me, handing a small bouquet of flowers to me. "Even flowers are unable to match your beauty."

"Thank you, Laurance," I say, holding onto the flowers before smiling to the rest of his family. I lock eyes with Hayden, and my smile grows wider when he returns a smile back to me. "Please, come inside. I should get these into some water."

Minutes pass and soon both the Ro'meave and Zvahl family is interacting with one another. Some appear to be upstairs, and others appear to be downstairs. Zane had given a few minutes of his presence before locking himself into his room to play his video games.

I don't mind. He at least tried even if he was forced. He did was he was supposed to, and he'll be back again to eat.

Laurance looks at me from the end of my bed. He smiles at me, his eyes going up and down my body. I look a him, biting my lip as the sudden desire to cover up and hide washes over me.

"I still can't get over how good you look," he tells me, standing up so he can be more at eye level with me. He walks over to me and places his hands on my waist.

"You clean up well," I comment, snickering at him before adding on. "And you don't smell like absolute trash either."

He looks at me and lifts an eyebrow, rolling his eyes before smirking to himself. "I'll just have to convince you otherwise," he says, leaning forward to give me a kiss before we're interrupted.

"Laurance!" Garroth cheerfully calls out, walking into my room as she walks over to Laurance. They exchange a bro hug as if they hadn't seen each other yesterday.

Laurance looks over to me, apologetic.

I sigh but nod my head. "It's alright. I'll just help make sure dinner is running smoothly," I say.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Alex's POV

I look over at Vylad, a little shy, before glancing away and back down at my feet. It feels a bit different not having to do any homework. It feels even stranger to know that there's no work that I should be doing that I'm ignoring.

Vylad places his hand on top of mine, and I can't help but blush. I look to the side of me to try and hide it, but I can hear his laughter from beside me.

"What's suddenly gotten into you?" He asks, trying to get me to willingly revert my attention back to him. When this fails, he sighs and gently moves my chin with his hand until our eyes meet. "Are you blushing?"

"Of course not," I say, pushing off his question with a forced laugh. "Why would I be blushing?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out myself."

He scoots closer to me, and I can feel an increase in my pulse. I have been acting different. Before we could just laugh and jokes about anything. But now I can't help but blush or coo over any thing that he does.

After a few moments of studying the ring on my finger, I look up to see Vylad already staring at me. If I hadn't been blushing before, I'm certainly blushing now. Except this time, I'm not alone. There's a soft hue of pink scattered across Vylad's cheeks, and the sight starts to put my nerves at ease.

His words are slow as I can feel his hand brush up against my cheek, pushing away little hairs behind my ear. "You look beautiful. . ." He says, trailing off towards the end when I finally begin to realize that the distance between our faces is decreasing.

"Dinner!"