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“Don’t hold it crooked, Iris!”

“I’m trying not to! It’s heavy!”

“Try harder!”

I glared at Noah, blowing my bangs out of my face with a huff of exasperated air. “Why don’t you try holding it up then?”

He held up the roll of duck tape that was in his hand. “Because then I won’t be able to tape it. Der.”

            Suppressing an irritated groan, I managed to straighten out my side of the banner. Luke peered at me sympathetically from the other side, doing his best to keep his end steady. Noah went back to putting tape on every inch of the banner to keep it up. The poor boy didn’t realize there was no way any amount of tape could keep up such a heavy sign. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that though… and to be honest I wanted to see his reaction when he finished and it fell down. A tiny smirk slipped onto my face, but I quickly forced it away before anyone could get suspicious.

            “Wow, Rian! You’re such an artist!”

            My eyes snapped beyond Luke, to where Rian was working on painting a mural to decorate one of the gym’s walls for the dance. A bunch of girls were working on it with him, but doing more flirting than painting. “You think so?” he replied, taking a step back to admire his work. “Actually, that’s one awesome tree, if I do say so myself.”

            Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Noah who was just finishing Luke’s end of the banner. Grinning in triumph, he took a step back, gesturing for Luke and I to let go our ends. I dropped my hands and Luke followed in pursuit. The banner instantly fell to the floor with a loud thud.

            Noah stared at it for a moment, the happy smile on his face slowly faltering. Then he swore loudly, kicking the banner off the ground. “Oh come on! I just wasted ten rolls of tape on that!”

            I snickered, earning a glower from him. My hands went up in defense. “Must be bad luck.”

            “I’ll show you bad luck,” he growled, leaning down to grab the banner.

            “Don’t rip it up!” Luke cried, moving forward to stop him. “We need that for tonight!”

            Noah huffed loudly, but dropped the banner. “I don’t see how we are going to use it when it can’t be held up with tape!”

            As if on cue, Cindy walked by with a roll of rope in her hand. Before I could open my mouth to hail her, Noah sprung after her like a cheetah after a gazelle. She screamed in surprise as he knocked her off her feet. Both of them were blushing as he helped her back up. They talked for a moment, Noah gesturing to the rope in her hand. After a second she handed it over to him, smiling widely.

            “Luke, has he asked her to the dance yet?” I inquired, turning to face the brunet.

            He shook his head. “Nah. Noah thinks he can just meet up with her and ask her to dance.”

            “Huh…”

            “Iris,” he started warningly. “Don’t do what I think you’re about to do.”

            I smirked. It was pay back time. “Hey, Cindy!” I called, hopping off the footstool I was on and jogging over to her and Noah. “Are you going to the dance tonight?”

            “Yep!” she responded enthusiastically. “Are you?”

            I nodded. “Yep.”

            “I am too,” Noah pitched in.

            She smiled at him. “That’s cool.”

            “Actually, Noah wanted to know if you wanted to be his date,” I told her, keeping the smirk that so desperately wanted to cross my face, off. “He’s just too shy to ask.”

            “Iris!” Noah cried, looking at me in outrage.

            Cindy laughed. “Is that true, Noah?”

            “I… er…” He trailed off, his face growing more and more red. “Yes.”

            “You should have just asked,” she stated, poking him in the chest. “I wanted you to ask me.”

            “Really?”

            She nodded, now also looking embarrassed. “Well… yeah.”

            I resisted the urge to awe. They’d be such a cute couple.

            “Oh… then, um. I’ll pick you up at seven?”

            “Sounds good,” she responded happily. “But wait. What if my dress doesn’t match your outfit?”

            Noah snorted. “Rian has a tie of every color, so just tell me and I’ll find one.”

            “Okay!”

            “Well, um, I’ve got to put up the banner now…”

            She nodded, nodding her head to the other side of the gym. “I’ve got to help set up tables and table cloths. I’ll see you later, Noah. Bye Iris, bye Luke!” she called a little louder, waving her hand at him.

            As she walked away, Noah pursed his lips at me. “Why did you do that?”

            “You wanted to ask her anyway.”

            “What if she said no?”

            “She wouldn’t have,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “She likes you, Noah. You could actually date her and not have to have it be a fake relationship. And now we all have dates.”

            “Luke doesn’t.”

            Both of our gazes snapped to him. He looked back at us uncomfortably. “What are you guys planning?”

            “You need a date for the dance,” we declared.

            “No I don’t.”

            “Yes, you do,” we chimed back at him.

            “No, I don’t,” he repeated forcefully.

            Noah bounded up to him, putting a heavy hand on his shoulder. “’Fraid you do, mate.”

            He pushed Noah’s hand off. “I don’t need one.”

            “You’re going to be a loner?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow. “If you’re afraid of rejection, I know a few people who would definitely want to go with you.” For example, my best friend…

            “No, I don’t need a date because I already have one.”

            “Really?”

            “Is it Chloe?” I asked. If so, why didn’t she tell me?

            Luke nodded. “I don’t wait until the last second.” He narrowed his eyes at Noah. “Like some people.”

            I laughed while Noah scowled.

            “You should be one to talk, Iris. You’re a girl. That means you don’t have to do the asking. It’s a lot harder than you think!”

            “Girls can ask guys out too,” I pointed out, frowning. “Lots of girls ask guys out.”

            “Did you ask Rian out?”

            I slapped my hands over Noah’s mouth roughly, looking around to see if anyone had heard him. Luckily, no one was in our immediate vicinity. “Not so loud!”

            He rolled his eyes and muttered something into my hands. When I took them away he repeated himself. “If you two are dating, why are you keeping it a secret?”

            “Because I don’t want to deal with the girls.”

            A smirk crossed his face. “Oh really?”

            “What are you plotting, Noah?”

            “Nothing,” he responded innocently. “Shall we put up the banner now?”

            I sighed wearily. “Yeah, sure.”

            Five minutes later we finally finished setting up the banner. It didn’t look half bad. Luke and I managed to make it completely even, so you could read Snowball perfectly. There wasn’t even one wrinkle in it. Not soon after the teacher in charge of student council, Ms. Rose, sent us all off on new jobs. Mine was to go to the storage room and gather all the paper cups, plates, utensils, and napkins.

            “Rian, go help Iris!” Ms. Rose barked as I hopped down from my footstool.

            Rian’s head snapped in our direction, a wide grin spreading across his face. He bounded up off the floor, shoving his wet paintbrush into one of the adjacent girls’ hand. Instead of waiting for him, I turned, and began to head toward the gym doors. He caught up easily, falling into step beside me. As soon as we were out of the gym, he snatched my hand up in his. I glanced at him, hoping my palm wasn’t as sweaty as it felt.

            “Can I tell people we’re dating yet?” he asked with puppy dog eyes.

            I shook my head quickly. “No!”

            “Why not?” he complained. “What’s so great about having a girlfriend if I can’t show her off?”

            “What am I, arm candy?”

            “Maybe.”

            Sighing, I attempted to remove my hand from his, but he held fast. He bumped his hip with mine. “I’m kidding, Iris. But seriously.”

            “I just got over fake dating Noah, I don’t want to switch to another member of Gold in a week,” I told him. “It’d just be… weird.”

            “But you were fake dating him.”

            I pursed my lips. “Yes, but it will be weird.”

            He furrowed his eyebrows. “How?”

            “It’s a girl thing,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’m sorry. Can’t you just wait another week or something?”

            “No.”

            “Rian.”

            He grinned. “Of course I can, Iris. Though I think you’re being rather unfair.”

            “How so?”

            “You made me wait a month and a half to date you, and now you’re making me wait to officially be dating you.”

            “We hardly knew each other at first though,” I pointed out, like I had many times before, “so I think that’s justified. And I said I was sorry. It’s just… I don’t know. I feel like I was actually dating Noah, and switching from him to you really is like gold digging.”

            Rian sighed lightly, swinging our hands gently. “No it’s not. No one will think badly of you. If they do, I’ll see to them myself.”

            “Even your fans?”

            “Yup.”

            “They might hate you if you’re mean.”

            He shook his head. “Nah. Girls like jerks, for some reason.”

            “That’s true,” I agreed with a laugh. “That’s how it usually goes, right? Take a left here, the supply room is down by the art room.”

            He nodded, turning in the direction I guided him in. “Not all jerks are complete jerks though.”

            “Like you.”

            “Hey!”

            “So when are you making that single with my brother? Are you still doing it?” I inquired, changing the topic.

            “Of course we are!” he responded quickly, looking taken aback I’d even suggest the idea they wouldn’t be. “He’s got a tight schedule for awhile, but we’re thinking in about a month. Probably around the middle or end of March. I can’t wait!”

            I smiled at his excitement. “Any ideas about what it’s going to be about?”

            He smirked at me. “I wouldn’t tell you if I knew.”

            “Why not?”

            “It’d ruin the surprise,” he responded with a shrug. “The only people that are going to know are Gold and C.S.”

            Frowning, I steered him toward the supply room door. “This one. And why won’t you tell me?”

            “I’ll make you a deal,” he said, pushing open the supply room door. “Okay?”

            “It depends,” I said slowly. “What is it?”

            “You tell me your favorite band and I’ll tell you what the song is going to be about when I know.”

            “No deal.”

            He shut the door loudly behind us. “Why not?” he whined. “I just want to know!”

            “Don’t whine,” I scolded. “You’re just like a puppy.”

            “Am I a cute puppy?” he asked, pulling me to a stop as I tried to move further into a room. “Hmm, Iris?”

            A blush found its way to my cheeks as Rian gave me his best puppy-dog look. He was a very cute puppy. Cuter than Noah. Not that I would actually tell him that. “You’re more like a pit bull.”

            “Pit bulls are cute,” he insisted.

            “I’m a cat person.”

            “We’ll see how long that lasts.” He laughed, ruffling my hair with his free hand.

            I dropped his hand then, using both of my hands to smooth out the mess he’d just created. “Don’t do that!”

            He cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t like it?”

            “No!”

            “You don’t like this?” He reached over and ruffled my hair again.

            Swatting his hand away, I scowled. “Yes! You’re ruining my hair and it already looks bad enough.”

            “I think your hair looks great.”

            “You’re just saying that.”

            Rian shook his head. “Nope, I mean it. I wouldn’t lie.”

            I cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

He rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a girl and believe me.”

A smile appeared on my face. “Fine. Thank you, Rian.”

            “No problem, Igloo.”

            My eyebrows furrowed together. “Igloo?”

            “I thought it’d be a cute nickname,” he admitted, grinning sheepishly. “It sounded better in my head though, haha.”

            “I would hope so,” I responded with a small laugh. “If my nickname is Igloo then yours is… Rian… Orion… Brian… Rhino?”

            He made a face. “Rhino? Ew, that’s gross.”

            “Raptor?”

            “Fierce,” he responded with a sly smile. “I like that one more.”

            I shook my head. “I don’t. Rhino is more fitting.”

            “That’s so girly!”

            “How is that girly?”

            “It just sounds girly!”

            I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come off it… Rhino.”

            “Igloo.”

            “That doesn’t bother me.”

            He grinned, showing off his teeth. “Okay. Then from now on I’m going to call you Igloo.”

            “Sure, Rhino,” I responded, pushing past him, towards the far side of the room. “Now let’s get the supplies.”

            “What exactly do we need?”

            “Umm, paper cups and plates, plastic utensils, and napkins. I think the utensils are up there,” I told him, pointing towards the top of one of the shelves that lined the wall. “Can you handle that? Do you need a step ladder?”

            Rian smiled, patting my head. “Nope. Not all of us are short.”

            “I’m not short.”

            “Really? I could probably use you as a footrest if I wanted to, Igloo.”

            I rolled my eyes at him. “Just get them.”

            “You’re no fun,” he complained, heading towards the shelf. “You could at least get a little bit riled up.”

            “Why would you want that?” I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.

            He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Because you’re cute like that.”

            I flushed, glowering at him. “I’m not!”

            He laughed, turning his back to me. “Yes you are.”

            “No!”

            “Yep.”

            “No, and Rian don’t climb on that like that!” I demanded, watching as he stepped on the second shelf to hoist himself up. I moved closer when he ignored my warning, wondering if I should pull him down or not. The shelf would never be able to hold up his weight…

            He gave me an amused look. “Aw, are you worried about me?”

            “I—”

            “I’m fine,” he assured me, reaching for the utensils. “Ugh, just a little more…”

            I moved forward, placing my hands on his waist. He jumped in surprise, causing the whole shelf to shake. Holding him tighter, I tried to keep him steady so the shelf would stop moving. When it finally settled down, he let out a relieved sigh.

            “Trying to kill me, Iris?”

            I gave him a flat look, which he couldn’t see. “No, I don’t want you to fall.”

            “I’m not going to fall,” he guaranteed, shaking his head. “I just need to grow another inch.”

            “Now who’s short?”

            “You.”

            I ignored him. He chuckled to himself, moving to stand on his tiptoes so he could reach the box of utensils. With one hand on it, he began to pull it towards the edge of the shelf. I kept my hands on him, grasping onto his belt, just in case.

            “I’m going to jump,” he announced.

            “Wait—” I started, but was cut off when I felt him push back from the shelf. Unable to hold up his weight, I stumbled under him, falling to the ground with a loud smack. He landed on my ankle, causing him to slip as well. There was another loud crash as the box of utensils landed about an inch away from my head. The wind was knocked out of me as Rian landed straight on me. He groaned, rubbing his head, which had caught the bottom of my chin. “Ow…”

            I struggled to shove him off me. “You almost killed me!” I gasped. “Get off!”

            He blinked, looking down at me. “Iris? I thought I hit the floor!”

            “Get off!”

            “You’re really hard you know… that’s what she said,” he added as an after thought. A smirk crossed his face. “Although in this position, I could see that.”

            I glowered up at him, feeling my face heat up. “You’re a pig.”

            “Actually, I’m a guy.”

            “There’s no difference!” I told him. “Now get off!”

            He shook his head, moving so his head was resting against my collarbone. “This is pretty comfortable.”

            I stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep my blush under control. What if someone walked in and we were like this? How awkward would that be?

            “You smell really nice, Iris.”

            I turned my head to look at him. Unfortunately all I could see was his messy pecan colored hair. “Thanks?”

            He chuckled. “Your welcome.”

            Confused, I continued to stare at him. After a few minutes he looked back up at me, grinning widely. “What?” I asked, figuring there was something on my face.

            “I really like you, Iris.”

            I blinked, taken aback by his forwardness. A new blush spread across my face. I almost scowled in annoyance. I never blushed. Lies, the voice inside my head said. I made a face. Okay, sometimes I blushed, but never this much. “I like you too,” I finally muttered, unable to keep eye contact.

            “Not as much as I like you,” he told me. “Will you dance with me tonight?”

            “Duh,” I responded with a laugh. “You’re my date, aren’t you?”

            He cocked his head to the side. “But I thought you didn’t want people to know we’re dating?”

            “We don’t have to dance every dance,” I told him.

            “But I want to.”

            “And leave your fans hanging? There’s going to be so many people that want to dance with you, Rian.”

            He frowned. “Same for you.”

            “Doesn’t that work out okay then?”

            “Nope,” he responded, popping the P. “I don’t want you dancing with anyone else.”

            I stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if I wanted to smile or frown. It was cute, but… “I already promised Noah I’d dance with him.”

            “You can blow him off.”

            “No, I can’t,” I responded, shaking my head. “He’d… eat me, or something.”

            “He actually would,” Rian agreed, smirking. “Fine. You can dance with him. Or Luke.”

            “What about Kevin?”

            “He’s okay too. No one else.”

            I laughed, lightly slapping him on the forehead. “Rian, you can have half of my dances, okay?”

            He didn’t look satisfied. “I want all of them.”

            “Don’t be a child.”

            “But I want to,” he responded, snuggling closer to me.

            “You know what I want?”

            “What?”

            “To get off of this floor. It’s really hard and uncomfortable.”

            Rian let out an irritated huff, but moved off me so I could get up. “Fine.”

            “We have to get this stuff back anyway,” I told him, repressing a smile at his immaturity. “They’re probably looking for us.”

            “Okay, okay,” he responded, holding up his hands. “Get the other things then.”

            “Right.” With that, I went to the other side of the room where the cups, plates, and napkins were neatly bundled into one box to our convenience.

            Together we headed for the door, Rian grumbling that now we couldn’t hold hands. I laughed at him again, shifting the box in my arms so I could open the door.

            It didn’t budge.

            I frowned, pulling again.

            Nothing.

            “What’s wrong?” Rian asked, peering around me. “Too weak? Need a man to handle it?”

            “No,” I responded, jamming my elbow into his side. “I think it’s locked.”

            He moved around me, putting the box in his hands down so he could try the door. Once again, it didn’t move. “Er…”

            “We’re stuck in here, aren’t we?”

            Rian glanced at me. “Yep.”

            “Perfect,” I replied wearily. “Oh well. At least we get a break from setting up until someone finds us.”

            He grinned. “More us time. You know what we should do?”

            I gave him a wary look. “What?”

            He moved closer to me. I stood my ground. He moved his face closer to mine. I held my breath, very aware of our proximity. To my surprise, his face moved past mine, to my ear. “Play Angry Birds on my iPhone.”

            I blinked. He pulled back, snickering. Realizing I was still holding my breath, I let it go, frowning at him. “Hey.”

            “Your expression was priceless!”

            I scowled at him. “Whatever!”

            “Seriously though, let’s play,” he said, taking his iPhone out of his pocket. “Have you ever played?”

            “I suck at it,” I admitted. “And the noises are annoying.”

            “Oh, then I should put the volume on.”

            I shoved him into the door. “You’re a jerk.”

            He slid down it, landing in a sitting position. He patted the spot next to him. “Come on, Iris.”

            After a moment of hesitation I took a seat next to him. He unlocked his phone, and I immediately saw he was listening to one of his songs. I grinned at him. “You listen to your own music?”

            He looked embarrassed. “Well…”

            I laughed. “Aw, don’t get embarrassed! That’s cute!”

            “You think I’m cute?”

            “Yeah,” I responded without thinking. “Wait! No! I meant how you listen to Gold!”

            He sniggered. “Too late to change it now, Iris.”

            “Fine,” I replied grumpily. “Let’s just play the game.” My eyes glanced at his background for a moment, and my jaw dropped. “Hey! Why do you have a picture of me as your background?” I stared at the obviously candid picture of me on his phone, one taken during Chemistry class. I was even wearing my goggles.

            “You’re cute,” he told me with a cheesy grin.

            “That’s creepy.”

            He shrugged. “Oh well.”

            “You’re not going to change it?”

            “I will when I get a picture of both of us.”

            “Then let’s take one now,” I demanded. I didn’t want him to have such a terrible picture of me as his background image.

            His eyes lit up in excitement. “Really?”

            “Really.”

            “Okay!” He turned his phone camera on, moving closer to me. “Smile, Iris.”

            Obeying his command, I smiled. Suddenly I felt something soft on my cheeks. The camera clicked just as I jolted away, leaving Rian with his lips puckered in the air. My face flamed as Rian smirked, looking at the picture. “Let me see that!” I cried, trying to grab it from him.

            “Nope! It’s perfect!”

            “Rian!”

            “Iris!”

            “I mean it!”

            “I mean it!”

            I tried grabbing it from him, but he easily kept it out of my reach, laughing again. “Come on!”

            “Come on!” he mimicked again, raising his pitch.

            I glowered at him. “I hate you.”

            “No you don’t.”

            “Yes I do.”

            “Would you rather a kiss on the lips?” he inquired, leaning toward me.

            I pushed him back. “Nope. Not after that.”

            He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Fine. I guess I steal one of those later.”

            “Let’s just play Angry Birds now,” I muttered, gesturing for him to come closer to me again.

            He obeyed, finally putting on the game. “It is a really good picture, Iris.”

            “Send it to me then.”

            “Why?”

            “I’ll… I want to put it as my background too,” I murmured, dropping my gaze.

            He nudged me in the side. “That’s more like it. I will. After a lively match of throwing birds at… forts.”

            “Don’t be angry if I do better than you.”

            “I thought you sucked at it?”

            I smirked at him. “I lied.”

'            Half an hour later, Luke finally stumbled across us, opening the door and raising an eyebrow. “What were you two doing down here?”

            “Waiting for someone to free us,” I told him, quickly pushing past him and into the open hallway. “Fresh air!”

            Rian stumbled out after me, frowning. “Damn, Luke why did you come so quickly?”

            Luke raised an eyebrow. “You two have been gone for over half an hour. We need more help to finish setting up.”

            “I don’t want to,” Rian grumbled. “We should just pay someone to do it for us.”

            “That misses the point of volunteer work,” Luke pointed out, but grinned nonetheless. “And also, your fans want you to finish your mural painting.”

            Sighing, Rian reluctantly followed us back to the gym. It was starting to actually look decent enough for the dance tonight. There were twinkling lights that were supposed to resemble snowflakes strung up on the walls and ceiling, as well as paper made snowflakes.

            I grinned in excitement. The dance was going to be awesome.

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That was a really long chapter..... lol. So I think that deserves your effort to go vote for Love at Last Sight? ;D The link is in the external link, so if you're on your ipod you can just follow it and vote c:

No, but I hoped you liked it! :D