“Why is he riding with us?” Rian muttered, glancing at Colton out of the corner of his eye.

            I glanced at Colton as well, seeing him trying to throw Chloe over his shoulder. She hit him a few times, trying to fend him off. A small smile crossed my face when I noticed Luke frowning at the two from a few feet away. “Because Luke wants to ride with Brendon, so we’re switching,” I finally answered Rian.

            “Why can’t Colton just ride with Brendon and Luke?”

            “Because Colton wants to ride with us, Rian. And Chloe is going with Luke and Brendon anyway. It will about even out the cars.”

            Rian still didn’t look happy. “But—”

            “Are you jealous of him or something, Rian?” I teased.

            “No!” he denied immediately, glaring at me. “I’m not jealous! You overuse that word!”

            Shrugging, I turned back to the car, opening the driver’s side. “Well if you didn’t act like it, I wouldn’t assume.”

            “I’m not!”

            I turned to Rian, smiling pleasantly at him. “Don’t worry. Colton hits on every girl.”

            He gave me a frustrated look. “I’m not worried—”

            “You can sit in front if you want.”

            Rian quickly shut his mouth, cutting off his retort. A surprise expression flitted across his face and he stared at me blankly. Clearing my throat, I looked away from him. I couldn’t face him if he had that cute expression on. Wait. Cute? Shaking my head, I quickly slid into the car. I really needed to stop thinking.

            Rian stumbled around to the other side of the car, slipping into the passenger’s seat. I honked the horn as a warning for the others to get in. Noah was the first one in, sitting behind me. “How come Rian gets to sit in front again?” he complained, sitting as far up in his seat as possible.

            Rian turned to him, a smug smile on his face. “Because Iris likes me the most.”

            “No I don’t!” I protested, a little too vehemently. Both Rian and Noah gave me curious looks. “I was… I was just trying to make him feel better because he was jealous of Colton.”

            Noah grinned. “Is that so?”

            “I’m not jealous, Iris!”

            “That’s harsh, dude,” Noah commented, giving Rian a disapproving look. “Even I’m jealous because it’s Iris.”

            Rian looked uncomfortable. “It’s not that…”

            “Hey!” Colton greeted, climbing into the seat behind Rian. “Which mall are we going to again?”

            “The big one,” I responded distractedly. Rian still had that strange expression on his face.

            “Oh, the one with that pretzel store? Awesome.”

            Noah kicked the back of my seat. “Stop staring at Rian and let’s go.”

            I twisted my head around to scowl at Noah before shifting the car into drive. Brendon drove up behind me, honking his horn. Making a face, I pulled out onto the street. Were all men this impatient?

            It was a quiet drive from my house to the mall. Rian stayed deathly silent, staring out the window the whole time. Colton attempted to start up a few conversations, but they all fell flat. Noah was tapping away at his cell phone, eagerly texting someone. I had a pretty good guess about who he was texting too. A certain blonde girl in the grade below us whose named rhymed with Mindy.

            When the mall finally came into sight, the relief that filled the car was almost tangible. Lucky for us, there were two parking spaces open that were close to the mall’s entrance. I pulled in one of them while Brendon quickly pulled into the other. Rian was the first one out of the car. Frowning, I pulled the key out of the ignition and then climbed out as well.

            “Iris, can you open the trunk?” Rian called over to me. “I need the hats.”

            “Sure,” I responded, walking over to him. “Are you sure hats are going to be enough?”

            He shrugged, running a hand through his messy pecan hair. “It’s been enough before. We just need to keep our heads down.”

            “Can you handle that?” Noah asked, grinning from ear-to-ear. “With your ego, I’ll be surprised if you can… actually, it’ll be no problem for you!” he corrected himself with a sheepish laugh after receiving a glare from Rian.

            I popped open the trunk and reached in, pulling out a stack of hats. Colton suddenly appeared at my side, swiping them from me. “If worse comes to worse, we run,” he told me, taking the best hat from the pile.

            “I hate running,” I complained, watching as Colton tossed the other hats to Rian.

            Rian chose the only black one, putting it on his head. He pulled the cap as low as he could, covering his eyes. “How does it look, Iris?”

            “Um, good,” I replied, quickly adverting my gaze. Dang it. Why was it so hard to compliment him now? Not that I wanted to compliment him.

            “I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving.”

            My head snapped behind me and I saw Brendon, grinning widely. Chloe and Luke dogged behind him looking equally as happy. I raised an eyebrow at the trio. They didn’t take notice.

            “Take your pick,” Rian said, tossing the bundle of hats to Luke. “Make sure it covers your eyes.”

            Luke nodded, taking the hat on the top of the pile. “Will do.”

            Chloe gave me a wary look. “Do you think it will be okay to walk around with five famous people? Surely someone will notice—”

            “Don’t be a Debbie Downer, Chloe,” Colton interjected, pursing his lips at her. “We could all use a little exercise.”

            She gave him a confused look. “Exercise?”

            “He means if we have to run away from the paparazzi,” Brendon clarified, taking the last hat from Luke. “Now let’s go before I pass out from hunger.”

            The seven us of trooped inside of the mall in one big gang. Many people gave us curious looks— probably because the boys looked really shady with their rims pulled over their eyes. Chloe caught my eye and grinned, obviously trying not to laugh. I grimaced back at her. They might look ridiculous, but we were the ones with them. And everyone could see us.

             One man was giving our group a disapproving look so I returned it, narrowing my eyes. He abruptly looked away. Didn’t people know it was rude to stare?

            “Iris, keep up,” Colton called and I realized I had stopped walking. “We don’t want you to get lost.”

            Giving him a sarcastic look, I hurried to catch up with the group. “I wouldn’t get lost, Colton.”

            He raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? That’s not what I’ve heard.”

            “Iris, you get lost so easily,” Brendon interjected, turning to grin at me. “Especially here. And then I always have to come find you. And you’re always crying.”

            I glared at him. “That was when I was seven, Brendon.”

            He chuckled. “It’s only been ten years.”

            “Whatever,” I snapped, flushing. “I’m not hungry, so I’m going to window shop for awhile. You coming, Chloe?”

            Chloe gave me a sheepish look. “Er… Luke owes me lunch from our ping-pong match, so we’re doing that…”

            “I thought he owed you dinner?”

            “We’re doing lunch instead,” Luke told me with a shrug. “Since we’re here anywhere.”

            Frowning, I turned to Noah. “Noah?”

            “Ah, sorry, I’m hungry,” he mumbled, adverting his gaze.

            “Don’t be sorry you’re hungry,” I responded dejectedly. “I guess Colton…”

            Colton gave me a flat look. “I’m a last resort?”

            “Er…”

            “I’m eating,” he told me smugly.

            I made a face. The only person left was Rian, but I did not want to be alone with him. If we walked around together, it’d look like we were on a date. My heart sped up at the thought. No, Iris, I told myself firmly. Rian and I were just friends.

            “Looks like it’s me and you,” Rian announced, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We can take this opportunity to go out on a date.”

            My mind blanked. Did I accidentally say my thoughts out loud?

            “You’re going on a date with my girlfriend?” Noah inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

            “You bet,” Rian responded, slinging an arm over my shoulder. “Let’s go, honey.”

            Noah grinned, shaking his head at us. Rian began to pull me away from the group, and I stumbled backward, still in shock. I eventually twisted around so I wouldn’t fall, removing myself from under Rian’s arm.

            “I’ll make sure you won’t get lost,” he informed me with a wink.

            I quickly adverted my gaze, feeling my cheeks redden. It was crazy what could happen to you when you realized your feelings. I was much better off without it. Rian was definitely going to notice something strange about me.

            “So you ready to do some window shopping?”

            I gave him a curious look. “You’re not going to buy anything?”

            “Are you?”

            “No, I don’t have any money.”

            Rian nodded. “Then I’m not buying anything either.”

            “Oh…” I dropped my gaze, a bit taken aback by his thoughtfulness. Whatever happened to the insensitive jerk?

            He grinned, taking my hand into his. “You don’t mind, do you? You know, so we can pretend that we actually are on a real date.”

            “I don’t mind,” I responded, trying to sound confident. Hopefully he didn’t notice the slight shaking of my voice.

            “Perfect.”

            And we were off. For a good half an hour, we just walked around the mall so Rian could see what kind of shops there were. He basically dragged me into a hat shop and forced me to try on basically every single cap in the store. After that we went into a pet store and Rian told me he was going to buy all the pets there one day so they wouldn’t have to suffer. That made me smile. Not to mention all the while he held my hand, never letting go once.

            “Let’s go into Hot Topic,” he urged, pulling me towards the store.

            I hesitated a moment, looking at it warily. “I don’t know…”

            Rian rolled his eyes at me. “It’s not as scary as it looks.”

            “That’s not what I’m worried about that,” I told him, shaking my head. “What if someone recognizes you?”

            “They won’t,” he responded confidently.

            “Are you sure—”

            “You’re such a worry wart, Iris,” he interjected, forcefully pulling me into the store. “Relax.”

            I sighed, allowing him to drag me into the store. Right away I caught sight of a whole stand dedicated to Gold. Of course there was a bunch of girls around it, twittering excitedly.

            “Rian is so hot,” a blonde one commented. “If I could, I’d kidnap him and keep him in my basement.”

            Her friend laughed. “I’d do the same, but with Noah.”

            I glanced at Rian, who was smirking at the girls. How he could find hearing that they wanted to keep him in their basement so amusing, I couldn’t figure out. If I were him I’d be terrified. The girls continued to talk excitedly as Rian pulled me further and further into the shop. “Iris, this looks just like you!” Rian shoved a stuffed raccoon in my face. “See?”

            I stared at it, smiling wryly. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

            “Yeah,” he told me, nodding. “Its eyes are large like yours, and you’re always tired all the time, so the rings work too.”

            “That’s not exactly cute, Rian…”

            “I think it is.”

            His serious tone threw me off guard. I blinked at him. “What?”

            He frowned at me. “I think you’re cute, Iris. Why don’t you believe me?”

            “It’s not that I don’t,” I protested, dropping my gaze. “It’s—”

            “How come you can keep eye contact with Colton when he talks to you? And Noah? And Luke? But not me?” Rian demanded, grabbing my chin and making me look at him. “Huh, Iris?”

            I flushed, my eyes not meeting his searching ones. “Rian…”

            “What?”

            “There are people staring,” I whispered, looking behind him into a pair of wide eyes.

            Rian immediately dropped his hand, yanking his cap over his eyes again. “Maybe we should go…”

            “Rian?” a disbelieving voice started, and I turned to see the girl who said she’d keep him in her basement making her way toward us. “Rian Drew?”

            I shot Rian a panicked look. He shut his eyes, taking a breath, and letting it out slowly. The blonde looked like she was about to pass out. “Oh my god! It is him! Amber, Amber!” she cried, waving a brunette over. “It’s Rian Drew! Does that mean Luke and Noah are here?”

            The brunette rushed over. “That girl is Noah’s girlfriend so he must be here!”

            My mouth dropped. How did she recognize me? Surely that magazine wasn’t too public… My eyes suddenly landed on my own face when I noticed a magazine with Noah and I on the cover was on display at the counter. How the hell they got a picture of the two of us, I’d never know.

            “Just walk,” Rian muttered quietly, pushing me toward the entrance. “I’ll catch up in a moment.”

            I turned to him. “But Rian—”

            “There’s something I want to buy,” he told me with a grin, holding up the stuffed raccoon. “As a gift.”

            “Rian, can I have your autograph?” the blonde one questioned, moving closer.

            “If you don’t tell anyone I’m here,” Rian responded politely. “I’m trying to stay undercover…”

            Both the brunette and blonde nodded vehemently. “We won’t tell a soul,” the promised together.

            “Alright, good,” Rian responded with a grin. “Do you have a pen? Iris, why don’t you go find Noah?”

            After hesitating for another moment, I finally left the store, leaving Rian to sign autographs. Luckily there was a bench right across from the entrance, so I trudged over and sat down on it. A sigh escaped my lips as I leaned back, staring at the mall ceiling. I knew I should be happy those girls ruined the moment so I didn’t have to reply, but I wanted to know what else Rian had to say. But how could I explain to him why I couldn’t look at him anymore? It wasn’t like I could be, “Oh hey, Rian. I have a crush on you even though I told you that you couldn’t have a crush on me because we don’t know each other.” Yeah, that definitely wasn’t hypocritical at all.

            After what seemed like half an hour, Rian finally emerged from Hot Topic, carrying a small bag. I immediately jumped up, going over to him. He grinned, holding out the bag. “For you,” he said in a suave voice.

            I took the bag, smiling at him. “Why thank you. What took you so long?”

            “A few other people noticed I was Rian Drew,” he told me, glancing behind him. “I’m worried they might follow me, so let’s go.” He took my hand into his again and began to quickly pull me away from the store. “Do you want to grab something to eat?”

            Eat… I gasped. “Oh no! I totally forgot we’re here with everyone else!”

            Rian gave me a curious look. “And?”

            “We haven’t checked in!” I told him, shoving my hand into my pocket. “What if Brendon thinks I was kidnapped or something?”

            “Iris, chill. Noah is with Brendon and he texted me a few minutes ago so it’s all good,” Rian interjected, laughing. “Brendon knows you’re still with me.”

            My shoulders sagged in relief. “Oh…”

            “Now do you want to get something to eat?”

            “Sure,” I responded with a smile.

            Twenty minutes later, Rian and I were seated at a table next to the fountain in the food court. Subway wrappers were lain out in front of us with the leftovers of our lunch on them. Rian stretched in his seat, putting his hands above his head, and let out a long yawn. My gaze drifted to the fountain. Pennies, nickels, and quarters littered the base of it, submerged in about two feet of water. There were a few people sitting on the edge of it, dipping their hands into the water.

            “Iris?”

            “Huh?” I quickly turned my attention back to Rian, who was staring at me with a strange expression.

            “Do you want to go swimming or something? You look like you’re entranced,” he pointed out. “I’m sure you wouldn’t get in too much trouble if you did…”

            I gave him a sarcastic look. “I don’t want to swim in the fountain, Rian.”

            “You never answered my question earlier.”

            Ah. Straight to the point with him. “Er…” Suddenly I was interested in the tile on the floor. How could I explain without feeling like a hypocrite?

            He frowned at me. “You know, I do try extra hard not to glare at you.”

            My head snapped back up and I stared at him in surprise. “You have to try not to glare at me?”

            “Nope, that was a joke.”

            I felt a smile slip onto my face. “Very funny.”

            His eyes twinkled mischievously. “It got you to look at me, didn’t it?”

            “Um, yeah,” I mumbled, forcing myself to keep eye contact with him. “Rian, I have something to tell you…”

            “Tell away,” he urged, leaning closer to me.

            I hesitated for a moment, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. What could I say? What was I going to say? Should I tell him that I like him? No! I couldn’t do that. He was Rian. From Gold. And I was pretending to date Noah. There was no way I could let Rian know I had a crush on him…

            “Iris, break up with Noah.”

            I blinked at him. “W-what?”

            He gave me a serious look. “I want to date you. I can’t date you if you’re still having that fake relationship with Noah.”

            “B-but…”

            “Just say it didn’t work out! It’s not that hard,” Rian continued, trying to sound persuading. “Besides, Noah has a crush on Cindy. It will benefit you both.”

            My heart pounded in my chest. Rian actually wanted to date me? He wasn’t kidding? But how could I agree so easily… I was the one who said we didn’t know each other enough. I made a face. Why did I have to be such an idiot?

            “Say cheese!”

            A white light suddenly blinded me, and I jerked back in my seat, jumping violently in surprise. Rian jumped to his feet, staring wildly around him. My eyes landed on a very excited man grasping a camera tightly in his hands. “What do we have here?” he started in a teasing voice. “Is Noah’s girlfriend cheating on him with his band mate?”

            Rian glared at the man. “We’re not doing anything!”

            “That’s some pretty heavy denial.”

            “Listen—”

            “Rian!” I hissed, staring between him and the man with the camera. I didn’t know how to deal with paparazzi, but getting angry with them was not a good idea.

            Rian shot me a panicked look. He stepped onto the edge of the fountain and reached over the table, grabbing my arm, and pulling me to my feet. Confused, I climbed up onto the edge of the fountain too. As soon as I was balanced on it, Rian started tugging me toward the back, where a forest of fake and real plants was. The man with the camera called after us as we ran along the edge of the fountain.

            “Rian, why are we running?” I cried, fighting to keep my balance.

            “Because he’s probably not alone!”

            I quickly glanced over my shoulder to see that Rian was right. Two other people were with the man that had the camera now. A large leaf slapped me in the face as I faced forward again. I shoved it away with my free arm, following Rian into the overgrowth. He slowed down now, carefully stepping over real roots and broken plants. The sound of the water rushing through pipes underneath us filled the air.

            “When we reach the other side, let’s go up the escalator into Forever 21,” Rian suggested, glancing over his shoulder. “Even if they follow us in there we can lose them.”

            “Um, okay,” I responded, gripping onto his arm. “That picture…”

            Rian shook his head. “We’ll worry about it later.”

            I didn’t like the sound of that.

            When we emerged from the undergrowth on the other side of the fountain, Rian came to a dead halt. I looked around him to see the paparazzi man standing there, smiling widely.

            “I have a few questions, Rian,” he announced loudly.

            Rian abruptly turned around and pushed me backward. Unfortunately for us, my foot slipped on one of the dead leaves. My eyes shot open and I automatically grabbed onto the back of Rian’s shirt as I toppled over. After a split-second freefall, I was submerged into freezing water. Rian landed on top of me, forcing me further under the water. As an automatic reaction I gasped, inhaling the water. It quickly filled my mouth and lungs.

            A rough grasp on my hair brought my head up from under the water. I coughed and sputtered, trying to hack the water out of my lungs. Rian looked at me worriedly, slapping my back roughly with his hand. “Iris, are you okay?”

            I coughed again, feeling my lungs burn. “I’m… I’m…”

            Another blinding light filled my vision again and I winced, covering my face with my arm. Rian shouted something at the man but I didn’t quite catch it over my coughs. After a few more moments I felt Rian pulling me to my feet. Water ran down me like a waterfall, and my clothes clung to my skin uncomfortably.

            “I know exactly what this is going to be titled,” the man with the camera declared with a grin. “How does Gold’s Fountain Scandal sound?”           

            Rian pushed me towards the edge of the fountain. “Go, Iris.”

            I sloshed through the water, groaning mentally when I realized my cell phone was in my pocket. If it was ruined, I was so screwed. Rian helped me over the edge of the fountain, and I landed on the other side, nearly slipping on the ground.

            “Head down,” Rian ordered as he climbed out. “Come on.”

            “Does Noah know about this?” the paparazzi man called after us. “If not, he will by Monday!”

            Rian’s grasp on my shoulder tightened. I glanced at him, my stomach twisting uncomfortably. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”

            “So much,” Rian responded, his gaze meeting mine. “I’m not sure you’re ready for it…”

            My chest tightened. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it either.

___________

I'm sorry for the lack of updates.

College and full time work is hard to handle .-.

i wish i didn't have to. but im the only one in my family with a job and it sucks D: