(A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 500 READS!! half way to a k, thank you guys! :)))

Ryder's POV

"It was kind of awkward to say in front of the others, but you really look beautiful, Rye," Sam said, once the lift doors closed. 

I giggled, "Thank you Sam," his hand left my waist, but only to take my hand. He looked at me to check I was okay with it. "Can I ask something?"

"Go ahead," he replied. 

"Why did you choose a blue rose?" I asked. 

Sam gulped, tensing, "Did you not like it?"

I smiled, "Relax, I love it," I said, smelling it once more. "I was just curious,"

He untensed. "Because blue is your favourite colour. Because red and white are cliché. And also because blue roses signify mystery, and the idea of being open to infinite possibilities," he said, a glint in his aqua eyes. 

I was more than satisfied with his answer. Each point showed how much thought he had put into this, and how well he knew me. "I see. Well thank you, I love it, and I love your thought behind it," I said again. 

"That's alright. Where did you get this dress? I've never seen it before?" he asked, intrigued, as the lift stopped. 

"Sierra and Josy bought it for me at the airport, when we were younger," I said. 

"Oh right. I like it a lot, it really suits you," he said. I wasn't sure that the blush was ever going to leave my face. 

"Thank you Sam. And is that one of the shirts we bought on the same day?" 

He nodded. "Yeah, I did get it in a bigger size than the one I tried on," he admitted. 

"That was a good idea, huh?" we walked across from our building to the hall. There were lots of people in their already, nearly all people I knew. 

"Definitely," he took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the door handle. "Ready?"

"Yeah," I said. He still didn't let go of my hand, thankfully. Even though I was wearing heels, I was only just the same height as him. "You're still taller than me," I frowned playfully. 

"I love being 6'3," Sam chuckled. 

As we opened the door and walked in, most eyes turned to look at us. There was some slow music playing in the background, which people were beginning to sway to. 

Sam's arm returned to my waist as we walked further into the hall. 

"They're looking at you," I whispered to Sam. 

"I can assure you, they are looking at you, Rye," Sam chuckled.

I smiled. "Okay how about they're looking at us,"

"I like that," he said. "But I my version is more honest," he added. 

Nash and Blake waved us over to the group that we seemed to hang out with every day.

Taylor whistled. "Look at you two!" 

"Jeeeez," Jared said, grabbing his chin. 

"Little brother's all grown up yeah?" Hayes said, patting Blake's back. 

"Yeah, apparently. You two look good together," Blake said. We both thanked him. 

Texas and Mila came over. Tex's arm was around Mila's waist, just like Sam's. "Hey kids," Tex said. 

"You two look so cute, I can't get over it," Mila said. 

"Thanks," I grinned. "Where are the twins?" I asked, referring to their two 3 years olds. 

"Kara is taking care of them with Roman, they were starting to fall asleep when we dropped them off anyway. Roman and Kara passed up on the ball because Kara is getting close to giving birth," Tex explained. 

"Ah I see," I said. 

"We'll talk later, okay?" Mila said, before the two of the left, walking towards the dance floor. 

I turned to face Sam. He looked over my shoulder, before looking back at me. "Wanna dance?"

I gave him an amused smile. "What makes you think I can dance?" I said. 

He chuckled. "I can't, so that makes two of us," I considered. "We just have to sway, it's a slow song," he reasoned. 

I gave him a small nod, and let him lead me to the middle of the crowd of people. He took the rose out of my hand, and put it behind my ear. Then, he let his right arm rest around my waist and my back, and pulled my body in a little closer, before taking my other hand in his. I put my spare hand around his back and onto his shoulder, before we started to move side to side slowly in time with the music. 

(A/N found this cute thing on the internet uwu)

"See, we're not so bad huh?" he said. "It doesn't matter anyway, people are too distracted by how good you look, to see how good we can dance,"

"Woah, that was rather smooth," I said.

I had the same thought train I always do:
I'm so glad it's dark, so he can't see me blushing -> Oh wait his name is Night Sight. 

He seemed to see the thoughts pan out in my eyes, as he spoke. "You look cute when you blush,"

If it was even possible, I blushed even more. "Really?" 

He gave a nod, before glancing at our hands laced together. "The Tennessee Whiskey bracelet?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You also got me this necklace," I said, stating the obvious. 

"Ah yes, I did notice that actually," he says, playing along. The song changes and I notice the door of the hall open. Josy walks in, in a beautiful red dress. Shortly after, Gray walks in wearing an all black suit with a tie, with Sierra's hand wrapped around his bicep. She was wearing a long maroon dress. 

Sam looked back at me, confused. "When the fuck did that happen?" he asked. 

I giggled, "I have no idea," I whispered. They didn't seem to notice us on the dance floor, so we continued to dance. "This is really fun you know," I said. "I'm glad you asked me,"

"Me too," he agreed. 

We continued to talk and dance, making each other laugh every few minutes. I felt as though over time, we became closer and closer physically. I could almost feel his minty breath on my face as he spoke to me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want him to kiss me. 

His gaze flickered from my eyes to my lips, before moving back up. "You smell really nice, by the way,"

"Thanks, it's Josy's Mango and Passionfruit. You smell nice too," I commented. "What is that, Lynx Africa?" I asked. 

He nodded. "How did you know that?"

"My cousin wears it," I explained. "It's a nice scent to, suits you,"

"Ah, I see. I really hope to meet him some day," he said. "And thanks,"

"He wants to meet you. We'll see, maybe we can figure something out," I said. 

Sam nodded, before squeezing his eyes shut for a second. He opened them just as fast, his eyes finding mine again. 

"You okay?" I asked. 

"Yeah, can I asked something?" he said, almost like he was fighting with his own thoughts. 

"Go ahead," I said, curious. 

"Can I kiss you?"

I froze in his grip, before recovering and continuing to move from side to side. 

"You can say no, I won't mind," he said. 

"Y-yeah," I mumbled, embarrassed. 

"Yeah as in you don't want to, or yeah as in I can?" he asked, his lips turning upwards in a smile. 

"The latter," I said.

His smile widened, and relief flashed across his face. He didn't say anything else, he just leaned in, taking his time, before eventually, his soft lips pressed onto mine. I kissed back, gently, with no rush. After a few seconds, we pulled back.

"How was that?" I asked him. 

"Even better than I imagined," he said. "That was my first kiss," he added. 

My expression changed to one of distress, as an image of my first kiss popped into my head. It wasn't romantic, like this. It was forced, I was unwilling, with someone that didn't love me, or care for me.

Sam noticed, and tightened his grip around me. "Hey, Rye, It's okay, you don't need to talk about it," he said, understandingly. "Don't think about it, just focus on me,"

"Thank you, Sam," I said, gratefully. 

"It's okay," he said, before leaning down again and kissing me, a little less tentatively this time. 

We pulled away and remained dancing for some time, before my feet started to hurt from not being used to wearing heels.

"Shall we get something to eat?" Sam asked, coming to my rescue.

"Yeah, that would be nice," I said. We walked off the dance floor and towards the food stall.

Craig served us some pizza, knowing we wouldn't go for anything else. He placed a whole pizza on one plate, for us to share like we usually do. "Kids, you look perfect together, all the folks have been watching you two, you couldn't be more meant to be," he said, looking at us affectionately.

Sam and I grinned. "Thanks Craig,"

We found a table for two in the corner of the huge room and out our pizza.

"After we leave, what do you want to do?" Sam asked.

"We're probably going to miss midnight snacks again," I said, making him smile. "How about 2am snacks and movies in matching pyjamas?" I suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," he said.

Once we finished, and my feet had received enough rest, we returned to the dance floor, for some slightly faster songs. We also spent time talking to people and playing games, before eventually, at about half 1am, we decided to call it a night.

I placed my arms around Sam's neck, and he placed his hands on my waist. "That was funny," I said, referring to Jared and Taylor competing to see who could down a pint the fastest.

He hummed. "What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"I don't mind, my feet are starting to hurt again," I said.

"Do you wanna go?" he asked.

"Only if you want to as well," I said, not wanting to cut our evening short.

"Let's go," he smiled, taking my hand.