Felicity stared out her dusty window at the dreary, damp world. She had prepared herself as much as she could, but still wasn't mentally prepared for what was to come. After telling her mother she had changed her mind and was going to the school dance, they attempted to throw together an outfit.
"You could have let me know earlier..." she grumbled repetitively. It had been a Thursday night. The dance was Saturday and there wasn't much time to properly prepare her appearance. Girls would be searching for a dress months before the actual date, yet here was Felise a few nights before, just beginning her scavenge.
She wondered what it would be like. To open the door and see a boy there. One who would take her to a rumored "magical" dance.
Except she didn't really know this boy. She had originally expected it to someone she had grown close with over the years. That was probably why she never had any motivation going to the dance. There never was the right person in her life to go with, and god forbid, she would never ask someone to go with her.
Felise couldn't forget the voice Chase had used. She hadn't heard him speak much before, if at all. He was demanding, and yet persuasive. Thinking of his dark eyes staring down at her, memorizing her; she was making herself nervous again.
A loud honk brought her out of her thoughts. Felise was slightly shocked, but jumped up.
Her body was wrapped in a gorgeous and yet plain black dress. It had been her mother's, but no one needed to know that. Her brown hair cascaded down in ringlets. She had originally put it into a tight bun, then took it out to curl it, then brushed all her work out as much as she could. Her mother had given her general space for the several hours Felise used to decide the rest of her appearance.
Before leaving the house, Felise gave her mother a look only shared between mother and daughter, and she fled the house. She knew her daughter would be careful, especially at her first dance.
Searching with her eyes along the dark road, Felise couldn't quite see where Chase's car might be. Her family's cars were in the driveway, but there were no visible vehicles parked beside the street. She wondered for a moment if she had been mistaken, and her heart sunk just a little. It would be so much more embarrassing if she'd been asked to go to a dance but her date never actually decided to show up for her.
Strangely enough, she still could hear the rumble of a car nearby, but it seemed to be from a great distance. Panic set in rather than worry.
Whipping around, she knocked into someone who'd been standing directly behind her as she scoped out the surroundings. Felise shrieked, falling back to the ground but before she collided with cold, wet grass, the person grabbed both her hand and waist at the same time. Looking up, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Chase. He released a light breath too when he realized he hadn't let her fall.
Then he did something incredible.
He smiled.
She had never seen him smile before. Not sincerely. It had always been a smirk, or a scoff. Never a look of concern or apology or relief. This smile was a combination of all three; and her heart melted.
Flustered, she attempted to stand up and grasped his shoulder. They stood before one another, hanging on to each other's shoulders. Blushing, Felise took a large step back to reform her personal bubble. Brushing her hair over her shoulder, she stared up at Chase. She never realized how much taller he actually was. They had never stood side by side like this.
"Are you ready, Felicity?" Just like before, his voice gave her light goosebumps. The thing was, is that it was a nice voice too. He practically purred her name.
"Felise is fine, thank you," she said quietly, staring at her high heels.
The smirk returned at her lack of an answer, but he held out his arm in a gentle gesture, implying she should take it. Hesitantly, she grabbed hold and he lead her into the dark.

***

The car ride had been quiet. He concentrated on driving, which was a slight relief to Felise. She didn't know what she would have talked about. She also didn't want to get into a car crash by allowing him to distract himself from the road.
It was a large light blue truck he had led her to, and lucky for her it was fairly clean on the inside. There were a myriad of receipts scattered everywhere, but nothing that made her skin crawl like the lost half eaten chocolate bars forgotten by her younger siblings in her own car.
Upon arrival, he helped her out of the vehicle. His hand surprisingly radiated heat. As she stepped down, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear: "I'll be right back. Go on without me." His words tickled her ear and her eyes widened slightly. Felise stared into his seemingly colorless eyes that still somehow held a smirk within them. Once she touched the ground and was again shorter than him, his contact with her ceased and he slipped around the corner of the truck. He took the warmth of the surrounding air with him as he left. She was immediately covered with goosebumps. Her short sleeve dress did little to protect her from the chill of the late night.
She looked around, but Chase wasn't anywhere in near sight. Walking around the truck, she was confused as to how he'd have gotten far enough away in only a moment's time. Her shivers encouraged her to follow his words and get inside.
Plenty of other students, along with their dates were strolling up the sidewalks hand in hand. Felise suddenly felt a wave of anxiety hit her. She'd been paranoid before that he would abandon her just before the dance for whatever idiotic reason. This was worse. He had lulled her into a sense of security and then left her at the last second to embarrass herself.
Pausing before reaching the sidewalk, she was still out of sight. She was tempted to turn around and forget any of this had ever happened, but then she realized that there was no car for her to make an escape in. Repetitively, Felise had been putting herself into horrible social situations. She desperately wished to place blame for everything on Chase but she knew she couldn't do that. Even mentally, she was aware that he didn't deserve it. She needed to give him a chance. There must have been a reason for him to leave her before purchasing tickets. Felise had planned on buying her own ticket the whole time so she had money, but she couldn't guarantee being able to find him. Sometimes she couldn't spot certain people within a small classroom of 30. At this dance, nearly the whole school was subject to free reign of more than the junior and senior classes.
Taking a deep breath, Felise's nails bit into her hands and she forced herself to walk, following the flow of people. Hopefully no one would notice that she was alone.

***

After purchasing her ticket and receiving various stares, Felise stepped to the side, out of the way of excited high school students. Sighing, she leaned her head back against the rough wall.
This definitely wasn't how she planned to spend her night.
She didn't understand how this was supposed to work. Did all guys do this with their casual dates? "Wait alone while I go talk to my guy friends"? Was she supposed to faithfully wait for him somewhere open so he could find her, or should she go hide amongst the crowd to "have fun"? Her social life didn't entail of many people. She spoke to her teachers and family, and sometimes the occasional classmate if they didn't understand curriculum. No one at the dance would even know who she was. She didn't particularly want to know plenty of the people there either.
Glancing around, majority of the students had dressed up in halloween outfits. Felise had considered doing this, but the only halloween costume she owned was a lamb costume from when she was around 4 years old. Not happening. She wouldn't have been able to compare with any of her peers anyway. Almost all of the girls had taken advantage of the event and wore the most exposing dresses they could find. You could tell that some necklines had been cut shorter than originally sewn. There was more skin than fabric covering the females. For the men on the other hand, some wore traditional tuxedos, but many had evident last minute attire.
One guy had no shirt and was wearing crooked wolf ears on his head. Hanging on his arm was a girl Felise didn't know by name. Her long and manicured nails scraped his skin, and she giggled as he flinched. The girl was supposed to be some kind of "sexy" witch and she somehow managed to pull it off.
Felise looked away in slight disgust. If that's what it meant to come here, she was definitely not in the right place. She had no body she wanted to be showing off to the school, nor owned anything nearly as revealing that she would also feel comfortable in.
She then spotted a boy sitting in a corner up past the stairs that marked the no crossing limit. He was just out of view of anyone who wasn't looking closely enough. Felise hadn't seen any adults all night to stop him or anyone else anyway. Hopefully the school wasn't running rampant without older supervision, but knowing how trusting parents and teachers could be it wouldn't surprise her.
Taking one last glance around for any sign of teachers or Chase's black hair, she stepped up the stairs. Her heels made light clicking sounds, but it was concealed by the thumping music and teenage shouts. No one paid attention to her. Beyond the makeshift barrier, it was drastically more quiet despite the nearness to all the activity. With less distance between her and the boy, she could see him more clearly. He was a ginger, dressed in a rumpled suit. He leaned against the wall and was holding what looked to be a 3DS. He frowned in concentration, seemingly not noticing Felise approaching.
She slowed and came to a halt a few feet away. She didn't understand why she left the crowd to stand near this boy she didn't know.
He must be in a similar situation to me. Otherwise, why would he be alone? She thought.
"Hey..." she trailed off, not knowing how to continue. Another socially awkward situation? Check.
He didn't respond at first, still watching the bright screen in silence. Felise was going to say something again, but was interrupted.
"Go away."
She was shocked that someone could be so blatantly rude, especially when she was had gotten the impression that he was lonely. Although she was surprised, she stepped closer. She didn't need to be there, but she was determined not to storm off looking like an idiot. It would mean submitting to the words of someone who felt being rude was more effective than common courtesy.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" He responded quickly, snapping. His tone of voice was harsh, yet the irritation wasn't quite as intimidating as expected. Felise stayed quiet, hoping he would answer his own question. The boy sighed, leaning his head downwards. His game had been paused at this point, and Felise could see the familiarly bright colors of Smash Bros. Smiling, she took the opportunity to sit down beside him. The fact he was playing video games alone at a school dance was an amusing idea.
The boy was baffled and leaned away, but slumped his shoulders in defeat. After several seconds of silence, he un-paused his game.
"Why are you not at the dance?" Technically he wasn't; he was out of the designated boundary permitted.
"I was convinced to come but I never really wanted to anyway," he muttered, still staring into the brightly flashing screen. It was interesting that someone else would have a completely different experience with the dances than her. She had never been asked or invited to go along with a group of friends. Everyone seemed to forget about her when it came time for planning a get together.
With the contrast of the dark hallway against the shining screen, she didn't understand how his eyes didn't hurt. Glancing over, Felise could see that he was playing as Rosalina and Luma against several CPU's. Just to make conversation, she stated the obvious.
"Well, isn't she the best?"
Felise let out a light laugh, forgetting that she should be wary of who this boy was. "She kind of reminds me too much of Elsa."
The boy froze, soaking in the words. It didn't take a genius to realize what she said was exactly the wrong thing to say. His shoulders were tense and he leaned forward, away from the wall. Before Felise realized what he was going to do, he was towering over her small form.
"Fuck off." He stared straight into her eyes with a calm yet powerful confidence that Felise found almost eerie, before walking back down the stairs.
Felise was stunned. How could someone be so sensitive about a video game? Or was is that everyone was that sensitive, she just never spent enough time with anyone her own age to realize?
She still sat on the floor, and she figured at this point she should just try to have fun and forget about the ginger haired boy. If Chase didn't show up, then she would try to forget him too.
It was a nice thought. To be able to forget all the mistakes of the night, yet the night had barely begun. She knew she wouldn't be able to do so anyway. Her kind of personality only allowed forgiveness; there was no forgetting mistakes. Especially her own.
Slowly standing up, Felise sighed heavily. She felt like she had done something wrong, but as far as she could tell, she hadn't. She didn't know what to do with herself. Leaning over the railing next to the stairs beside her, she watched the crowd closely this time, hopelessly searching for Chase with her eyes. She'd almost always been alone in the past. Felise was an independent person in the fact that she could handle herself, but she had never felt this heavy of loneliness before.
Clenching her fists, she took a deep breath. She wasn't going to go down without at least attempting to experience things as closely as she could to everyone else. Felise walked proudly back down the stairs not paying attention if any teachers were watching this time.
Striding around the clump of a crowd, she managed to avoid the swarm of teenagers who had seemed to circle around the wolf boy and witch girl she had seen previously.
With only a slight glance behind her, she entered the former school gym, transformed into a sad attempt of teenager appeal. Tacky ribbons were ductaped to the walls and the room was dark with the exception of bright flashing colors. There were even more people in here, crammed in a pack to fit more people into the obnoxiously small room.
Felise was watching silently, admiring the scene and yet horrified. She took in the feel of the booming music rattling her chest and echoing in her head. She wanted to join the crowd but was afraid she would be swallowed up. Ironically, the group of people who had been outside the room decided to return to the dancing. They pushed her forward from the back, a mob barely looking at her face.
She attempted to protest, to proclaim she wasn't ready to do this but she only stuttered.
Merging with her fellow peers she had never bothered to get to know, the bodily contact was so unfamiliar and extremely uncomfortable. She was being knocked around by the people jerking in an attempt to dance to the music with no rhythm. At this point, it wasn't enjoying the dance, but simply trying to stand up straight without being thrown to the floor.
Her heart was throbbing and colors were blurring. She couldn't distinguish the people around her anymore. They were just one big entity crushing her.
Panicking, Felise knew she wouldn't be able to handle much more. She was having a hard time inhaling the hot, sticky air. She didn't know which direction was out, as everyone seemed to be taller than her there. She simply began violently pushing people out of the way.
"Hey! What the hell?" She had incidentally shoved the witch girl's shoulder which nearly toppled her over. Felise opened her mouth to apologize, but nothing came out.
The girl turned away with disgust, but Felise took that as an opportunity to continue getting away. Just to avoid irritating more people, she touched students' arms and shoulders to let them know she was there. It would be horrible to accidentally be crushed by one of the jocks.
Muttering "excuse me," repetitively, she finally reached an area of clear light. Blinking quickly, Felise realized she had tears in her eyes. Wiping at her face, she couldn't believe this. After all these years of not going to the dances and imagining something spectacular, this is what she received. Tousled hair, ruined makeup, potential tears, and of course her abandoned date. She didn't even want to think about what the people thought of her who had seen her so distressed. She also didn't want to think about the ginger haired boy who had disappeared, nor Chase who had also vanished without an explanation.
But of course, Felise could never get what she wanted, as Chase made a reappearance just then.
She could see him leaning against the wall across from the door. Although she shouldn't have been, she was shocked to see him. Her mouth a near perfect "O," she was going to call out his name.
There were still kids near the entrance where Felise was. The guys who thought they were too cool to dance with the rest of their peers. As she stepped forward, one of them tripped her with their leg.
Falling once again, face first this time, everything appeared to move in slow motion and yet within the blink of an eye. For some reason, she still didn't find herself on the ground. Warm arms were wrapped around her and she felt gratitude flow through her. Rather than identifying the person, she put her arms around them. As a reflex, he squeezed her closer to him.
Felise burrowed her face into his chest, needing a moment after what happened. She wasn't ready for this kind of social interaction with so many people. She couldn't handle it. If she hadn't pushed past the crowd, Felise probably would have passed out on the dance floor and been trampled by irresponsible high schoolers.
She allowed a few tears to escape and they absorbed into the boy's shirt.
He leaned his head down, holding her tightly.
"I want to show you something," Chase murmured into her ear.
She squeezed her eyes shut quickly, hoping it wasn't too obvious she had allowed herself such a moment of embarrassing weakness.
"Like what?" If her face didn't show her tears, her voice definitely did.
He slid his hands down Felise's arms. She had almost forgotten how close they were. Regret was already filling her for hugging him. He must not have realized how awkward she was when he had asked her to come. She didn't know what had overcome her in the moment, but a part of her just knew that it was someone familiar. She was strangely calm with him now, in comparison to class.
His eyes brightened and a prominent smirk appeared. With the same mysterious voice as before, he spoke softly. "Come with me, Felicity," was what he said, as he started guiding her away from the school gym.

A/N:
*Wipes sweat from brow*
Gah, that was intense. For me at least. This is an incredibly long chapter for me. Almost 3400 words not including the author's note. I'll probably look back on this later and be like "3400 words? Pshh."
I actually did consider ending this chapter just before our dear Felise purchased her tickets all alone. I really really wanted to, but I promised myself I would try writing longer chapters. I also had a certain point of the story I wanted to get to which was my overall goal for this chapter. Unfortunately, I STILL didn't get to that point, but I was close enough. I don't think I could have forced myself to add in a whole different section into this one chapter anyway. Apparently a lot of people like reading long chapters, but I don't like reading OR writing long chapters. Ah well. Couch is going to have to suck it up. (It's for my own good.)
If you've read to the very end of this chapter; if you've read to the very end of this author's note; THANK YOU!
I'd also appreciate if anyone will let me know their opinion on long chapters, or if they prefer shorter. It's not likely that I'll write too many more "longer" chapters if I don't hear what other people think.
Once again, thanks for reading. I really try to put meaning into my chapters rather than throwing together crap, so sorry about the slow updates. :)