I can't believe Dan just asked me to go on a date with him. Is this real? God, I hope so.

   He smiles nervously at me, awaiting my response.

   But, for some reason, I'm not answering him. I'm just staring at him with my mouth wide open. My brain is telling my mouth to form the words I wanna say, but my mouth doesn't feel like being bossed around today.

   Finally, my brain gets through to my mouth. "Yes," I whisper, my voice incapable of being any louder. "I'd love to go on a date with you, Dan."

   Dan's smile turns from nervous to relieved and joyous. He breathes out a laugh of relief and says, "G-Great! Um...I'll pick you up at Arin's place tomorrow at 7:00 for dinner. Sound good to you?"

I nod, my mouth incapable of saying any more.

Dan smiles at me, and we just sit there awkwardly for about a minute. I look down at the the ground, awkward eye contact not really being my thing.

   Then, I feel a finger under my chin.

   Dan lifts my face up with his finger so that I'll look at him. He smiles at me once he has my attention. Then, he begins to lean in...

   My heart rate increases by about a million beats. But, for the sake of the moment, I lean in too.

   And, before I know it, our lips are touching.

   His lips are so soft...

   Dan pulls me closer as I shut my eyes, loving this feeling. I tangle my hands up in his beautiful, brown locks of hair, and he wraps his arms around my waist.

   The kiss starts to get more and more deep, until...

   "Guys, are you ready to go n—oh my God!" I hear Arin say from behind us.

   That makes Dan and I pull apart real fast. We both whip around to see Arin with his hands over his eyes. After a bit of silence, he peeks out and sees that we're done. His gaze moves to Dan, and he stares at him with a look that could kill.

   "Um...hi, Arin..," Dan says, smiling awkwardly.

   "Don't 'hi, Arin' me, Dan," Arin huffs. "Come on. We're going."

   And just like that, Arin walks back to the main area without us.

   I sigh. "I should...probably calm him down a bit...or else he'll probably serve your head on a stick to a bunch of orcs..," I say quietly, laughing a little as I stand up. Dan laughs as well. "I'll take him back to the main area and we can talk it out from there. You should just hang back for a few minutes," I say.

   Dan nods. "Okay. I will."

   Arin's always been protective of things he holds dear, and both Dan and I know that. So, I guess something about Dan kissing me struck a chord with Arin.

   I shoot Dan one last awkward smile, running through the trees to catch up to Arin right after.

   I eventually see him, and he's leaning against some random tree, huffing angrily and tapping his foot. He sees me running towards him, but he doesn't run away. He instead averts his gaze and lets me run up to him.

I eventually reach him and say, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you had to see that, Arin!" I wrap my arms around him and hug him.

   Arin huffs and pushes me away. "Okay, okay, whatever. It doesn't matter, okay? I'm fine."

   "That doesn't look like the face of someone who's fine," I say with a smile, patting Arin's cheek.

   Arin slaps my arm away. "Okay! I'm not fine!" he says, his tone nearly giving me chills. "I hate the idea of you giving yourself up to Dan. Even if it's just kissing...something Suzy and I do all the time. It's just...with you...I feel that I need to protect you...and..."

   Arin looks away, not finishing his thought. He sighs. "I know it's stupid. But I can't help it...I want you guys together, I just don't want you guys kissing or anything like that. I feel like I can't handle it. But...I know it's not my place to tell you guys what to do. You guys are grown, and you can make your own decisions." He shakes his head and says, "I need to butt out."

   I'm pretty sure he's saying that more to myself than to me, but I love how protective Arin is. It shows how much he cares. Plus, it'd make a great trait in fanfictions. A lot of fluffy moments could arise with that trait.

I wrap my arms around Arin once more, hoping that he won't push me away.

He doesn't. Instead, he wraps his arms around me in return. "I'm sorry I reacted the way I did..," Arin mumbles into my shirt. "I really am."

"It's okay, Arin," I smile. "It just shows you care about me."

We both pull apart, and a smirk makes its way onto Arin's face. His protective wave must've passed. "So...let's talk about that date Dan asked you out on, huh~?"

I blush and laugh, averting my gaze as we begin to walk back to the main area together. Dan must've spilled the tea to Arin about what he was gonna do.

"Based on what I saw, I'm guessing you said yes?" Arin says with a small giggle.

I nod, smiling awkwardly. "Yeah. He's gonna pick me up tomorrow at 7:00 for dinner."

"Oooh, nice~" Arin purrs. "That sounds like a very Dan thing to do. He's all about cliche, romantic stuff." Arin laughs as he says, "Me? I'm more of a heat up fish sticks for my date kinda guy."

I laugh as well. "Yeah, I can see that. No wonder Suzy fell for you."

Arin giggles. "Yep. Fish sticks is what started this whole shebang."

Then, we hear footsteps behind us.

We turn around, and Dan is cautiously approaching us. "Hey, guys..," he says hesitantly. "I-if you still don't want me here, Arin, I-I can take another route back—"

Arin smiles. "Nah, dude, it's okay. Walk with us," Arin says, gesturing for Dan to come over.

Dan sighs with relief and begins to walk next to us. He decides to leave what we did alone, not wanting to upset Arin again.

The three of us walk in silence. All that can be heard is the quiet chirping of birds and the crunching of pine needles underneath our feet. The sounds of nature are almost therapeutic, but they get snuffed out by laughter and happy families the closer us three get to the main area.

We walk over to where Suzy is, and she glances between the three of us as we do so. Her eyes lock onto Dan, and she asks, "Did you do it..?"

Dan nods, smirking. "Yeah~"

I blush and look away.

Suzy grabs me by the shoulders and begins shaking me. "DID YOU SAY YES?! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU SAID NO, (Y/N)."

"I-I said yes," I stammer, Suzy's shaking probably giving me brain damage.

"Yes!" Suzy cheers, letting me go. "Oh my God, I'm so happy! You guys would make the cutest couple!"

Arin nods, smiling. But it fades as he grabs Dan's arm as he yanks him closer to him. "Yeah, you guys would make the cutest couple," I hear Arin growl. "But if you hurt (Y/N) in any way, consider yourself, and our friendship, dead. Got it?"

Dan nods, visibly swallowing. "Got it..," he responds fearfully.

I can't help the smile that appears on my face. Classic Arin.

Speaking of Arin, he releases Dan from his grip and smiles, as if nothing ever happened. "Okay, guys! You all ready?"

Everyone nods. We all then begin to walk back to Arin's car, Arin and Suzy clutching the supplies we brought.

I notice that Arin and Suzy are walking a bit faster than I am, so I hurry to try to catch up to them.

But someone grabs my arm, pulling me back.

I look to my left, and Dan has my arm. A smirk is lining his face. Never a good sign.

"Hey~" he purrs, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close to him. "Um...I just wanted to inform you of something~"

My face turns into a tomato. Dan notices, for he laughs a little. "What is it..?" I ask, my voice quivering.

Dan leans in close and whispers in my ear, "You're a fantastic kisser~"

If my face was a tomato before, then I have no idea what it is now. What's redder than a tomato? I gasp a little and fidget awkwardly.

Dan giggles and kisses the top of my head, skipping up to Arin and Suzy proudly right after.

I walk slowly behind them, wanting to collect myself a small bit before catching up to the gang. I inhale and exhale, trying to regulate my abnormal breathing.

Finally, after about thirty seconds, I sigh and run up to the group, feebly telling them to wait up.

~~~

Wow, look! I updated this book just about a week ago, and a new chapter is already out! I'm gonna try to push myself to get chapters out more frequently. Every week, I think. (Well, I kinda missed that by a day, but whatever, ok?! Still better than the heccin' two months I made ya'll wait last time!)

Also, this story has hit 1k reads!! And I don't believe that I've thanked you guys for that yet (which is a major oopsie on my part, since I'm so happy about this!), so thank you guys so much! Truly! It means it lot to know that people are enjoying my content!

Anyway, that's about all I need to say!

Artzee out!