“Fine ladies and handsome gentleman!” Rian started, waving his hands around like an idiot. “May I have your attention please?”

            The people in the gym slowly started to quiet, putting all their focus on Rian. I stood at the edge of the stage, watching as Gold got ready to make their announcement about their new song to everyone in the gym. Rian was grinning excitedly, making him look incredibly handsome and after a few moments I realized I was also grinning like an idiot. Immediately I tried to cover it, biting my lip to stop myself from doing it again. I didn’t want to look like a creep.

            Luke snagged the microphone away from Rian. “Are all you guys having fun tonight?”

            There was a chorus of “yeah!” throughout the room. Luke beamed. One girl in the crowed screamed that she loved him. I laughed quietly, shaking my head.

            “So we have a surprise for all of you tonight— hey!” he protested, his voice sounding much quieter as Noah snatched the microphone from him. He tried to take it back, but Noah elbowed him in the side none too gently.

            “Does anyone have any guesses?” Noah asked.

            “Guest performance!” someone shouted.

            Noah blinked. “Well, we could ask—”

            “Noah,” Rian hissed, giving him a pointed look. “We only have like two minutes to make an announcement.”

             “Very well… Okay! Guess what everyone? I’m moving to Idaho—”

            “Give me that,” Rian demanded, trying to rip the microphone from Noah’s hands.

            He scowled, tugging the phone back. “I want to make the announcement!”

            “I’m the lead singer!”

            “That doesn’t mean shit!”

            Luke rushed forward, also putting a hand on the voice amplifier. “I think the drummer is the most important. I should get to announce it.”

            “No!” the other two denied in a shout.

            A few people in the audience cringed while the other started laughing. Some of the guys looked very unamused. I was stuck between all three actions. They really only did have a minute left to make their announcement. “Guys!” I called from the side.

            They ignored me. Rian wrapped an arm around Noah’s neck, trying to bring him to the ground. Noah was punching him in the chest, trying to push him away. Luke was just hanging onto the microphone, being jostled around by the two fighting. After a moment Rian seemed to gain the upper advantage by knocking Noah off balance. However his plan backfired when Noah wrapped an arm around Rian’s waist, bringing down his dress pants as he fell. I almost smacked myself in the face.

            The crowd burst out in loud cheers and whoops. “Take it all off!” a group of girls near the front of the stage shouted.

            “Dude! Uncalled for!” Rian cried, kicking Noah in the side.

            Noah rolled over, smirking up at him. “Look at your ducky boxers!”

            “I thought you got rid of those,” Luke commented, furrowing his eyebrows.

            Rian scowled at them, oblivious to the hundred plus students he was standing in front of with his pants down. “You guys are walking home!”

            “Young men!” an irritated voice started, and a few moments later our principal entered our field of vision. She stopped, putting her hand on her hips. “Mr. Drew, pull up your pants and then get off stage.”

            Noah gave him a triumphant look, blowing his blonde bangs out of his face. “Looks like I get to make the announcement.”

            “Give me the microphone,” Ms. Long snapped, holding her hand out.

            “But we—”

            “Right now, Mr. Alexander.”

            He scowled, but obeyed her. “We have to announce something though!”

            “Off the stage.”

            Rian pulled up his pants and headed toward the side of the stage, shoving Noah as he did so. “Way to go.”

            Noah brushed him off. “You started it.”

            “You too, Mr. Parker,” Ms. Long continued, narrowing her eyes at Luke.

            He pouted at her. “Just one more second?”

            “No.”

            “What was the announcement?” Kevin shouted from the crowd, a wide grin on his face. He obviously found the whole scene completely entertaining.

            Noah twisted on his heel, snatching the phone from Ms. Long with a grin. “It’s about—”

            “Mr. Alexander!”

            “Ms. Long!” he retorted in the same tone.

            “Get off stage!”

            “Get off stage!”

            Shaking my head, I started across the stage. If Noah wasn’t careful, he was going to get suspended. “Noah, hand over the microphone.”

            “Hey Iris!” Kevin called.

            I ignored him, holding out my hand to Noah.

            He grumbled for a moment before giving it to me. “Fine.”

            “Okay,” I started, turning to face the crowed. “First of all— I am dating Rian. Sorry. Didn’t mean to steal him away from anyone of you.” Glancing sideways, I could see the shock on Rian’s face. Then it morphed into a grin, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“Second,” I continued quickly, feeling vulnerable now, “Gold and Chasing Silhouettes are going to record a song together.”

            At first there was no reaction. Everyone in the crowd was dead silent, staring up at me with blank expressions. I blinked back at them awkwardly. Weren’t they supposed to cheer? Or something? Why weren’t they excited? Brendon’s band was more popular than Gold!

            “Iris, you lack enthusiasm,” Rian murmured in a carrying whisper.

            My head whipped toward him. He gave me a serious look. “Umm… Woo?”

            I nearly jumped as all the girls started screaming ecstatically. They were all screaming different things too, so I couldn’t understand any of it. Thrusting the phone into Ms. Long’s hand, I hurried off stage toward the two members of Gold standing on the side. Luke grinned at me while Rian sighed. “Iris, you’ll need to work on that.”

            “I’m not a performer!”

            “But aren’t you student council president?”

            “So?”

            Rian gave me a flat look. “Don’t you have to speak in front of everyone a lot?”

            “Only at pep rallies,” I told him, crossing my arms. “Maybe if you guys weren’t so immature you could have announced it in your grandiose way, or whatever.”

            He grinned, slinging an arm over my shoulder. “I’m just teasing you, Iris. You did exactly what would be expected of you. Well almost. I didn’t exactly expect you to announce to our whole class that we were dating.”

            “About that… I just wanted to let everyone know you belonged to me,” I told him honestly.

            “Well, now you know how I felt when we first started officially dating,” he responded, ruffling my hair. “Thank you, though.”

            I smiled at him. “You’re welcome. And I’m sorry for making you wait.”

            “It’s no problem,” he assured me. “As long as everyone knows now.

            “Iris!” a new voice cried and Noah appeared at my side a second later, giving me a dirty look. “You stole my spotlight.”

            “Get over it, Noah,” Rian sighed.

            “No! I wanted to announce it!”

            I shooed him away with my hand. “Go announce it to Cindy. I didn’t see her in the room anywhere. I don’t think she knows.”

            Noah’s eyes lit up. “Seriously?”

            I nodded. “Better go find her before someone else blurts it out before you.”

            “I’m out,” he responded, patting my head before walking to the back exit of the stage.

            “And where did Chloe go?” I asked, turning to Luke.

            He thought about it for a minute. “The bathroom, I think.”

            “You think?”

            “Well she—”

            “Go find her.”

            He blinked at me.

            “Go,” I repeated more forcefully.

            “O-okay,” he responded, his eyes widening. He turned to Rian, mouthing something I didn’t catch before scurrying off the stage as well.

            When my gaze turned to Rian he smirked. “Trying to get us all alone?”

            “Yes,” I said honestly.

            He looked thoroughly taken aback. “What’s this? You’re actually admitting it? Can’t resist my lips, huh?”

            I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. “Actually, I want to talk…”

            “About what?” he inquired, tilting his head to the side.

            “Umm, can we go somewhere a little more private?” I requested, noticing Ms. Long staring at us from the other side of the stage.

            A mysterious smile spread across his lips. “You want to sneak away?”

            I hesitated. “Do you want to leave the dance early?”

            “If I’m still with you, I don’t care, Igloo.”

            “What about playing a song for the school?”

            “If you want to talk about something, that’s more important to me. I’ve played plenty of shows. I’ve only talked to you alone a fraction of those times.”

            I smiled at him. “Thanks, Rian.”

            He grinned back at me. “Anything for you. Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

            “How will we leave? The limo took everyone else,” I questioned.

            He grabbed my hand. “Who said we needed to drive? You’re not going back to Cindy’s house, right?”

            “Well I was…”

            “Let’s just go back to your dorm,” he urged. “Everyone else is here, so we won’t get in trouble.”

            “My dorm…?”

            He frowned at me. “You don’t want to?”

            “I… It’s, um, no, it’s fine…” He was right. Everyone was at the dance. There was no way we’d be caught. “Let’s go.”

            Eagerly, he led the way out of the gym, and out of the school. The cool night air bit at my exposed skin, but Rian’s hand kept my hand warm. It was dead silent as we hastened across the dewy grass toward my dorm building. When we entered the wooden structure, the boards groaned under our feet. Rian was smiling at something I couldn’t figure out as he towed me to my room.

            “Do you have the key?” he asked.

            “Yup,” I responded, opening my purse and digging through it. “It’s in here somewhere. What time is it?”

            He checked his cell phone. “Oh, wow. It’s only nine.”

            “That means we have two hours before the dance is over,” I told him, finally finding my key. “You have to leave before then so we don’t get in trouble.”

            “Can’t I stay over?” he begged. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. We don’t have class.”

            I almost did a double take. He wanted to stay over? As in…? “What?”

            His eyes widened. “Wait! I don’t mean like— I don’t want to— I meant…”

            “Just a sleep over, right?” I questioned.

            He looked relieved. “Yes! That’s what I meant. I didn’t mean, you know, that. Although I’m totally up for it if you are.”

            “Um, I don’t know Rian,” I mumbled, dropping my gaze. “I…”

            “Don’t say anything,” he interjected, putting his hand on my shoulder. “That was rude of me. We haven’t even said I love you to each other yet. I can wait for that moment. Is that okay with you?”

            My heart thudded in my chest. That was new. A guy who wanted to wait? “Yeah, definitely,” I told him with a smile. “When that moment comes.”

            Saying I love you… I felt that I could do it at anytime. Even if he was Rian, my feelings were beginning to grow for him. But it felt too early, way too early. It would feel fake if I said it to him now. Especially since I’d been so against dating him in the beginning.

            “Iris?”

            “Huh?”

            “Are you going to go in? Or just stand here all night?” Rian asked in a teasing tone.

            I rolled my eyes at him, entering my room. He followed after me, strutting like a pigeon. Amused, I watched him. “What are you doing?”

            “Getting you to smile,” he responded with a wink. “See? It worked.”

            I quickly dropped the smile I hadn’t realized came to my face. “Why?”

            “You just got this really serious look all of a sudden. I didn’t like he,” he responded honestly.

            “Aww,” I said, grinning at him. “You’re so cute.”

            He made a face. “Just so you know, guys don’t like being called cute.”

            “Really? But you are!”

            “Handsome is more fitting.”

            “Whatever,” I responded, rolling my eyes and shutting the door. “If anyone comes, hide in the closet.

            He nodded, taking a look around the room. “Impressive,” he commented, raising an eye at me. “They give you pretty big dorms here.”

            “It’s not really a cheap school,” I pointed out.

            “True, true,” he responded, walking over to my bed. With a not so grateful movement, he flopped onto it.

            “I’ll be right back,” I told him, heading toward my bathroom. “I’m going to change out of my dress.”

            “Sure,” he responded with a wave of his hand.

            After I shut the door to the bathroom I locked it and quickly stripped off my dress. Trying to keep it unwrinkled, I hung it up on the hook on the door. Next I pulled on my pajama shorts and a tank top, checking myself in the mirror quickly. The dance hadn’t messed up my hair at all. As a last second thing, I did a quick teeth brushing before leaving the bathroom. Rian was still lying on my bed.

            “Your bed is softer than my bed,” he informed me as I took a seat by his feet.

            “I brought this one from home,” I told him. “The original ones were harder than rocks.”

            “Home, huh…”

            Frowning, I let myself fall backwards so I was lying on my back next to him. I turned my head so I could see his face. “Where are you originally from?”

            His eyes widened in surprise. “You don’t know?”

            “Am I supposed to?”

            “Ah, no,” he responded, rearranging his face into a small smile. “I forget you’re not one of my fans.”

            “Hey, I’m your fan,” I protested.

            He laughed. “Just not that big of one. I’m actually from Burlington, Vermont.”

            “Really? So close?”

            “Yup,” he replied, reaching one of his hands over so that he could lay his palm on my cheek. “Wouldn’t it be funny if we’ve actually met each other before? Like if you went snowboarding at Mt. Snow or something?”

            I grinned at him. “Actually, I’ve been there quite a few times.”

            “Vermont is a nice place. I’d like to go home for awhile.”

            “But you can’t?”

            He shook his head. “Because of my band, I’m always moving around,” he explained. “Sometimes I’ll have like a three day break where I can stop back at home and see my family, but that’s it. Oh! Speaking of my family, you’ll have to meet them!”

            “Sure,” I agreed. “Maybe we can go on a weekend and spend it there. Like we did when we went to my house.”

            “I’ll check my schedule! Maybe we can go in the next few weekends!”

            A feeling of unease washed over me. “Hey Rian?”

            He cocked an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

            “You’re not going to randomly leave, are you? You’re here for awhile, right?”

            “Yeah. At least until the end of the school year. After that…”

            “You’ll be going back on tour,” I finished for him.

            A sad expression washed over his face. “Yeah.”

            “You don’t like touring?”

            “No, I do. I just don’t like the thought of leaving you.” He blinked. “Ah, I just said something really embarrassing, didn’t I?”

            The blush on my face probably gave away my answer. “D-don’t worry about that! It’s not like I’ll break up with you if you go on tour.”

            His eyes lit up. “Really?”

            “Really,” I assured him. “Remember, my brother’s in a band too. I’m used to tours.”

            “That’s good to hear,” he breathed out in relief. “I was actually afraid you might not want to be together because of that. To be completely honest, I wasn’t going to mention it.”

            I pushed myself up a little so I could look down at him. “Chicken shit.”

            “Hey!” he protested, leaning up with a scowl. “I don’t appreciate being called names.”

            “You can tell me anything,” I told him. “I won’t get angry if you’re being truthful. Whatever scares you… We’re a couple now, Rian. I want you to tell me.”

            He blinked at me, a bit taken aback. “You really take relationships seriously, don’t you?”

            I pursed my lips at him. “You’re supposed to.”

            He laughed. “No! No! I do too. I like it. I just didn’t really expect it from you. I thought you’d be the shy girl. I like this though. It makes me even more interested in you.”

            “Oh,” I mumbled, feeling embarrassment catch up to me.

            “You’re a lot different than most girls,” he continued. “I guess that’s why I like you so much. You’re kind of detached from everything. You get jealous, but you’re not the overly jealous type. You don’t care about how much you eat in front of anyone.”

            “Isn’t that normal?”

            He made a face. “No. There are girls that refuse to eat in front of their boyfriends. It’s really annoying.”

            “Really? That’s stupid.”

            “I know,” he agreed with a nod. “I also like that about you. You don’t try to act like a girly-girl to get attention from guys. And you’re really frank. But you still blush like normal girls.”

            “Unfortunately,” I muttered.

            Rian chuckled, putting his hands to my face and bringing it down to his. “No, I like it. It’s cute. You’re cute, Iris.”

            I didn’t bother responding. Instead, I moved my face closer so we could kiss. He smirked into it, easily dominating it. It didn’t matter to me who was leading. If he wanted to, he could. After a few minutes he pushed me away from him. I watched as he quickly removed his shirt. When he caught me staring, he grinned at me sheepishly. “It’s hot?”

            “I didn’t think you’d have muscle,” I deadpanned.

            He scowled. “I do work out.”

            “I didn’t say you didn’t,” I laughed, prodding at his stomach.

            He squirmed under my touch. “Don’t do that.”

            A smirk slowly spread across my face. “Don’t tell me… you’re ticklish, aren’t you?”

            “Absolutely not.”

            “We’ll see.”

            “No, Iris, no— argh!” he cried as I began to tickle his stomach. “Stop, stop! It hurts! Hahaha!”

            I laughed as he wriggled around under me. “You so are ticklish!”

            “Stop it!” he pleaded. “This isn’t, haha, how it’s supposed to, haha, happen! I’m the one supposed to be tickling you!” he wheezed out through his laughter.

            “Not this time!” I replied evilly. “I’ve got the advantage!”

            He was laughing uncontrollably. It was quite the scene. “S-stop it!”

            “Say please.”

            “Please!”

            “Say I’m awesome.”

            “I’m awesome!”

            I tickled him harder.

            “You’re awesome!” he shouted, trying to grab my arms. “Hahaha, Iris! Please!”

            “In a moment…”

            “Iris!”

            Grinning like a maniac, I continued to assault him. He looked so cute so vulnerable like that.

            “Stop or I’m going to piss your bed!”

            Immediately I yanked my hands away from him. He smirked evilly. My eyes widened. “Wait—”

            “Role reversal!” he cried, grabbing my waist and throwing me under him. “My turn.”

            “No!”

            “Hmm, should I keep the shirt on or not?” he pondered out loud.

            I stared at him seriously. “If you try to take it off I’ll scream.”

            He gave me a knowing look. “No one’s here, remember?”

            “Rian…”

            “I’m kidding,” he told me with a laugh. “Now prepare to be tickled.”

            “Wait—”

            “Time’s up!” he sang gleefully, pressing his cool hands to my clothed stomach. Even with the cloth protecting my skin, it tickled.

            I immediately tried to twist away from him, much like he was doing earlier. “Rian! Stop it!”

            “You didn’t stop when I asked.”

            “I’m sorry! Hahaha! I’m really sorry!” I cried, feeling my eyes starting to water. “Sorry!”

            He ignored my apology. “This is payback.”

            Why were guys so strong? It wasn’t fair! I felt like I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen!

            “Please!” I gasped.

            Rian continued his attack, paying no attention to me. I was never going to tickle him again if this was what the payback was going to be like. It was worst than torture! I tried holding my breath to keep from laughing, but that only made me burst out laughing harder. Now Rian was chuckling at me. “Okay, okay. Just say, ‘Rian, you are the hottest, most talented guy in the world’!”

            “Rian, you are the most talented guy and hottest in the world!”

            He gazed at me for a moment. “Eh, close enough.” He removed his hands from me.

            I gasped for breath, staring up at him warily. What if he came in for another assault? When he moved closer to me, I flinched. Instead of feeling hands, I felt his lip on my cheek. Opening my eyes, I found his face in front of mine. “Can we make out now?”

            “I can’t believe you’re actually asking,” I stated.

            “Am I not supposed?”

            “Aren’t you embarrassed to ask such a thing?”

            He shook his head. “Nope!”

            “Lucky.”

            “You shouldn’t be either. Normal couples do this.”

            I pinched his nose, causing him to flinch. “Right, right.”

            Instead of continuing our conversation, he brought his lips to mine again. It was a minty kiss, but I couldn’t figure out if that was he or I. Maybe we used the same toothpaste.

            After a few moments he broke away from me. “Shit! I forgot!”

            “What?” I asked breathlessly.

            “What did you want to talk about?”

            I chuckled, giving him a quick kiss. “Just about your touring schedule. You’ve cleared that up already though.”

            “Oh good,” he responded. “I thought maybe it was something more serious.”

            I shook my head. “Nope. That was it.”

            “So you really did just want alone time with me?”

            “That was a big part of it,” I admitted, lowering my gaze.

            He kissed my forehead gently. “I’m more than willing to let you have alone time with me whenever you want it. You know, as long as I don’t have practice or anything.”

            “I figured as much.”

            Without warning, he lunged across the bed, crushing my face in his stomach into the process. “No way!”

            His skin muffled my voice, so I couldn’t make a coherent response. I shoved him to the side so I could breathe. “No way what?”

            He waved something at me excitedly. “You have the new CD?”

            “New CD?” I repeated, narrowing my eyes at the item in my hand. It took me a moment to realize it was my brother’s album. “Oh, that. It’s not exactly new.”

            “It’s new enough!” Rian responded enthusiastically. “Iris! Can we listen to it, please? Pretty please?”

            “You don’t have it?” I asked in surprise.

            “I did, on my iPod, but I lost that, so please?” he begged.

            I pointed to my Mac in the far corner of the room. “Yeah, just stick it in there. The speakers are already set up.”

            “Yay!” he cried, rolling off the bed with a thump. He easily sprung to his feet and bounded over to the laptop.

             Unable to help myself, I grinned at him. He really was just like a puppy. Even his fanboy attitude for my brother was a little disturbing.

            “This is my favorite song!” he stated as the first song on the CD started playing.

            “Mine too,” I agreed. “Actually, I like all of them.”

            “Same,” he responded, turning toward me. “They’re really good— oh my god!”

            I nearly jumped out my skin. Twisting around, I stared at the door, fearing the worst. To my confusion, no one was standing there. What was Rian freaking out about? I turned back toward him and nearly jumped again when I noticed he was only a few inches away from me. “W-what?”

            “Your brother’s band is your favorite band, isn’t it?”

            I shook my head. “Nah. I just like them because of my brother. They’re not my favorite.”

            Rian frowned. “Then who is?”

            “I told you, it’s a secret. When are you going to drop it?”

            “Never,” he told me flatly, crossing his arms.

            “Okay,” I gave in with a sigh. “I’ll tell you.”

            His eyes glowed excitedly. “Really?”

            “Yup. Ready for this?”

            “Yes!”

            “It’s…”

            “Yes?” he prodded eagerly.

            I put my hand on my heard and sighed wistfully. “One Direction. I really love that Harold guy.”

            “I thought it was Harry.”

            Crap. Was it Harry? “To his fans. To me, it’s Harold. It’s his real name,” I corrected as smoothly as I could. “My brother hooked us up awhile back.”

            Rian stared at me blankly. “You’re kidding me.”

            “Yeah. I am.”

            “Iris!”

            I laughed. “I’ll never tell you.”

            He crossed his arms. “Whatever. I’ll figure it out one day.”

            “Okay,” I said skeptically. There was no way he would figure it out.

            “Make a bet with me. If I can figure out your favorite band, then you have to go around acting like a crazy Gold fan girl.”

            “And if you can’t?”

            He frowned a little bit. “Um…”

            “I’ve got it. You have to dress up like a girl and act like a fangirl for my brother’s band.”

            His eyes widened. “What? That’s not fair—”

            “Those are the terms.”

            “Fine,” he snapped. “I have until the end of March.”

            “Fine.”

            He grumbled under his breath, returning to the computer. I tried to suppress the smirk threatening my face. It was funny he didn’t realize I could just deny every band he guessed. This bet was all mine. I let out a little evil laugh before abruptly covering my mouth. Rian glanced at me, a little worried.

            I wiped all emotions from my face. When he turned back to the computer again, I grinned. I definitely had to remember to steal Kevin’s camera for that.

____________

This chapter is much shorter than the last- lo sientoooo!