Sometime in the night, both Rian and I ended up falling asleep on my bed. I woke up in the morning to his legs flung over mine, and his drool on my pillow. For the first few moments of my groggy state, I just stared at Rian, admiring his sleeping face. No smugness, no smirks, just innocence.

            Then I remembered it was Saturday morning, and he was in my bed, in the girl's dorm, and the DA would be in at noon to do a room inspection. Eyes widening, I fumbled around for my phone, checking the time.

            It was ten minutes until noon.

            "Oh my God, wake up!" I cried, sitting up quickly and flinging off the covers.

            "No," Rian moaned, sinking his face further into the pillow.

            I slapped his bare back roughly, and Jesus, I was lucky I woke up when I did. If Jenny had walked in here while he was like that... I'd probably be sent home packing. She was a real bitch. "No, seriously, get up. Dorm inspections are in ten minutes."

            "So?"

            "So we'll get in trouble if Jenny finds you!" I snapped at him, now attempting to roll him off the bed. "Get up and get out!"

            Grumpily, Rian opened one of his eyes and glared up at me. "Lock your door or something."

            "She has keys! Get up!"

            "Alright, alright..."

            Knock knock.

            I froze. Shit.

            "Iris? Are you in there? Time for a dorm inspection."

            "Ah, yeah, just give me a moment to put on some pants," I made up quickly, giving Rian a panicked look. Where could I hide him? The closet? Jenny didn't usually look there. Under the bed? The bathroom? No, the closet would be the best. "Get in the closet," I hissed at Rian.

            Nodding, Rian slid out of my bed and across the room, slipping into the closet and shutting it quietly. I hastily made my bed, flipping over the pillow Rian slept on so she wouldn't see the drool stains. They were kind of gross. Then I bounded to the door and opened it, slapping on a polite smile. "Hi, Jenny."

            "Morning. Did you just wake up?" she responded, giving me a disapproving look. Jenny was a woman in her late thirties with dyed blonde hair that was beginning to grey. Sometimes she could be sweet, but most of the time she was no nonsense.

            "Yeah, you know, the dance was last night and all," I told her casually, shrugging.

            She pursed her lips, but didn't say anything else, stepping around me to enter my room. Fortunately, I kept it clean all the time, so there wasn't much she could complain about. Her eyes stayed on my crappily made up bed for a second longer than usual, but she didn't mention it. I was won of her favorites, or about as close as I could get to one. Meaning, I never snuck in any alcohol or pot.

            "Since when did you start wearing guy's shirts?" she asked, bending down to pick up a shirt off my floor.

            My heart skipped a beat. It was Rian's shirt. "Er, it's not mine. My brother's. Got mixed up in my laundry when I went home last weekend..."

            Jenny smiled at the mention of my brother. "How's he doing?"

            "Good," I told her, remembering she was one of his fans. "Excited about the new single with Gold." If I kept her distracted, she would leave without a full examination.

            "I may be old, but I have to admit I'm curious to see what they come up with," Jenny said, tossing Rian's shirt into my dirty laundry hamper.

            I nodded. "Me too."

            Jenny went over my bathroom next, popping her head in to make sure it was clean. "You're low on hand soap," she told me, coming back out. "Do you have any in the closet?"

            The moment she started heading toward it, I stepped out in front of her. "No!" I cried, too loudly. "Uh, I looked already. I have to go out and pick some up."

            She gave me a suspicious look. "You're not hiding a boy in your closet, are you?"

            "Of course not!" I said quickly, letting out an obnoxious, forced laugh. "Are you kidding? Me? No way! Of course not! Never!" Kicking myself, I forced my mouth shut. Crap, I was bad at this.

            "Right..."

            "You done here, then?" I asked hopefully.

            She gave the closet a lingering glance before nodding. "I suppose. Don't have to give you the usual check, fortunately. Saves me a good five minutes."

            Barely holding back a sigh of relief, I nodded. "Yep, that's me. The good student, ha ha ha."

            "Right..." She began walking toward the door, and I let my shoulders slump. Almost home free.

            Then, before I could even protest, she had the closet door open. My mouth fell open in shock and a million excuses bubbled to my lips.

            However, none of them were needed.

            "Iris, you're supposed to fold your blankets," Jenny scolded me, staring at the pile of comforters and sheets now lying on the ground at her feet.

            Confused, I peered in, looking for Rian. Those blankets had been on the top shelf... Forcing my eyes to stay focused on the bottom of the closet, I nodded, scooping the blankets up from off the floor and tossing them on my bed. "I'll do that now."

            "Okay," Jenny responded, shutting the closet door behind me.

            Now I really had to hold back my sigh of relief.

            The moment Jenny was out of the room, I rushed back to the closet, peering at the top shelf. Rian grinned down at me from where he was, curled up on the wood ledge. "Hey."

            "How... I actually don't want to know," I said, taking a step back so he could unfurl and hop down.

            "That was close," he said with a grin. "Really woke me up."

            "Tell me about it," I responded with a sigh. "I need a shower."

            "Me too. Want to take one together?"

            I gave him a short glare. "I'll take one first, then you can, and then we'll go get breakfast. I suggest you text Noah or Luke to let them know where you've been."

            Rian pouted. "No fun."

            Ignoring him, I pulled out a fresh set of clothing and undergarments from my dresser before hurrying to the bathroom. "Don't answer the door if anyone knocks. Oh, and lock it."

            "Aye, aye."

            Twenty minutes later, I stepped out of the shower, fresh and clean. After changing into my new clothes, I brushed my teeth and dried my hair, briefly applying makeup before stepping out of the steaming bathroom. Rian glanced at me from my bed, where he was reading one of my Harry Potter books.

            "Make up again today?" he asked.

            I frowned. "Yes, why?"

            "Nothing. It looks good," he told me with a smile. "I'm just not used to it."

            Shrugging, I gestured for him to use the bathroom. "I'm trying it out. I like it."

            "Sure," he responded, hopping off my bed. "I'll make it quick."

            Rian, being the diva he was, took just as long as I did in the shower, maybe even longer. We didn't manage to make it to the cafeteria until one in the afternoon. The only people eating were the students who'd had sports in the morning and a few late stragglers. After filling our plates up with food, we took a seat at one of the tables. Hopefully the fact Rian was wearing his tux from last night would go unnoticed.

            Fortunately, it lasted throughout lunch. No one said a word. After that, Noah and Luke showed up, all smug-faced and knowing. "Nothing happened," I told them as they sat down at the table with us.

            "Really?"

            "Really," I insisted with a hard look. "He just fell asleep."

            Noah whistled lowly. "That's too bad. That means no one got lucky last night."

            Luke frowned at Noah. "It's not like there's anything wrong with that."

            "Yeah," I chimed in, shooting Luke a grateful look. Who knew he was such a gentleman?

            "So I talked to Brendon this morning," Noah began, capturing Rian's attention. "We were deciding dates to meet so we can start lyric writing and what not."

            Rian gave him an unimpressed look. "Why wasn't I part of these plans?"

            "Couldn't reach you," Luke told him. "But you're free when we're free, so it doesn't really matter. We're going to meet them tomorrow at noon at our place."

            "Your place?" I echoed. "Where's that?"

            "The Marriott Hotel," Noah informed me casually, like it was no big deal they lived in a hotel.

            My eyes widened. "You guys stay in a hotel? Are your parents with you?"

            Rian laughed. "No way. We move around so much it's impossible for them to come because they have jobs. The reason why we stay in hotels is because at any moment we could be moved to another place. Besides, we're eighteen, we're adults."

            "I never knew that," I told him, feeling depressed for some reason. "So do you guys like, order take-out every day?"

            "Every day," he told me solemnly, nodding his head.

            I stayed silent for a moment. "You're going to get fat," I finally deadpanned.

            Rian mock winced. "Thanks, Iris. I thought you were going to say you were going to make me lunch every day."

            "I would," I told him honestly, "but I couldn't make anything fancy seeing as how I only have a microwave and mini-fridge in my dorm room."

            "It's the thought that counts."

            Noah groaned. "Home cooked meals... those are the best."

            "Why don't you guys cook for yourselves? Surely you get a nice enough room that has at least one burner?"

            "What's a burner?" Noah asked.

            Luke rolled his eyes. "On the stove top. The thing with the flame?"

            "Ooh," Noah responded with a nod. "Gotcha. Yeah, we got one of those. Luke likes to bake."

            "You do?"

            Luke ducked his head. "Kind of..."

            "You should bake me cookies one day!" I said excitedly. "I love cookies!"

            Smiling, he nodded. "Sure."

            "I'll bake you cookies," Rian told me.

            "You can't cook," Luke pointed out.

            "Thought that counts, remember?"

            I grimaced. "I don't know... I'm not sure I'll like cookies I can't eat."

            Crossing his arms, Rian pouted. "Oh whatever. Did you guys bring me spare clothing?"

            "Yep," Luke said, handing Rian a plastic bag. "The sooner you change the better.

            With that said, Rian swallowed the last of his brunch, and stood up from the table. "Right. I'll be back soon."

            "So what's on the agenda today?" I asked the remaining two boys.

            "We'll, we've gotta go see our manager," Noah told me, offering a half-smile. "Sorry, but we can't hang out."

            Feeling faintly disappointed, I just shrugged. "Nah, can't expect to hang out every weekend. Sometimes I forget you're part of a famous band."

            Luke chuckled, reaching over to pat my hand. "That's what we love about you, Iris."

            "I love you too, Luke," I responded, smiling. "I'll use today to hang out with Chloe and Kevin. We haven't spent time together with just us in a while."

            "There you go," Luke said happily. "And now you have plans too. When Rian gets back, we're going to head off."

            "Sure," I responded, pulling out my phone. If Gold wasn't going to be around, it'd a good day to go to the mall and do some shopping. Hopefully Chloe and Kevin were free as well. After I texted them, I slid my phone back into my pocket, and waited.

            A few moments later Rian came bounding back to us, nice and clean in a white long-sleeve short and a pair of dark-washed jeans. Incredibly handsome, as usual. "So, what are we doing today?"

            Luke stood up from the table. "You're going to the meeting with John, Iris is hanging out with her friends."

            "Oh, okay," he responded, giving up pretty easily.

            Even Noah looked surprised. "Dude, you usually pitch a fit about these meetings."

            Rian blushed. "No I don't."

            "Uh, yeah, you do. Weird, dude. Weird."

            He brushed Noah off. "Whatever. Are we leaving now? I'll need to stop by the hotel and brush my teeth."

            "Sure. See you later, Iris," Luke said, waving at me.

            "Bye," Noah chimed in.

            I waved back. "See you two."

            Rian hovered over me, as if debating, and then quickly swooped down to give me a kiss. "Um, bye."

            I grinned at him. "Bye."

            As they walked away, I cleaned up my tray, waiting for Chloe and Kevin to text me back. Five minutes later, they finally did, both giving me affirmatives to my invite. I headed straight for my car, telling them to meet me there.

            Half an hour later, we were at the mall, carefree and not having to worry about anyone recognizing us, because we weren't famous. Kevin talked a hundred miles an hour about an upcoming skiing competition he was going to, describing how the winner would get a free stay at the resort next year. Chloe said she'd root for him only if she was allowed to go with him to the resort.

            "Can we buy matching shirts?" Chloe asked as we went into Pac Sun.

            I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

            She shrugged. "I don't know. Don't most best friends have matching clothing?"

            "I guess... I don't really know. But if you want to, sure."

            "Let's find something that has both a male and female make," she continued, glancing back at Kevin. "So Yun can match too."

            I smirked. "I'm sure he'd look fine in girl clothing."

            Kevin frowned at me. "I'm not wearing a girl's shirt."

            "Why not? You have the figure."

            "What? I do not!"

            I checked him out, eyeing his waist. "I don't know. You're pretty slim. Petite."

            "I have muscle," he defended, putting his hands on his waist.

            Chloe giggled. "Now you're just proving her point."

            He glowered at us. "I'm not wearing girl clothes and that's final."

            "Okay fine, we'll find one with a make for both genders. If there are any," I gave in, peering around the dimly lit store. "So, Kevin, did you finally turn in your college applications? Or are you going to wait another month after the deadline?"

            Kevin shot me a sarcastic look. "I turned them in a few weeks ago."

            "Yeah? Where to?"

            "All Ivy Leagues, right Yun?" Chloe asked cheerfully. "You're so smart."

            Kevin half-smiled at her. "Not all. I don't have too high of expectations for myself."

            "But you applied for Harvard, right?"

            He grinned. "Yeah. And Yale. And NYU. And Columbia. And Cornell... and the University of Pennsylvania, and Chicago."

            Chloe whistled lowly. "Show off."

            "Well my mom forced me to apply to half of those. What about you two? Any acceptance letters from your colleges yet?"

            "Daniel Webster, WPI, WNEC, Quinnipiac, Elms, Smith... you know, close ones," Chloe responded with a shrug. "Not too hard to get into, either."

            "I got accepted to Elms, Quinnipiac, Dartmouth, and the University of New York," I listed. "A few others, but I'm not really planning on going there now that I got accepted to those places."

            Kevin nodded. "Maybe I should choose a college you guys are going to."

            I frowned. "No, don't put us over your education."

            "But I'll miss my best friends," he retorted. "Especially if I'm on the other side of the continent."

            "Don't worry, we'll still be best friends," I told him, nudging his hip with mine. "Hard to believe it though? It's already March. Three more months until we graduate."

            Chloe blinked. "Wow, when you say it like that, it sounds really close."

            "Not to mention we have a week off in April, so that'll go by quickly," Kevin pointed out.

            We were all silent for a moment.

            "Yeah, I'm too excited to be miserable," I commented with a grin.

            Chloe and Kevin laughed. "Same," they agreed.

            "I think we should go with black for the color of our shirts," Chloe suggested, rifling through a hanger full of discounted shirts. "Not something too girly, otherwise we'll never find it in the men's section."

            "Speaking of men, how was the dance?" I asked, wagging my eyebrows at her.

            She beamed at me. "Amazing. Luke was the perfect gentleman. Really, Iris. I'm so glad you're such a nerd."

            "I'm not a nerd," I muttered. "And why?"

            "Because you were at the library! That's how you all met, right?"

            "Right," I admitted, and couldn't help but silently agree. Sure, even if we hadn't met in the library, we'd still be locker buddies, but still. That doesn't mean I'd have met them right away like I did.

            Kevin wrinkled his nose. "You two and your love lives."

            "Where's your girlfriend, Yun?" Chloe demanded.

            He shrugged. "Don't have one."

            "You should get one. Commitment might do you well."

            "Who said I wanted a girlfriend?"

            I grinned at him. "So you want a boyfriend?"

         "I'm just saying, I'm not picky."

"I'm sure you'll find the perfect person."

"And we'll find the perfect shirt," Chloe said.

            After about twenty minutes, we finally managed to find a shirt that came in both female and male makes. Fortunately, the female make was on sale, so Chloe and I only had to pay fifteen, while Kevin had to pay thirty dollars for his. He grumbled and complained, but I knew he was secretly pleased to be included in our matching shirt bond.

            "So, what about you and Rian?" Chloe asked, hours later, when we were all at Friendly's eating ice cream.

            I held up my hand, waiting to swallow my chocolate soft serve with marshmallow, before speaking. "You know. We're good. As good as good can get with new relationships."

            "It's not weird?" Kevin asked.

            "How do you mean?"

            "You know, dating someone like him. Famous lead singer... bit of a player. All that."

            I shrugged. "He doesn't really hit on girls while I'm around."

            "I'm not saying he does," Kevin corrected himself quickly. "I just mean, it's not strange? Surely he's different than other guys you've dated."

            "Yeah, he's a bit more of a diva," I told him before laughing. "And yeah, he does have a lot more people mooning after him, but whatever. I don't really mind. Got used to that with my brother... of course I'm not dating him... ew, bad thoughts."

            Chloe chuckled. "Dude, your brother is hot."

            "I am so not agreeing with that."

            "I can," Kevin said with a nod. "But aren't you two worried about after we graduate? That is, if you're still together with those two."

            Chloe cocked her head to the side. "Should we be?"

            "Yeah. Don't they tour and all that? Most bands tour year round. They don't really care about schooling, that's what makes Gold different. They're actually trying to graduate," Kevin explained.

            "Yeah, that might be weird, but worth it," Chloe responded, wrinkling her brow a little. "Maybe. With a lot of trust it wouldn't. And Luke's pretty trust worthy."

            "I think Rian is too," I added. "And we could always see them with close dates. Then when the tour is over."

            "But they're graduating now. They won't just be doing summer tours," Kevin pointed out. "They could be doing them year long. And then you guys will be starting college. They might not be going."

            I paused. I hadn't thought about that. Shaking my head, I didn't let myself ponder about it too deeply. My relationship was too new. It didn't matter at the moment; it wasn't like I was planning on marrying Rian. "Well, we'll see how it goes. I'll worry about that later."

            "Same," Chloe responded. "Right now I'm more interested in ice cream than thinking about the future."

            Kevin cracked a grin. "I'm always more interested in ice cream than anything else."

            "That's what we love about you, Yun," she responded, reaching out to mess with his hair.

            He slapped her hand away. "Whoa, don't damage the product."

            I rolled my eyes. "Actually, I think you might be more of a diva than Rian."

            "That may be true," Kevin responded with a smirk. "And I look better."

            This caused us all to laugh again, Chloe nearly choking on her Coffee Toffee Crunch. I'd almost forgotten how much fun just hanging out with the two of them was. Ever since the beginning of the second semester, we'd been caught up with Gold so much, we hardly got time together. But I was glad we'd gone out today. It was refreshing just to have a day with your best friends.

            "I love you guys," I blurted out, suddenly sentimental."

            They grinned back at me. "We love you too."

____

I have a question. Who do you guys picture as Gold? Your favorite band members? Or do you just think of them as I described them? Let me know. They're not really based off any one. But I set them in Baltimore because a lot of bands are from Baltimore (like All Time Low).