𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐭 | riff wss

five.

Nancy's eyes widened as she opened the doors to the gym, it was not at all like she had expected:

Shiny, gold banners were dangling from the ceiling with different colored lights projecting onto the walls. Parts of the gym were also covered up with food tables and colorful posters to promote the dance.

The realization suddenly hit her that they were late because the music was already blaring along with everyone dancing out on the floor.

The room had even been split up between the Jets and the new gang that had moved in, each with girls in all kinds of dresses dancing with their dates.

Another realization came to mind when she noticed she didn't have a date to dance with, and neither did Tony.

But she didn't have anymore time to take in the scene in front of her before Anybodys came crashing into her arms. "Nancy, It's you!"

She smiled at her friend she had know for forever. It had been almost a year since she last saw her, she stopped passing by Val's store ever since the Jets claimed it as their territory.

"Anybodys! It's so good to see you." Nancy smiled as they broke from the hug. Her friend didn't get to say anything else because of Riff storming through the both of them to get to Tony.

"Tony I'd knew you'd come, buddy boy! I knew you'd come!"

"Yeah yeah...wait, where's Gratziella? I thought she was with you?"

Riff didn't take any time to think of his response, "She ditched me almost immediately for some guy in the mix up, but it was a mistake to bring her anyway. I wasn't gonna go off ditchin' my best pal!"

Tony gave him an odd look but caught the eye of the supervisors of the function while doing so. The group of the adults saw the Wyzek siblings and suddenly became extremely eager to talk to them.

An officer and a woman introduced themselves to the brother and sister as they spoke. "We're happy to see you both here tonight. It's been a few years since you both have graduated, hasn't it?"

They nodded in sync but the woman quickly began asking questions about their home life. Riff, along with a few of his Jets, watched for a moment as they requested to get back to the dance. The woman agreed but stopped Nancy before she could walk away.

"I meant to tell you this years ago, but I wanted to tell you how much you look like your mother, especially tonight, Nancy. And I couldn't help but recognize that same sparkle you have in your eye."

She didn't really know what to say. She had never been called similar to her mother before. It felt good to have the sense of similarity to her because she didn't know her as well as others thought she did. "I–uh...thank you."

Riff had also heard the comment from the woman and it suddenly made him look at her a bit differently. Not just as Tony's little sister, but as her own person.

He looked at Nancy and didn't realize how beautiful she was until this very moment. The way she smiled, the way her hair bounced with every nod, and he had loved that color on her every time she wore it around New York.

It made her look more mature.

And then a question slid into his mind that he was suddenly desperate to ask her.

Tony then tried to speak up first about the candy Riff had stolen earlier that day, but two of the Jets were eager to speak to Nancy at the same time.

The leader had opened his mouth to say something but Baby John's voice was heard from behind him.

"N-Nancy?"

She, Tony, Riff, and Anybodys all turned to see the youngest Jet standing there fidgeting with his hands. "I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me?"

The curly headed girl was taken back by the boy's question. Him wanting to dance with her? She was completely stunned over the thought that a boy would ask her to dance with him.

"Well I...I.." she studdered.

Baby John was one that she didn't see often when in town. He usually stood behind the rest, too scared to get into the action, but Nancy sort of admired his hesitation to think about what the Jets were putting him through.

She stuttered a few more times before Tony couldn't watch his sister emabarass herself any longer. He pushed her lightly so she was forced to take a few steps towards the boy.

He smirked to himself as they both took initiative in taking each other's hand and walking towards the dance floor.

An oddly loud sigh was suddenly heard from Riff as the pair had walked away. "What's wrong, Riff? I'm sure there are plenty of girls here to dance with."

"Are there?" He spat sarcastically as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away from Tony who now stood by himself.

Riff stormed off to the bleachers and a few of the Jets followed. He kept his eyes on two things only: The Sharks and Nancy—both were now of deep importance to him.

He was planning on setting up the rumble with the Sharks tonight, but he couldn't stop thinking about Nancy.

He had felt guilty for messing with her more than usual this week and there was something about the look in here eye that made him want to talk to her again and again.

His eyes searched the room looking for the only girl in a black dress. It didn't take long for him to find them trying to both figure out how to dance.

After a few minutes they were dancing to the rhythm easily, but he couldn't stand it. I should be out there with her, he thought, he doesn't know her like I do.

His thoughts didn't trail on for much longer because the volume began escalating with different voices. From what he could see, Baby John had accidentally bumped into a Shark and things had quickly escalated like they usually do.

"Alright boys let's go."

They made there way to the right side of the gym where Nancy had begun trying to defend her and her dance partner for stepping on the man's heel.

Pushes and shoves were thrown on to others dancing as Riff many his way to the pair. "Woah woah woah what's goin' on here?"

Frustration grew on Nancy's face as he separated the two pairs who were bickering.

"He stepped on my foot!"

"I-I didn't mean to i-it was an accident."

"Yeah he didn't mean too, so why don't you just back off."

"Back off?!"

Riff raised his voice so it could be heard over the music, "Well I see there are some issues so I'll just talk to my friends here who seem like they need to cool off."

He nodded to the Shark couple who hadn't responded and grabbed Nancy's hand to get her out of the middle. She tried to fight him but gave in when she saw that he was bringing her near the bleachers.

Baby John looked around after Riff stormed off with the girl he was dancing with. There were so many people that he couldn't tell which two were them.

He sighed as he went to the drinks table, hoping that he could maybe find Nancy there.

But she was still nowhere to be seen.

emma speaks :)
- i think we might be seeing some feelings that Riff has for Nancy😏