The Next Dragon Slayer

The Party

"Mom, I cannot wear this!" I stare at my reflection in the mirror with my nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Why not? You look beautiful!" She claps her hands together excitedly.
"But it's so...so...so dress-y," I stammer.
I knew the moment that the party was announced as a formal that I would be stuck in a dress. When Mom got all giddy and went out to buy a dress, my stomach got all nervous.
Now, here I am, standing in my room in a short, strapless dress that fades from red to orange to yellow and red heels. Heels.
"You look so pretty, Honey! Trust me on this, that dress is very you!" Mom sets me down and starts fixing my hair into some half-up-half-down style.
Once she's finished, I glance warily at my reflection again. "Fine," I sigh, only wearing this because she was in a dungeon cell a week ago.
The doorbell rings, and I hear Luke yell from downstairs, "Nashi! Emma's here!"
I stand up, wobble in my heels, and then fall back into my chair. I'm not even going to try the stairs in these.
"Can you answer and send her up here?" I ask feebly.
"Yeah, okay," Luke responds before I hear the door open.
Wendy Marvell, the healer in our guild, fixed his leg, so he can walk on it fine now. He's even been wearing shorts to show off his new 'battle scar'. My mom, Emma, and I think he's trying to impress Eliza, Emma's sister.
I hear footsteps coming upstairs, and sure enough, Emma's here.
"So? What do you think?" She spins in a circle to give us a full view of her short, purple one-shoulder dress.
"Looking good, Emma!" I hoot.
"You look gorgeous, Sweetie!" My mom claps. She's always treated Emma like her second daughter.
Emma curtsies jokingly and then stops when she looks at my outfit.
"Nashi?" She asks, sounding confused.
"What?" I raise my eyebrows.
"Are you really wearing a dress and high heels, or am I going crazy?"
"You're crazy, but I am wearing a dress and heels," I point out.
"It looks so pretty!" She gushes, sounding just like my mom.
I roll my eyes as they flip out, before practicing how to walk in these things again. After pacing a couple laps around my room, they've calmed down and I've gotten the hang of walking in these terrible shoes. Sort of.
"Come on, we're going to be late, we should leave," My mom pulls all of us out the door.
My dad and Luke grumble at having to wear their nice clothes while my mom scolds them as we walk. Emma and I giggle at their crazy antics from where we follow close behind them.
Once we stop in front of the guild, I can already hear the people inside. It's even louder once we're inside. It's good, though, because people are talking and laughing. That's something I haven't heard at the guild in a long time.
"Hey," Emma whispers, "I have a surprise for everyone later,"
"Huh?" I snap my head over towards her, intrigued. "What is it?"
"You'll find out later." She smirks.
Then we spot Nova and Reiki by the dance floor. We call out to them and head over to where they stand. I don't notice something strange until we get there, though. They're holding hands.
"Um," Emma looks at their entwined hands and then back up at them curiously.
"Am I missing something?" I ask.
They both laugh a little.
"Well," Nova smiles. "We've went on a couple of dates, and then all this happened, so there wasn't a good time to tell you guys."
"Tell us what?" Storm suddenly appears next to us.
"We're dating," Reiki grins happily. "Nova's my girlfriend."
He kisses her on the cheek, and Emma goes "Awww!". Storm and I just look at each other, mildly shocked.
Suddenly, the music from onstage stops, and Emma smiles mischievously.
"I gotta go," She rushes off, and we all look at each other with confused expressions.
A minute later, she appears onstage with a microphone. So this is what the surprise is. However, when she begins singing, it isn't a fast song like earlier. She looks at Storm and then me before winking. The surprise isn't just a song. It's a slow song. Meant for a slow dance.
I see Reiki lead Nova onto the dance floor, along with all the other couples. My heartbeat quickens and my palms start to get all sweaty. Emma, what have you done?
"Hey," Storm's voice grabs my attention.
"Y-yeah?" I stammer, sounding more nervous than I meant to.
"Dance with me?" He smiles as he asks it.
"Sure," I say shakily. What's wrong with me?
He and I walk out to an empty spot and begin our slow dance. My face heats up like crazy when he puts his hands on my waist. I put my arms up around his neck, and we dance as best we know how.
"You can calm down," Storm smirks at me.
"What do you mean?" I plaster a smile on my face.
"It's okay, you don't have to dance with me if you don't want. You look really uncomfortable,"
I look away from him as I mumble, "I do want to dance with you."
"Really?" He says, excitedly.
"Yeah," I meet his eyes.
"Huh," He huffs a laugh, thoughtfully.
"What?" I laugh, nervously.
"Usually you freak out when we're together because someone could say something,"
At first I don't know what he's talking about, but then I remember something.
"Are talking about the day we made up after the fight and we came in and Nova called us a couple?"
"Yeah, along with other times,"
"Well, it's just, um, I.." My sentence fades out as I lose the nerve to finish my words.
"I like you," Storm says, abruptly.
"You, you do?" I stammer in disbelief, not really knowing how to take these words.
"Yeah, and I want to ask you something. Would you want to go out with me on Saturday?" A faint blush appears on his cheeks.
"Yes," I blurt, my mouth acting faster than my brain can process what's happening.
"Awesome," He grins.
The song ends and I'm still a blushing mess. Storm and I step apart, and I catch Nova's sly grin. This time I don't spill a panicked response. Mostly because I don't think I can get any words out.
Emma steps off the stage, having finished her song, and then rushes over to us.
"So, how'd it go?" She asks Storm hurriedly.
"Great, she said yes," Storm smiles as he talks to her.
"Wait, you were in on this?" I stutter.
"Yup!" She says victoriously. "Nova had some input as well. When Storm here came to us for advice, we were happy to help!"
"I can't believe-" I start, before I'm interrupted.
"Who cares," Emma shoves me playfully. "You have a date!"