(COMPLETED) Together, Under The Stars

Chapter 20: Can I Have This Dance

I hastily comb my fingers through my hair and throw it into a quick ponytail as we wait to go in. Unlike MARIA GOMEZ, I hadn't spent the entire free time trying to make myself look glamorous, which is strange considering the fact that, well, I'm going with CHARLIE CORIN CAMPBELL.

Ria sees that I'm trying to make myself look neater and she hands me a bottle of gloss. "I got it from Jamie. She gave it to me and it's still new. You can have it. Just don't forget the next time you have a date, yeah?" she smirks.

I hold back my eye-roll and take the bottle. "Heh. Thanks. I won't forget next time, because you'll be there drilling me about it."

"Thanks for the great idea! Let me know when you have your next date!" she exclaims happily, and I rolled my eyes for real this time.

"I never said I would tell you. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't tell you, just to keep things safe, ya know."

"Heeeeyyyy! That's not faaaiiirrrrr," Ria whines.

"What's not fair?" I turn around to see Justin. Ria blushes a furious shade of red and mumbles "hi."

"What's not fair?" he repeats.

"Your girlfriend butts into my business too much. That's all you need to know." I do my best to hold back my laugh when Justin turns the same shade as Ria and glares at me. "We haven't made it official," he grumbles. Under his breath, he adds, "Although that would be nice. . ." Too bad Ria doesn't hear it.

I carefully apply the gloss and tuck it into my pocket for safekeeping. Someone taps my shoulder and I turn around.

"Oh. Hey."

"Ready to dance?" Charlie asks. "Try not to step on my feet so much, yeah?"

I sigh. "First of all, I'm pretty sure that the first song isn't going to be some random slow dance song. Second of all, I'm not going to step on your feet. I'm not that clumsy."

"You sure about that?" He puts his elbow on my shoulder and uses it as an armrest.

"Yes. Also, your elbow is very bony."

Pretending to look offended, he pulls away. "How RUDE, Zennzy Secile Sanderson," he fake gasps. "Oh, how evil! A disgrace to humanity!"

I give him the eyeball and he laughs, putting an arm around my shoulder. "Just kidding," he whispers into my ear. "I like it when you're honest. And annoyed."

I let out another long sigh but don't bother to make another snarky comment about his arm (or himself). "Is that so?" I mumble, unsure of what to say.

"Yeah." He slides his hand down my arm and laces his fingers with mine, and my mind goes ASDFGHJKLKJHGFDSA!!!!!!!

Calm down, I tell myself. It's just holding hands. CALM DOWN, ZENNZY SECILE SANDERSON!!

I flash him a small smile to cover up the moment of my mind racing wild and try not to lose my cool as my heart starts racing. ARGH!

Jeez. WHAT THE HECK! HE'S JUST HOLDING MY HAND!! HEART, I COMMAND YOU TO STOP RACING!

Nope, it does not work.

"Zennzy? HELLO? EARTH TO ZENNZY SECILE SANDERSON!" A voice snaps me back into reality, but my heart keeps on racing. GAH!

"Huh?" I blink and look into the blue eyes that are studying me with concern.

"We're supposed to go in, but you were just standing there, your feet rooted to the spot. Also, it seemed like you were having an intense conversation with yourself, so I decided not to interrupt, but if we stand here all day and all night, you're going to miss all the fun (and our dance. You promised me)."