A/N: I just read Golden a couple weeks ago, and followed it up with Platinum yesterday. (Fans will clearly see which book inspired this scene.) I couldn't resist writing this, so I hope people find it: I certainly put a lot of keywords into my summary. I hope that whoever finds this story enjoys it. That means for those who would enjoy a purely fluffy romance.

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Oh shoot. This time I'd really done it. Project Normal, if it hadn't already been destroyed by my first week at school, was now totally, completely, and utterly demolished. There was no hope for it. And it was my Sight's entire fault. Dumb Sight telling me who my dumb Champion was. Or maybe it was Audra's fault . . .

What happened? Well, it all started at lunch, five minutes ago.

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An aura had caught my attention and I was completely absorbed in watching it. It was a pretty chocolate color, a color I didn't see often, and it was warm and friendly and sweet. The aura was currently pulling at its edges, almost tugging its owner toward a dark olive green aura: a strong, protective aura. Somehow the colors almost made me think of dark chocolate and crushed mint, a great combination.

I looked at the possessors of the two auras. Miss Chocolate was a pretty girl with auburn hair and eyes the same color as her aura. The strong aura belonged to a boy with dark hair and eyes. He was almost the classical tall dark and handsome. Almost. He was also quite short, and wearing glasses. Both of these auras clearly belonged to people who would not fit into the Golden category: Chocolate was pretty enough, but too sweet, and Mint was just not going to be allowed into the Hot category, with as short as he was. Chocolate didn't seem to mind that he was short, as her aura was spiking with interest every time he was in her sight. That pretty much meant all the time: they were sitting at the same table, awkwardly not speaking.

His aura was steadier: he was not paying the girl much attention. It looked like he had a textbook out on the table in front of him: another reason he was definitely a Non. They would be perfect together though, I just knew it. I reached out my hands, not the physical ones that other people could see, and gently gripped their auras and tied them in a knot.

I sat back to admire to my work. His eyes glanced up, startled and he caught the girls eyes with a smile. The redheaded girl blushed but returned the smile. He opened his mouth—and I was yanked back to reality.

"—Ou don't think Tate will ever see me do you? Hey, are you listening? Lissy! Lissy! Earth to Lissy! Lissy! " It was Audra's voice trying to yank me back. She let out a disgusted sigh. "Oiy! Loverboy get your girlfriend's attention!"

I heard Dylan's deep voice, which I firmly denied roused any sort of response from me, request to NOT be called loverboy. He said nothing about me being his girlfriend—clearly that was my job. I was not going to let that fly.

I snapped completely back to reality, letting the two lovebirds alone. "He is not my boyfriend! And you've already told me that Tate is throwing a party. I don't really care."

Audra smirked, stealing Dylan's copyrighted facial expression, but coming across very differently from his whole malnourished prairie dog impression. "I know, you don't care about any boy other than Dylan. Oh and that surfer-two-timer-neighbor from California. What was his name? Pete?"

I gave her a dirty look. "I don't care about Paul anymore. He's just an old friend." I noticed that beside me Dylan resumed eating, an expression other than a smirk briefly crossing his face. Looking back at Audra I noticed that I'd said the wrong thing: she seemed positively overjoyed by my response. Uh-oh. That couldn't be good.

"Exactly. You only care about Dylan now. You know he's completely in love with you, and," she smirked, "you've only got eyes for him."

Dylan had completely stopped eating, which he did a lot of at meals—how he was so gangly was beyond me, with how much food he ate—and fidgeted. Fidgeted! The surly look was defeated for a moment! I didn't pay too much attention to this: I was focused on a denial. I didn't quite have the words for it, though. "I, I have eyes for other people! Dylan has no hold over me."

It was odd but Dylan and I had responded to her baiting at exactly the same time. I turned to him, surprised. He normally didn't speak up about things like—this. I blinked. "What did you say?"

He turned his face back to his food, letting his overlong, annoying, shaggy hair, fall in front of his face. My fingers itched to find a pair of scissors and cut it.

Audra was still grinning. "I think you two are lying. You've got some serious chemistry and lo-ove going on," she taunted.

I fell for it. "We do not! We're friends! Just friends!" Dylan said nothing.

"Then prove it. Kiss, and when you two can act completely normal afterwards, then I'll believe it." My jaw dropped and I stared at Audra.

"Wha—what? Now? Here," I managed to squeak out. She looked surprised for a moment, as if she hadn't thought about when, but then she nodded. Me and my big mouth. A mouth that I opened to deny the situation.

My mouth fell closed as I felt large hands on my cheeks, which gently turned my head. For just a moment I was looking into Dylan's eyes, a look of pure exasperation in them. And I knew, I just knew, that he was tired of being patient.

Then his lips, his mouth, were closed over mine, and time froze. I felt something blossom in my stomach, and my eyes close. I relaxed, and I felt my traitorous body move to touch him, to feel more. My heart was loudly in my own ears, and my stomach felt like butterflies had a hold of it. It was exciting. My traitorous hands reached up and slipped around to touch his back. I noticed, with a small part of my mind, that he was thin. I'd already known that.

I began to kiss him back, liking the feeling. Liking him. And then it all came back to me: we were in the cafeteria, two friends kissing at the lunch table. Making a scene.

I pulled back, my hands unclasping from around his back as if they'd been burned. I stared at his face for a moment, as an awkward lopsided grin split over his face. His eyes glittered with something that made the butterflies in my stomach start again.

I heard clapping, and Dylan hid his face in his hair, and I turned toward the source: Audra. She was grinning like the cat that got the cream. "I told you that you were in love." The people around us were staring, and then slowly went back to their food and conversations.

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See? I told you it was all Audra's fault. Or the Sight's entire fault. Or…I don't know! But I do know that somehow, I was embarrassed, and Project Normal may have failed spectacularly. Some part of me also didn't care.

I kind of liked stepping out of my body and staring at my aura—and Dylan's. Our seamless bond of friendship had become something intricate: the seamless bond still there, but our auras twisted around each other, holding us closer. I wondered if it looked like how my parents' aura was tied—I hadn't looked at theirs.

I also felt some strange joy at seeing his aura, even as he sat there eating, trying to ignore the attention our kiss had caused, and probably trying to restore his smirking expression; as his aura caressed mine.

I still wasn't going to thank Audra or the Sight though.

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Okay, it's mushy and sappy and all those good adjectives. I hope you enjoyed it! I know I did!

~Simplice