Chapter 6

Len

Rin and I stood and walked towards Gumi's table, leaving Miku behind as she made up her mind about what she was gonna eat. Rin got to Gumi first.

"Gumi, congratulations!" she gave Gumi a quick hug and eyed the green haired guy beside her. "I'm guessing this is the Corporation's gift?" She extended her hand and smiled. The guy did the same and they shook hands.

"His name is Gumo," Gumi introduced him.

Gumo let go of Rin's hand and shook mine. "Nice meeting you both."

We all had a quick conversation. Introducing ourselves, a little about the party, bananas and carrots, etc. Then Rin asked about Gumi's friend who hadn't talked the whole time. It's not like I didn't notice her or that I didn't remember who she was or her name, but she was so intimidating that I didn't dare to even greet her because somehow, I knew she was going to ignore me and I was going to make a fool of myself.

Teto and Neru joined the conversation. They both congratulated Gumi but as soon as Neru said "happy birthday", she went back to texting on her orange cellphone. I've never seen her hanging out with someone other than Teto so I wonder who in the world she sends so many messages to.

An orchestra band began playing while we were all chatting. Teto started talking about her older brother Ted who was playing the Violin on stage. Have to admit he was very good at it. I also noticed the teacher Kiyoteru playing the cello along side the red haired UTAU.

"Isn't Ted amazing? I have to go get some pictures! Come on Neru!" Teto grabbed Neru's hand and dragged her away, her red drill-like curls bouncing with every step she took.

From out of the blue, Rin grabbed my hand and led me towards the dance floor where some people were dancing waltz.

"Do I really have to?" I whined. But instead of saying yes or nodding, she pulled my hand harder, almost making me trip with her moving feet. I sighed.

We got to the dance floor and Rin pulled me towards her, placing one hand on my shoulder and grabbing my hand with the other. I rolled my eyes and placed my free hand on her lower back.

"Really, I'm not in the mood to dance."

"You think I care?"

"You're impossible." I took the first step to my left and Rin followed. Then to my right, forward, backward and so on. We were soon dancing alongside the other couples to the slow orchestra's music.

I knew some of the people dancing. Kaito was with his little sister Kaiko. It was a very endearing sight since both her feet were on Kaito's and he was the one taking the steps. Meiko was dancing with her cousin Meito and surprisingly, she wasn't drunk. She looked very elegant dancing and she really had a really soft and gentle expression. Not like when she's drunk. It's almost as if she has two personalities because when she's drunk, she just goes wild and crazy and she looks at people as if she wants to rape them. It gives me the creeps.

The song ended and a new one started but Rin didn't want to stop; I was stuck dancing some more. The Haine twins joined the dance floor. They aren't related to us in any way and I wonder, and probably everyone else in this city too, why do they look exactly like us except for their black hair and their choice of clothing? They normally wear dark colored clothes while Rin and I wear more warm colored ones.

"Hey sis," I eyed Rin's black short pants. "Weren't you supposed to buy a dress?"

"Shut it," she rolled her eyes.

Yep, that's my stubborn sister, I thought and glanced at our table. I found Miku staring at us and when she saw that I noticed, she looked away. I didn't give it much thought since I was used to Miku giving me weird looks so my eyes wondered to Gumi's table. Gumo was standing as he offered Gumi his hand. She hesitantly took it and followed him to the dance floor.

It was clear that it was the first time for both of them to dance a waltz. It was a really funny sight. They got the hang of it when Kaito approached them and gave them a few tips and demonstrations. A little after that, Kamui and Luka started dancing too.

Miku didn't stop staring and it was getting very uncomfortable.

"She's probably angry because you haven't asked her to dance yet," Rin contained her laughter. "I've counted at least eight guys that have gathered up the courage to ask her to dance but she's been denying them all."

I frowned, thinking that if this keeps up I'll have no choice but to go and ask Miku to dance. It's not that I didn't want to dance wit her but… Alright, I didn't want to dance with her. She creeps me out. I kept thinking of the possibilities I had and my eyes unconsciously wandered to Gumi's table. I saw that Gumi's friend Eri was alone. Her stare was fixed on the rose vase in the center of the table though it didn't look as if she were contemplating it. Her gaze looked very vacant, almost as if she weren't there. It was a little frightening. And even though she gives me goosebumps whenever I look at her, I couldn't help but think how… beautiful she seemed to be.

I shook my head a little, trying to dismiss those weird thoughts. I looked back to our table and caught Miku staring at us, yet again. I gave out a sigh of annoyance.

"I'll go ask Miku to dance," I dropped my arms to my sides.

"You should, or else she'll kill me," Rin rolled her eyes.

I glanced at Gumi's table for the last time and I saw that Eri was, surprisingly, looking our way. My heart almost came to a stop and I quickly looked back at Rin, ears burning in embarrassment.

"Len? Is that what I think it is?" she mockingly elbowed me on the ribs. "You like that oddball?"

"Wha-!" I couldn't help but feel my cheeks burn at her suspicion. "I don't like her it's just that-"

"She's all alone and you feel bad for her? Then you should ask her to dance."

"No, I barely know her. It would be rude." I turned my back on Rin and started towards our table.

"Don't be an idiot, Len. There's nothing rude about asking a lonely girl for a dance."

I stood beside Miku, who was fiddling with her napkin. She smiled at me. "Len, I noticed you have the Converse I bought you on."

"Oh, yeah, Rin made me put them on." As soon as I said that, her smile turned into a frown.

Oops…

I inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Miku… Want to dance?" I asked. Her smile came back as she nodded.

It was all over in minutes. I was glad it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Miku just followed my lead dancing without a word. Of course, there were those random moments where we found ourselves accidentally looking each other in the eyes and quickly looked away in embarrassment. But aside from that it was okay. We quickly got back to our table and I knew Miku wasn't too happy about it.

"That was awfully fast…" Rin brought her hand to her mouth and held her laughter in. I saw Miku giving her a nasty glare and it made me furious.

"Hey, don't glare at my sister!" I snapped.

Her eyes widened. She bit her lower lip as she quickly took a seat. Rin also had a similar surprised expression. I took my seat beside Rin and watched the people swaying to the music on the dance floor, paying no attention of whatsoever to Miku.

I was aware of Rin's stare on me but I tried not to pay attention to it. Then, as I was mindlessly watching the dancing people, I noticed that something was going on there. I saw Kamui approaching Gumi while she danced with my look alike Ren. Thing was that he left Luka standing alone on the dance floor.

Gumi

"Never thought dancing would be so much fun," Gumo let go of my waist and twirled me.

I let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, I'm starting to get good at it," I said and got back close to him again. I shot a quick glance at our table and saw Eri sitting there doing nothing. "I think we should get back now."

"Alright, sis. But let's finish this dance."

I nodded once and agreed to dance until the music ended, and once it did, the Haine twins approached us.

"Happy birthday Gumi!" Lin blurted out as she hurried towards me and embraced me in an overly dramatic hug.

"Can't breathe!" I managed to say before she finally let go.

"Take it easy, Lin. You almost killed her," Ren chuckled and turned his attention to Gumo, extending his hand. "You must be Gumi's new brother. I'm Haine Ren."

"Gumo Megpoid," Gumo shook hands with him.

Lin then introduced herself and Ren approached me, taking my hand. "Mind if we switch partners?" He asked.

"But we were about to-"

"Sure." Gumo said as he took Lin's hand. They began dancing as soon as the music started.

Ren placed his hand on my lower back and raised my hand up to his shoulder. "Happy birthday," he congratulated me as he took a step to the right and smiled. I followed.

"Thanks." I took a step back, he followed. We swayed to the music along with the people on the dance floor. Some waiters came out of the kitchen taking plates of food to various tables.

"Hey," he said after a while. He looked away, his cheeks revealing a little hint of red.

"Yes?" I asked as he let go of my waist and twirled me. I then came back close to him.

"I wanted to ask you about your friend."

"You mean Eri?" I asked. "The white curly hair one?"

"Yeah… That one."

"Wait," A big mocking smile made its way on to my face. "Do you like her?"

"Wait, don't jump to conclusions, I was just asking."

"Whatever you say Ren," I accidentally stepped on his feet.

"Ouch!" He jumped a few times and I stepped back.

"Sorry! Sorry!" I apologized, waving my hands hysterically in front of my face.

Right then I felt a presence behind me. I heard the words "good evening" but I froze. I was too stunned to even turn myself and face the person behind me. I didn't have to think it twice; I knew exactly who was standing behind me.

The he whispered close to my ear: "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but may I have this dance?" I almost died.

I turned my head slowly, and there he was. Gakupo stood behind me. His face slightly leaned forward to match my height. I felt my cheeks burning in embarrassment.

"Do you mind, Ren?" Gakupo asked.

"Not at all. I'll be seeing you later Gumi." And with that, he left.

Gakupo came and stood in front of me. I couldn't even look at him directly in the eyes. He didn't wait a minute before he placed his hand on my lower back and got into position.

"You don't mind, right?" he asked, I was sure he was looking directly at my face.

"No, I don't." I replied, refusing to even glance at him. He took a few steps and began dancing, I just followed and tried not to trip from the nervousness. I was almost a hundred percent sure he could hear my furious heart beats. It was embarrassing.

Damnit!, I internally cursed. I was making a fool of myself! I heard him chuckle as if he knew my thoughts. I dared a look at him and after that, I couldn't look away. My eyes locked with his beautiful purple ones. It was as if I were being sucked into another world where nothing mattered. Where everything was perfect and only he and I existed. I felt warm all over.

To my luck, while I was in that perfect little world, I didn't saw that spilled glass of water on the floor. I stepped on it, slipped, and fell on my butt. Everyone, and I mean everyone, stared. I heard a few laugh but Gakupo just chuckled and offered me his hand to help me up. I smiled sheepishly, my whole face turning a very dark red, and took his hand. I wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.