I'm back! :D Sorry, I was in my grandma's mini convenience store and serving the customers while she was gone. D: d'aww I'm sorry for the late update.

FrozenLanterns: Yes! IN A SUIT! 3 Just imagining him IN A SUIT makes me squeal. Thanks you! :D

AliceCullen3: Thank you!

Guest: 3 Thanks!

AnOnlyOption: I actually haven't D: o_o But Bust Your Windows is IN the movie? :o That I must see! I got the inspiration of the dance in the last chapter from my school's dance competition last year.

Disclaiming time~! I do NOT own Tangled, ROTG, brands/companies or any of the like mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 10: The Party Part 2

Jack was frowning from confusion. Maybe his conscience was right. Maybe he really does like her. He sighed and went back to their seat at the back and sat down because he didn't feel like watching anyone else. Well, he only went there so he'd see her dance. He placed his hands on the table and stared at his hands. It was calloused and pink-ish. He thought about what if he didn't meet her or if he wasn't a spirit. What if he was human living in the modern time and that he and Rapunzel are schoolmates.

Would we still meet?, he asked himself. His brow furrowed more, Even if we do, will we be this close? Will we be closer?, he asked some more. He was going to growl out loud when suddenly people started to congratulate someone—Rapunzel.

He stood up and look at her. She was smiling and thanking her friends and the people who congratulated her astounding performance. He noticed that she was a bit shake-y too, maybe from the nervousness of dancing in front of so many people. He wondered if she saw him.

Rapunzel went and looked up at him and smiled, still shaking a bit, "How'd I do?"

He blinked once before answering, "Awesome." He smiled back at her.

Her eyes widened and she let out a happy squeal. She hugged him over his shoulders excitedly and thanked him. This time, it was his eyes that widened. His heart pumped so hard and fast that he was trying to keep distance between his chest and her body. He didn't want her to know he was feeling… something he couldn't understand and, probably, he can't tell her His heart pumped so hard and fast that he was trying to keep distance between his chest and her body. He didn't want her to know he was feeling… something he couldn't understand and, probably, he can't tell her yet.

He pulled away, trying to look he did it as normal as he could and hoped she doesn't misunderstand it as rudeness. They looked into each other's eyes before sitting down. A waiter went to them and gave them a glass of water. And like before, Rapunzel emptied it in a few seconds. He smirked. She was tired from all that effort in dancing as best as she could, he thought. She totally deserved that glass of water. Unknown to him, she was smiling at him. When he noticed, his smirk disappeared.

"What?" he asked.

She giggled, "What's with the face?" she asked.

"What face?" he asked back.

She imitated how he smirked and continued smiling at him teasingly, "Well?"

Jack rolled his eyes away to avoid eye contact. He looked at the crowd of people surrounding the group of dancers. He didn't speak. After all, what was he going to say as an excuse? He just felt like it? Rapunzel tugged on his coat, "Do you want to watch them?" she asked then he shook his head. There was silence between them again. Rapunzel played with her hair while looking at the table, "Hey, Jack…" she called then he looked at her. Her cheeks were now a darker shade than pink. He raised a brow at her when she was quiet.

She looked at him with her eyes then back at the table, "What do you think of my… outfit?" she finally asked.

He sighed a bit and smiled at her, "Beautiful."

Her lips curved upward and her fingers fiddled with her hair faster. She wanted to squeal so badly but she couldn't so all her squealing power went to her cheeks instead and made her whole face totally red. She could feel that he was looking at her so she wanted to turn away but he might misunderstand her actions so she just bowed down, trying to hide her face with her hair.

On the other hand, Jack was confused. He doesn't know why she was acting that way. He tried to lean his face forward so he could take a closer look if there was something wrong. He got a bit worried because of the way she reacted to his answer so he placed a hand on her back to make her look at him or talk to him.

Rapunzel turned her head and to both of their surprise, their faces were only four inches away from each other. Both of their eyes widened and their breaths held. They stayed in that position for almost ten seconds until both of them realized they were awkwardly looking at each other and immediately leaned and looked away from each other. Another awkward silence invades them. They wanted to break the silence but what were they going to say? Luckily, someone came to their table to break the silence but, a certain someone didn't like his presence.

"Hey, Punz!" Jonathan smiled at her then glanced at Jack, "Who's he?"

Rapunzel smiled back at him, "This is Jack. He's… a new student."

The boy only nodded at her and waved at Jack, "Welcome to CU!" he said warmly but it made Jack frown a bit.

Jack only nodded at him and gave a one sided smile, trying to stop his feeling of jealousy. I am not jealous, he told himself. He finally looked at the boy and managed to speak to him, "Thanks."

"By the way, I'm Jonathan."

He forced a smile, again, "Rapunzel's dance partner, right?" he said with a bit of sarcasm but neither Jonathan nor Rapunzel were able to sense it. The boy nodded.

Rapunzel looked at Jonathan, "What brings you here? Don't you have a date?"

The blue haired boy laughed, "Yeah, supposedly but she's busy flirting with some of the team members…" he grinned at her, "Not that I care though." He added then sat at the empty chair in front of them, "She actually annoys me. She's so vein!" he laughed again.

Rapunzel slammed the table with her palm in agreement, leaned forward and said, "I know, right!? She's a…" she trailed off because she didn't know what to say. But Jack continued it for her.

"…Bloody self-absorbed suck-up make-up whore with no evidence of self-decency and lacks brain cells to even process disagreement."

The two only stared at him in amazement. He glanced at them, back and forth before blinking, "What?" he asked. A few seconds later, the two laughed hard, so hard that their voices almost stood out from the noise.

"That is so accurate!" Jonathan said in-between laughs.

Rapunzel gave Jack a good-job pat over the shoulder and grinned at him, "How did you know that?"

Jack pointed at a certain red head, "Just look at her." He said. They looked at the red head who was currently flirting with the players of the university's basketball team. She was also hugging one guy's arm tight. "Does that look a least bit decent to you? No. That's a sign she's a school-skank slash attention-whore." He said. The sight of the girl made him shiver and his left brow twitch.

They stared at the girl. Jonathan sighed, "Ruby's…"

Rapunzel frowned, "…unbelievable."

Jack looked at the two of them, "Her name's Ruby?" he asked and they nodded at him.

"That girl," Rapunzel started, "has a thing for good-looking men…"

Jonathan rolled his eyes with sarcasm, "Please, let's not talk about her."

"But how come you accepted her offer as her date?" She asked.

He blinked twice, "I didn't. I came here alone and when she saw me, she and her flies surrounded me." He laughed, "I denied her three times but she acts as if didn't hear anything."

A waiter came to them and gave them glasses of water. Jack took his glass and was about to drink when Jonathan spoke, "Cheers to tolerance!" he laughed. Rapunzel laughed along with him while Jack only smirked, "Cheers!" they said and drank.

Jack looked at his glass. Maybe I thought wrong, he told himself. Maybe Jonathan wasn't after Rapunzel. The guy doesn't even show enough motive that he does. Sure they talk but they're like close cousins or siblings. He smiled at the realization. At least I won't have to worry when she's around him, he thought. They were having fun talking to each other about random things, transitioning their topics smoothly and laughing at some life incidents they had, but of course, Jack could only tell a few and modified a few parts because his previous life was a long time ago. It was Rapunzel's turn to tell a story but Ruby interrupted them by hugging Jonathan. All three of them almost cringed, especially Jonathan.

"Hey, honey, why are you here? I was looking everywhere for you!" she said, obviously faking the worried tone.

Rapunzel sighed and rolled her eyes while Jack scratched the back of his head and, as for Jonathan, he had a poker-face. He inhaled deeply before unwrapping the girl's arms around him. Sure you were, he thought with sarcasm. He twisted his body, looked at Ruby and tried to smile, "I'm just talking here with Rapunzel and Jack."

Ruby looked at the two but when her eyes laid on Jack, her expression changed from I-don't-care to You-look-handsome and then looked back at her 'date', "Oh, so Jack is his name…" she mumbled. She grinned at Jonathan but her eyes immediately looked at Jack, "Does he have a date?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "Obviously…" he mumbled to himself.

Jonathan also rolled his eyes, "He's with Rapunzel. It's not obvious, isn't it?" he said in sarcasm but coated it with a nice smile.

The red head nodded, "Yeah…" she said as she turned her head slowly to Rapunzel, "It's not obvious." She said and smirked at her.

Can't you get any dumber?, Rapunzel's mind growled.

"Can Jack and I have a dance, sweetie?" she asked Jonathan sweetly. The trio's eyes widened. Jack and Rapunzel glanced at each other then looked at Jonathan who had the look of bored-to-death. When he didn't reply, Ruby shook him violently. He didn't want to say 'yes' because he knew that either or both Rapunzel and Jack will get hurt but, his dear life was hanging on the edge of a thread that he almost said yes but he still held on.

"Why don't we dance? Jack and Rapunzel still have some…things to do." He said, pushing the girl away from them.

Ruby was arguing with him but he ignored it. He looked back at the pair and winked as if he was telling them to enjoy the night to themselves. The two disappeared into the crowd and left Jack and Rapunzel staring into the distance. Rapunzel gave a pout, "Aw…" Now that one of them was gone, they felt kind of bad but Jack knew he felt worse than her. He doubted the guy and wanted to hit himself for it. He mentally scolded himself for being paranoid. Meanwhile, Rapunzel noticed his unusual silence and blank staring so she gave him a nudge and smiled at him when he looked at her.

"Want to get dinner?"

He smiled and nodded, "Sure." He stood up, went to her and gave her a hand to stand up.

They went to the buffet table. Jack held the plates while Rapunzel placed the food on it. They had almost everything and the dress didn't hold back Rapunzel. They went back to their table, sat opposite of each other and started to eat. Again, Jack was so fast with eating that it only took him less than fifteen minutes to eat all of it while Rapunzel was only able to accomplish half.

She looked at him and chuckled, "You eat really fast."

She noticed, he thought and looked away from her, "I'm just very hungry."

"Every time we eat?" she asked.

He nodded shyly but he was trying to hide it, "I haven't eaten good food for a long time."

It made her smile brightly at him, "Then I'll make you more delicious food!"

He only nodded again and swallowed. Rapunzel took her time eating the rest of her food, which took ten more minutes and the waiter nearby asked to get their plates so it could be cleaned up. Jack leaned his elbows on the table and placed his chin on his palm and watched the people dancing on the dance floor. The lights were flickering and spotlights of different colors swirled and circled the place. The tent looked like it's a disco club now. He looked at Rapunzel who was smiling at him, "What?" he asked. She shook her head, "Wanna dance?"

He shook his head, "No. I don't know how to dance."

She didn't want to force him so she only nodded and left with her friends who were coming towards their table and pushed her to the edge of the crowd. They started dancing and laughing. He only watched from his seat and was given another glass of water. He took a sip from his glass and continued to watch them. So this is what a party is like, he told himself. Obviously, he never went to one but he saw a few examples of parties in televisions whenever he passed by windows around Jamie's neighborhood. He smiled at the memory back in Burgess.

He and Jamie would build snowmen together and after that, have a snowball fight. Jamie's friends would eventually join and then they would play hide and seek and, sometimes, sneak out to sit on a random house's roof and wait for the stars to come out. He missed playing with his friends and smiled down at the glass. Having friends was such an experience to him—especially her. Jamie was close to him but Rapunzel was close to him in a different sense he couldn't understand. He felt throbbing in his chest but it wasn't painful. It felt like he ate so many bars of chocolate that made his heart so hyper. He tried to shake the feeling but whenever Rapunzel's name appeared in his mind, it throbs again. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear Rapunzel calling him.

"Jack! Are you okay?" she asked, leaning down at him.

He looked up and their eyes met, "Huh? What?"

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she asked again.

He shook his head, "I'm fine. What is it?" he asked, calming his nerves.

Rapunzel moved a chair in-between them and sat on it, "Nothing…" she said and looked back at the dance floor. Couples were now dancing slowly and the lights stopped moving and dimmed a bit to set the mood.

Jack looked at where she was looking at and thought she was looking at someone but he eventually realized that she was looking at the couples who were dancing. Maybe she wants to dance, he thought so he stood up and gulped a bit. He gathered all his courage, inhaled and held out his hand to her. He tried his best to look as casual as he could and hid the nervousness underneath his cool smile, "Let's dance."

She looked up at him, a bit confused but took his hand anyway. They went to the middle of the crowd. Before they dance, Jack was staring down at her, "I don't know how to do this." He admitted. She chuckled, "Just put your right hand on my waist and use the other to hold mine." She said as she placed his hand on her waist and placed her hand on his shoulder and their free hands to each other. They started to sway slowly to the tune of the new music played—It's Gonna Be (Love) by Mandy Moore. The two of them looked at the stage where the dj was supposed to be.

"I know this song." The two of them said in unison and looked at each other. They chuckled.

"It's a nice song." Jack smiled. She nodded in agreement, "I love the message it brings." She said and looked at him through his eyes.

"What message does it bring?"

"Well, for me, it says that hope for the best for the both of you, have courage and everything will be alright. Having a relationship might be hard but if it's you and that person you love so much, it's going to be all right. It's going to be you and that person loving each other, forever changing your lives for all eternity." She said and when she saw the expression he had, she blush, "T-that's just my interpretation. What about you?"

Jack laughed after a short moment of silence, "I don't have an interpretation of the song, honestly."

She tilted her head, "Why is that?"

"I haven't really fallen in love with anyone my entire life, really." He shook his head in disbelief with himself.

Her eyes widened, "Really? You haven't?"

He nodded, "Yeah. I guess I'm dumb and numb in the sense of love and relationships, so yeah." He grinned teasingly, "I guess you're an expert with love, hearing all that interpretation coming from you."

She blushed, "I'm not an expert." She laughed at herself, "I only have one ex-boyfriend."

He was only joking but she answered him and it honestly surprised him.

She's had a boyfriend?

End of Chapter

Okay, so... I don't need to further explain who Eugene is right? Everyone knows him so, all I have to do is explain what happened to them. :3

I'm sorry for the late upload by the way -_- school is being a hassle…

Questions, reviews and the like are welcome!