Getting Camilla and Dominic's assistance was simple. "Would you help me show Loid and Yor that they're wrong about each other?" He had asked.

"Sure, what did you…" Dominic began.

Camilla cut him off, "Yes, on one condition: we start plotting tomorrow."

"Done," Frankie said and left them to, he assumed, make out.

But now he was at the end of Ludmila's hallway, hers because her locker was here, watching her apply her chapstick using the mirror in her locker door. She smiled when she saw him in the mirror. "Are you going to stand there and watch me all day? It's a little unnerving."

He approached her slowly. "Ludmila."

"That's a bit formal for us, don't you think?"

"I want to offer you a deal."

Ludmila stuffed her chapstick back in her bag. "I'm listening."

"I will share my territory with you if you help me with a scheme."

"We both know that's a bogus deal. We were both willing to combine our kingdoms on Saturday. Since I'm guaranteed that already, I want something else."

"What?"

She looked down before looking right in his eyes, daring him to deny her. "I want a date with you in public in which we spend several hours alone. And before you say it, Saturday doesn't count. It was a fun day, but it was more a friends' hangout than a date."

"What would you want then?"

"I want you to figure it out and surprise me, mi querido."

Her looking at him with her chin up and that fire in her eyes stole a few of his heartbeats. He stepped closer and reached forward to hold her face. He rubbed his thumb along her bottom lip before he knew what he was doing. "Anything for you, mi reina."

The warning bell rang before they could follow whatever that was to fruition.

"Sally's dinner party guests are each bringing a dish as elegant guests should. If Thomas is bringing five times as many tarts as Archibald is bringing smoked salmons, Gertrude is bringing half of the number of bottles of non-alcoholic sparkling juice as Edith is bringing imported cheeses, and the total number of food items Sally's guests brought was 200, how many cheeses is Edith bringing?" Yor read from the textbook. She tripped over her words a few times because Loid was next to her biting at his bottom lip in a way that was completely unfair especially after what happened on Saturday. She took her pencil to paper. She wrote: 5lips + y/lips = lips. She blushed when she realized what she had done. 'Why does he have to do that here?'

As Yor furiously erased her writing, her front tendrils of hair swept over the paper. Loid watched her and fixated on those front strands. It was so tempting to reach out and run his fingers through those spider silk strands. 'Gods, it's like those strands know how much I've been suffering since Saturday and are trying to push me over the edge.'

Clearly, the pair had not discussed what had happened on the Ferris wheel. And clearly, they really needed to, but that would mean Loid either admitting why he kissed Yor or dancing around it. He was a good dancer, but not that good.

"Can you not do that, please," Yor said with her frustration on her face.

"Do what?" he said.

"The biting. It's distracting."

"Oh." He hadn't realized he'd done it or that she was annoyed. "Could I just…" He reached out to move her hair behind her ears which was a big mistake because now his fingers were wrapped in her hair on either side of her face that he wanted to bring to his again. And he was paralyzed there.

She was also paralyzed until she squeaked out, "Math!"

He released her and leaned away as she also leaned away and looked away. "Right, math."

They tried to go back to the problem, but neither could focus on the problem at hand.

"This is pointless," he said. "I can't focus. I'm going to take a walk." He kicked himself for not inviting her. What was pointless was doing anything without her. He was going to be even more distracted for not having her next to him.

"Okay," she said. 'Should I go with him? We would just be awkward outside. And what if he wanted to take a walk to get away from me. No, I shouldn't invite myself along.' "Have a good walk, Loid."

"Thank you, Yor." He left closing the door to the study room behind him. He would've pounded his head on the door there if Yor hadn't been on the other side.

AN: mi reina = my queen

xo Lolly