Look, he did try his best to behave and play nice. He really did.
It was not his fault that they kept drifting into his field of vision. And not because his eyes were following Blondie all the time or anything.
Even so, he was perfectly fine with his girlfriend in the arms of an overly muscled prince dressed like a peacock in mating. Nope. Not worried. At all.
Though...since when did dancing require the partners to stand so close to each other? And why his hands have to be placed so low, they were almost touching her but-
Ugh. Enough. Behave, remember?
He attempted to distract himself by crossing his arms but then decided that the action made him appear annoyed and irritated. So he uncrossed them and placed them on his sides, unnaturally stiff and stupid looking. At last, he came up with the ingenious plan of keeping his hand occupied by grabbing one of those colourful drinks served in dangerously delicate glassware.There. That settles it.
" Oh, stop it! You're making me blush."
Huh. She seemed to be enjoying herself, laughing and giggling at something Mr Feather Head said. There were a lot of gesturing of the hands and battling of the eyelids. If he didn't know any better, he would think she was flirt-
Wait. Did she just-
Oh, no. This has gone too far. He marched towards her and pulled her aside without much of an excuse me. Manners were never his strong points any way.
" Eugene, what are you doing? The party is still going on-"
" What am I doing? What am I doing!? What about you? Why were you getting so cozy with Fancypants back there?"
" I was just trying to be nice. You know that the relationship of Corona and Sedona is very strained right now. My parents asked me to help smooth things over with the prince so that he would agree to sign the peace treaty. That's all. Nothing is going on between us."
" But-but-but you were tossing your hair and touching him and..."
She gave a sigh." It's just all for show, Eugene. I heard that he have a thing for me so I'm just playing to my advantages."
" Okay, say it's all a performance and everything, why did you use my smolder? That's like the ultimate weapon for flirting! He's totally going to get the wrong message!"
" ...I actually thought it might turn him off a bit."
" What?"
" Well, since the smolder never really worked for me, I thought it might put him off without me having to reject him out right."
"..."
" Eugene?" He shrugged off her hand on his shoulder." Eugene, I'm sorry! What I meant was the smolder is so unique that only a person like you can pull it off without looking...uh..creepy."
" A person like me? Was that a twisted way to say I'm weird?"
" No!" She paused to gather her thoughts." Well, different is the more fitting term."
" Fine then. Go back to Prince Charming and go unleash your irresistible cuteness on him, I don't mind."
" Aww,is the big strong confident Rider jealous? Shall I kiss you to reassure you of my undying affections?"
"...you're a horrible person Blondie."
" Come here you." She grabbed a fistful of his vest,her lips were eager and urgent when they met his. He broke off from the kiss first, panting and breathless.
"We should probably go back to bed-I mean the ballroom-your parents must be worried-"
He didn't like the sly grin on her face. It seemed wrong somehow.
" Oh,they can wait for a couple more minutes. I think you still need a little more..." Her eyes gleamed with a hint of mischievous. "...reassurance."