This definitely was one of the worst holidays ever. It even trumped the time he'd eaten too many desserts and ended up throwing up all over the Christmas Tree.
Dan glared miserably out the kitchen window where he'd been instructed to sit by Nellie. He was seventeen for crying out loud, and he was being treated like a child. Talk about embarrassing.
I can't believe that I fell off of a ladder. Amy will never let me live this down, not to mention, everyone else that witnessed that.
But Amy wasn't the person he was the most frustrated over. He tried not to think of her face staring at him in horror, in pity but he couldn't help it.
It was ridiculous, having these feelings for someone so, so, so irritating.
'Daniel' this and 'Daniel' that, ordering people around like they were beneath her … he was crazy. Completely insane.
Still, her behavior after his fall had seemed sincere. It would have been so easy to give in, to allow her concern to wash over him and make him feel better. At the same time, her witnessing him falling was pretty humiliating. He sighed.
"Bad luck kiddo," Nellie said as she approached with an ice pack.
"Yeah," he acknowledged.
He was being stupid and he knew it. It was last year when he'd felt the first ping of attraction for Natalie, and at the time he'd thought it was indigestion. Still, the more he came around her the weirder he felt. Then he'd gone through a stage of horror and outrage, then denial, then finally acceptance.
Were those the stages of grief? Because it fits, he thought as Nellie pressed the pack to his arm. She was saying something too but he ignored it, feeling annoyed all over again over her babying him.
Suddenly the door slammed open and his sister's angry voice preceded her into the room.
"You're making everything worse!" she snapped.
Dan wondered who the unlucky person at the other end of Amy's lecture was—then he found out
Ian, his face pinched in like he'd swallowed a lime followed her in. "Amy love I don't know what—"
"Don't. Call. Me. THAT!"
Wow. The Kabra snob must have really done something this time. Dan looked on with interest, mainly to take his thoughts off of (shudder) his feelings.
"I am just pointing out that your anger is rather pointless. All I did was draw your attention to the fact that 'Bumblebee Yellow' does not go with silver."
"No, what you did was make fun of me in front of everyone, then go on to insult my wardrobe! What's wrong with you Ian? It's like you go out of your way to be rude to me."
Dan blinked at his sister. That was the reason she was so angry? He would take it as a compliment if Cobra-breath would have made fun of his color combination. In fact, he would make sure that everything at the party were those two colors.
He cleared his throat, "I happen to think that bumblebees—"
"Amy I have no idea why you are being so sensitive," Ian interrupted.
Talk about rude. Natalie would have screeched at him over that one. Dan flinched as her face popped into his head again.
What are you doing? You're supposed to be not thinking of her right now.
He looked up in time to see his sister clench her jaw. Uh-oh.
But she didn't yell or scream or even lecture. Instead, he thought he spotted a gleam of hurt in her eye. Then it faded away, quickly replaced with a cool mask.
"Fine then. You won't have to worry about my over-reaction because I am no longer speaking to you."
With that she shoved past him and left, leaving an awkward silence behind her.
"Whoa." Nellie finally broke it, raising a brow at Ian. "Think you should go apologize? Though she might throw something at you."
Ian gave her a stiff smile. "Apologize? For what? She is clearly taking something else out on me." His gaze flickered to Dan. "Maybe her idiot of a brother did something."
Dan opened his mouth but the Lucian was already out the door, huffing and puffing as he went.
Nellie snorted but only went back to cooking. The others who had been helping her before were all setting up the tables in the other room so they were left alone, Dan holding his ice pack with his good arm.
"Girls," he finally said. "They're so dramatic."
"You'd better watch your words," a voice from the doorway stated.
He looked up to see Sinead standing there and winced. "Uh, hey."
"As the girlfriend to a rather dramatic male, I think you'd better rethink that stance."
"Okay, okay. Only most of them are that way."
Sinead nodded in satisfaction. "Better." She looked at Nellie, "I think everything is ready for the party. Do you need any help in here?"
"Tell Madison and Ned to get ready then come in here and watch this while I get changed," Nellie instructed as she stirred a pan while simultaneously closing the oven with her foot.
"I'm on it," she replied.
Dan watched with half-interest, not really enthused now over the prospect of a party. Now that he'd humiliated himself in front of the entire group, his optimism was gone. Besides, his plan would never work now. He needed both arms to execute it.
As he was thinking his eyes caught sight of Ted Starling crossing the hall, probably on some sort of mission. Dan's eyes suddenly narrowed. Wasn't Ted a genius too? And he wasn't as uptight as his sister...
Without saying a word to Nellie he leapt up (ignoring the pain in his arm at the move) and scrambled after his cousin.
Maybe things would work out after all.
—
Three hours later Dan was whistling, despite being forced into a tux by his sister, who apparently was still in a horrible mood.
"Just put it on and stop complaining! You're not ten anymore."
"Being seventeen doesn't mean I have to be happy about wearing this thing. It's scratching my neck!"
"Would you like to switch? Why don't you try wearing high heels and a long dress and—"
"Okay, okay," Dan interrupted, wanting to be spared the lecture. "I get it."
"I can help you if you need me too. With your arm and all—"
"You're not helping me get dressed!" Then, mimicking her voice, he said, "I'm not ten anymore!"
She had scowled but finally left him alone. Once the coast was clear he scrambled into his clothes then texted Ted to make sure everything was going as planned. A grin crossed his face as he read the reply that came seconds later.
Now, presently, all he had to do was wait.
—
She hated waiting. Normally, when the Kabra's were in charge of parties, they did it with flair, with gusto, with timing.
But everything was ready and despite the formal dress there wasn't really a protocol for this event. hence the cousins all congregated in the room designated for the party a full thirty minutes before their guests arrived. Natalie wasn't going to join them at first, but then boredom had taken over and since she knew the 'dramatic' entrance would be out of place she had decided to see what they were doing.
The answer: Nothing.
Well, unless you classified arguing over the origin of traditions as something.
"If you're in a relationship, not kissing at midnight means that your relationship won't go well that year. If you're not in a relationship, it predicts a year of bad luck."
"It's true," Ned confirmed Reagan's statement. "Of course I don't believe in things like that, but that is how the New Year's kiss tradition got started."
"I totally believe it," Jonah said. "It explains why I've had such good luck the past five years."
They all turned to look at the Janus, who only shrugged when he saw their stares.
"I thought you've never really dated anyone before." That came from Sinead, who Natalie noticed was throwing a suspicious glance at her boyfriend.
"I haven't. But I'm always at a party and there are always plenty of girls willing to kiss the Wiz at midnight."
Instead of acting angry or jealous, Sinead laughed. "Hopefully you can find one this year."
Jonah shot a sideways look at her. "You're joking right?"
"As Ned just stated, we Ekat's don't believe in things like luck," Sinead said airily. "I'll probably be helping with hostess duties at midnight."
Jonah only raised an eyebrow, but Natalie though she spied a hint of a smirk on his face. She could guess what that meant—Sinead might be playing the hostess, but at midnight a certain someone would be hunting her down.
Something twinged inside of her but she ignored it, turning instead to the huge window at the end of the room and blindly staring out. The deck (which could be accessed by a door right beside the window) was decorated too, with globe string lights hanging from the roof and bamboo torches ready to be lit. The general idea was to have the party inside but have an option to go outside too, where the Holts would take turns managing the bonfire. Of course everyone would regather inside for the New Year's countdown.
Natalie had been apathetic to it all, still upset over Dan's tone from earlier. She hadn't seen him since then though, so it was slightly easier to deal with. But the image of his glare still lingered in her mind. She tried to be only angry but was more hurt than anything. The only thing was, she could not figure out why.
His snapping shouldn't even affect me. I am acting ridiculous.
She felt ridiculous too, because, at this moment, she had no idea what was going on. Daniel Cahill, for as long as she could remember, had been the 'thorn' in her side. Even considering his weird behavior in the past year, they had maintained a healthy level of animosity in their relationship.
Relationship.
Natalie inwardly shuddered at the word. But she didn't how else to classify it. Besides, it wasn't as if it was a romantic relationship.
Imagine, Daniel and I—
She couldn't even finish the thought. The uneasy feeling came back, hitting her stomach and making her feel like she was about to vomit.
"Excuse me please," she muttered.
No one paid her any attention, not even her brother but she was glad in this instance. She stepped through the doorway, turning to go down the hall, and almost ran into the figure that was starting to come in.
"Excuse me," she found herself having to repeat.
"Natalie?"
—
Dan didn't know what else to say. Words had escaped him, especially as Natalie's amber eyes met his. It was weird, being affected this much by her presence, when just hours ago she had been standing in the same room as him.
But as his gaze went from her eyes back down to her figure, he couldn't say that he minded the feeling. Natalie had always been beautiful, with olive skin, amber eyes, and perfect features. But now, dressed in a burgundy dress with her hair in waves, she looked even more beautiful than he ever could remember her looking.
"I said, what?"
He blinked, refocusing on her face. "Huh?"
She was staring at him like he'd lost his marbles.
"Uh, nothing."
With that he rushed past her, calling himself all kinds of stupid for acting like an idiot in front of her, again.
You've got to snap out of this before you completely humiliate yourself.
He was so mad over his reaction. What was up with him? Though he'd reluctantly acknowledged his 'attraction' to himself, she wasn't supposed to know! Not now, not ever. She would take the knowledge and completely and utterly crush him with it. Sure, she'd matured a bit in the past years, but the disdain she shot at him every chance she could told him that he couldn't let it slip. If he did, it would all be over. He would have to move to Antarctica and eat penguins to survive.
Hmm I wonder what they would taste like?
"Dan!" Amy exclaimed as he entered the room. "There you are! How do you feel?"
Now every eye was on him and he grimaced. 'Thanks for reminding me of that.' he thought, but only muttered, "Peachy."
It was a lie, his arm was throbbing like heck but he wasn't going to admit to it. Right now he was going to stuff his face and dance and not think about the pain. Nothing was going to ruin his night.
—
The party was actually going well, Natalie had to admit. It was now an hour into it, and everything had been smooth. The guests had arrived promptly, the food was okay (not fancy but good) and aside from the awful decor and music, everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Then why are you so miserable?
On the surface, it was an easy question to answer. The guests were all of the Starlings friends and some of Dan/Amy's, all from around the area. Even Nellie's boyfriend had made it, currently in the kitchen helping Nellie replenish the snack table. They were nice, but not really her type of crowd.
Geeks and 'normal' people.
Of course, she had been trying to be 'normal' for years. Still, it took time getting used to. Then there was the music … she winced as Jonah called out a 'everybody to the floor!' as he did some sort of hip-hop move in the middle of it. Several people joined in as an upbeat rap song came on.
She needed some air. Spying an open path to the door leading outside, she considered slipping out. Sure, there would be things like bugs awaiting her, but was it any worse than in here? She felt so out of her element—which was strange, considering that she was a Kabra and parties were her thing, but this wasn't exactly the party she was used to.
She suddenly heard a hiss, "Natalie!"
Politely she glanced around, but didn't see anything.
"Over here."
She tilted her head to a hideous plastic plant and squinted. Was that her brother ducked behind it? She released a sigh and made her way over to it, only to have him yank her behind it.
"Ow! What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Shh. I, uh, need your help."
Instantly she took in his sheepish face, worried brow, and smirked. "You need my help? Your little sister's? Isn't that cute?"
He glared at her. "This is important Natalie!"
She doubted that (the last time he had said that, it was something silly) but raised a brow, signaling him to continue.
"It's about what Amy said earlier. You know, when we were talking about…"
Natalie waited, but her brother didn't continue.
"Talking about what?" she prompted after a few seconds. "I don't have all night."
"You know … the 'thing'..."
She eyed him, just now noticing that he had a slight flush to his face. He was also avoiding her eyes. Was he embarrassed? She wracked her brain, trying to think of anything Amy had said, but nothing stood out.
"About the kiss!" he finally blurted, then clamped a hand over his mouth.
A spurt of laughter came from her own mouth. Even Ian's heavy glare didn't stop her.
"This is serious! Didn't you hear what she said?"
"No, I didn't," Natalie admitted, trying to control herself. But another giggle escaped her lips.
Ian crossed his arms. "Never mind. I don't know why I even bothered."
Rolling her eyes, Natalie reached out and tugged her brother's arms down. "Don't be so stuffy. Now, tell me all about Amy and this 'kiss' comment. Does she want to kiss you?"
She couldn't help that last line, enjoying teasing her brother. It wasn't often that he shared his feelings with her though, so she knew she should tone it down. But seeing him blushing was entertaining to say the least.
Surprisingly, her brother didn't yell at her or get angry. Instead, he gulped, then looked away.
"Ian?"
When he answered, his voice was strained. "She didn't say anything about wanting to kiss anyone. Just that she never had a New Year's Kiss before. And the way she said it…"
"You think she wanted to have one?" she asked when he stopped. It was getting annoying, having to prompt him like this. She eyed the door again, longing for its freedom. "Ian just tell me why you dragged me over here and I can help you."
"I-I-never mind!"
With that he pushed past her and escaped the confines of the plant, leaving her to puzzle over the situation. If she had read him correctly ... a grin crossed her face, despite her current mood. Did her brother want to kiss Amy? At midnight? She almost burst into laughter again, but managed to refrain. It was ludicrous, but everyone knew that he had feelings for her—unless they were blind of course. It was obvious. But for him to actually call her over and almost confess that he wanted to kiss Amy Cahill? That was progress.
She glanced at the clock. Two hours until midnight. She supposed she should try to talk to her brother in private again, to convince him that kissing Amy was a good idea. It could possibly backfire and leave Ian humiliated but it was rather frustrating to watch them try to hide how much they liked each other. And if it failed, it would be the perfect opportunity for her and Ian to return home.
Exiting from behind the plant, she maneuvered through the crowd, her steps lighter than before.
—
Dan looked at the clock again. It hadn't moved.
Beside him, Ted muttered, "relax bro."
The Madrigal had no idea how Ted (though only partially blind) could sense his impatience but replied, "Three minutes. Then our plan can go into action."
"And you're sure this won't backfire?"
"Didn't you foolproof the plan?"
The Ekat shook his head. "I told you that it was impossible. I tested the circuits but it could go either way."
"Don't be a pessimist. I saw this on YouTube," Dan dismissed the other boy's concern. It had been difficult to do, but he and Ted had switched all of the light bulbs out while everyone else had been cooking and getting ready earlier. Ted had done the technical part (and also the reaching up part.) It should be a harmless prank. When Amy did the 'fifteen minutes til midnight' call, Ted would flip the main switch. The lights would then be out, leaving only the hanging lights on. In the dark, they should spark and sizzle, making everyone think that they were going out and panic. Then, if all went well, they should start glowing different colors. It would be both funny and cool, and his sister should forgive him.
"I can't believe they are able to make cool things like this," he remarked.
"Well, an Ekat did invent these," Ted reminded him for it seemed like the hundredth time.
He almost snapped at him but caught himself. He needed Ted still, and the Starling ditching the plan at this point would ruin everything. Sure, Dan could flip the switch. But he wanted to be near the dance floor, so when it happened he could bust out some moves.
"One minute," he said. "Time to get into position."
"May the Force be with us," Ted replied.
Dan laughed. Another reason why he didn't want to fight with Ted. He was pretty cool.
A minute later, he was in position, waiting for Amy to finish her speech. As soon as the last word left her mouth and everyone started migrating from outside, Ted flipped the switch.
Dan wanted to cheer as the lights above sparked, especially as he heard a scream that sounded like Natalie's. Then Nellie's voice could be heard saying, "Whoa! What happened to the lights?"
"It's like my last movie!" Jonah said.
"Oh no!"
The last one was from a random guest. Dan snickered and got into a pose, waiting for the lights to now glow so he could get started. Only, nothing happened. After the last spark from above, the room went dark.
—
Amy couldn't believe that this was happening. What was going on with the lights? Had there been a power failure? She attempted to speak up, to tell people to stay calm and not panic, but her voice was drowned out. Then a crash sounded, like someone had just knocked into something. "Everyone, just stay calm," she tried again but to no avail. She groaned and made her way to the light switch, trying to squeeze past people to get to it.
Finally, Hamilton's voice boomed out, "FREEZE!"
It worked. Silence fell like an atomic bomb.
"Thanks Hamilton," she said. "Everyone calm down. I'm going to try to turn the lights on."
"I already attempted that," a voice came from inches in front of her.
"Oh. Thanks Ian." She felt flustered at the realization that he was so close but turned her mind to fixing the problem. "I need to go find our breaker. I think a circuit must have blown."
"I'll help you," Sinead volunteered.
"But it's only fourteen minutes til midnight! You'll miss the countdown" Nellie pointed out. "Why don't we fix it after?"
"Because we have no electricity," Ned countered.
"We have plenty of candles!" Reagan said. "Why don't we light those?"
"Ooh and the bamboo torches!" Someone (Madison?) added.
Within five minutes everything was set up, but by then Amy started to get suspicious. If she remembered correctly, her little brother had almost seemed to be waiting for something as she had been talking. There had been a certain gleam in his eye…
"Dan can I talk to you?" she asked, walking up to him.
His face was barely lit but she saw the guilt flash across it.
"I didn't mean to Amy. I promise. It wasn't supposed to—"
"I can't believe you Dan! Are you ever going to grow up?" she cut him off, anger in her voice. "You almost ruined everything!"
He flinched but shot back, "If you would let me explain—"
"No. Just go away before you ruin anything else. I can't believe you would sabotage the party like this, and just because you're pouting over your accident earlier and need the attention!"
Amy wished she could take the words back as soon as they left her lips, but it was too late. Her brother's face fell. Before she could amend her statement, he had turned and went outside.
"Dan," she tried to say, but he shook his head.
Watching him go, her heart sinking, she wondered if she should go after him. Surprisingly, a voice came from beside her. "I'll go talk to him."
Amy frowned at the Kabra, but the girl didn't even look at her again, breezing out the door. She sighed but figured Natalie's presence couldn't make things worse than they already were.
Pushing down the guilt, she turned to her guests, deciding to talk to Dan later. Right now, she had to be a hostess.
"Seven minutes!"
—
Dan heard someone approach, but didn't turn to see who it was, staring out from his seat on the steps out into the yard. There was only one lone bamboo torch on the patio behind him, but the bonfire was still going strong.
It was nice, being out here in the quiet. After what had happened inside, especially between him and Amy, he didn't really want anyone else to ruin the peace.
"Go back inside, I'll be fine," he said to whoever it was.
"I don't know what you are referring to Daniel. I am here to simply enjoy the night air."
He wasn't sure whether to laugh at the lie or scream in frustration. Of all people, why did she have to be the one standing there? And what exactly was her motive? He knew that willingly standing outside was one of the last things she would be interested in, especially since he was the only other one out here.
He chose to ignore her, though it got harder when he heard her stand directly behind him.
"What is that all over the steps?" she asked next.
Dan glanced over. "I dunno."
She sighed heavily, like she'd expected him to care and he started to get annoyed.
"Why are you out here Natalie?" he cut right to the chase. If she was going to yell at him or tell him how horrible he was for 'ruining' everything, he wanted to get it over with. "You hate being outside. You hate me. If you're going to—"
"I don't hate you."
He snorted. "Okay. Whatever."
He refocused on the bonfire, gazing at it intently now, trying not to think of his sister's cutting words or the pain that was coming back to his arm, so he was startled when Natalie sat down beside him. Or, tried.
"Ugh this stupid dress!" she moaned.
Dan grinned despite himself, looking over to see her struggling. When she noticed she scowled.
"Give me a hand?"
"Aren't you afraid of ruining your dress?"
She shrugged, then looked down disdainfully at the gown. "It's not like I'll ever wear it again."
Rolling his eyes at her snobbery, he stood. "I'll stand instead."
"That's … nice of you Daniel."
"Dan, remember?"
She made a face but didn't say anything. It was awkward for a moment, the only sounds coming from the party inside and the crackling of the fire. Then Natalie broke the silence. "What happened in there?"
"Weren't you standing right there?"
"I heard your fight with Amy," she continued like he hadn't spoken. "But you never explained."
"She didn't let me. Besides, why do you care?"
She flinched, and something like hurt flickered in her eyes before she turned her head away. But she didn't go back inside.
"I don't care. I just want to know the truth."
For some reason he heard himself start to tell her. As he spoke, he realized how immature it all seemed. "I guess Amy was right," he admitted. "I wanted the attention."
"Why?"
"Because all I've gotten is the annoying type of attention. Everyone has been hovering over my arm and it's driving me crazy! I wanted to do something fun, to turn the attention on the party and my dancing."
"Five minutes!" someone hollered from inside.
"I see," Natalie mused.
He glanced over at her, glad she was still looking away. It gave him time to admire her without worrying about her noticing. His heart squeezed in frustration. Part of him wanted to tell her how he felt, to explain these confusing feelings. But he was positive she would throw it back at him.
It's stupid to confess. It's stupid to even feel this way to begin with.
He remembered when it first happened, right after one of their many fights. For some reason, her ignoring him for the next two days had left him unsettled, almost like he missed her. He figured it was him missing teasing her, but then something strange had happened. Natalie had made some comment about his negotiating with one of the branch leaders about a past mission. She'd said 'of course you would be the one with enough guts to actually blackmail them. It was almost Lucian of you, if your technique had been better.'
It had been a compliment veiled by an insult. He could read her almost as well as he could read Amy, and knew she'd been impressed. That little phrase had made him glow, had stuck with him for days following. After that, something in him had craved her admiration. At every chance he got, he would try to work something in their fights to get that from her.
Maybe that's why the fall from the ladder bugged me so much. I hated doing something so stupid in front of her. And now the failed prank … she probably isn't thinking I'm great right now.
"Dan, I think you are blowing this out of proportion."
He snapped back to, almost afraid that he'd spoken out loud. But her eyes were calm now, and directly on him. He gulped.
"It sounds to me like you were just trying to, what's the saying, 'liven it up'. It was harmless. Your sister was upset because she likes everything to go as planned. She will figure it out."
"Are you-are you trying to make me feel better?"
Dan couldn't believe his ears.
The brunette in front of him frowned. "No! I am being truthful. I don't care how you feel."
That was the second time she'd said "I don't care". Dan's intuition went off. Studying her closely, he prodded, "You don't care?"
"Of course I don't! Why would I?"
He wanted to grin again but stopped himself. "Because you are out here to cheer me up? What gives? Is your New Year's Resolution to be nicer or something?"
"I do not make New Year's Resolutions Daniel. It's absurd to do so."
He believed that one.
"Four minutes!"
"Why must they keep yelling every minute?" Natalie muttered, sounding like she was talking to herself.
"Why not?" he asked. "I like making resolutions. It's a tradition."
"Lucians don't need to follow traditions. Besides, some of them are just stupid."
Dan laughed at her tone, shifting closer to her, hoping that she wouldn't notice. She didn't seem to. She didn't move farther back anyways. "Some of them are I guess. Do you know one year I resolved to made the world's largest spitball?"
Just like he thought, she scrunched up her face. "That's disgusting."
"I like to call it an art."
"Did you keep your resolution?"
"Nope."
"See? That's my point. Traditions are meaningless."
Dan mulled this over, an idea suddenly springing in his head. "What about the kiss tradition? Do you think that one is meaningless?"
A funny look crossed her face. He tried to read it but she walked over to the bamboo torch, acting like she was interested in it. "I don't know," she finally answered. "What do you think about it?" she shot at him.
"Three minutes!"
The Madrigal shrugged. "I dunno. Kind of silly if you ask me. I mean, how does a kiss determine the success of a relationship?"
"You know the history behind it?" she asked.
"Yeah. Ted told me, for whatever reason. The Starlings are kind of weird sometimes with knowledge. They think everyone should know everything there is to know."
Natalie didn't respond, and awkwardness once again descended. She cleared her throat and Dan, afraid that she was going to say something about going back inside, blurted out, "What other traditions do you think are weird? I think most wedding ones are."
"You would," Natalie stated, but her tone almost sounded … fond?
"I'm just saying. Amy and Nellie talk about theirs sometimes and it sounds like too much. It's hard to live with girls."
She quirked a brow, and he once again admired her features. Natalie was just so pretty. Beautiful was the term most called her, but Dan admired more than just her surface-level looks. Like right now, her eyes 'squinty' and not what most would call attractive, but he thought it was cute. He liked how sometimes, in front of him, she didn't seem to care. Just like earlier when she'd almost sat down on the steps.
"Living with boys isn't much better. But you didn't mention Sinead."
Rolling his eyes, he pointed out the obvious. "Sinead is more likely to obsess over her crazy inventions and science-y things. She doesn't care about things like weddings."
"Maybe you should go ask her what she thinks about traditions."
"Two minutes!"
"Nah she's probably with Jonah right now. Besides, I kind of like sitting out here with you."
Dang it. He wasn't supposed to say that. He tried to think quickly, to try to cover up what he'd just stated.
"Oh."
He peeked at Natalie, surprised to see a faint smile on her face. When she noticed him looking, she smirked. "Did you just admit that you enjoy my company Daniel?"
"No. I just like being out here, after, you know. You have nothing to do, I mean—"
"I don't mind your company either. When you're not being a pain that is."
His eyes widened.
She was avoiding his gaze but he could see the faint blush on her cheeks, even in the dimly lit night. A smirk crossed his own face.
"Really?"
"Yes but it's not that often, since you're a pain ninety-eight percent of the time."
He shifted even closer to her, this time not caring if she noticed. Now they were at one end of the patio, far away from the door and window, hidden by the pillar in the middle of the deck. He was close enough to notice how she stiffened at his proximity but she didn't say anything. His heartbeat picked up but he tried to ignore it.
"It's hard not to tease you ninety-eight percent of the time," he admitted. "But we're friends, right? I mean, kind of?"
"That phrase is stretching it, don't you think?" She looked up, her face serious.
A breeze flitted through, lifting her hair off her shoulders. Dan admired the tiny bit of skin that it revealed but didn't let on, lifting his gaze to meet Natalie's.
Her amber eyes were steady, but flickered with something he didn't recognize.
"I mean," she went on, "we are forced to interact. It's not like either of us go out of our way to communicate with each other. Then when we do spend time together we're fighting. I wouldn't call that friendship."
Dan tried to keep his voice casual. "But you're out here right now because you knew I was upset. Don't pretend you aren't. Then earlier I helped you find your way to the room. And"—he emphasized, hating using it as an example but wanting her to see his point—"You were pretty worried when I fell of the ladder. You can't lie about that one either."
She blanched. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"One minute!"
She went to move away but he shifted, blocking her in the corner. "Yes you do. Admit it, we're friends."
"If I do will you let me go back inside?"
"Why do you want to go inside?"
"You are so insufferable!"
"I know. It's what makes me so awesome."
She scowled at him but Dan didn't budge. He didn't really know why he was pushing her like this. Maybe it was because he was tired of dealing with all of these conflicting emotions. Maybe being friends with Natalie wouldn't be so horrible after all. Maybe they would even make these feelings go away.
Wait … what if my 'attraction' is really just me wanting to be friends with her?
He'd never considered it before, but it was possible. Still… he eyed her again, noticing how his heartbeat was still racing from being so close to her. She was saying something, but he tuned her out, a thought coming to him. An impulsive thought, and one that definitely wouldn't end well, but it was tempting. What if there was a way to 'test' her feelings towards him (friendship or otherwise) without having to say a word?
As the group inside began counting down from twenty, he stepped closer.
—"this is really getting frustrating. Why does it matter if we are friends are not? I think—"
"Natalie."
"What?!"
"15"
"Look up."
"14"
"Why? I don't trust you!"
"13"
"Just do it, please?"
He needed something to distract her so he could get closer without her noticing but he wasn't about to tell her that.
"12"
"Fine. But if you do anything…"
"11"
"I won't. I promise."
"10"
She glanced suspiciously but obeyed.
"9"
His heart feeling like it was going to explode out of his chest, he shifted closer.
"8"
She noticed, jerking her head up. "What are you doing?"
"7"
He tried the innocent approach. "Nothing."
"6"
"I don't believe you Daniel. What are you about to do?"
"5"
"Nothi—"
"4"
"I swear I will kill you if you dump anything on my dress."
"3"
"Or my hair. Do you know how long it took to get it to look like this?"
"2"
"In fact, I think maybe I should just go back inside. I—"
"1"
Silence.
Finally, he thought, as he pressed his lips against hers. She froze, not returning the kiss but he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling. Her lips were soft and tasted like cinnamon. Vaguely, he wondered if she'd eaten some of the cinnamon scones that Nellie had made.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
His inexperience with kissing didn't stop him, her not reciprocating didn't stop him, even the noise from inside didn't stop him. But unfortunately, the need to breathe did.
Dan drew back, his eyes still closed, waiting for Natalie's fist to hit him somewhere. Only it didn't come.
"I-I-Dan?"
Her voice was small, like he'd knocked the breath out of her too. He peeked his eyes open in time to catch her horror-struck face, right before she pushed past him.
"Wait, Natalie. Let's—"
The door opened and slammed.
—"talk about it," he finished lamely.
Dread crept in his stomach as he suddenly realized what he'd done. He'd kissed Natalie Kabra.
This was bad. This was really bad.
—
*Whew* I barely got this up before the cut-off date! I'm sorry for all of the grammar/spelling errors and weird sentence structures that it probably has, but I was writing very quickly in order to get it in the contest! Lol
What did you think? Please tell me via review!
(Oh, and predictions on what happened inside with Ian and Amy? ;))
P.S. The reason it was rushed is because I kept struggling with characterizations ... and plotting ... and dialog ... all of that being said, PLEASE criticize to your heart's content. I am not 100% percent happy with this and want to know what it is that's throwing it off. I can't put my finger on it but I feel like it could be much better. Thanks in advance!