Chapter Five

Warren stood staring at the door wonder what he was doing here. He had been standing in front of the door listening to all the racket going on inside. There was laughter and screaming and most importantly, the sound of something breaking. With a sigh, he looked down and shook his head; he could not believe that he had told Hippy that he would show up to her silly little dinner. Was he crazy? Warren was seriously starting to think he lost some brain power.

Maybe he could slip away and no one would notice him? Maybe if he left now, he could tell Hippy that he was sick or that he had had to work and that was why he didn't show up? Maybe he would see her disappointed face on Monday and know that he hurt her feelings for not showing up…or calling to let her knew ahead of time that he would not show up.

Damn!

This was not good! Here he was thinking about hurting someone's feelings, when before, he could care LESS about how they felt or what they thought of him.

Now here he was, feeling guilty about not calling to let her know that she didn't need to set out an extra placemat BEFORE he even really decided that he was going to blow the party off.

That is it. Warren made up his mind, he was going to go into that house and have a nice time. Or, at least, act like he was. If only for the Hippy's sake.

But no matter what he told himself, he could not make his feet move. They stood rooted to the cement, not wanting to move. That was it, he was going home.

Before he could even move, the door peaked open and the Hippy stuck her head out. His groaned mentally; he was never going to be able to convince her to let him go now. Maybe if he coughed a lot and sniffed at least five times she would catch on and send him away. Then again, knowing her, she would have a sure for anything.

"Warren, you made it!" She opened the door wider and smiled.

He couldn't stop his heart from speeding up at the site of her smile. And he couldn't stop the smirk in answer to her smile.

"Where else would I be?" He asked with a roll of his eyes.

She looked down and crossed her arms as she shifted her feet. "I honestly didn't think you would show up. I was half expecting to see you on Monday and hear about how you were sick or maybe you had to work." She half laughed to herself while she shook her head.

Warren frowned. Was he that transparent? Why did he all of a sudden feel bad about wanting to skip her party?

"I told you I was coming." He tried to make his voice as indifferent as possible.

She looked up and smiled at him, "Yeah, you did."

They starred at each other for a long moment. His heart began to beat faster and faster as she gazed back at him. How was it that he never noticed how beautiful she was before?

Beautiful? When did he start using words like that?

Loud laughter broke their moment and Warren sighed with relief as he was finally able to look away from her. He needed to get a grip before he made a fool out of himself.

Layla smiled as she glanced back into the partly opened door. "Ready to have some fun?"

No! Warren thought to himself. I am not ready. Going into the house would change things. It would change their entire relationship from flirty banter to awkward silences as the other tried to understand what the other wanted. They would be less of acquaintances and more friends. Now he was going to have to become friends with not just the Hippy, but the other nerds too. There goes sitting alone at the lunch table; wave good-bye to his "bad boy" reputation.

Would he ever be able to walk down the halls again without being swarmed by pathetic sidekicks?

No, no he wasn't going to be able to do any of that. His reputation, the one he worked so hard to create, was going to be tarnished because of this party. Okay, that was incorrect. It was going to be tarnished because of the girl standing before him. The one who could smile and light up the room; the one who could bat her eyelashes and get him to do whatever she wants; the girl who had a mean temper and was not afraid to use it.

The girl that he was coming pretty close to falling for.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Layla smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat. She was beautiful, he thought again.

And just like that, Warren knew why he had said yes to coming to the dinner. Warren knew why he put up with her loud friends and their madness. He knew why he became protective of her and began to think of her as his own.

Damn.

I am SOOO sorry that it has been a while for an update. And when you get one, it's not even one thousand words .

Don't hate me, PLEASE!

I thought that this would be a good chapter to show you how Layla and Warrens feelings are changing towards each other.

As always, leave me a review.