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I approached Ruby by the refreshments table. She was standing like a baby bird. Unsteady in her heels. She looked adorable in her red and black dress. It matched her hair and made her eyes glow brightly.
"I see you're hiding at the punch bowl too," I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yep." She popped the 'p'.
"To the socially awkward," I raised my glass to her. She laughed and clinked glasses with me.
"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss," she murmured over the music.
"Meh, it's fine. Neptune's pretty cool. I get why she went with him," I shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Ruby wondered. I blinked at her for a moment.
"Well, come on, not many people can pull off blue hair." I sipped on my drink.
"No, I mean, Weiss came to the dance alone," Ruby pointed out. I choked actively on punch.
"Uh, what?" I demanded.
Ruby just pointed across the hall. Weiss was by herself by a table and trying to coax a white rose to stand up straight. She was alone. She looked sad.
"Yeah, she said that she had too much to focus on to worry about boys," Ruby shrugged.
I glanced across the hall where Neptune was hanging with Sun, Blake, and Yang. They all shared a laugh for a moment.
"Hold my punch and hand me a fucking shovel," I held out my glass to Ruby.
"Uh what?"
"I'm going in."
I stepped in Neptune's direction with a long stride. Then I saw Pyrrha glumly making her way to the balcony. I changed tracks. I stepped out onto the balcony with Pyrrha.
"Hey, Pyrrha."
She turned to face me.
"Hello, Jaune," she gave me her salutation politely.
"You okay? I haven't seen you tonight," I asked her.
"Arrived late, I'm afraid," she turned towards Vale on the balcony.
"Well, you look drop dead gorgeous."
"Thank you."
"Your, uh, date isn't going to beat me up for saying that, is he?" I wondered.
She laughed musically. "I think you're safe for tonight."
"So, where is the guy?"
She faced me once more. "There is no guy."
I chuckled nervously. "What?"
"Nobody asked me, I'm afraid."
"But that's…" I gestured at her helplessly. "You're Pyrrha Nikos! H-How could nobody ask you?"
"I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."
I stopped dead. I mean I forgot how to breathe for a moment. She started to walk the fuck away with that. "W-Wai-!" She didn't. She turned a corner. Neptune appeared on the balcony.
"Hey, uh, Jaune, right?"
I sighed. "Yeah."
"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing. Pfft." He shrugged.
"Yeah."
"Cute girls, though, huh?"
"Is that all you think about?" I snarled.
"Huh?" He wondered.
"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?" I demanded.
"Whoa! Where's this coming from?"
"How could you just turn her down like that?"
"Wait, h-who?"
"Weiss!" I shouted.
"I, uh... it, uh... it just didn't work out, you know?"
"What? You think that you're too cool, too many other options? Weiss Schnee asked you to the dance. What in the world could possibly keep you from go-"
"I can't dance!" Neptune glanced at the ground shamefully.
"Beg your fucking pardon?"
"I can't dance, man!" He exclaimed.
"But... you're so cool," I leveled.
"Thank you. I try really, really hard."
"You would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"
"That about sums it up, yeah."
"Go fuck yourself," I informed him calmly.
He raised his palms. "Please don't tell anybody. Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I don't wanna get in your way."
"Do you like her?" I asked with fire.
"Yeah, I mean I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool."
"Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go."
"Yeah, but then-"
"Hey! You don't have to look cool all the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it. For fuck's sake man." I watched him consider it.
"Yeah, okay," he breathed.
"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night." I jerked my head back at the party.
"Thanks. You're a really cool guy, Jaune."
"Alright, don't lie to my face."
I went back to my dorm to change and made my way back to the party in a plain white dress.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked when she saw me.
"Eh, a promise is a promise."
She smiled then laughed like an angel. "You didn't have to!"
"Now do you wanna stand there and laugh at me, or do you wanna dance?" I held out my hand to her.
"I would love to dance," she accepted graciously. I swept her into the middle of the room by the small of her back. "Oh!" She cried. I gave her a twirl. "I had no idea you were a dancer."
"My father taught me all kinds of dances. My sisters too."
I spun her out and reeled her in smoothly. I glanced at her. We were centimeters apart. She was so close. She shut her pretty green eyes and laughed. This close it was impossible not to taste her aura. She tasted like juicy green apples and spicy hot peppers. It wasn't a taste I thought I'd be partial too but it went down smooth.
"No heels?" She laughed. "You coward."
"Anyone wanna trade me for my converse!?" I shouted.
Yang laughed and pulled her shoes off. "Right here Jaune," she approached.
I took her heels and put them on. They were way too small and I stumbled about on the dance floor. Yang and Pyrrha laughed hard and they sounded like a symphony.
"Yes!" Ruby cried pointing at me. "That's how it feels!"
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-WG