"Me?" The boy asked, blushing profusely and sounding shocked. I couldn't fathom why -yes I did just say fathom, it's an awesome word- because if I was right, and I usually was, he had a pretty handsome face hidden under that mask of his, and if so, I bet he had girls crawling at his feet.

"Of course!" I said delighted.  I really hadn't ever met anyone quite like this boy, and it intrigued me and got me wanting to know more. "Who else would I dance with? Did anyone else spill lemonade of my shoes?" I teased him and jokingly searched around the room as if I was looking for someone. It brought me satisfaction when I saw the way his face flushed a deeper red than it was before and a shy smile fell on his lips.

"Uh-o-ok, yeah s-sure," he stuttered, before holding out his hand for me.

"Now, I'll have none of that!" I exclaim, faking a stern voice. "That, whatever that was, was not the proper way to ask a girl to dance. Do it again," I order, then switching back to my normal voice, I add. "Make it a good pickup line too, I want to be dazzled."

"Of c-course," he stammers gain before clearing his throat.
"I don't really know how to dance, but I'd love to try it with you." He says with an attempt at a suave voice. He held his arm held out while looking at the ground for the most part, but finally looking up at me with a heart-stopping grin when he was done speaking, before looking back at the ground with another blush coating his cheeks.

"That was awful wasn't it?" He mumbles before I can answer. "It was. I'm sorry, I don't know how to do this kind of thing. I just-"

I cut him off with a mischievous smile on my face. "I would love to dance with you. Come on, I love this song!" I tell him, before grabbing his arm and pulling him along with me to the dance floor.

The opening cords of a new song was being played by the band as I pulled the boy along. Subconsciously, I noticed that I didn't know his name and I had hadn't mentioned mine, but I brushed the thought away, our names didn't matter right now.

"Okay," I said and turned around to face him, looking at him expectantly. He just stared blankly at me like he didn't know what to do.

"Well?" I questioned. "Put you arms around me! Don't just stand there, silly, I want to dance." He seemed to knock out of whatever trance he was in and hesitantly put his arms around my waist.

"Good," I praise, now we were getting somewhere. "Now pull me closer," he looked shocked after I told him that and didn't move. Rolling my eyes, I put my arms tightly around his neck and pulled him closer to me myself.

"See? Isn't that so much better?" I whisper to him nuzzling my nose against his. He nods at me slowly, looking at our feet before looking up at me again under his long eyelashes with another shy smile resting on his lips. I lead for a for the first two songs and we swayed to the slow music in silence. Soon, the boy began to get the hang of it and lead, twirling me a round and becoming a little more confident. Some song I didn't know was playing and we were laughing and joking as we moved across the dance floor. 

"Okay, okay, so then," I say giggling as I finish telling him a story that happened last summer. "Once she finally got the whipped cream off of her face so she could see and started walking she," I had to stop from how hard I was laughing before I continued. "She fell in the pool! Her face was the absolute funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire existence. But what really made it great, was that she had planned for all of that to happen to me, and everyone got it on video."

"I guess I can assume she never tried to embarrass you again?" He asked as we walked off the dance floor. We had both grown tired from dancing so we decided to take a rest for a minute.

"Nope, she keeps on trying!  We've been, well I guess you would it enemies since we were young and I honestly don't think that it will ever change anytime soon," I tell him laughing evilly. Ivory and I had disliked since elementary school, we absolutely hate each other, so it was always funny when I got the chance to mess with her.

"Okay, enough of me talking. What about you, have you got any funny stories to tell?" I ask slightly bumping my shoulder with his while I intertwined our hands together.

"Nah, I'm pretty boring really, nothing worth telling," he says sheepishly.

"Yeah, I don't think so, but I'll make it easier. We'll play twenty questions- my edition," I say excitedly. It was almost unbearably cliche but the best way to get to know a person.

"I will on one condition," he says, kinda nervously. "Ok sure, what is it?" I ask, hyped about my little game.

"We agree we won't take off our masks tonight."

Shocked by his request, I had to think for a second before I agreed with him and we went on our way.

"So how do we play your addition?" He asked.

"I'm glad you asked!" I say like those guys in commercials, as I dramatically hoped up on to a nearby table in the hallway where we were walking. "Well, first we are gonna go steal some m&m's from the kitchen, and then I'll tell you the rest," I say as I strike a post on top of the table.

"Steal?"

"Ok so my mom is probably in there talking with the chefs so well have to avoid getting seen by her, but I know some of the servers so they should be able to help us out," I continue as if I hadn't heard him, slowly pacing back and forth.

"Ok so the door that all the servers use is right over there, we should be able to slip in pretty easily, but I don't have a keycard to open it so well have to go in after someone else," I tell him. "Oh there's Donnie! He'll help us out. Donnie!" I call as I see the young server turn towards us and try to hoo off the table.

"Careful, careful!" Angel shouts as he catches me before I could hit the ground.

Wow, nice arms. I think as he sets me down.

"Thanks," I say as I grin up at him through my mask.

"Nice fall, shorty," Donnie greets as he finally makes his way to us. "Nice dress."

"I know right? Addie helped me pick it out," I tell him. Addison was my best friend and it was no secret to me that Donnie had a crush on her, so I loved to bring her up whenever I could around him.

"Of course she did.  Whose your friend?" He asks with a sly grin. He was always looking for something to tease me about since teasing him was one of my favorite pastimes.

"Not important," I answer as nonchalantly as I could. I didn't need Donnie to make him feel more awkward, that was my job. "We need to get I the kitchen without my mother seeing us."

"Is your mother on one of her health kicks again?" Donnie asks with a confused expression on his face.

"No but she banned me from the kitchen remember? The incident," I remind the twenty-two year old. It's a long story of why I'm banned from the kitchen.

"B-banned? The incident?" My dancing partner asked shakily. I've really got to think of something to call him.

"Hush, trust me this is going to be fun," I soothe him and rub his shoulder sweetly.

"I suppose I could get you two in, but if you get caught do not tell your mother I helped. She'll skin my hide, before I can defend myself." Donnie agrees.

"Great, let's go!"

a u t h o r ' s n o t e :

not edited

~ holland