thirteen.  no need to thank me !
real life...

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"I'M GLAD WE COULD STILL DO THIS," genevieve told eden as she piled blush on her cheeks for the second time. although eden wasn't going to be attending the dance with them directly, she still promised genevieve that they'd get ready for it together. they've been having such a blast, taking turns doing each others' hair and makeup. eden was actually pretty sad that it was going to have to end soon. couldn't they just ditch the dance all together or something? but she couldn't. shawn was expecting her to be at his house before six so they could go out to get something quick to eat beforehand.

"me too, i'm not that good with makeup, so you saved me with that one." eden laughed at herself, thinking about how pathetic she sounded.

"and i'm not the best with hair, so i guess that makes us even." a smile grew across her face before adding her final touches of her makeup look. she was dabbing glitter onto her eyelids and cheekbones. genevieve noticed eden watching her put it on. "want some?" she asked, holding it out in front of her.

"yes please!" she answered, moving herself so that genevieve could put it on her. she held her chin to get the perfect reflection of light off her skin before placing the glittery highlighter to her face.

when she finished, eden moved her head around in the mirror, looking at all the different ways the glitter shined on her skin.

"ahh! you look so pretty!" genevieve admired the way the glitter played off her skin and how it made her eyes shine a lighter brown.

"are you kidding? you look breathtaking." and she did, with her dark silky green dress in contrast to her naturally red hair, it was the perfect color on her. to go along with her outfit, she had a burgundy kind of makeup look that made her eyes pop, and a half up half down curly hairdo.

she flipped her hair dramatically, saying "i know." genevieve wasn't able to hold in her laughter at how ridiculous she sounded.

they both went into a giggle fit after that, having absolutely so much fun with each other this moment. eden almost just wished she could ditch shawn and go with genevieve last minute. she was such an exciting person to be around one on one. it was always fun hanging out with the whole group and stuff, in the limited time she's known them, but she honestly can't remember the last time she's felt this carefree around someone.

"you're sure you can't convince him to come with us?"

eden wished she could go through at least one hang out without bringing up shawn, but unfortunately he was the topic of the week.

"honestly, even if i could, i don't think him and chris would get along very well." eden didn't think, she knew. chris made it known plenty of times that he didn't like shawn and she still didn't know if he had a solid reason for it or not. she was still convinced his views were tainted by some kind of jealousy.

eden could tell genevieve was trying to think of solutions to the problem, even simply saying, "then ditch him," with a shrug.

the two were now facing each other in their chairs in front of genevieve's vanity. eden sighed in defeat before saying, "i already told him i would go with him, vie."

"i'm just sayin'... you'd have a lot more fun," she singsonged.

genevieve immediately got up from her spot in the chair and grabbed a decent sized tote from underneath her bed. the contents rattled as the glass clicked against itself. eden knew exactly what she was pulling out.

but would she even have any time to paint her nails? pulling out her phone, she checked the time to see that it said "5:40". panic settled in her body because she didn't actually know how far shawn's house was from here yet, and it was almost five o'clock.

"shit!" she yelled, quickly trying to gather her stuff.

genevieve watched as she struggled to manage collecting her things and trying to impossibly rush herself in the process. "what?" was al she asked, because she was insanely confused.

"it's already five-forty."

"i'm still lost," she said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as she sat on her bed waiting for eden to elaborate a bit more.

"i have to be at his house by six." she tried not to mention his name, hoping genevieve could put the pieces together herself. eden didn't want to physically say his name again as it now felt like a forbidden subject even though they were just talking about it.

thankfully she understood after that, though she couldn't hold back when she rolled her eyes in disbelief. "i'm sure he won't mind if you're a couple minutes late?" she was pissed at shawn because earlier, she quickly noticed how bored eden seemed when talking about the dance with him. it was a school dance, she should have as much fun as she possibly could tonight, and genevieve knew that they could easily give that to her. shawn? she wasn't so sure.

eden noticed the snarky tone in her voice, but choosing to ignore it. "i know, i just don't wanna be late, ya know?"

"i understand... well, have fun." eden already had all of her stuff collected, now standing at the door.

"see ya there?" eden only realized how stupid the question sounded after she said it, because where the fuck else would she be?

"see ya!" a small smile grew on genevieve's face with a quick wave as eden turned around and walked out of her room.

✦

RIGHT BEFORE EDEN KNOCKED ON shawn's front door, she suddenly felt all the nerves that have surprisingly been absent all day. and they only got worse when she heard someone messing with the locks on the other side.

when the door opened, shawn stood in his undershirt. it was unbuttoned and it sort of made eden feel like she was intruding. a smile grew on his face when he saw her on the other side of the door. in the short amount of time she's known him, she has never seen him smile like that before, it was like he added an excited film to it. and the smile easily made its way onto eden's expression as well.

he looked down at her dress and slid his arms around her side, a little too close to her breasts. she ignored it as he moved them down a few seconds after. "my god, you look so... hot." she forced a giggle as her face turned red hot.

"thank you. you don't look too bad yourself." she didn't know what to do with her hands, so she awkwardly placed them around his bicep. it felt so weird for her to do, but it also felt right at the same time.

"please, i'm not even ready," he retorted, playfully rolling his eyes.

"what do you have to do? button your shirt?" she was trying to make him laugh, and it shocked her when it actually worked. he even played off her own joke.

"i was actually thinking of leaving it. do you like it?" letting go of his hold on her, he popped his collar of his unbuttoned shirt and ran his hands down the front parts of it, trying to make himself seem cool.

eden wasn't sure if he actually meant that he was going like this or not, sticking with the safest answer, "it's... different."

he thought she was hilarious, letting some laughs in before he got serious, "i'm gonna grab my tie and jacket then we can leave."

"okay." eden replied, having really no clue what to do with her body, being in such a foreign room, she didn't know what to do with herself. does she just stand here? or make her way over to a chair?

before she could actually do anything, or not do anything, shawn was already back, with a tie wrapped messily around his neck and the jacket slung over his shoulder.

"oh, you're actually leaving it." she didnt expect him to leave like this, but she wasn't exactly shocked by it either.

"until we get to the dance, yeah. this is just more comfortable." so he was planing on going out to eat looking like this? she was starting to get major icks, not really enjoying this decision of hers very well. she could have been eating with her other friends.

shawn took eden to the olive garden a little way past their school. the date in itself wasn't the worst thing ever but it also wasn't even close to the best. the waitress had an attitude, her food was partially cold, and neither of them could find anything good to talk about. it was non-stop small talk, and eden just couldn't wait until they got to the dance at this point.

about an hour later, they were finished and on their way to the dance, the car ride was impossibly silent. the only sound was the low mumble of music playing at a horribly low volume through the car speakers.

"can you turn it up?" she asked, though immediately regretted it when she started to hear some of the worst rap she's ever heard.

once they arrived, shawn told her to wait inside before he walked around the car and opened the door for her. the most date-like thing he's done for her all night.

"thank you,"

"of course, gorgeous." the nickname made eden want to run into the dance by herself and never to be seen by him ever again. it was cute, yes, but for some reason she didn't like it coming from him.

he wrapped his arm around her waist, guiding her to the front door of the building. it was freezing and it was starting to feel like all her body parts were about to fall off. she stuck her hands under her arms for some kind of warmth, but nothing was helping. or should she say, no one was helping.

once they got past the ticket holders, all eden wanted to do was find chris and the rest of her friends.

"i have to use the bathroom real quick, i'll be back." she thought this would be the perfect time to try and find them before he tries to introduce her to all his friends.

"okay i'm gonna go find my friends." she said, turning towards the gym before he even had a chance to say anything. she also couldn't stand still anymore, she needed some movement to bring the heat back to her body.

she noticed a small group hanging around the middle off to the side, they were crowding a table but nothing actually sitting at it. and when she saw that three of them looked almost identical, she knew she hit the jackpot.

"guys!" she said trying to get over there as fast as she could in her heels.

"oh my god, be careful, eden." genevieve called as she was the first to notice eden almost jogging over to them. she held out her hands for eden to give her a big hug, also making sure she didn't fall.

"i missed you like crazy."

genevieve couldn't even focus on what she was saying because she was so cold. "girl, you're freezing."

"i know." eden shivered in response, rubbing her arms to create more warmth. it didn't help that they left the doors to the gym open so there was a slight breeze every few seconds that took her back every time she thought she was warming up.

chris finally turned around to see eden standing behind him in the dress he picked out for her. he honestly did an amazing job. "woah, you look..." he couldn't finish his sentence because all he could think was how badly he wanted her to be here with him. not shawn. he wanted to have on his arm, not someone else's. he was still unable to understand how shawn, of all guys, was able to take her.

matt had to quickly nudge him so that he'd actually say something, otherwise who knows how long they'd be there. after all, eden was waiting for his response, but to be honest, she could wait forever if she really had to.

"amazing... i mean beautiful. wait is that weird to say?" he felt his face turn red, and good thing the gym was dim enough so he didn't have to worry about eden seeing it.

"no, it's not." she was quick to assure him, because she really didn't mind that word leaving his mouth, especially if it was for her.

she pulled him in for a hug as well. when he wrapped his arms around her, his hand felt the coldness of her skin. she felt like ice.

he pulled back from shock, wishing he didn't because he really did want to hug her more, but he had to know why she was so cold. "holy shit, you are freezing."

"it's a little cold outside."

"a little? does he not have a jacket?" anger took over his mind as he realized that shawn was supposed to be the one who made sure this kind of thing didn't happen. did he seriously mess up this badly already?

"no, well yes... but he's wearing it." eden tried to defend him, not thinking about anything she was saying, in her mind it all made sense.

her oblivious thoughts made him even more upset, "that doesn't fucking matter." he started taking off his own jacket, handing it to eden for her to put on. "here."

"i don't think—" she took the jacket but hesitated when it came to putting it on.

"it'll be fine."

"but—" she didn't want shawn to get the wrong idea, it was pretty weird if you see your date wearing someone else's jacket.

nick chimed in, beginning to take off his own coat. "if you're that worried i'll take mine off too,"though, eden really didn't want nick's, she kinda liked the idea of having chris' if she was being honest. it smelt just a hint like him mixed with his cologne. "just say i gave it to you." she was close to relieved when she realized he wasn't going to make her trade.

"okay, thank you." she said to both of them with a smile.

"no need to thank me."

"you're welcome." nick said at the same time as chris, they both had the same adorable smile on their faces.

"i— i should probably go find him now." she really didn't want to, already having so much more fun than she had the past hour.

"okay, don't stay away too long." nick told her.

"i won't." eden, against her own ambitions, began her journey to find out where shawn was.

she walked out into the hall where the bathrooms were, finding a crowded table of people. she could only assume it was the snack table. and low and behold, she caught sight of shawn at the very end of it. he was already talking with a group of his friends

his face lit up at the sight of her, she looked excited to introduce her to all his friends, until he noticed the oversized jacket that didn't quite match her outfit. "who the fuck's is that?" he asked her angrily.

"uhh..." eden knew it was wrong to lie, but if she told him it was chris' it wouldn't end so well. so she went with the lie, "nick gave it to me."

"you know i have one too?"

eden was quick to dismiss his claim because: "well, you never gave it to me."

"you never asked." his voice was direct and completely wrong, though eden didn't feel like arguing.

"sorry." though she didn't mean it one bit, she still said it to avoid any troubles.

"it's fine, okay?" shawn pulled her into a side hug, before saying, "by the way, we were planning on leaving kinda early. this dance is ass. the after party is so fucking fun, trust me."

eden hardly wanted to go, since the only time she could see her friends tonight was at the dance, not some after party.

half an hour went by painfully slow and eden was attached to shawn's hip, he wouldn't let her leave until she met all his friends. eventually he let her go, but it was only to let her friends know that they were leaving now. it kind of pissed her off and she really didn't want to go to the party now, but she couldn't bring herself to say no.

it's one night, she kept telling herself. after that, she wouldn't have to feel obliged to hang out with him ever again. she still had to break the news to her friends tho.

she walked up to the group, who were now dancing in a little huddle, making conversation that eden couldn't quite hear yet. she made eye contact with chris and he suddenly stopped listening to whatever nate was saying to him. his eyes lit up and a smile immediately formed on his face, causing eden to do the same.

he pushed through matt and genevieve, "where were you?"

"meeting his friends." she rolled her eyes, having no interest in talking about the last thirty minutes.

"i think we're leaving?" there was not an ounce of enthusiasm in her voice, in fact she felt the complete opposite.

"but there's still half the dance left..." chris claimed, confused on why the hell shawn was trying to make her leave early. it also definitely had to do with the fact that he didn't want her to go either.

eden shrugged her shoulders, just as confused as chris. "something about an after party? apparently this is too boring so it's starting early."

"why do you have to go?"

"shawn wants me there?" it was the only reason she could think of, because she sure as hell didn't want to go. it sounded fucking stupid but she just couldn't say she didn't want to go.

the two stared at each other in silence as chris processed what was happening. he knew how eden felt about shawn and that anything he was about to tell her wouldn't matter. instead he settled with, "just... call me if anything happens. i'm serious."

"of course. you'll be the first to know."

she pulled him in for a hug before giving chris his jacket back, honestly not caring if shawn saw her or not. "see ya later," she said while hugging him.

they finally pulled away and chris was half smiling at her as he said, "see ya." he really didn't want her to go, but with a few more goodbyes from the people around them, chris watched as eden made her way back to where shawn was messing around with his friends. his heart dropped when shawn wrapped his arm around her, it hurt because he knew that it should have been him.

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nat's notes !

3.2k words is actually crazy work... idk how i thought i could fit the rest in one chap 😭