"Hey! It's me", Amber Anderson cheerfully greeted that night over the phone.
"Oh hey, what's up?" Lance asked, not particularly interested. Amber didn't seem to detect
his non-attentiveness because her chipper attitude remained.
"Nothing, what about you?"
"Nothing", Lance stated.
"Ok...well I just called to ask about the homecoming dance."
Lance felt his stomach twist into a knot. Because getting Raven to warm up to him had
been more challenging than he had expected, Lance had forgotten to inform Amber about
the bet. A few weeks ago, the original plan had been to take Amber, of course, because
one, she was his girlfriend and two, he had wanted to. Now, as he began to dwell more
and more on this plan, he wasn't so sure he wanted it anymore.
"Lance? Hello? You there?" Amber impatiently asked, her voice slicing through the tense
silence and scattering his thoughts.
Lance cleared his throat.
"Uh..yeah. I'm here. So what were you saying?" Lance asked, stalling for time so he could
think more about the situation and his ultimate decision.
Amber sighed.
"If you had been listening, then maybe you would have heard me", Amber scolded.
"Sorry."
"Whatever. Anyway, we haven't finalized our plans yet. What time are you picking me
up?" Amber questioned.
"Um...I don't know."
"Lance, don't tell me you don't want to go anymore! I spent over one hundred dollars on
my dress, my NON-returnable dress might I add and now, with less than three weeks
away, you tell me you don't want to go!!?" Amber exclaimed, frustrated.
Lance shook his head even though she couldn't see him.
"No, I never said I didn't want to go anymore. I still want to. It's just that I'm
still...undecided about some things", Lance vaguely clarified.
"Undecided about what? I mean, we don't have to go to the after party at the club with the
rest of the gang if you don't want to...I was thinking maybe we could go the beach; by
ourselves", Amber suggested.
"No, I'm not talking about the after party. What I'm still debating over is who I'm taking."
There was a dead silence as Amber replayed what Lance had just said, that seemed to
stretch for an eternity before either one spoke.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Amber quietly asked, her voice shaky.
"I mean...Amber..I don't know if I want to go to the dance with you", Lance explained.
"But Lance, I'm your girlfriend. Why wouldn't you want to go with me?" Amber asked, on
the brink of tears.
Lance's eyes darted to the framed picture of Amber and him before their junior prom,
outside Amber's house. Amber, of course, had copied her "fashion icon" and was wearing
a very similar outfit that Christina Aguilera had worn to the `99 VMA's; a long, black,
gold shimmering skirt with a slit up a few inches just above her thigh on the right side and
a belly baring, thick strapped, black tank top with blindly sparkling gold glitter. Lance was
in a traditional black tux. His arms were wrapped around her tiny waist, her's loosely
around his neck, standing face to face, their foreheads resting upon each other's. They
both were glowing with happiness; smiles glued to their faces.
And now, as Lance looked at the picture, he could only think of one person he wanted to
share that moment and many more with. And slightly to his surprise, it was the person he
least likely would have picked but the one he knew it was all along. At this point, the bet
was the farthest reason for taking her and the option of taking her solely because he
honestly wanted to was the closest.
"Why wouldn't you want to go with me?" Amber quietly repeated. He could hear her
sniffle in the background. He hated to do this but his heart was stronger than his mind.
He sighed.
"Because.....I'm going with someone else."
"Who?" Amber demanded. Lance gave a half hearted smile and a light chuckle.
"You might know her as the Angel of Death."
*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, spill Raven! What's up with you and Pretty Boy?" Alicia demanded the next day, at
lunch.
Raven pretended to become suddenly highly interested in her sneakers.
"What do you mean?" Raven asked, trying to sound genuinely confused. Alicia rolled her
eyes and flashed a huge grin to the rest of the table.
"What do I mean?" she replied, mimicking Raven, "What I mean is, are you guys going
out or what?" Alicia asked. Raven gazed up at Alicia, Kerry and Tia, eagerly staring at
her, grins a mile long on their faces.
<How am I supposed to tell them the truth about Lance and me if even I don't know what
it is?> Raven thought.
Raven snorted and took a sip from her Mountain Dew.
"No, why would you think that?" she questioned. Alicia, Kerry and Tia laughed.
"Oh please, stop dancing around the subject. Don't think we haven't heard about your
sudden...friendship with him; you talking to him...accepting rides from him. If I didn't
know any better, I'd say someone has a crush on him", Alicia teased.
"OOO I've got a crush, on you, I wonder if you feel, the way, I doooo!" Kerry added,
singing Mandy Moore's song, "Crush", horribly off-key. Tia laughed, her eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, I totally agree with Lesh. You've got it almost as bad as Kerry's singing is", she
replied. Raven threw them a dirty glare and threw a handful of chips at her three friends.
"You guys, get real! You're talking about ME here, not one of their airhead, preppy
girlfriends", Raven scoffed.
"Well, love makes sane people do crazy things", Alicia commented, waggling her
eyebrows. Kerry and Tia laughed and Raven responded by rolling her eyes. She wasn't in
love with Lance, she hated him! Well, ok, so maybe she didn't hate him but she certainly
didn't want to elope. Her mind wandered back to the incident in the mall last night. A
small smile formed on her face, remembering the hug she had given him. Suddenly,
without her control, an icy shiver scurried down her spine. A frown instantly replaced her
smile as she tried to shake off the feeling.
<Woah, what's wrong with me? I'm acting like...I have a crush on him!>
Two giggles cut through the air and interrupted Raven's uneasy thoughts. A smirking
Alicia gazed up at the guy Raven while Tia and Kerry tried to surpress their laughter.
"Speaking of crazy people....", Alicia teased, her voice lowered, so that only the people at
the table could hear.
Raven slowly turned around to face the person behind her.
"Hey Raven", he smoothly greeted.
"Oh...Hi Lance", Raven half heatedly replied. She stared directly at Lance, trying to ignore
her friend's obvious reactions. Lance gave her a smile, his eyes sweeping over Tia, Kerry
and Alicia and then back to Raven.
"Listen, I need to ask you...something", Lance replied, hinting that Tia, Kerry and Alicia
should leave. They took the hint but didn't budge. Raven felt her stomach drop.
<Oh no, this can't be what I think it's about...>
No one spoke.
"So, what did you need to ask me?" Raven nervously questioned, filling in the silence.
Lance shifted his weight from foot to foot and shoved his hands in the front of his jeans
pockets. She laughed inwardly; she had never seen him so nervous around her before.
"Uh..well, I'd rather ask you...alone", Lance replied.
No one moved. Raven faced her friends and gave them each the evil eye and cleared her
throat. Alicia laughed.
"Alright, all right, don't pop a heart valve. We'll go", Alicia answered. They all stood up
and Raven noticed they started walking away as fast as a turtle.
"We'll see you later Mrs. Bass!" Kerry called over her shoulder in a sing-song voice.
Raven's cheeks
heated up and exploded into the color of a ripe strawberry. Her three friends finally sat
towards the back of the cafeteria with a group of their other friends, but who weren't as
close. Raven waited for her bright red cheeks to fade a little before facing Lance again.
She gave him a nervous laugh.
"Those friends of yours?" Lance asked, his famous smile that could charm the pants off
anyone, or in this case, any girl, escaping his lips. Raven let out another nervous giggle
and tried to give him a decent smile but with those irresistible green eyes glued to her
added in with his trademark smile, she felt like she had eaten a huge meal and then went
on the Tower of Terror thirty times in a row.
"Not at the moment", she replied, referring to Kerry's Mrs. Bass remark. Lance chuckled
then his face transformed into total seriousness.
"I was wondering...if....well, um..I was wondering if you'd like to go to the homecoming
dance with me?"
The world suddenly stopped rotating and the roar of the cafeteria had vanished, like
someone had pressed the MUTE button on a TV remote. Raven's eyes widened and pure
shock was written all over her face.
<OH.........MY........GOD! Lance Bass just asked me, ME- Raven Kenzington, the girl
who couldn't be more opposite than him to the fucking homecoming dance! What in the
world is he thinking? Why in the hell would he even ask me anyway? Doesn't he have a
girlfriend? But then if has a girlfriend then he wouldn't have asked me...HOLY SHIT, did
he break up with his girlfriend, for ME? What am I supposed to do? What am I going to
say? I can't say no, that'd be rude...but he's been rude to me for the past four years...but if
I say yes, then he'll think I like him and I most definitely do NOT like his preppy ass...or
do I?>
It was as if she was paralyzed. She couldn't move or speak. She stood there, staring at
Lance, panic settling in and taking full of control of her actions.
"Um, ok, well you don't have to go with me if you don't want to", Lance mumbled,
looking like he'd been slapped in the face. Raven shook her head, trying to force out a
coherent sentence.
"No! I mean, yes. I mean no it's not that I don't want to go with you."
"Then what is it?" Lance asked puzzled.
"I mean-." She sighed and shrugged.
"I don't know what I mean. No, what I mean is, I don't know. Could you give me some
time to think this over?" Raven asked, hoping he wouldn't get mad. He nodded. She
looked for a flash of anger in his eyes but there was none; only relief that she hadn't given
him the final answer of no.
"Yeah."
She forced out a small smile.
"Ok. Thanks. I'll try to let you know my answer as soon as possible but until then, I don't
know", Raven replied.
"Ok. I'll see you in history, then", Lance replied. Raven nodded.
"Ok. See you later." She watched him as he slowly made his way down the aisle and back
to his table, her stomach twisting itself in a knot, secretly knowing that her final answer
would be the one Lance was praying he wouldn't have to hear.
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