can't stop, addicted to the shin dig [jay, isaac, simon, sophia, micah, alicia, audie, ly open]

Isabelle was waiting for Simon in the lobby of the dorm building, the waiting place that their group had designated. She'd spent hours perfecting her hair, unaccustomed to having to work with the bleached blonde shade, and even longer trying to do her makeup to compliment the unfamiliar color as well as the perfectly wonderful spectacular dress her mother had sent her. Miraculously, even after all those hours of primping, she was the first one downstairs. Leaning over to adjust her heels, Izz was perched carefully against the arm of a bench in the waiting area, staring at a plant across the way as impeccably dressed Harriman students flocked past her, waving occasionally.

Much to her dismay, the first member of her group to arrive was Micah Katz, his velvet blazer actually kind of... cute. She'd always had mixed feelings about him, but he was going with Jay and she supposed she'd be able to play nice for the night, if only for Jane's sake. Sitting up straight she tossed her hair over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the older boy.

"Katz," she said simply, pursing her perfectly glossed lips judgmentally. The big-nosed boy grinned at her, patting her on the head and sending her hands flying up compulsively to adjust her hair.

"Well hello there, Miss Izziebelles. I haven't seen you in quite some time... How's that brother of yours? I haven't gotten to talk to him much in composition yet, but he's looking healthy." Micah couldn't help but grin. Sure, Izz was hot, hot as hell, but she could be mighty cold. So he'd never really been interested. He had to admit, though; she was pretty damn cute as a blonde.

"He's doing well Micah, thank you for asking." Izz said tersely, icy blonde eyes moving towards the staircase and then darting over to the elevator, praying that someone, anyone, would get down there soon. Frowning at a piece of lint that had found its way onto her hip she flicked it off, smoothing her dress over her stomach and crossing her arms with a sigh.

"Now now, no need to be such a grump, if you want some Katz just say the word baby, it's okay... You don't need to take it out on me." Micah leaned forward with his arm just above Isabelle's head. She scoffed, pushing back on his chest to get him off but smiling just a little. If she had to grant him one thing, it was his sense of humor. But she wouldn't let him win that easily.

"Simon's going to get here any minute and you'd better not be so close to me when he does or you're going to be in big trouble." She smirked up at the boy, raising her eyebrows and wrinkling her nose. True, she didn't really know what she and Simon were, but maybe if she acted like he was her boyfriend it'd happen. He was taking her to homecoming at least; that HAD to be something...

"What is he, your boyfriend? You don't seem like one to dip in the friendship pot, Belle, but I guess sex is sex..." That ruffled Izz's fur nicely, and she perked up, her pleasant mood icing over quickly as she glared up at Micah.

"It's not like that. And no, he's not my boyfriend. Just shut up, Katz, you're not as funny as you think you are..." she barked, her eyes moving back to the staircase as she gnawed the inside of her cheek furiously.

Abi had only just finished getting ready, emerging from the girls dorms a couple of hours later, at least. Butterflies were filling her stomach, as she critiqued herself in her thoughts, really it was too dressy. The green wasn't the right colour, her hair was too messy. Really, Abi had just mucked the whole thing up, and she just looked awful. What was the whole point of these things anyway? She'd taken ages getting her makeup just right, and a ridiculous half hour straightening her hair.

Abi had been shopping a couple of weeks before, of course an underwater theme, green or blue came to mind. She'd looked round the usual shops, searching with Nikki and Jay, just for one perfect dress that was all she needed. Abi had dragged her friends around every shop she could think of, when finally, digging around at a brand new shop just round the corner, tucked away out of sight, Abi had found it. Sitting in the shop window, was the dress, an olive green shining at her. She was so excited to try it on, grabbing it off of the hanger and getting it on as soon she could.

Sliding on the smooth fabric, it was a perfect fit. Now came the time to wear it, slipping it on after straightening and tending to her hair, it was simple, but it was all that Abi wanted to do. Brushing over her makeup, making sure she had the correct colour sparkly eyeshadow, she brushed on the minimal amount. Abi unzipped the dress, and easily slid into it, zipping it back up and admiring her work.

Wonderful!

Now, Abi was waiting for Darnell to appear, hopefully in a tux and not a scuba suit. She was quite excited to see Darnell, he hadn't seen her dress, all she had said was that she was wearing green and she hoped he found a tux. El would help him of course, Abi was a little nervous about how Darnell would react. Hopefully with a smile, Darnell would look amazing in a tux, Abi couldn't wait! Smiling at Izz, she gave a nervous wave, noticing some guy talking to her. "Who's your date?" She asked curiously, walking over to her in her heels, although you could hardly see them her dress just about covering them.

Darnell couldn't have been any more nervous than he was as he stared at his reflection in the boys' bathroom mirror. His tux was driving him crazy- even though El said he looked great in it. He kept trying to pull out the little bow part- but El kept putting it back, and whacking him on the back of the head for giving him more work to do since Darnell couldn't tie it for his life. He turned to the side, inspected- turned to the other side- sighed, turned to face the mirror and slapped his face a few times. All right... cool down... he could do this. Yeah... he could do this...

It didn't take long to get to the dance, with its underwater theme. He wondered how much theme mattered- considering everyone was wearing their dresses and tuxes anyway. It was really just for decoration- the whole theme thing. He'd have looked ridiculous if he'd gone in scuba gear... and yet still the idea was slightly tempting... which was why he'd brought some goggles with him, kept them in his pocket. Maybe he'd take 'em out and strap 'em on later when everyone was moshing to the music. If people even did that in this kind of fancy clothes.

It took even less time for Darnell to find Abi- and once he set his eyes on her, he really felt like he needed to loosen his bow. She was... well... she was freaking gorgeous- for a lack of better words. Darnie patted down his hair, took a deep breath, cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Abi, hey- you look amazing." He smiled. He could do this- keep his cool. He was doing pretty good so far! Well, except that he didn't notice anyone else standing there. But that was no big deal.

Nikki was more than a little nervous, this was homecoming and her last homecoming as a student at Harriman. She was so glad that she had El do her hair and makeup earlier so she wouldn't have to worry about that. All she had to do was to get into her dress and make sure that everything was good. She had finally decided on the blue dress. She made sure the back was laying right. She slipped on her silver heels and headed out.

They had made arrangements to meet downstairs and meet up with Darnie and Abi. She couldn't wait for him to get there. As she walked in she spotted Abi, talking to Izz. "Hi Abi, Izz, you been waiting long? Hi Darnell, is El almost ready?" She really hoped so, he was always concerned about his appearance so he was sometimes late because he needed things just so, or it would drive him nuts all night. She really didn't mind most of the time but tonight was special.

Staring at himself in mirror for about five minutes, El decided that everything looked as good as he could get it.His black tuxedo went along with Nikki's dress as far as he knew, and everything else matched perfectly in El's eyes. He had slicked his hair back, so not a single strand was out of place- and as for shaving his 5 o'clock shadow... El let out a sigh and gently removed the tissue paper he had had on his face to stop all the little nicks on his face from bleeding. Waiting for another minute, El decided that after about an hour- He was finally ready. Just to be safe, El stuck a few things on the inside of his jacket for himself and perhaps a friend who needed some last minute help.

With a big relaxing sigh, El took one last glance in the mirror and then he was out the door. Looking down at his watch, he realized he had about five minutes to get there. "Hah," he murmered to himself- but then suddenly realized he had a girlfriend now. He had to be a little early for Nikki atleast. With thoughts of her in mind, El grinned slightly like an idiot and began to hum. As he neared where they were supposed to meet, in the end El really couldn't help it- He had to sing just a little bit.
"L is for the way you look at me,
O is for the only one I see,
V is very very extraordinary,
E is even more than anyone that you adore."

Spotting Nikki and the other's, El snuck up on Nikki and grabbed a hold of her waist and then her hand- spinning her around as he finished his song,

"And love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and plus don't break
Love was made for me and you."

Belting it out at the end, he then leaned Nikki back in his arms and gave her a small kiss on her neck. "Hello beautiful," he said to her with boyish smile- seeming to be completely oblivious to the others for now.

The minute she heard him singing, she knew that El was there. Then when he grabbed her and spun and dipped her, she knew he was a better dancer than she was, but that was fine. She was also glad that she was stuffed in her dress tightly enough that when he dipped her she didn't fall out of her dress. She smiled up at him "Hi there, handsome." and she meant it. She stood up and made sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. "Hi El." she went up on tiptoe and kissed him leaving a slight red stain on his lips. She giggled and reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue and wiped her lipstick off his lips, and used the tissue to blot her lipstick again. "Sorry about that, I thought I was kissing safe." She suddenly remembered where she was and that there were others present. She moved next to El and felt his arm go around her bare back. She shivered at the thought of the other night in the sculpture studio and how he had touched her. She was ready to have fun tonight, and couldn't wait to be dancing in his arms.

Abi grinned, Darnell was here. He looked so gorgeous in a tuxedo, "Darnell!" She looked him up and down. "I have to say, you look pretty amazing too" Abi wondered why the butterflies in her stomach were there, there was no reason for them to be present, putting the feelings down to it being the last ever Homecoming she would attend, she decided to put the thought to the back of her mind. Abi walked towards Darnell, away from Izz, "Excited? Our last ever Homecoming!" She asked, there wasn't very many people around, the people that were waiting just faded into the background. Abi hadn't seen Darnell ever wearing a bow tie, "Love the tie" She eyed it carefully, it looked like El's handiwork.

That thought in mind, she noticed El with Nikki, behind Darnell. Nikki looked amazing in her deep blue low cut dress, they even looked so sweet together. Her eyes softened, seriously, El was pretty random for Nikki but Abi could see how they suited each other. She felt a bit jealous at the thought, but it was harmless, she wanted to go over and speak to the both of them, but they were talking and looked fairly busy themselves. "Did El help?" Abi asked curiously, Darnell truly did look amazing. So smart and cute, except he had flattened down his hair a bit, which she didn't quite recognise. Abi decided to just muck it up later, it was after all for a good cause, and it would be funny to see the look on his face.

"I'm surprised you didn't turn up in the scuba suit. I was starting to look forward to it!" Abi smiled, realising she was practically leaning on him, having somehow gotten quite close to him. She took a small step back, her grin beaming back at him. "I don't know where all the others are, yet" She looked around quickly, from side to side, wondering if she could spot them anywhere, but it was just the six of them.

Darnell couldn't help but scrunch up his face uncomfortably as Abi complimented him. "No way I look as good as you do. And do I? Are you sure? I feel like I've been drafted into some sort of army of gentlemen..." He ended the grumble with a soft smile. He wasn't trying to ruin the night- so the sour puss act would have to be a short one.

"H, E, double hockey sticks yeah! Our last Homecoming and like... my first. Haha. I never was the school event type in my younger years. You'll have to show me the ropes." This was the total truth. Darnell had no idea what he was doing on those nights he missed the Homecomings, but he was sure he wasn't up to any good, and he was sure he didn't want to know. Some things were better left forgotten.

He felt his face heat up a little as Abi complimented the tie. It was choking him to death- but he figured now he could take it... if Abi liked it. He smiled a little wider at the mention of El. Where was the- oooh- he turned. Speak of the devil... El was already there, with Nikki of course- Darnie wouldn't have it any other way- but a little wave would've been nice. Geez. "Yeah, El helped a lot." Darnie laughed. "You don't think I could've figured this thing out on my own do you?" The whole tuxedo thing was a mystery to him. He wouldn't mind meeting the guy who instituted the tux as formal wear- just long enough to give him a nice sock to the face.

"Well I tried it on but turns out my scuba suit was a size too small," He feigned sadness as he spoke, shaking his head sorrowfully. "Aww, don't worry- I did manage to bring these!" He took out the goggles. Realizing as he did so that his voice had dropped in volume quite a bit- Abi had been so... close to him for a bit there...

Abi was surprised to hear such a compliment from her friend, "Aw!" she took the chance to ruffle his hair up a bit. Her hand running through his hair, making it all cute and normal again. "Yeah? It's pretty easy, just go with all of the fuss everyone makes" She had always thought he had been at the homecomings, although truthfully Abi had always been too busy to properly concentrate on finding her friend. Abi shrugged at Darnells question, wondering how to put what she was about to say, "I think you probably would have figured it out, eventually" Abi smiled up at him, even with her heels on he was still taller than her, it was quite irritating. She ignored his red face, it did look adorable but would be so embarrassing if she mentioned it to him.

She frowned, pouting, "Oh. That's a shame, I'll get you one next year!" Abi grinned, his sad face wasn't exactly getting the desired effect. They would just have to get a couple and go windsurfing, or some other ridiculous once-in-a-lifetime sport.. just for a laugh. Of course, Abi wouldn't want to go through the experience again, it would have a shocking effect on her hair.

"Aww, don't worry- I did manage to bring these!" Abi couldn't help laughing, Darnell brandishing the goggles and showing them to her. She took them from Darnell, staring at them for a second, before popping them on top of her head and striking a pose. "How do I look?"

Darnell was exceedingly grateful when Abi messed his hair up a little. Now El couldn't yell at him, and he felt a whole lot more like himself. Plus, if she was messing up his hair that must mean she liked it that way, the way it normally was, which made him smile a little wider, and relax a little more. "Yeah maybe, but I'd be bored senseless if I had to do this on my own."

He looked down at Abi, she was so adorable looking up at him- she was probably wondering why she had to be shorter than him and younger than him. Oh well, he was just destined to win in arguments of age and height. He'd be wiser and taller, always.

"I'll hold you to that," he laughed when she promised him a scuba suit. It'd be so crazy if they met up later and went surfing or something. Of course they would meet up after they left Felicity- right? This was their last year... but not their last year together. The end of the school year, at risk of sounding like a Disney channel musical, should just be the start of something new, shouldn't it?

Darnie had zoned out for a moment, but he came back quickly to the image of Abi in goggles. "Oh my God. Fabulous." He laughed. "Wait! Is that a photo booth I see? Please please please! I need visible proof of this!" Before she could even say no, he began to pull her toward the booth, careful not to go too fast so as not to make her trip or rip her dress or anything.

"That's true" Abi quickly agreed, she couldn't imagine herself standing out here all alone, without someone with her and that was so obviously Darnell. It would totally suck if she was by herself, "Thanks! I try." Abi smiled, as Darnell laughed surprised when Darnell suddenly grabbed her hand and whisked her off to a photo booth. "What? Nooo!" She shook her head furiously, it was too funny to disagree with. She had to wonder who had decided to put a photo booth there, Abi would like to have a word with them at some point, at least if the pictures came out stupid.

She grabbed the curtain, sliding it past as they both slipped inside. "This is going to be funny!" Abi laughed, sliding in a couple of coins from her clutch bag, "Ready?". The photo booth wasn't really equipped for two people, for obvious reasons, all the same, Abi had entered second, Darnell sitting down on the seat, she sitting next to him. The machine started counting down, Abi made a funny face, holding the goggles on her head, acting like a total nerd. The camera flashed.

She glanced towards Darnell for a second, Abi stood up "I'm squished. Seeing as this was your idea!" She promptly, sat down on him, sitting sideways, looking towards the camera on her left. Abi leaned forward and pressed the button again, giving what she hoped was a nice smile towards the camera. Once again the camera flashed and announced they had one more photo left. "Hmm. Last one?" She shrugged, was she actually brave enough. They'd probably laugh about it later.

Abi pressed the button for the last time, the machine counting down, she turned to smile at the camera. As the machine reached '2', she moved her head to face Darnells cheek. "1" The machine beeped, Abi leaning in towards his cheek about to kiss him, wrapping her arms around him from the side. The camera flashed, Abi softly kissing his cheek trying not to laugh, she realised all of the pictures had been taken with the goggles on her head. Abi moved away, slowly whispering "I never did get you a birthday present did I?" She smiled, releasing him, just so long as he didn't freak. It was a funny picture, right?

The photo booth idea was epic. Darnell put it down in his mind as one of his best ideas ever. As the two entered the small enclosed space, Darnell didn't even have a chance to feel the slightest bit claustrophobic. He was way too distracted by the beautiful Abigail Applebottom seated outrageously close to him. He smiled goofily, at her. Yeah... he was ready... ready to just stare at her...

The first picture clicked and his eyes widened. That fast? Oh geez, he was sure he looked like a total dork. Dork-asaurus Rex in fact. Ugh. He'd just have to do better for the next photo.

"I'm squiished. Seeing as this was your idea!" She sat on his lap. ON HIS LAP! He was, to say the least- shocked. Pleasantly so, of course. He smiled at her.

- click -

Uhoh. He wasn't looking again. DARN IT. Why couldn't he just smile at the camera?! This WAS his idea after all. Okay, okay. The frustration melted away as Darnie prepared himself for the last photo. "Last one...!" he agreed excitedly.

As Abi leaned forward to press the button, Darnell couldn't help but follow her with his eyes in a sort of guiltily wanting way. This was intense. "2" He had already decided that he liked her, but he'd also decided that he couldn't... besides... she couldn't like him, right? "1" The machine beeped, and- OH FREAKING EM GEE. This... this was truly epic. TRULY the best idea ever!

As Abi's lips met with Darnell's cheek his eyes widened and the camera flashed, catching him in mid-shock. He prayed internally that he didn't look half as ridiculous as he was afraid he looked. He turned to face her as she pulled away, extremely tempted to just grab her face and press a passionate kiss to her lips.

"I never did get you a birthday present did I?" His eyebrows were slowly falling back into their normal position. He cleared his throat.

"Uh- N- no. No, you didn't." He smiled, a sort of twitchy smile. Get a HOLD of yourself, man! His insides screamed. He complied. "Well, that was enough fun to make up for that, I think."

Darnell seemed happy. Abi knew that idea was a good thing, she slowly stood up from Darnells lap, turning around and exiting the booth. Abi looked to the side, she grabbed the photos and started laughing. "This is hilarious! You look surprised in all of them!" She held them out for Darnell to see, grinning from ear to ear. "Good. Happy Birthday" Abi handed the pictures to him, the image of his shocked face embedded into her mind.

"I'm sure we'll remember this Homecoming for a while!" She muttered, it would be one of the best nights ever. Probably one of the saddest too, she didn't ever want to leave Felicity. It would mean giving up so many things, the dorm, her room mates, even Darnell. They lived in completely different places, Darnell was in Washington, her in Montana. It would be difficult seeing each other every day, just like she was used to. Abi didn't know how on earth she'd cope without Darnell, hopefully they'd work out something. Anything.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, not realising that the smile had disappeared from her face for a moment, she quickly replaced it and looked around. Everyone was going to be late. Fashionably late. Late none the less. Abi didn't want to think of what was going to happen after she graduated, it was too depressing, going places without her friends and only a phone as communication. It sounded awful.

Leaving the photo booth was kind of hard... such good things had happened there... Darnell felt an emotional attachment to the machine now... it was like... leaving a good friend behind. He knew others would soon use his photo booth- but it wouldn't be the same for them. No... this machine... it had been looking out- he didn't know how- he didn't know why- but this thing... it must have really loved him. He took the photos from Abi with a chuckle.

"Heheh- chyeah... I look... silly..." He said, looking painfully at his expressions in each photo. Oh geez... well... it was the kiss that counted right? "Thanks!" He smiled, stuffing the strip of photos into his inside jacket pocket. Oooh, inside jacket pocket- he felt like 007 or something for a second there. Double-oh-Darnell. 00Darnell. The master of the photo booth. Haha... if awkward looking photos could be called mastery.

"Geez, Abs, you say that like its a funeral or something!" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and shook her gently, encouragingly. "You know we'll always be together, right?" Ooh. Together. He hoped that came off in the way he'd intended it... but wait... how had he intended it? "I mean- y'know- even after graduation... hey- let's play what if for a second. Whaaat if... I raised up some monay and paid for you to come to Washington and showed you everything? Whaaat if... I ditched Washington and moved to Montana? Whaaat if... I got a job and lived like... right down the street from your house?"

"You look.. cute!" Abi laughed, it was true. He looked cute, not silly. Absolutely adorable. Her smile fell, she shrugged, "I don't mean it that way..but" Abi trailed off, Darnell telling her they'd always be together. She gave a small smile, he was being too sweet, what he just said echoed around her head for a minute. Together? Them? Did he mean it the way it came out? Abi was going to ask him what he meant, when he decided they should play a game. The what if game. She rolled her eyes, smiling and shaking her head, her soft curls waving.

"Whaaat if... I raised up some monay and paid for you to come to Washington and showed you everything?"

Abi's eyes widened, "IF! I'd come to Washington. That's not the point. I'd feel totally guilty!" She poked her tongue out at him, he knew what she meant. Why was Darnell being so sweet, when she was being a pessimistic twit on their homecoming?

"Whaaat if... I ditched Washington and moved to Montana?" Abi laughed, reaching out her arms, wrapping them around him in a hug. Her immediate response being, "Then I'd show you everything! Duh"

Whaaat if... I got a job and lived like... right down the street from your house?" Abi frowned, shaking her head, "You would just come live with us. I mean, it'd just save me driving down to you all the time" She still hadn't let go, holding him as tightly as she could, what was wrong with her. She probably shouldn't dwell on the future so much, it had bad consequences. Although, Abi couldn't exactly count this as a bad consequence, it was in fact, very good. She slowly released him, he probably thought she was being weird, with good reason. Abi thought she was being weird!

"How about" Abi paused, thinking, "What if, I came to Washington, and got a job there?" She asked, looking up at Darnell.

Saffron was twirling as she walked through the door to the homecoming dance, her dress floating up a little and gliding softly back down into place. It had taken her a good amount of time to get used to this dress… her mother had sent it for her- and Saffie and her mother usually didn’t quite agree on things. Their tastes were very… different. The first hour of wearing the dress was spent with a grumpy face staring back at her from the mirror, and notions of lemons. As far as she had been concerned, she looked like a lemon.

Now, she stuck her arm through Gerard’s, her hand coming and wrapping around his waist, as he came in behind her. She smiled at everyone she first encountered. Izz, Micah, Nikki, El, everyone.

"So… I don’t look like a lemon… really?" She whispered to Gerard, then realizing he'd never answer her yes, even if she were wearing a freaking lemon suit. "Hey Micah- c’mere. What do you think? Do I look like a lemon?" Here. Now. She was putting this to the test. Micah would tell her the truth- even if it was painful. And he’d probably wrap it up in some sort of a comical manner. Classy.

Gerard had laughed at Saffie when she'd muttered about lemons, but could see where she was coming from. But... the dress didn't appear to be lemon-ish. The tag said yellow, but to Gerard's (inexpert) eye, it appeared to be gold. He was glad that his charity shop trawls paid off, as well. After all, he was a little down on money, and found that a lot of stuff in charity shops were still highly functionable.

The tux itself was average, a plain black, with a black dress shirt. Where it was different was the fact that Gerard had accomplished finding a waistcoat of a lovely gold color that matched Saffie's dress. After all, the matching business wasn't too cliche, right? He pulled Saffie a little closer to him when she wrapped her arm round his waist, the velvet (oh, should he have mentioned that? It took ages for him to get the smell out of the fabric when he got it home) brushing lightly against Saffie's back before the arm settled around her shoulder, and he pressed a kiss to the her temple. The gold bowtie he'd managed to get with the waistcoat was a little tight and Gerard reckoned he might have done it worng, but he'd sort that out in a bit.

"I thought I told you, Saf, you look gorgeous."

Gerard sighed as Saffie called over Micah, twisting one of his fingers lightly into a strand of hair.

Abi always had an answer for everything. It was just another thing to love about the girl. She had things set up in her mind, things Darnell couldn't even touch because apparently, she'd thought enough in five seconds to come to a solution a million times better than the what ifs he'd attempted on his short little whim. He smiled at each of her replies.

The last one really made him smile, and took him off guard a little too. Live with her?

"Yeah, I'm sure your dad would just be ecstatic about that." He laughed. "Besides, if I did come to Montana and I got a place, I'd also get a car and drive you all over the place. You're always helping- what you need to do now is slow down and let someone do something nice for you for once, Abs." He hugged her back without even fully realizing this was what he was doing. This was definitely an odd night. One to remember, no doubt, Abi'd hit that on the head.

"How about... What if, I came to Washington, and got a job there?" Darnell shook his head.

"Uh-uh. Washington is waaay too depressing. Beautiful in some places... but always rainy, cold... Montana suits you far better. Besides, I can make you a promise right now- and I swear- cross my heart, hope to die, boy scouts honor, the whole nine yards," he took a moment to motion an 'x' across his heart and then place the whole hand over it, a small smile on his face, "I will come to Montana- I can't say right away... but I want to go there- really- I always have. But don't come to Washington..." He kept his smile on, the topic could totally turn sad here- but he was intent on keeping the night upbeat. He really did want to leave Washington. There was so much mess there he wanted to get away from. It was so hard for him to clean up his life there. Everything seemed to rise up against him there. He didn't want to bring Abi into all that... ANYWAY Homecoming! They should be DANCING. "Hey... don't people dance at these things? Where is everyone? Way to subject change, Darnie...

Saffron sighed, and though the sigh was meant to come out as a sort of frustrated sigh with Gerard for insisting she looked so nice, it came out more like a happy hyper sigh of excitement. She was just bad at holding that kind of thing in.

"You did tell me that- repeatedly. Which is exactly why I just cannot believe you. Nuh-uh." Still, she smiled, absolutely loving the kiss that came at her temple- and the arm on her back. "Don't sigh- if I really look so nice then Micah will say so, and then you'll be right- and you'll win- and I won't mention lemons again for the rest of the night. Buuut, if I do look like a lemon, then you lose all your chances of getting any tonight- oh, that and your pants will spontaneously combust into flame." As in liar, liar, pants on fire, of course. She stuck her tongue out at him, and smiled.

He looked so nice, so put together. Saffie just didn't know how this had happened. There she was, the girl who literally got dressed in the dark sometimes, dating the guy who would probably love to live in a house mirrors, he looked so good all the time. Whereas fancy hair to her was a simple updo, fancy hair to him probably cost a whole lot of money and time and effort and the like. Opposites did attract, she supposed.

Abi rolled her eyes, truthfully, her dad wasn't around enough to notice, not that Darnell really knew alot about that. His comment managed to get her head out of the clouds, Abi laughed. She didn't always help! Darnell was overexaggerating, and going slow was boring! Full-throttle was much more enjoyable! Abi noticed, Darnell automatically hugged her, it was nice. He gave good hugs. Trying not to smile, he was being totally sweet about graduation and all she could think of was answers to his 'What ifs' and not any 'What ifs' of her own.

"Aw! You'll make me cry!" In truth, Abi was blushing, majorly. Her eyes wide, and she really hoped that the make up she had put on, unfortunately, and surprisingly, for once, not as much as she usually doused herself in. "No Washington?" Abi slowly repeated, frowning as she looked around for anyone else. She saw that Saffron Wickersham and Gerard had joined them. Gerard, the guy that had helped her at the music makers! Abi turned back to Darnell, laughing "Montana suits me? I've never heard someone say that before" She mused, smiling as he swore he'd come to Montana.

Abi grinned, "Seriously. If my make up runs, I'm going to kill you!" She joked, Montana in her opinion really wasn't anything special. It was nice and hot, but Abi didn't know why he didn't want her to go to Washington. He was always worrying about his past, it probably had something to do with that, but Abi decided not to push it. Darnell was still smiling, that was all that mattered. "People dance. I think we're a little early. We still have to wait for a few of the others"Abi shrugged, "Unless you want to go aaaall by yourself!" She sang out, smiling at him.

Cry? Darnell hugged her all that much closer. "No tears! Oh PLEASE no tears. You know I'm emotionally sympathetic... if you cry... I'll end up crying too!" He pretended to sniffle and wiped fake tears from his eyes.

He watched her face as she acknowledged the No Washington ruling out loud. She wasn't fighting it though... hm... interesting. He followed her eyes as they looked toward the newest comers to the dance, Saffron and Gerard. Darnell waved, his attention still on Abi though, of course.

"Well, now you have," he nodded with a smile. "You'll have to catch me first 'cuz I'll be running too!" Oooh, that was witty. In his opinion, anyway.

Darnell took a few steps back at the suggestion of dancing on his own. Something upbeat that he didn't recognize was playing in the background and he took a moment to stand in a thinking position- he could dance- pretty well in fact- but he just did it for fun when he felt like it. He shook his head- no not this song. Time to talk to the DJ.

He walked over, leant against the DJ booth and in no time got a better song going. And by a better song, he meant Sandstorm by Darude. This was a song he could really do something to. As it began, he bobbed his head back and forth. He really couldn't care less what anyone thought- he was rhythmic so it didn't look bad- and besides, he was really just doing it for Abi- with some small hope in his mind that El might jump in- that could be hilarious.

Pulling his arm from around Saffie's shoulders, Gerard crossed his arms and pouted like a child.

"What do you mean, I'm not gonna be getting any? Just because I don't think you look like a lemon... After all, I think you look gorgeous all the time."

He gave a semi-charming smile, before retwining his arm across Saffie's shoulders. Frowning, Gerard bit his lip as he tried to figure out what the last bit meant.

"Wait, what was that about my pants? You're just saying that because you prefer them off rather than on!"

Pressing another kiss to the side of Saffie's head, Gerard grinned at her, while wrapping his free hand round her head in an odd hug. Mainly because he couldn't be bothered to move the hand draped around Saffie's shoulders.

"You know what I mean," Saffie made a face at him. "And see? That's exactly why I can't trust you. You would think I looked nice no matter what- amazing..." She wasn't even close to getting over this. Her other boyfriends weren't nearly as encouraging- they'd been more than willing to let her know when she looked crappy- and then go on and on and on about it.

"And don't you forget it!" Saffie returned Gerard's kiss with a poke in the side as he pulled her head close to him. She knew that this was going to be a great night. She was sooo excited. And then she saw Darnell beginning to dance.

"Hey- look at him go! Haha," she laughed. "Why don't you go too, hm, sweetie?" She poked him again. "Wait... do you even dance?"

Gerard jumped slightly at the poke- right where he was ticklish, but instead of bursting out laughing, he smirked at Saffie, after all, he had something to say too.

"You know, I rather like you not wearing pants as well. Just... just... legs. Hang on, let me pick my jaw back up."

He followed Saffie's eyes to Darnell, and let out a slight chuckle. Of course, yeah, look at him dance in time, with rhythm. Something Gerard lacked when it came to dancing.

"You are kidding me, right? Join him?"

Gerard shook his head, letting out another little chuckle. He didn't dance sober, and he was sober as... a sober thing. Quite woefully, he believed.

"Wait... do you even dance?"

Another shake of the head. Gerard reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small flask of something cold that sloshed- he'd put a shot of vodka in with a lot of water. He was very unlikely to get drunk off that.

"Not unless I get very drunk, in which case, generally, everyone else is too. So I don't end up looking a fool."

Jay hopped ungracefully around her dorm room, wishing now that she hadn't told Abi and Nikki to go on ahead without her. At the time, she had thought she would only be behind them by a minute or so, but it was now looking like she would be lucky to get down there at all. It hadn't been her dress that had given her any trouble. No, that piece of her outfit was perfect. She had gone shopping for what seemed like (and probably was) hours with her roommates, but while both Abi and Nikki had found spectacular floor-length gowns for the event, Jay had no such luck. She usually wasn't so picky about dresses for school stuff. Actually, she was the likeliest one to just pick a dress of the rack and buy it; just to have the shopping over with. For some reason, though, that strategy just wasn't working this time. She'd tried on more dresses than she liked to recount, and had almost immediately found flaws in every single one of them. Maybe it was something about her not wearing the dress just for herself anymore. Now she had to try to figure out what Micah would think of it. Many of them were too long, a frightening lot of them were way too short (though she doubted Micah would have any problems with that), some sparkled so much they blinded her, and some were just dyed unbelievably putrid colors. She knew vaguely that her sudden bout of pickyness had to do with her going to the dance with Micah, but she couldn't figure out why it was affecting her so badly.

It was only Micah, after all. It wasn't like she was going with Gerard or something (though he would be there, she supposed). Micah and her were best friends. It wasn't like he was going to stop talking to her because she picked the 'wrong' dress and embarrassed him at homecoming. Actually, he would probably love her forever if she dressed up like a lobster or Wonder Woman or something. She knew all of this, but she still couldn't shake the silly-sick butterflies that filled her tummy when she was looking through the dresses. She had finally decided to go off on her own to look for a dress, and had found a pretty vintage shop that Belle had suggested. It had taken her only five minutes in that store to find the dress that she would wear to homecoming.

That was all over and done with now, though. Her dress was no longer the problem; it was the shoes. Jay had worn character heels and such for plays and musicals, but she wasn't really a big fan of heels. Not only did her homecoming shoes have heels, they had straps. There were too many straps on the damn things, and Jay couldn't figure out whether to wrap them around her ankles or her feet or just tie them into a ridiculous bow or something. She halted her hopping and settled onto Abi's bed to try to figure them out again. She seemed to be making some headway; it looked like the straps wrapped halfway around her ankle and connected in back. She fiddled with them and finally got them connected. She wasn't sure if it was right, but if the shoes stayed on her feet she wasn't going to fiddle with them any more.

She clasped her faux diamond bracelet around her wrist and put on a ring to match, then strung three-tiered shell earrings into her ears. She stepped into the bathroom and checked herself out in the mirror, thoroughly pleased at how her homecoming outfit had finally come together. Her hair was up and out of her way, swept into a shiny bun by Belle herself earlier today, and the dark raspberry lipstick had ended up looking better than she had expected. She blew herself a kiss, then grabbed her white clutch purse and hightailed it down to where the rest of her group would be waiting. Her fingernails dug into her little purse as she caught sight of Micah (stupid butterflies!) and she tried extra hard not to stumble in her heels as she got closer to him. Her grin was completely natural, though, when she spotted the material of his blazer. "Oooooh, soft!" she said happily, wrapping her arms around him and rubbing her face in the material. Luckily she didn't have on enough makeup to smudge it all up. "Hey Izz." she said, her voice muffled since her face was currently smushed into Micah. She pulled herself away, leaving one arm looped around Micah's waist, and noticed there were a few more people than she had noticed before. "Hey guys!" she looked around at them, wondering if perhaps her dress was too short compared to the gowns around her. Then again, Saffie was wearing a shorter dress and it looked absolutely kicking. She was also exchanging kisses with Gerard. Jay bit her lip and pretended not to notice. "Wow, you all look amazing! I bet you we have the best looking Homecoming group in the history of Harriman!"