I watched as the angel's face dropped, his eyes widened, and his whole body stopped in one place. He looked at me, his lips shaking slightly with nervousness. He turned his head away and brushed his nose with his sleeve as he tried to think of a comeback.
"I don't know what you're talking about.."
I let out an exasperated sigh, giving the boy a good look. "Don't try to lie to me. I have eyes, Seth."
He didn't respond, his body slightly moving away from me. I noticed that he was trying to sneak away from me to disappear into the crowd. I quickly caught up with him, latching my hand onto him to pull myself over to him. The blonde still refused to give me his eyes.
"It's nothing like Vienna."
"Then why are you trying so hard to avoid me?" I continued to grip him, the boy trying harder to disappear into the crowd. He didn't reply, ducking under a few of the angels' wings that wanted to crowd us. "Seth!"
His feet quickened, and the music pumping in my ears flashed harder and harder. "I'm just thirsty." I barely heard him reply over the music.
I seethed through my teeth, ducking under someone's wing before dashing over beside the taller one. "Let's talk over here." I dragged his stiff body over to the walls that were plastered in large neon paint that printed figures like wings or halos. To my surprise, Seth allowed me to pull him over with me.
I stopped when we landed next to the small table that held cups filled with what seemed to be water or soda. I grabbed two, keeping a keen eye on Seth while I placed a cup in his hand. The angel stiffly took it, trying hard to avoid me even though we stood close to each other.
I took a sip of the soda, feeling the bubbles build up in my chest. The music continued to pound in our ears, though it was slightly muffled now that we were on the far side of the wall, away from the DJ. The lights still flashed intensely in our eyes; the only thing we could clearly see were the bright colors reflected on our bodies.
When Seth seemed to have calmed himself down, I turned my body to face him. "You okay now?"
"Kinda.." The boy let out a breath, tilting the cup of soda in his hand. "Root beer is kinda calming…"
"Great, now you can answer my question."
Seth closed his eyes, looking slightly pained at my persistence. He took another big gulp of the pop, wiping his sleeve over his lips before he turned to me. "Yeah. I do like them."
"That wasn't so hard, huh?" I crossed my arms, giving the angel an eye that he keenly ignored.
"No. I have a hard time coming to terms with it and actually confessing." His wings shivered from behind him. "That I will never do."
"Why is that?"
Seth turned his gaze over to where the dancing bodies were; feathers littered the ground where his eyes lay. "You've met Rory. There is no way I have the confidence to tell them how I feel and actually get a positive response in return."
"How would you know if you don't ask?"
Seth gave me a look that made me chuckle; his ears and cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I don't know. I.. I don't plan on proving myself right, though."
"Don't be a coward."
"Why?" He shrugged his shoulders, eyes dropping. "I'm great at that.."
"You're not a coward. So this should be the easiest thing for you?" I moved my hand over to his on top of the table. "I bet so much Rory likes you back."
That made his face light up more brightly, and his eyes flashed onto mine. "Why would you think that?"
My wings curled up as a group of cupids walked past, but my eyes stayed on Seth. "Trust me, everyone can see how you are too. Rory flirts so much with you that it's kinda annoying."
"That's flirting?" His eyes went wide, mouth slightly querked at the news.
"What did you think that was?"
Seth flushed, his cup now empty on the table, and his shoulders stuck to his face. "I don't know. That's just how Rory is."
"Yeah but haven't you noticed how much Rory only does that stuff to you?" Seth held me with a glare, his eyes questioning. "It's only you that Rory is so touchy and playful with. Yeah, they do that with everyone, but you are their target the most."
"That's because we're friends. We're close-!"
"Do they do that with Bridget?" I crossed my arms, eyeing him.
His face lit up even more. He tried to come up with an excuse, but he was flattering. "No—but do you see how they flirt with everyone? What makes that different from me when all they do is play fight with me?"
"Well, flirting is kind of their second nature." I turned to look behind him, expecting to see Rory there, but I didn't. "You can already see that."
"Another reason why I have no chance."
"No chance to what? To confess or to try and take this further?"
"Either one.." Seth turned his head, his wings curling up to his face like he was trying to hide himself.
"Do you just plan on suffering in silence on this, then?"
"Yes," he didn't miss a beat on that.
I rolled my eyes, turning to take another gulp from my cup that was now empty. "You can't do that to yourself. It's never gonna end well for you or Rory; you both like each other, so suffering for no reason is stupid."
"Rory doesn't like me…" His eyes dropped along with his voice. I knew there was no point in praying with him like this, but I couldn't help myself in trying to help.
When I looked around, I saw Bridget, Orwell, and the Cupid couple. I waved at them, and my arm, covered in bright green paint, caught their attention. They came over to greet us, and Seth's face fell into a look of surprise. I moved over to Bridget while the couple began chatting with the blonde.
"Have you seen Rory or Bunny?"
The short angel shook her head as she scanned the room. Orwell pulled his hood back on, but I could see the yellow paint on the back of his neck. "I think I saw them over by the booth," he said, rising up onto his toes to point across the crowd of people in the dance room.
I nodded to them, placing my hand on Bridget's shoulder. "Stay with Seth, please?"
She nodded and grabbed onto Orwell before moving over to Seth and the cupids. I noticed her hands were covered in bright yellow paint, and I had to stifle a giggle before heading to where Orwell had spotted the others. I ducked under a few arms, ensuring that my wings were tucked close to my back. There were a lot of cupids in the area, and I definitely didn't want my wings to accidentally touch any of them.
She nodded her head, grabbing onto Orwell before moving over to Seth and the cupids. I did take notice of her hands covered in yellow neon paint. I had to hold back a giggle before taking off to where Orwell spotted the others. I ducked under a few arms, turning around while making sure that my wings were very close to my back. There were a lot of cupids in here, and I had no plan to try and touch any of them with my wings.
I knew I should have gone around the walls instead of straight through the crowd, but it was already too late. I soon came out of the crowd, almost toppling over onto the floor since the groups were growing bigger and bigger while the music grew louder.
It was pounding in my ears; I could feel the blood in my skull pump while trying to walk past the DJ over to the booth just beside it. I caught sight of red air when I passed a few huddling groups on the side.
Rory was hanging out with Bunny, along with another group of people who had their heads covered in neon paint. To my surprise, Rory quickly spotted me and waved me over with a frantic gesture. I suppressed an eye roll before making my way to the group. It was mostly composed of cupids, which seemed to indicate that Rory loved being surrounded by them.
"Hey Vienna, meet Bunny's friends!" I looked around at them. They all waved shy yet enthusiastically in my direction. I nodded to them, sliding my wings down and outstretched, trying to pass them over to Rory.
The hyper angel was sitting on the sofas in the crowded booth. Bunny sat on top of the couch with her legs pressed against the angel's shoulder. I gave the small cupid an eye. She responded with a shrug before sliding over so I could sit beside the angel.
"Rory, we were looking for you guys." I sat beside them, closing my wings over my own body so it didn't touch the surrounding cupids.
Rory shook their head, "tell them I found the best spot! All the cupids like to hang out here; we should all be here with them."
"Oh, brother." I rolled my eyes to the back of my head. I turned to Bunny, giving her a sign to provide us with a bit of space. Bunny nodded in understanding, jumping down to smuggle into her friends. "Rory, we have to talk about something."
"What's up?"
I tried to ignore the carefree expression on their faces. Clearly, they were enjoying the cupids more than I would have liked. Fortunately, Seth didn't follow me here; he tends to get uncomfortable in situations like this. I could tell by the way he looked at them with Bunny.
"Do you like Seth?"
I noticed the small little twitch in their eyebrow at my words. They soon shook it off, looking over at me like I had made a joke. "Where is this coming from, Vienna?"
I looked back at them, unfazed at their antics while they tried to brush the topic off. "Don't brush this off and answer my question."
"You are so cute when you're joking around." Rory did try to brush it off, their shoulders squared up with obvious discomfort at me grilling them.
"I'm not joking," I let out a sigh, leaning into the couch behind me. "This is serious, Rory. I want you to answer just as seriously for once."
"Hey, I am being serious!" they turned to me, their wings bristling up at the commotion. "I don't know if you're serious, though. No one had ever asked me something so personal like that."
"Well, I am asking you to answer."
Rory avoided my eyes, their knees pressed together as they tried to comfort themselves before answering. "Yeah, I like him. So what? It's not like he likes me back.."
I wanted to faceplant so hard. These two were obviously crushing on each other yet were too dumb and shy to admit it. Seriously?
"Why haven't you confessed? Told him you liked him or something?"
"Cause he doesn't like me back." Rory gave a shrug as an answer, unable to hold eye contact with me as their knees bounded up and down. "I don't want to confess and ruin our friendship; I like it too much."
"How are you so sure you will get rejected?"
Rory let out a dry laugh. "Can't you see how he feels about me? He seems annoyed every time I make a move on him. Plus, given my reputation, he probably thinks I just play around and that I only like cupids." The angel glanced around, their eyes narrowed. "He's not entirely wrong. I do have a preference for cupids."
"Rory," I warned.
They held up their hands, their faces slightly turning red. "Yeah, yeah—but Seth is different." They scratched the back of their head before continuing. "I've known him for so long. I may have a lot of friends, but Seth is just different from them. He actually listens to me when I get serious; he doesn't brush it off like my other friends do. All they want to do when they hang out with me is race and have fun. But Seth… he really wants to spend time with me. He doesn't dismiss me either." I laid back onto my wings, watching as the angel fiddled around while speaking.
"So then, why are you so scared to tell him how you feel?"
"I already told you, Vienna." Rory turned to the side, stuffing their face into their feathers that were smeared in red paint. "I don't want to ruin our friendship. I don't want things to become awkward, or else I will lose him." They quickly shook off the angsty tone in their voice, "that I will not accept!"
My lips creased, and all I wanted to do was tell the angel the truth. I held back, knowing Seth wouldn't want that. I should give a bit of encouragement so these two stop beating around the bush, little teenagers.
"Okay, maybe give him tips?"
"What good would that do?"
Rory looked at me like I was dumb, their eyebrows raised, and I fought the nerve to hit them. "So he could maybe get the hint that you like him, and you could see how he takes it? If he takes it well, then maybe telling him wouldn't ruin your friendship?"
"I have been giving him hints!" The angel suddenly stood up from lying down, their faces burning red. "He just thinks I am annoying him every time I do. But I only do that stuff with him. I annoy him more than anyone else; that alone tells me how he feels."
These two are worse than Bridget and Orwell. But if those two are obviously in love and together now, then these two could be, too.
"Try a different approach. Be more obvious or up front that might do the trick."
"What if that just grosses him out? Or does he think something is wrong with me?" The angel's wings trembled, the obvious worries reaching them.
"Trust me, it won't."
Rory stopped shaking to turn an eye on me, their eyebrows raised once again and I felt my stomach clench at the obvious words I told them. They caught onto it as well. "What do you mean by that..?"
"I don't know!" I stood up, causing the angel to flinch back. "Ask him and find out for yourself." I turned around to give the angel who turned up to me, giving a sly smirk. "Or are you a coward?"
I knew I was playing into this angel's insecurity, but it works on working them up. Rory let out a scoff, standing up beside me. "Oh, just wait a little!"
As the redhead gave me a promise, a small figure made its way over to us. It was Bunny; the cupid turned over when noticing that we began to leave the booth. "Leaving already? Let me come with you."
"Of course," Rory pushed past me to drape an arm around the cupid. "I wouldn't want you to leave my side at all, darling~"
"How cute," Bunny giggled, touching the side of the angel's cheek with her gentle hands.
"You're both gross." I pushed past them, moving around the cupids who parted ways for me and the other two so we could leave. I stayed by the entrance, waiting until the pair was outside before closing the curtain.
I pulled Rory's arm off of Bunny, eating a confused sound from the angel. With one warning from my eyes, the angel stopped to take a look around. Seth and the others looked over at them, trying to shout over the loud music to grab our attention. Rory nodded, smoking while they slowly eased into the crowd of dancers. They moved around, dancing with them while making finger guns at Seth, who looked on with a gaped mouth.
The others laughed at Rory's performance without any shame. The redhead danced alongside the group on the floor, encouraging Seth and the others to join in. Rue and Brick quickly made their way over to join the fun, while Orwell and Bridget shyly asked each other to dance. This left Seth standing off to the side, staring at the angel who was playfully inviting him to join in the dancing.
Soon enough, Rory pulled Seth onto the dance floor with them. I stayed near the booth, watching as my friends crowded around to continue dancing to the music. The beat began to thud in my ears, and a growing drowsiness overtook my body and filled my mind. I just wanted to fall asleep; all the drama and the pounding EDM music were giving me a headache.
I didn't feel her, but Bunny stood beside me, a smirk on her face. I turned an eye to her. She was watching our friends on the floor, but her pink pupils were watching Seth and Rory the most. Her eyes looked up to me, giving a knowing smirk that I returned.