dance, dance → jucy
TAGGING → Jonas Alvarez & Lulu Sawyer
TIMELINE → The day of the dance
SETTING → The high school
SUMMARY → Lulu’s date with Brett goes up in flames and she ends up spending the rest of the night with Jonas instead.
It was the night of the big dance, and Jonas was just as unenthused about it as he'd been since he'd found out Lulu was going with Brett. At first, he hadn't known why it bothered him so much; he'd always known he enjoyed Lulu's company, but she was his little sister's best friend, and he wouldn't have been freaking out like this if Violet was the one dating the douche instead. But as time had worn on, it had all come into perspective, and he'd almost skipped out on the thing completely to avoid having to see them together. It was only at the urging of the guys in computer club that he'd showed up at all, and as he'd walked up the steps to the school, he'd had a bad feeling about the news vans that seemed to be accumulating around the school. What were they doing here? The only person of interest he could think of (aside from his friend that cloned things, but he'd insisted no one cared that much about that) was Princess Lulu, and with a sense of dread, he hung back by the door instead of heading into the gym, wanting to make sure that that tool Brett actually helped her get past the crowd okay instead of trying to soak up the limelight for himself. It was what any good friend would do, right?
Lulu was trying really hard to be grateful to Grandmère for coming through for her and forcing her parents and Mr.G to let her go to the dance with Brett. But so far Brett was making it impossible for her. First of all, even though he'd taken her to a restaurant with plenty of vegetarian options, he'd gone ahead and ordered her a steak. She'd made the most of it by eating the side salad and passing the steak to Klaus, while Brett didn't notice at all since he'd also invited what seemed to be every single friend he'd ever made in his life on what Lulu had just assumed was going to be a date for just the two of them. Then, if that hadn't been bad enough, the entire group had been so busy with their steak and attempting to get tipsy, that it had been almost an hour into the dance before Brett had been ready to go to the dance. And then, when they'd gotten to the dance, the front steps were absolutely swamped with paparazzo that were clearly waiting for her. For a moment, it seemed nice as Brett helped her run up the stairs to the school doors, but the niceness of the moment was ruined exactly three seconds later when Brett had taken advantage of all the attention on the two of them and the screams for a kiss between the two of them to pull Lulu close and plant a huge kiss right on her mouth pretty much out of nowhere.
Jonas felt stupid, waiting around for Lulu for so long, and he even ducked his head inside of the dance a couple of times to see if he'd managed to miss her somehow. But Brett and his cronies were nowhere to be seen, and the mob of reporters were still outside, so Jonas hung by the door talking to a few guys from computer club who wanted to get away from the noise, and acting casual about the fact that he was on the lookout for a princess and a douchebag. It wasn't hard to notice when they arrived; the noise outside swelled, and Jonas's head snapped towards the scene outside just in time to see Brett putting his stupid lips all over Lulu's. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but her body language seemed so not into it, and he pushed towards the door to get a closer look (and to help, if Lulu needed it).
Lulu was so shocked by the sudden kiss she stayed frozen in place, even for a few seconds after it had ended to the point that Brett had to tug her into the building so they could finally get to the dance. Only after that Lulu's shock wore completely off and she quickly went from stunned mode to being pissed. She was now certain that Jonas had been right and Brett really didn't give a crap about her past the fact that she was royalty. Lulu didn't even bother to check her surroundings before confronting Brett about every single sin he'd committed on their date concluding it with a single "And you weren't even a good first kiss!" Before Klaus showed up from where he'd been parking the car and spooked Brett from attempting to make any kind of response to her tirade. It was only after Brett walked away, muttering in annoyance about what a crazy person she was, that Lulu finally relaxed and realized that she wasn't the only one out there.
Jonas should have known that he wouldn't need to step in; Lulu may say she was the world's worst princess, but she could be as commanding as any world leader when she was fired up, the way she was right now. He leaned against the wall, eyebrows raised in admiration as he watched Lulu give Brett a piece of her mind, and he even had to bring a hand up to cover his laugh as she told Brett the kiss wasn't even that great anyway. That would definitely be a huge blow to his ego. "Nicely done," Jonas told Lulu, grinning at her proudly after Brett had sulked off. His grin faltered slightly, though, when he remembered that this was supposed to be some perfect night she'd built up in her head, and instead he'd just been there to witness the whole thing go to shit right before his very eyes. His gaze softening, he thought about hugging her, but then thought better of is, instead just asking, "You doing okay?"
Lulu widened her eyes when Jonas spoke up. Of course he would be there to see her terrible first kiss and the subsequent verbal beat down that followed. Just to make the night as embarrassing as physically possible. For a moment Lulu considered ripping into him too, just for being there and grinning. But her mind was quickly changed as Jonas' gaze softened and he asked her if she was okay, reminding Lulu that he wasn't the enemy here. Lulu's shoulders sagged a little as she frowned defeatedly, knowing just as well as Jonas did that she should've listened to him from the start. "I guess so." Lulu answered honestly, raking her fingers through the blown extra straight for the dance blonde hair resting on of her shoulders. "But you could keep from saying 'told you so' that would make me feel a little better."
Jonas pressed his knuckles against his sides, hearing them pop as his eyes narrowed, clearly puzzled. "Why would I say 'I told you so'? I mean, yeah, Brett sucks..." Jonas started, cutting himself off midsentence when he realized that his words were probably teetering a little too close to 'I told you so' despite his best intentions. He wrung his hands together, trying again. "I didn't want you to have a bad time tonight," he promised her, his stomach twisting at the dejected sound of her voice. "But hey, maybe we can still go in there and hang out with your friends and save the night? If nothing else, people are going to want to see the girl epic enough to tell off the school's biggest tool." He reached out his hand, as if to lead her towards the dance, then quickly let it fall, not sure what to do besides try everything to make her night better.
Lulu managed to smile despite herself when it sounded like Jonas was going to slip and say I told you so anyway and ended up fully smiling when he tried to correct himself. "I didn't think you did. But alright, let's go in, I'm sure Violet might actually talk to me again after she hears this one." Lulu giggled, pausing slightly when Jonas reached out and then immediately took his hand back. "Hey, why were you out here in the hall when I got here anyway? I'm a little over an hour late."
Jonas 's cheeks flushed slightly at Lulu's question; he'd thought that in the heat of the moment, she'd just let it slide that he'd been hanging around in the hall. "Wanted to -- " Jonas almost let the words 'see you' slip off the end of his tongue, but then fanned himself with a free hand. "Get out of the dance for a minute, it was hot. Plus I saw all those cameras out there earlier. Someone had to go count how many different news outlets showed up before they gave up." Jonas's excuses were flimsy and lame, but if it meant he got to see Lulu flash him that smile again, he didn't care how stupid he would have sounded to anyone else. "But you're totally right, Vi's been talking about you ton, it's like she's just been waiting for an excuse to break the silence."
Lulu nodded. "How many did you count before I got here?" She asked with an amused grin before brightening at the at idea of Violet wanting to break the silence. "She has? Really! Then c'mon, let's go in there." Lulu said, using up the rest of the courage she had left post-Brettgate to take Jonas's hand herself and lead him into the gym where her friend group was easily spotted once they came in. True to what Jonas had said Violet really did actually seem eager to speak to her once she saw Lulu entering with her brother.
Jonas grinned at how naturally Lulu's hand slipped into his as he started rattling off all the news networks he'd seen. "... and NBC and CUNY TV, and New York One -- I was up to at least 10 way before you even got here. I've never seen so many in one place before, you're kind of a big deal, Princess. It's too bad they didn't get shots of you yelling at Brett for being a creep; that would make for a really good role model story, for little girls who are having a hard time saying no." He'd sworn he was going to stop talking about Brett, but it had been hard to resist one last jab before it was dropped for good. After all, it wasn't an issue now, and he was the one all eyes were on as he slipped into the dance with Lulu, not some loser senior. He probably should have dropped her hand, but instead he hung onto it for support as Violet came over, her eyes wide as saucers. "Did you really dump Brett? Ew, did you dump him for my brother?" she asked the pair, as her eyes trailed down to where their hands were still linked. She didn't dwell, though, instead acting as if nothing had happened the past few weeks and urging, "Tell me everything."
Lulu blushed and wrinkled her nose in embarrassment at all of news networks that now had footage of her mortifying first kiss. "Maybe I should've hit him as soon as he kissed me. That would've at least been an interesting role model story." She said with a giggle right before Violet came over. Lulu was amused by Violet blatantly pretending that the last few weeks had never happened, but went along with it anyway. "I didn't dump him for your brother, Silly. We just saw each other in the hall after I got mad at Brett." Lulu explained quickly, before giving Violet the full low down of the entire night, while quietly hoping neither of the Alvarez siblings would really notice that since entering the gym room, Lulu hadn't made a single move to let go of Jonas' hand and probably wasn't going to until Jonas did so himself.
Jonas laughed at the mental image of Lulu, who worried about the effects of almost everything she did, actually hauling off and hitting someone. "I would have loved to have seen that -- it's probably a good thing you didn't, missing it might have made me finally want to start working on that bedroom bomb after all," he told her with a wink. Jonas hadn't even realized that he'd felt a little bit tense around her ever since she'd agreed to go out with Brett for real; before that, it had been easy to write that off as some dumb fantasy crush and not really the type of guy Lulu would ever date. But seeing her shoot him down like that, and again hearing her explain the whole thing to Violet, Jonas stood up a little taller, feeling completely normal again. Maybe even a little better than normal, since he already was holding her hand when the music shifted into a slower song. "How about a dance?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and grinning at her. "Since the slow ones are the only ones where I'm sure you won't end up tripping all over yourself."
Lulu rolled her eyes at the bomb reference. "If that's all it would take for you to consider building that bomb, you've got an entirely too short fuse." Lulu said, grinning at her own pun and pointedly ignoring the alarmed look on Klaus' face. Even though Lulu really was kind of upset about how things had turned out with Brett she really was grateful that dropping him seemed to be resulting in her and Violet becoming friends again.And when Jonas asked her to dance Lulu had started nodding before his question had even finished, she didn't even mind the crack about her clumsiness. Lulu turned back to Violet to ask for her permission to end the conversation there, but all Violet did in response was give Jonas an indecipherable look before grabbing a suprisingly dapper looking Dimitri to dance leaving Lulu and Jonas alone.
Jonas shrugged innocently at Klaus; he would hope by now that Lulu's bodyguard knew he was no real danger to the princess, and hopefully by the fact that he hadn't reached into his jacket to flash his gun Jonas's way meant that he knew it was serious. "I should probably watch what I say in front of your bodyguard, huh?" Jonas's smile widened when she didn't even hesitate to say yes to dancing, and he steered her towards the dance floor, finally letting go of her hand just so that she could drop it to her waist instead. He followed her gaze towards Dmitri and Violet, laughing a little as he said, "I wonder if this means she can get him to stop making so much noise during G&T..." Jonas didn't really want to talk about his sister anymore, though. After all the crap that had gone on, he was standing here dancing with Lulu, and if he was honest with himself that was always where he'd wanted this night to turn out. Jonas ran his bottom lip between his teeth then finally said "I'm sorry about how stuff turned out with Brett."
Lulu actually looked up at Klaus and then back at Jonas before shrugging. "As long as you don't threaten to blow me up too I think we're cool." Lulu's happy smile widened even more when Jonas' did when she agreed to dance with him. It might have been a pity thing, but it was still better than what Brett had done, so she didn't mind that much. Her glance slid over to Dimitri and made a face after Jonas mentioned him. "Probably not. But we might get to hear some less boring crap through the closet door." Lulu frowned at the mention of Brett again."I'm not. At least I know now how terrible he is before I had to spend the rest of pining over a guy who never gave even the tiniest crap about me. If anything, I feel bad for Ashley a little bit. How much do you want to bet that they'll be back to making out on my locker by monday?"
Jonas was surprised by how quickly Lulu seemed to be bouncing back from what had happened. Most girls would have gone home by crying now, but not her. It was just one of the many things that impressed him about her, but instead of saying that, instead of playing his cards and making it obvious he'd probably wished he could have been her date to this thing instead of him to begin with, he just laughed at her comment. "You think it'll take until Monday? I'm surprised he hasn't skulked out of here and gone looking for her already." Jonas scooted a little bit closer to her, partially because it was easier to talk over the noise that way and partially because he just liked the way his arms fit around her waist like this. "It's his loss anyway - now I get to dance with the coolest girl here instead of him getting to."
Lulu pretended to look around the gym room for Brett and Ashley. "Well I don't see either of them so it could be happening right now. " Lulu giggled, internally screeching as Jonas got even closer to her and then called her the coolest girl at the dance. "You are not." Lulu snorted rather unprincessly, as she blushed a bright bright red, completely giving away how flattered she was even under the low lights of the gym.
Jonas thought her blush might be a trick of the light, but when he was sure that it wasn't just his imagination playing games with him, he chuckled, tilting his head down so that his mouth was close to her ear and it was easier for her to hear him. "You know, you've probably had way more embarrassing things than me complimenting you happen tonight, Lulu," he told her, his own cheeks feeling a little hotter from the surprise of having that effect on her. He didn't blush easily, though, and his shy grin was the only tell of what he was really thinking.
Lulu was certain that Jonas knew what he was doing now. If that compliment wasn't enough, he was now crazy close to her and speaking directly into her ear. "I know!" Lulu groaned, even more embarrassed about getting called out. "Yet somehow you have more of an effect on me than some gross guy kissing me in front of, how many was it again? Ten news crews? What the heck!" Lulu said, completely avoiding looking up at Jonas as she spoke to him.
Jonas knew it might be cruel, trying to get a reaction out of her like this, but he'd thought they'd had a connection before, only to hear her going on and on about Brett for weeks. It had deflated all hope he'd ever had of maybe someday being more to her than he was now - and maybe he still wouldn't be any time soon, with how crazy her life was right now. But if nothing else he'd leave tonight's dance with a new surge of hope, and with the knowledge that if she DID like another guy who wasn't him, at least it wouldn't be a jerk like Brett again. "Maybe it's because I actually mean it... more than you can say for Brett, right?" Jonas teased, resting his head against the top of hers. "Don't worry, if you want to blush again I'm not looking this time."
Lulu rolled her eyes this time at Jonas' teasing and probably would've laughed and agreed had it not been for Jonas resting his head on the top of hers as they danced, killing her slowly inside yet again. Luckily she managed to recover faster because of his teasing. "You're lucky you can't see me this time, because if looks could kill tomorrow's headlines wouldn't be about that stupid kiss." Lulu replied snarkily
Jonas didn't know what was going through Lulu's head, but her comment made him chuckle, all while still holding her close. The song would probably end soon, and then he'd deal with those dagger eyes she'd been talking about, but for now he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this perfectly content. "For being a scientific anomaly capable of murder through laser eyes?" he teased, sure she actually just looked adorable trying to muster up a glare that he couldn't see.
Lulu immediately giggled at Jonas' teasing, completely ruining the glare she'd been working on. "That and for ruining the dance by exploding a guy." Lulu replied, with no malice in her tone as they continued dancing. Lulu idly wondered if Jonas knew the effect he'd had on her as they danced so closely together practically in a world of their own, the teasing about her blushing kind of had her thinking he did, but since he didn't seem to have any kind of follow up comment on it, it really just left Lulu feeling more confused than anything else
Jonas finally remembered to look at something besides her, glancing around the room at the other people having a good time. "Ehhh... there'll be more dances for them to go to," he shrugged, laughing at her comment. "Who knows, the administration might even give you a medal for helping them break up all the grinding and drinking and other stuff they have to run around all night dealing with." Jonas frowned as he heard the song starting to wind down; he wasn't ready to let go of this moment yet. "I don't know why they waste time on that kind of stuff, though; dancing with you's way nicer, anyway." With the tiniest of sighs, Jonas pulled back from her as the song ended, although he automatically slipped his hand into hers again, not wanting to let her get away. "Sitting at a table together and making fun of Violet's during slow songs is probably fun, too, though."
Lulu laughed at the idea of the administration giving her an award for breaking up the dance with crazy laser vision. "Sure, I could see the medal now. 'To Lulu- No, it would probably be fancier-Lucille Sawyer, for traumatizing her classmates into being innocent for once in their lives." Lulu said, attempting a fancy adult voice, even though the attempt was constantly ruined by her own laughter. Lulu's laughter almost immediately died off once the song ended and instead of letting her go so that he could go back to hang out with his friends like Lulu had been expecting. "It probably is." Lulu agreed, trying to keep her surpise from sounding too obvious in her voice.
Jonas noticed the way Lulu's laughter seemed to cut off sharply when he grabbed her hand, but rather than worry about it, he just resumed his teasing. "Don't worry, I don't have cooties - and if I did, you would have already them by now, too late," Jonas winked, glad she didn't seem to be in a hurry to get away from him either. He steered her towards a table where a few of her friends were congregating, including some freshman from the computer club, Jenna, and his sister and her boyfriend. He gave those two in particular a once over, then whispered to Lulu, "I guess we'll have to wait until later to test that theory out, though."
Lulu rolled her eyes and smiled at Jonas. "I haven't worried about your cooties since first grade. I'm good." Lulu joked back, allowing Jonas to lead the way over to their friends. Lulu pointedly ignored the far too excited look Jenna was giving her and Jonas, after all Jenna was a very new friend and didn’t know that there was no way in the world Jonas viewed her as anything more than just Violet's best friend. Instead Lulu kept her attention on Jonas. "Bummer. Maybe it's just the song." Lulu whispered back, observing the pair and making a face as she noticed that being with Violet's hadn't distracted Dimitri from his sweater tucking ways.
Jonas wore an expression of mock affront. "You mean Violet's been using that line all these years to keep me from crashing your girls nights and it's not even true?" His focus was on Lulu and Lulu alone - like it had been the whole night - so Jonas didn't catch the strange looks from her friend. If he had, it might have emboldened him to do something like get out of here and go somewhere else, or to offer to walk her home at the end of the night (even if she did have a limo on beck and call). Instead, he just leaned back in his chair as they got settled, chuckling and reminding her, "Hey, we've got the whole rest of the night to find out."