BREATHE. Ryan reminded herself as she walked over to her vanity. Her heart was pulsating in her chest and Ryan found herself constantly trying to inhale and exhale.
She had never done something like this before and with good reason. Ryan's flirting skills were equivalent to Veronica Woo eating that Caesar salad one time and puking. Absolutely repulsive.
The blonde was sure that wasn't the only reason she was nervous. This was the first step. The one that had the capability of fulfilling Ryan's dreams. She had to execute it perfectly in order to get what she wanted.
She stared at herself in the vanity, sky blue eyes trailing down her collarbone to her Stella McCartney white wrap dress. She felt slightly uncomfortable wearing something out of her comfort zone, something that clung to her body at the hips and basically everywhere. But she had lost weight for this, to emphasize her collarbones, the angle of her hips, tiny waist and small thighs.
At least it showed off something in her chest that Archer claimed that she didn't have. This dress showed otherwise.
She had paired them with one of her stepmoms' many bribes, killer Louboutins. She had never really been one for fancy dresses and heels. Ryan was an athlete and she preferred her Nike Air's rather than the mountain of Jimmy Choos and Alexander McQueens her stepmom and father had buried her in.
She was surprised she even knew these names. Sighing, Ryan stared at her collarbone length hair, that was loosely curled, touching her skin in soft waves. She contemplated pinning them to the side but she decided to just let it be.
Ryan walked back to her walk in closet, opening up one of her brown moving boxes (considering she hadn't properly unpacked yet) and rummaged around to find one of her vanity boxes. She found the one she wanted, opening it to grab one of her watches, and left her walk in closet, leaving the vanity box and her bunch of brown moving boxes as it was.
She was just putting a spritz of perfume onto her wrist when Aanya opened the door, a wide grin evident on her polished face.
ALH's back to school party was nothing near casual, but it was also far away than what they dressed like for senior prom. If Ryan had to specify, she would declare the attire to be in the middle ground, classy with their little black dresses and bodycons rather than full on 5 pounds of lace.
"So," Aanya drawled, sifting daintily on Ryan's tidy bed. "Are you ready for this?" Ryan turned her head, Aanya's black floor length slit dress coming into view. The Indian wore it with grace, her jewelry minimal but gorgeous.
"Not really." Ryan confessed, grabbing a nude faux fur coat and putting it on to shield her from the chilly September nights they always seemed to experience each year. "You know how my flirting skills are, practically bad."
Ryan collected her phone and her clutch from her vanity table, signaling to Aanya that she was ready to go. "Do I need to get a coat as well?" Aanya asked, raking her fingers through the strands of her thick hair that had fallen from her intricate bun.
Ryan nodded her head and walked back to her closet, grabbing a coat which she thought to look suitable to Aanya's dress. She chucked it at the Indian, and switched off the lights that dimmed the room.
"You seem pretty confident on the outside though," Aanya pointed out as Ryan and her stepped outside. "If I didn't ask, I would've probably thought you've got it in the bag."
The chilly air nipped at Ryan's skin and she winced at the slight cold. Unlike everyone else who had a penchant for snow and hated heated summer nights Ryan, despite the lack of warmth in her personality preferred the heat over the cold.
"That's because I've watched Wild Child almost four times now. I'm doing her trick, or Ruby's trick as she says. Swing her hips and giggle. Emma Roberts was a godsend for this." Ryan smiled as they walked along the cobblestones that lead to one of ALH's halls.
Ryan had to give credit for the way they've kept their campus. The grass and the rose gardens were kept really nicely and the lampposts and the dotted lights on the trees in the nighttime made the place look serene.
"You're using Emma Roberts' crappy evidence at seducing a guy? What did you plan to do? Drink a whole bottle of Cinzano and fall over him?"
At that point Ryan's eyes widened and she stopped abruptly. "Shit, I forgot!" She cursed, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "What? What is it?"
"I forgot the bottle." Ryan smiled sheepishly, blinking. Sad thing was, Aanya was right. She had expected to drink quite a bit, act drunk and get her way. Although she was so riled up by what Arch said she completely forgot about it.
"No fucking way." Aanya deadpanned as she looked Ryan straight in the eye. "You were planning on doing the same thing weren't you?" Ryan smiled guiltily in response and resumed walking, her heels thudding softly against the cobblestones. "Looks like it's out now, whoops. I had it all planned also."
"What the fuck happened to you over the summer? You've gone crazy." She sighed exasperatedly. Ryan gulped down bile and Aanya's eyes widened, realizing her mistake.
Of course she knew why, it wasn't Ryan's fault. It really wasn't.
"I'm sorry." She apologized instantly, bobbing her head down and squeezing Ryan's hand. The blonde forced a smile onto her impassive face and squeezed back. "It's alright. Nothing harmful."
Now all she hoped was that the fact that she was going insane didn't interfere with her plans.
Breathe. She reminded herself again.
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RYAN STILL needed help breathing.
Her feet decided to fail her at the last moment, standing frozen on the entrance of the hall, the double doors open from either side, giving Ryan complete and full view of everyone that had already arrived. Which was, mostly everyone.
Her blue orbs flicked to her left and then to her right, trying to locate a familiar face, namely being Arch or Carter. She knew Aanya was right in front of her, walking ahead and unaware of her best friends' sudden stop.
Instead her eyes landed on Tate Sutton.
Tate Sutton was leaning against one of the punch tables, charming but slightly uncomfortable smile on his lips, with a dozen girls attached to his hip. Even in the dimness of the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling and the possible distance that separated them she could still see the familiar pair of green eyes.
He was quite easy to single out, considering mostly every individual male had their black or dark blue coats on to complete their look except for Tate, who's coat was on his arm, meaning he stood out in plain sight with his white buttoned up shirt.
She gulped one more time and walked inside hoping to god he didn't recognize her from this summer. Ryan was sure he didn't because everyone at that summer party was more than wasted. Except for a certain select few that is.
Tate was anyways well liked in ALH for his likable personality, charming smiles and his ability to cope with Lucas Grayson's absolute mood swings. He was instantly singled out as a man suitable to be at the top of the hierarchy, the food chain at ALH and he had handled it quite pleasantly and humbly, with the exception of a few smirks here and there.
She walked past the area allocated as the large dance floor, her heart beating in sync with the beat and rhythm of the music that was playing and successfully passed the punch tables as well without tripping or bumping into anyone.
Her eyes flicked from card to card on every table that was located on the far end of the large hall for sole breathing space for the non dancers and sitting space in order to eat. There were only quite a few sitting, and Ryan realized that most of the students were out dancing due to the fact that it was still the first day back, meaning that everyone was still used to the same old routine of partying in the night.
She finally found the name Ryan Blair printed on a table near the middle and she sighed in relief as she saw the words Archer Giovanni printed on the card next to hers. She dropped her clutch onto her seat and removed her coat, hanging it on the back of her chair for support.
She felt someone tap her on her shoulder and she tensed immediately, whipping her head around. Aanya came into view, Emanuella Jacobs next to her.
"I thought I lost you oh my god." Aanya exclaimed as she sighed, her eyes casting downwards. "I was walking and when I turn back to ask you something you're not there. Luckily I found Em here and she told me she spotted you going over here."
Ryan smiled at the Ivorian American. She had always envied Emanuella's french accent (which was 100% real) and her glowing dark skin. The girl looked gorgeous with her new pixie cut that made her look fresher faced.
"Alright, excuse me." Em smiled widely at the both of them, "Tim's summoning me I guess." She joked and Ryan whipped her head to see Timothy Ciaccia wave at them from where he was standing.
"I thought you started without telling me." Aanya said, turning her head towards Ryan after Emanuella walked away, speaking in a hushed tone. "I'm getting to it now and what's the big deal?"
"My baby is growing up, is the big deal." Aanya retorted, snorting. "I want to low key record it and like hang it up or something."
"No and no. First, what if you get caught? And second who knows if I'll even succeed. God everyone was stupid when they chose Tate. Why couldn't all of you have chosen someone mediocre like I don't know, some nerd?" Ryan lied through her teeth.
Although it wasn't really a full lie, considering she was glad that they had chosen Tate, meaning that her plan would go smoother than usual but she was annoyed that they chose him out of everyone. Seducing someone at the top of the food chain was pretty impossible considering he did have a bunch of girls falling at his feet for his pretty smiles. The probability worsened when the factor of Ryan's poor flirting skills were taken into account. The only way this would work out was revealing leverage that she was holding against him.
But it was, a smooth cover for her plan and she was ever so grateful to everyone that had chosen him.
"At least Tate is good looking, and he's a good kisser so it's a win win situation. Not like some random guy at the bottom that we hardly even knew of." Ryan sighed, knowing that there was no arguing with Aanya. Anyways, complaining about her 'target' was just her way of making sure Aanya never figured out her real intentions.
"Alright, alright. Now go away loser and have some fun." She smiled coyly, "I'm gonna go have some fun as well."
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RYAN GRABBED a glass of whatever liquid that was in the punch. She didn't really care what was in it, she wasn't going to drink it after all.
Her eyes roamed all over the crowd, spotting Tate in an instant, lazily slouching over the punch table, the same spot he was in a few minutes ago. The number of girls crowding him had reduced, save for a few but the hardest one to pry off was Veronica Woo.
Veronica Woo was standing next to Tate, her eyes and ears focused intently on whatever Tate was saying. One. Two. Three. She tilted her head and laughed daintily.
Ryan wasn't that close with Veronica, although she could've been classified as a close friend of Veronica's if Ryan hadn't stopped being her friends almost three years ago.
Veronica Woo broke all stereotypes by standing at the top of the hierarchy with Lucas and Tate, by earning that position by being the smartest and being gorgeous despite her lack of workouts and exercise and constant junk food marathons.
Maybe her metabolism rate was good.
She watched on for a few minutes till most of the girls crowding him disappeared, walking over to the dance floor in courtesy of the current song that was playing. She waited until the last one left was Veronica Woo.
Deciding that it was now or never Ryan trudged ahead, glass of punch in hand. She took small staggered steps, and purposefully tripped near him, the punch spilling on his jacket and on the table behind him. The white tablecloth absorbed the punch liquid in a matter of seconds, leaving two large orange discolored patterns on it.
Ryan's face was almost close to hitting the ground and she was thinking that it was definitely a bad idea to do this when a firm hand clasped around her waist, her heart hammering.
"Shit, are you okay?" She steadied herself, although including a bit of a struggle for show. With his hand still enclosed around her waist she turned her head, blue eyes meeting a forest. His eyes crinkled in worry and surprise and she gulped, her eyes quickly switching to the agape looking Veronica Woo.
She let out a laugh, although it came a bit too high pitched for her taste, but crazier the better right? "I'm alright, sorry I just got too excited." She lied as she set the glass down on the table. Tate removed his hand from her waist and Ryan tensed, staring at him and desperately hoping that he didn't really know who he was.
He sighed in relief, bringing up one hand to brush away some stray strands that had fallen to his face. "Whew. It happened so fast."
She gulped slightly before pretending to notice the stain on the tablecloth and the potential stain on his jacket (which couldn't be seen considering his jacket was black). Ryan opened her mouth in mock shock, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
"Oh my god," she extended one hand towards his jacket, running her hand over the material of his jacket, stopping at the part where she spilled her punch on. "I'm so sorry. I â I didn't know what I was thinking, I â I just wanted to dance but I was so thirsty so I grabbed some punch, and god I'm so clumsy I'm so sorry I didn't mean it." She rambled on, throwing a frantic look his way just how she practiced in front of her mirror.
Tate chuckled, his eyes crinkling. Ryan stared in confusion as he let out a laugh. "It's alright, I didn't like the tux anyway. So you did me a huge favor don't apologize."
He smiled, his forest eyes staring at hers and then Ryan wondered if he was actually a good person or if he was the devil in disguise.
Because right now, she wasn't sure.
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This was written halfway a few days ago and it took me three nights to complete it wtf is going on with me. I still hope you enjoyed xx
âDin