You look like you could use a friend (Flair and Lacey)

With Thanksgiving coming up, the employees at Deathbucks Cafe decided to throw a Thanksgiving party for each other. They would all get the chance to have fun with friends, get to know the employees that they are still unfamiliar with, and dance. You can't have a party without dancing. They had settled on a nearby banquet hall to have the party at. It had a great dining hall and an amazing ballroom where everyone could dance. Right now the employees that had volunteered to come early and set everything up were currently setting things up.


Piper was one of those that had volunteered. She loved decorating, helping, the like. She also wanted to be here when Alex came. Sure he hardly knew she existed, and sure you could call her a stalker since she stared at him whenever he entered the same room she was in, but that's just how Piper flirts with people that don't know she exist. Anyways, this gave Piper an excuse if asked why she was here so early. She is currently helping set up some of the streamers in the dining hall.

Alex wasn't much for decorating or planning parties, but he was most certainly one for parties. He loved seeing people getting to know each other and having a good time, even if it wasn't him directly doing that. So when he arrived at the gathering and started to talk to some of his coworkers, he was content regardless.

Piper had finished decorating by the time Alex had come in. As soon as he came in she couldn't keep her eyes off him. She couldn't say that she wasn't a little disappointed though when he went right past her to talk to some of their other coworkers. Why does he have to be so cute?! She silently cursed herself and helped herself to some cookies, all the while not taking her eyes off Alex as she sat in a seat on the outskirts of the room.

More and more people eventually started to file into the party, socializing and chatting with one another. In the meantime, Alex only gathered more and more of a crowd around him. "Oh, you're so funny!" One of their coworkers giggled, stepping even closer to him and brushing shoulders with him. Alex paused to glance at her before answering "Thanks!" With a little smile.

She seemed disappointed that he had rejected her obvious advance, but as Alex made a joke that caused the small crowd to all burst out laughing she laughed the loudest, "accidentally" brushing her chest up against his. From where Piper was, his next answer wasn't audible, but Alex gently and firmly pushed her away.

He scanned the room to see if anyone had seen her advance, eyes catching the hazel eyed gaze of Piper. The boy frowned slightly, slipping through the crowd until he was standing in front of Piper with a mildly concerned expression on his face.

"Are you alright? You were watching me from over there and you look kind of lonely," he asked, raising his voice slightly so Piper could hear him over the music. Alex had seen the girl around, typically away from the center of attention as she worked. They'd never exchanged words, but he recognized her face and knew that she didn't seem to like situations like parties.

Piper's sadness kept growing as more people started surrounding Alex. She knew there was absolutely no way Alex would be able to break free and come talk to her. She knew he wasn't going to talk to her anyways, but a girl could dream. Now, Piper hadn't been watching him the whole time, but when she looked back she could see a girl trying to make advances on him which, if Piper's being completely honest, made her a little mad. That girl had no right to make such advances. She still hadn't taken her eyes off the two though so she happened to see Alex gently push her away, uninterested, which filled the poor witches's soul with joy. Seeing as how her heart was now filled with a little bit of hope, Piper had begun to day dream and hence, had not seen Alex coming and was startled when she suddenly heard his voice right in front of her. "Huh?" She shook her head slightly. "Oh uh, yeah. I'm fine, I guess... I just uh, don't like big crowds. I didn't expect there to be this many people here." She replied. Keep your cool Piper. Alex is just talking to you. No need to start freaking out. She told herself although that's exactly what her heart was doing now.

Alex grinned at her absent minded answer, shrugging. "I mean, there were like 50 different people CC'd on the email invite, but yeah.. Sure, little miss 'I didn't expect there to be this many people here'," he teased, brushing a few stray blue hairs out of his face. "Come on, why don't you come and dance with me? No point on being here if you aren't going to have a little fun," he offered Piper his hand, still beaming at the opportunity to make a new friend.

She blushed slightly when he called her out like that. "Yeah, but then they brought their own guests. Well, at least, some of them did..." She muttered in her defense, but smiling none the less. She started blushing even more though when he asked her to dance and her heart skipped a beat when she saw his friends, handsome, grin. She took his hand gladly but tried to play it off like it was nothing. "Sure, if it makes you happy, I guess I could dance with you."

"I guess some of them did," Alex agreed, interlacing their fingers absentmindedly as he lead her onto the dance floor. In reality, he knew that only about a quarter of them had brough plus ones like they were allowed. It was funny actually, how all of his acquaintances automatically assumed he wasn't available to take on dates so he wasn't asked on any. Thus, he remained blissfully single (not like he really cared.)

She (thankfully) managed to get her blush to calm down as they took the floor to dance. Although... She couldn't say the same for her heart. Her heart was literally about to burst as he interlaced their fingers. "So. Why didn't you bring a plus one tonight Alex?" She asked as they started to dance. She obviously already knew the answer to that but she didn't want him to think she was a stalker. Her? A stalker? Psh, no. Of course not.

"I've actually never been on a date," Alex admitted as he stepped closer to Piper and hummed. The current song was relatively slow, but not slow enough to be considered a slow dance. He pressed her up against him with a gentle guiding hand. All the while he was smiling in a friendly manner.

She tried not to let the shock cover her face. "Really? You'd think a guy as good looking as you would have the ladies all over him." She said, gladly coming closer to him as he guided her. Despite that it was actually happening, Piper still couldn't believe that she was dancing with Alex. And she was so close to him! It was a dream come true for her.

Alex shrugged, his ears turning a light pink in mild embarrassment. That was something. It wasn’t easy to embarrass him, but Piper had just managed to push him a bit over the edge. “Thanks for the compliment, Pipes,” he answered, hands gently drifting to rest against her hips as they danced together. A bit caught up in the moment, Alex crooned quietly. The end of the song was approaching, but he didn’t want to move away from the girl in his arms. He did, however regretfully.

Piper blushed a dark crimson when he called her Pipes. No one had ever called her that except her mother. "No problem." She replied softly. She gulped nervously as his hands traveled down to her hips as they danced but did nothing to move them. In fact, she took a risk and got even closer to him and smiled sweetly when he crooned. Unfortunately, the song was coming to an end as she did, so they didn't stay that way for long. With a sigh, she moved away from the boy as he moved away from her. "Well... I enjoyed dancing with you." She told him.

Alex seemed a bit disappointed when they began to play a more upbeat song, carefully leading her out of the dancing area before nodding and feigning a little bow. "No problem, M'lady," he chuckled. "Not gonna question how I know your name. That's good. Means you're not just trying to get in my pants or something," the boy commented, turning on his heel to leave before he faltered. Alex turned back around, bending down a little bit before pecking her cheek. "I work the evening shift, after DWMA classes," he murmured next to her ear so that she could hear before again turning around and returning to his friends.

She let out a giggle at his fake bow. "I mean, you didn't question how I knew yours, I saw no reason to question how you knew mine." She replied. Besides the fact that I stalk him everyday. She began to feel a bit sad when he started to leave but her heart lifted a bit as he came back. You can bet she was highly surprised when he kissed her cheek. Even if it was just a small peck, it still made her blush immensely. She gave a short nod of understanding before he walked away. As he walked away, her eyes stayed on him as a hand came up to touch the cheek he kissed. Once he was out of sight, it took all of her composure to not scream in excitement till she managed to find an empty room. When she got to the room, she quickly locked it, looked around to make sure no one was in here, then squealed her heart out. She hadn't even expected to talk to him let alone dance and get a kiss from him. For once, Piper was happy that she came to a party.

Alex had told her when he worked at Deathbucks for a single reason: he found the bashfulness of Piper downright adorable. As he melted back into the crowd, he had a content smile on his face. He drank and laughed with his friends for a little while. Unfortunately, not even ten minutes later, the blue haired boy was being lead into a room by one of the girls that had been hitting on him earlier. Alex was finding it hard to walk, his steps crooked and uncoordinated. At one point, he had to stop and lean completely on the girl. She looked pleased, a small smirk on her face as he practically swooned in her arms. "I.. I don't feel any better," he murmured, sliding down to the ground outside of a door. The girl quickly tried the handle, noting that it was locked with what seemed like screaming coming from within. "That's alright. I'm sure there's a sofa somewhere you can lay on." She coaxed, holding her hand out to him. He took it, carefully pulling himself up before continuing to follow.

Piper soon stopped squealing when she heard the knob on the door jiggle. Curious as to who could possibly by out there, she opened the door to see Alex leaning against some girl. Now, Piper wasn't stupid. She could tell that he wasn't alright and he clearly wasn't drunk. She had watched him enough that he wouldn't do that to himself. When she looked to the girl however, she could see that she wore a proud smirk upon her face. Clearly the girl had done something to him. She narrowed her eyes at the girl and, surprisingly, let out a small growl. "What did you do to him?" She growled. Before the girl could answer, Piper went ahead and put Alex's arm over her shoulders in an attempt to get him away from the girl before she could do any more damage to him.

“She uh.. she’s taking care of me,” Alex piped up, trying to feebly tug away from Piper. “Yeah. He started not feeling well, so I thought that laying down in one of these rooms would make him feel better,” the girl agreed. “I’m sick to my stomach.. dizzy.. n’I can’t see straight,” the boy explained, swaying a little bit. The girl nodded. “That’s alright. Don’t worry about it. We’ll get you resting real nice,” she assured. Alex only nodded, beginning to pull away from Piper and closer to the strange girl.

Piper's eyes narrowed even more but didn't let go of Alex. If there was any indication that showed that Alex wasn't just drunk, this was it. From what Piper had observed from him, he'd never willingly go with a girl somewhere. Alone. Even if he didn't feel good. "Alex, I know you don't feel good, but you have to come with me. I'll take you somewhere even better than here. Unlike her I actually know my way around." She told him, trying to get him back to her. She looked back at the woman and got a good look at her. She actually looked a lot like the woman from earlier that had been throwing herself at Alex until he had come over to Piper. "Besides, I know what you're trying to do, and it's not gonna work as long as I'm here." She told her harshly. "Now, get lost. Or else."

“Or else!” The woman mocked in a higher pitched voice, rolling her eyes at Alex and Piper. “Fine. Have him for yourself. Not like I really care. There’s plenty of other fish in the sea. You two can go off and have fun all night screwing yourselves silly. Not my problem any more,” she sneered before walking away from them and downstairs. Alex was still trying to focus his hazy eyes on so many different things that he was getting dizzy.

Piper stayed silent as the women left and finally let out a sigh when she was out of sight. The witch was just glad she didn't have to release her soul protect and use her magic against the girl. When she looked over at Alex she could see how dizzy he still was and led him into the room she was just in. Which just so happened to be a bedroom. She quickly had them sit down on the bed that was in there. After getting back up to close the door, she sat down again and turned to face Alex. "Alex... Are you alright?" She asked kindly.

Alex was blinking slowly, sprawled out across the bed when Piper returned. He was still decently out of it, and it showed in his pale visage and slightly shaking hands. “She drugged me, didn’t she,” the boy asked, his words trailing off and slurring together. He was seeing two of Piper, and the effect was making him rather uneasy. Alex’s stomach hurt, as well. He chose to sit up a bit and wrap his arms around the one he thought was the real her. The boy was rewarded by the feeling of her smooth skin against his neck and lips, humming and nestling so that he was pressed against her shoulder.

She nodded. "She did..." She replied quietly. "I couldn't just let her take you somewhere and do who know what to you." She told him softly. She let out a soft gasp as he sat up and put his arms around her. "I'm so sorry she did this to you. Do you want some water? I can go get you some." She offered, even though she really didn't want to get up from this position.

“Nah, just stay here,” he murmured, pulling her into his lap and yawning into her shoulder. The darkness from hiding his face was comforting, and his stomach started to settle down a little bit. “Thanks for saving me.. she’s a bit of a whore. I suspect she would’ve tried to come on to me or somethin’,” Alex breathed, slowly pulling away when he felt better. “I’m just gonna go home and sleep whatever this is off.. might press charges,” he mused, getting to his feet.

Piper smiled a bit when he told her not to leave and pulled her into his lap. She put her arms around his neck and just let him lean against her. "Well of course. I couldn't just let it happen. It'd feel guilty for the rest of my life." And the fact that I'm in love with you... She thought to herself, not daring to say it out loud. She got off his lap when he spoke of going home and got up. "Do you want me to help you get home?" She asked kindly. "I don't mind."