"I don't need no help, I can sabotage me by myself. No, don't need no one else, I can sabotage me by myself. I don't need no help, I can sabotage me by myself." Eva sang as she curls her black hair. I sang along while putting on red lipstick. "And I'm just a little bit caught in the middle! I try to keep going but it's not that simple! I think I'm a little bit caught in the middle! Gotta keep going or they'll call me a quitter, yeah I'm caught in the middle!"

Fun fact: In this apartment, we do a lot of singing.

Lysander, obviously the newbie, sits on the couch, shirtless and silent, watching us sing as we do our hair and makeup. Tonight is a special night for Eva and her engineering crew. As an Environmental Engineer at Silver Base, they had worked on a new energy resource that is entirely renewable, cheap and most importantly, energy conserving. She didn't tell me much about it, as I will learn more later tonight at a banquet, where her crew will present to a group of scientists, engineers, oil companies, business people, plus guests invited by the crew.

Lysander and I are Eva's plus two on the guests. This banquet was planned the last minute so we weren't too prepared for it. Eva wanted me to be there, and I wanted to come to show my love for her work, and Lysander wanted to go. One, because he refuses to leave my side and two, even if we could force him to do so, Rami is busy to watch over him and keep company. It will be risky to bring him out there tonight with a group of government workers, but I think Lysander's new appearance hides his original one quite well, so I think we should be good.

Not that Lysander cares about the government and being caught. The boy isn't scared of anything, I swear. There are hunters out there who are probably after him and he doesn't give a shit. The government is after him yet he remains unfazed.

"Lysander!" I put my hands on my hips, frowning at him. "We are going to be late. We'll be leaving soon and you're still not dressed up! Unless you'd rather stay here, then that's absolutely fine too."

The sour wolf rolled his eyes before lazily getting up from the couch and walking over to the other chair where his clothes are laid. We had to buy him some semi-formal clothes for this, as it is a formal attire kind of event. I wore a simple cream dress with a black blazer and black heels while wore a very cute red dress with red heels. We bought Lysander black pants, white buttoned up shirt and a bow tie. Bow tie is most definitely my idea.

I watched as he slowly put on the buttoned up shirt, which is a little tight for him. Oops. Then, the bow tie, he struggled to put it on. "What is this?" He groaned, irritated at the black accessory.

"Something that makes you look cool." I walked over to help him. "Bow ties are cool." I heard Eva snorting in the background as I said that.

As I fiddled with the bow tie, my eyes made the mistake of connecting with his intense pair, causing my heartbeat to speed up and my face reddened. I nervously jumped away to hide my flustered self and gasped as I tripped over his feet. Lysander caught me and pulled me up with ease.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine! Fine! I'm okay thanks." I laughed nervously, suddenly wanting the ground to swallow me up.

I ran inside my room and cursed at myself for being so embarrassing.

***

The banquet is happening at an engineer's mansion, which of course is Eva's boss. Her mansion is one of those secluded homes by the forest. Eva drove us there, and as we were looking for parking, we could already hear music. Judging by the lack of parking, I'd say there's lots of people tonight, which scares me a little. We have to be careful and make sure Lysander doesn't give himself away.

"You really should have just stayed at home." I whispered to him as we started walking towards the mansion. "Look at all these people."

Lysander grabbed my hand and held it tightly, looking straight at the mansion. "More reason for me to stay with you."

Eva raised a brow at us but said nothing, though I already know what she's thinking. "Good afternoon, ladies, sir." A man greeted at the door. "May I see your ID and invitations, please?" Eva showed him her Silver Base ID and plus two invitations for me and Lysander. "Thank you. Have fun!"

"Oh my god." My eyes and stomach cheered at the sight of the food table. "They have a chocolate fountain." I cried dramatically, shaking Lysander's arm. "A chocolate fountain!!" I have school tomorrow, but I'm already okay with missing my morning class if I have to stay here all night eating and drinking. Is this what adulthood is like? Because damn. I have to tag along with Eva's old ass more often.

Okay, she's not that old. She's only four years older than me, but still.

"Okay. According to this thing," Eva held up a small paper. "From 6 to 7, we'll just be hanging out here and do whatever we want, eat and drink, socialize, whatever, while we wait for more guests to arrive. The presentation of Renovarium will be at 7:30 to 8:30. After that, my crew and I will be sticking around to talk to certain people and answer questions, but everyone else is free to stay and party."

I nodded. "Sounds fantastic."

"Remember, keep it low key. Don't get in to too much trouble, both of you." She gave us a stern look. "I'm serious. This place is full of people who are looking for a werewolf." She whispered as low as she could. "And if anything happens, take it outside where there's no people."

"Yes ma'am. Lysander and I will be over there by the food."

She chuckled. "I know. I'll be over there with my crew. Text me if you need anything."

Eva gave us another one of her 'I'm watching you' glare before skipping to the other side of the mansion. Lysander is still holding my hand and honestly, I think it's a pretty good idea. I need to make sure he doesn't wander around and attract unwanted attention.

Looking around, I noticed it is mostly old men, a fair few old women, and very little workers of Eva's age. Beside me, I see Lysander also glancing around, coming closer to me like a guard dog. He even has that glare that makes sure no one comes near us.

"Lighten up." I elbowed him lightly on his chest. "Here, have some chocolate strawberries." I picked up one strawberry and dipped it in the chocolate fountain, and directly shoved it in my mouth. I moaned in pleasure before getting another one.

Then, I saw Lysander, who is scowling like I had just betrayed him.

"What?" As soon as I said that, I just now realized that when I first picked up a strawberry, he had opened his mouth, thinking I was going to give it to him. After all, I did tell him to eat one. Ha, ha. My bad. I got another strawberry and covered it with chocolate. "Here." The werewolf took the whole fruit in his mouth while it was still between my fingers, and I was certain I looked just as red as that strawberry.

Shaking my head, I moved to the other part of the table where there's cupcakes. "Good afternoon, miss." A young man wearing a white tux steps in front of me, holding a tray of champagne. I smiled and was about to get one, but he moved the tray away from me. "I must ask, " He says with a British accent. "Are you of age, m'lady?" I don't know if he's faking the accent or not but it's pretty funny.

"I am, actually." I showed him my state ID, proving that I am 22 years old. Just turned 22 during the summer. "Now give one for me and one for my -- " I turned to look for Lysander, but I didn't need to look further than an inch because he's right behind me, giving the boy that intimidating glare he loves to give people.

The boy basically melted under his gaze. Same, boy. Same.

"Here. Enjoy your night, sir. Ma'am." He squeaked, giving me two champagne before running off to the other side of the mansion.

I gave a glass to Lysander with a small smile. "You know, you have to stop doing that. Scaring people."

"He was flirting with you."

"No he wasn't."

"Yes he was." He scoffs, right before chugging down the liquid. "This is good."

I crossed my arms. "Oh, so you don't like In-N-Out fries and chocolate but you like champagne? Typical old man."

"Hmph." He ignores me and returns to the food, getting himself a couple of Carne Asada tacos. And then three more, and another one after that.

I danced along with the music of Arcade Fire while observing the guests. Most of them are beginning to take seats around the circular tables. I found Eva making her way in the front of the room along with her five other crew members, meaning that their presentation is about to start.

"We better go. Come on." I took Lysander's arm and dragged him towards the table. I watched him with amusement as he currently has a mouthful of tacos. "That good, huh?"

He blushed and looked away, making me grin like a mad scientist. He does blush, after all. I feel so accomplished.

Lysander and I sat by a table in the front. While we waited, someone joined our table. "Do you mind if I sit with you two? Every other table is full." It is none other than Doctor Maxine.

"Of course!" She pushed the chairs across from us so her wheelchair could fit. She set down her champagne and gave us a thankful smile. "It's great to see you again, Drew." Her eyes wandered towards Lysander, who is watching her cautiously.

Her eyes widened as she studied him from hair to chest, as the rest of his body is covered by the big round table. I knew then, she recognized him. She had seen Lysander before. She was there when Lysander found me. When he broke out and came for me, she was there. Still, she didn't say anything. She smiled at him just as she did to me, and turned her attention to the front, where the engineers are setting up for their presentation.

They have a table in front of them and a screen above. Each of them have microphones. I noticed Eva looking nervous as she scans the audience. When she looked at my direction, I raised my hands up and made a heart using my fingers, making her laugh and blow a kiss towards me.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." Eva's boss, Meridian Jackson, head of Silver Base Technology. "First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming at tonight's banquet. We are all gathered here to see what will change our future for the better. As you all know, we are running out of non-renewable resources, which is the main source of energy that runs basically everything we have today. And because we are burning all those non-renewable resources, we are damaging our planet by means of climate change and pollution to name a few. We waste a lot of money and release a lot of greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere, which is killing us. This is an issue that some people do not want to acknowledge, including the god damn government, but it's there. Pretending the problem does not exist will not solve anything. It will kill us. So, then we have scientists and engineers here in our town who are contributing in saving our one and only planet. We keep finding ways to stop, or at least slow down the problem. And after years of research and working so much, this crew here behind me," She pointed at the engineers. "They've done something that not only will save our money and resources, but most importantly, our lives."

We all cheered as Eva and her crew stepped forward.

"This is called the Renovarium." Eva held up a copper-like object that looked like a battery. "Yes, it does look like a silly old battery, but it has the ability to run basically everything. From your car to planes, your house appliances, everything."

The screen above them flashed an image of algae, water, wood, paper, and a few other natural objects. "This is what we've worked with. We have researched and designed products. We learned that they are capable of giving us the energy we need. Although they are harder to find, they are 100% reliable."

The entire presentation showed how the engineers began the project, how they've done their research, and overall how they came up with the Renovarium. It took a lot of time and effort, but they succeeded in creating something that this planet needs in order to live a little bit longer. Now, in this room, there are people whose job are to pass on the word to others, to convince them to use this product, and hopefully turn this to a main source of energy. This is the second choice of energy, after solar power.

After the presentation, I stood up and cheered loudly, along with most of the people in the room. Of course there are people who are against the idea, including oil companies who are worried about their jobs, but the engineers clearly said oil companies won't lose jobs. Instead, their products will be replaced but nothing else. Prices will be cheaper, yes, but they can live with that. People need to save money, oil companies can suck it up.

"My best friend's up there!" I exclaimed at the people around me.

"Eva, Darren, Fernando, Adah, West, Miro, and I will be around to take questions, please talk to us! But if not, by all means, feel free to continue to party! There's lots more food and we really don't want to waste them. Take some for your friends and family, for your pets, for yourself, take them! Music's still going, the room has space for dancing. Let's celebrate for such a brilliant invention, shall we?!" Meridian declared through the microphone and the crowd did as she said.

A lot of people stayed but some decided to leave. "I'll be here and enjoy that velvet cake. So good." Doctor Maxine grinned as Lysander and I got up.

"We'll get snacks and probably come back."

"I'll save your seats." She shooed us away as she continues to eat.

"What do you want?" I turned to Lysander as we headed to the food table. He was looking a bit uncomfortable, hands running from his hair to the back of his neck, then his tensed shoulders. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." His jaw clenched.

"Are you sure? Because that doesn't -- "

"Just hungry."

He took my hand and returned to the tacos he was eating earlier. There's only a little bit left. I heard people complaining about who ate all the tacos and I bit my lip to hide a cackle. Check the wolf's stomach. Lysander heard this as well and didn't bother hiding a smirk.

Lysander ended up taking a plate full of food. A couple more tacos, pizza rolls and meatballs on a stick (3 of them). I just had strawberries covered in chocolate, fruit salad and a cupcake. We returned to the table, Doctor Maxine is still there but is having a conversation with a woman engineer.

In the middle of eating, a new song started to play and I almost dropped food from my mouth from all the excitement. "I love this song!" I screamed to no one in particular. There are already a lot of people dancing, and I MUST join them.

"Lysander."

He glanced at the dancing people and shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

"I don't dance."

Scoffing, I turned my back away from him and started walking towards the dancing people. "Fine. I'll dance by myself."

Not even after five seconds, Lysander is at my side, looking like a kid who is forced to be here by his mother. Only, I'm not his mother and he's older than me.

"Do you not know how to dance?" I teased, seeing as he's just standing there.

For the second time today, he blushed and looked down at his shoes. My heart did this flip thing but I ignored it. My heart does a lot of stuff when Lysander is around, doesn't it?

"It's really easy. Here. I will put my hands here." I put my hands on his shoulders. "And you put your hands on my waist." He turned to a darker shade of pink but put his hands on my waist, running them up and down unconsciously. "And then we just sway with the beat, I guess. Just copy everyone else. That's what I usually do." Lysander and I looked at the people around us. Most people are dancing normally, and then there's that one boy who carried the tray of champagne earlier, dancing by himself, as if he will never be able to dance again. The old people around him looked very afraid. "Okay, don't copy him. Not in a party like this."

He eventually got the hang of it. Until it got to the slower music.

"It's the same thing, except we just move slower." And much closer.

My eyes focused on his chest, where I noticed he is breathing heavily. Under my touch, his muscles are tensed. I slowly brought my gaze to his eyes, to find them staring back at me deeply. I opened my mouth to ask if he's okay, but no words came out. He leaned closer and rested his forehead against mine, making me turn deep red.

I swear to Einstein, he knows what he's doing to me. And that smile on his face proves it.