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was frustrated and confused.

Every time he looked at Evelyn, a feeling surfaced. It wasn't anything common, it was different and he wasn't sure about it.

He couldn't believe that he had kissed her. It just happened all of a sudden. He kept telling himself that he didn't like her, but it was hard to believe his own thoughts when he had to keep reminding himself of them, as if to actually convince himself.

After they reached the gala, he left her alone. He felt annoyance creep up as it mixed with his urge to kiss her again. Glancing around, he kept making sure she was in his sight. He may have left her, but he would still keep his eyes open.

"Dance with me."

Looking over at Tiana he groaned, "I don't dance and you know that."

Rolling her eyes Tiana pulled him out of his seat, "Well now you do."

Needing the distraction anyway, he didn't object when she dragged him to the dance floor as a slow song started playing. The people talking left as couples shuffled onto the floor.

As Tiana put her arms on his shoulders, Maddox let his hands rest on her waist right above the curve of her hips.

The dress she wore was truly beautiful and she sparkled like a gem. It was a very simple silver dress which fell a little loosely after her hips allowing her to maneuver more easily. Her hair was up in a chignon bun and a few stray hairs fell, delicately framing her face. She wore a natural eye as the bold shade of blood red on her lips made every man in the room want to get a taste.

Just not Maddox.

Sighing dramatically, Tiana flicked Maddox's temple with her fingers. As he looked at her, she gave him an expression that said 'what the hell is wrong with you?'

"Seriously, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing."

Ignoring the annoyed look on her face, he tried to subtly glance around looking for Evelyn. Seeing her sat at one of the circular tables picking at some food, he let out a sigh of relief.

"So that's what this is about."

Looking at Tiana, he feigned confusion, "What?"

Raising an eyebrow, she turned her head back to look at Evelyn. Turning back around she shot him an obvious look.

As she continued to stare daggers at him, he felt himself give in, "Just want to make sure she's doing okay."

Tiana scrunched her nose and let out a scoff indicating that she was a little hateful towards Evelyn. Of course, Maddox was too thick in the head to know that.

Hiding her distaste for the girl he brought along as a date, she spoke once more, "Why'd you bring her if you were going to just leave her alone?"

Clenching his jaw he didn't feel like answering the question. Especially to Tiana. But eventually, he responded.

"Something happened."

"What?"

Looking down for a second, he groaned in frustration, "I kissed her."

The words tumbled out of his mouth and Tiana's form went rigid. They were no longer swaying softly to the music, but rather standing in one place as she took a moment to stare at his expression. To see whatever it was he felt as he told her. Swallowing hard, she slowly nodded her head as if to make peace with this new information.

"Oh," she hesitantly spoke with a quiet voice, "And you wanted to."

She wouldn't look him in the eyes and rather focused on the bar across the room. It seemed to grab her attention all of a sudden. Her sentence wasn't a question, but more of a statement that answered his doubts for him.

There was a possibility that he liked Evelyn. Shaking his head, his expression hardened at the thought of liking Evelyn. It just wasn't a feasible outcome. There had to be an alternative.

"I'm not su—"

"Bullshit," she interrupted.

As she made eye contact with him, she wondered why he never fell for her yet easily fell for someone else.

"Look," she awkwardly mumbled, "You wanted to kiss her. You're just not sure if it was or if it is the right thing to do. Don't mix those two statements up Maddox," she said with a warning tone as they started swaying to the music once more.

She glanced back at Evelyn and heaved a heavy sigh. She couldn't be angry towards Evelyn, it wasn't the poor girl's fault that she caught the attention of one of the most honest men in the room.

The man she loved with all her heart.

She wasn't going to get in between two lost souls chance to seek a happiness she had yet to find.

Biting her lip, she knew she couldn't be selfish. With Maddox, she refused to keep him chained down to her. She couldn't just think of herself. She had to think of the bigger picture and quite honestly, she wasn't in the bigger picture. She knew that and maybe it was time to accept the truth.

Looking at Maddox wrapped up in his thoughts, she knew what she had to say. Even if it would bring her an ache worse than rejections she'd previously felt. She didn't need his love, as long as they remained friends, in the end, she'd be content. He was someone worth getting to know and he was most definitely someone worth trying to keep around.

"Why are you here with me? Go to her Maddox," she coaxed him with a soft smile. A reassuring smile that let him know he didn't need to stay with her.

But he shook his head, "It's fine."

However, she was much more persistent than him.

"You need to let yourself feel. And every time you glance at her over my shoulder, I see the expression on your face. You invited her here. She's your guest yet you aren't exactly being the most welcoming host. If you feel even the slightest bit of liking towards her then stop dancing here with me."

Her expression was soft and her words calming, trying to make him understand that he didn't have to run away whenever he felt too much.

Noticing that she still hadn't convinced him she continued to speak, "Letting her go might be the biggest mistake you'll ever end up making Maddox. She's not the most liked person in this town— well really she's the most hated person in this town, but there's no real reason to hate her. Everyone thinks that because she was born out an affair, she deserves the hate and the blame. They all fail to realize that it was her mother who went and became intimate with another man."

Taking a breath, she tried to calm herself.

"You're the first person to make her feel like she's wanted somewhere," she said with a smile nodding, "she smiles in school Maddox. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but she's never really smiled there. With the things everyone does to her, she really has no reason to do so, but you gave her a reason to smile. You gave her a friend. And now she's giving you the chance to be brave and get the girl."

Tiana wiped a tear that had escaped as she spoke and her voice cracked at times, but luckily Maddox was so focused on the fact that a guy was now chatting up Evelyn that he failed to hear the pain in Tiana's voice. He failed to see the disappointment displayed subtly on her face.

She stopped dancing and he finally returned his attention back to her.

"Go ask her to dance."

His jaw ticked and he ran a nervous hand through his hair. Nudging him with her shoulder, she silently encouraged him to man up.

"I think you deserve to be happy Maddox," she gently spoke, "don't think you don't deserve it."

"I can't like her Tiana," he groaned in frustration, "I just can't. It'll ruin the friendship between us and just complicate things. She has her own things to deal with and I—," he took a deep breath, "— I just can't."

Tilting her head to the side, she smiled before leaning in to kiss his cheek ever so softly. Embracing him in a tight hug, she had to give him one final push to do what he was too afraid to come to terms with.

"Just because it can't happen doesn't mean it was never going to," she mumbled close to his ear, "did you honestly think you and Evelyn would go without any kind of feelings rising up? The friendship you two have was meant to turn into something more...at least from my perspective."

Taking a deep breath, she quickly let her arms fall to her sides as she started walking away. Giving him a look, she mouthed for him to go to Evelyn.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before he started towards Evelyn confidently with Tiana's words replaying in his head.

Reaching where she sat, he stopped and cleared his throat. Evelyn looked up and her eyes widened. She sat up straight and swallowed hard.

"Maddox," she rushed out.

Looking at her expression and then letting his gaze follow the length of her dress, he felt anger surge through him for being so stupid. For not being around her the whole night.

He missed out on an exceptional opportunity.

"Would you join me for a dance?" he stated in a clipped tone with his hand extended towards her.

He chose to disregard the guy beside Evelyn and prayed she'd just take him up on his offer.

Blushing, she bit her lip and looked down as she nodded, "Uh sure."

Taking his hand, she slowly got up and the blush became more and more apparent. Finding an empty spot among the couples littering the floor, he guided Evelyn to follow the proper way of where her hands should be.

Chuckling at her deer-caught-in-headlights expression, he felt a warm smile dance over his features.

"You look nervous," he said making eye contact with her. Rubbing his thumb among her lower back, she allowed him to massage her tense muscles.

"Relax," he murmured in her ear.

Exhaling slowly, she let her body relax at his touch.

The distance between them was bothering him as it was a distance made for friends. And after the speech Tiana gave him, he knew he couldn't be just friends with Evelyn anymore. There was something he felt for her and maybe he shouldn't try and cover it up with ignorance and false obliviousness.

Tightening his hold on her waist, he brought her closer and she gasped slightly as the proximity between them decreased immensely. Her head was tilted down a little to avoid seeing his expression, but if she were to bring it up, her nose would be touching his chest.

Watching her reaction to his impulsive action, he felt satisfaction seep through his skin.

She must've felt the sparks right?

"Evelyn. Look at me."

His tone was demanding and almost as if it were instinct, she indeed looked up at him. Getting lost in his eyes was an easy thing however so every few seconds she broke eye contact to gather her emotions which were in a frenzy.

"I'm sorry for not telling you how absolutely breathtaking you look," he quietly said so only she could hear.

The moment they shared was intimate and it meant something different than a typical compliment to a friend. The atmosphere changed between them and she felt herself become a lot more aware of what was happening.

"You told me back at the house you forgetful idiot," she said with a light laugh to make things less serious than they seemed. He had a feeling she was trying to suppress the same recent memory as him.

Shaking his head, he gently grabbed her chin so she'd look up at him, "That was different. That was me being...me being a jerk who only ever wondered what the dress would look like off," he sighed, "this is me telling you that there's not a girl in this room who compares to you."

Blushing at his words, she stared at him trying to see how honest he was being with his statement before shaking her head.

"Thank you," she mumbled with a small smile as her eyes flickered up to him before staring back down.

She chose to leave the conversation at that, letting herself get lost in his presence. She chose to appreciate that at least they were dancing. But soon enough she couldn't keep quiet and ended up blurting out the question that had been on her mind for a while.

"Why'd you ask me to dance Maddox?"

As his eyes flickered down to her plump lips, he wondered what it'd feel like to brush his own against them once more. He shook his head to get such thoughts out of his head.

"Because I asked you here."

Smiling slightly at his vague answer, Evelyn decided to not prod for more detail and instead chose to lay her head down on his chest, letting his body guide hers to the music.

She chose to let herself fall further.

"Wanna borrow a shirt?" Maddox asked seeing Evelyn uncomfortably maneuver in the dress.

"Could I?"

Nodding his head with a laugh, he grabbed a shirt from his closet before throwing it towards her.

He walked into the bathroom before brushing his teeth and changing into a pair of sweatpants.

The gala ended about an hour ago and they headed back home. Seeing how tired Evelyn was, Maddox decided to not spend more gas on bringing her home and instead she was going to stay over for the night.

It would probably be awkward, but as long as neither of them actually brought up what happened, it shouldn't be too uncomfortable.

He grabbed a towel to wipe the water off his face before he existed the bathroom. Stopping in his tracks, he let his eyes wander down to Evelyn's bare legs and luckily, the shirt fell far enough to leave enough to the imagination.

She turned around before glancing at him shirtless. Swallowing hard, her eyes went wide and a blush creeped up her neck.

"Hi," she squeaked.

Smirking at her change in posture, he replied, "Hi."

"Um so uh where should I sleep?" she quickly asked before diverting her eyes away from where he stood.

"We've slept in the same bed before Evelyn, does it really matter?"

It probably did now, but he wouldn't admit that.

She shrugged before awkwardly speaking up, "I suppose not."

She slowly got under the covers and laid facing the ceiling as Maddox turned the lights off and got in beside her. Wrapping his arm around her, he kissed her temple.

It was instinct to hold her and he didn't want to keep himself away from her comfort.

She was tense until eventually relaxing and snuggling closer to him, "Goodnight Maddox."

The feeling inside him just intensified and this time, he chose not to ignore it. Maybe it was okay for him to feel this way. Maybe it was okay. Maybe she would feel the same way. Just maybe.

He sighed, "Night Evelyn."

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