Arranged

Nessa sat in fourth period, glaring around the classroom as Shade - her designated partner - mixed batter up for cookies. The room was an extremely large kitchen with multiple islands as counters suited to two people and equipped with a sink and stove-slash-oven.
And those stupid roses were at every station.
"What do you think his problem is?" she asked Shade. They had been relatively quiet after the scene during lunch, though Sade had been only too happy to chat their heads off.
"Who knows?" Shade said, not pausing in his mixing. "Maybe he likes you."
Nessa sat up, wrinkling her nose as she checked the oven for the batch of cookies she'd made a few minutes earlier. "I don't think it's a matter of liking or not. He just wants to get in my pants."
Shade raised a brow as he set the bowl down. "How do you know?"
Nessa smirked, closing the oven. The cookies needed a few more minutes. "He told me so. But I don't get it." She flopped down on her stool and watched Shade place the batter evenly on the cookie sheet. "Are people around here really that dense? Can't he take a hint?"
Shade flashed a smile. "That's just the way it is." He shrugged. "I can see why he'd go after you." His eyes went wide and his face went red. Crap. He hadn't meant to say that.
Nessa crooked a smile at him. "Oh, really?" She leaned towards him and turned the smile sweet. "And why is that exactly?"
He cleared his throat and didn't look at her. "I-Um. . . Well, you see, you're really. . Uh. ."
Nessa was leaning on the counter, turning her face up to him. "Really what?" Oh, this was fun, she thought, watching his face got the color of a tomato. Shade was just too cute.
He swallowed, his eyes flicking across her face. "Really. . Uh, beautiful."
Nessa's brows rose and she straightened, her face turning pink. "Oh. I. . see." Beautiful. No one had ever called her beautiful before. Not even close to that. "You. . " She took a breath. "You think I'm pretty?"
Shade squinted at her. Hadn't she looked in the mirror before? There was no way she couldn't know how beautiful she was. Was there? But on the off-chance he was wrong, Shade smiled at her, his embarrassment gone. "I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."
Nessa's heart pounded as she held Shade's eyes, her face pink. His eyes were filled with the truth of his words and butterflies danced in her stomach at the other emotions she couldn't define hidden in their depths.
Shade opened his mouth and the timers around them went off at two stations. Nessa jerked out of whatever moment they shared and looked away from Shade, embarrassed for an unknown reason. Quickly, she pulled open the oven and shoved on oven mits, pulling out the sheet of golden cookies.
"You're married, Nessa," she chided herself softly. No matter what, she wasn't allowed to feel those butterflies or let her heart pound for anyone. Even if they were freaking hot and sweet and made her smile. So she went back to making cookies.



Nessa was walking to fifth period - not something she was looking forward to. Rhone hadn't shown any interest in her being in his class and had acted like a pouting child the whole first week when he'd come in. She had loved the way he had to pick up his jaw off the floor from surprise, though. After that, they'd studiously ignored each other.
So, she and Shade walked slowly to her classroom on the top floor and, by the time she'd gotten there, she really wished she'd sped up. Or walked even slower. Anything that would have prevented her from running in to Ms Shrill-And-Drool, the blonde who'd been hanging all over Rhone and screaming during lunch. She didn't have her two followers with her this time, however.
Nessa didn't contain her annoyance as Ms. Screeches swung her hips towards her. Whatever she wanted with Nessa, it was obvious that it wasn't going to be said nicely.
"Hey! You," the blonde said, striding up to stand in front of Nessa, flipping her ironed curls over her shoulder. She was shorter than Nessa with pristine clothes, obviously pretty features and grey eyes. Her angry and frustrated expression - not to mention the hands on her hips - told Nessa easily that she needed to take whatever the little blonde said with a grain of salt. "Girl, just what are you to my little flower?"
Nessa sighed. Crap on toast, when were these people going to leave her alone? Did she have flashing neon signs with arrows pointing to her head that said "Annoying People Welcome Here; Please Line Up"?
"My name," Nessa said, pinching the bridge of her nose, "is Nessa. And who the heck is your 'little flower'?"
She looked at Nessa like she was stupid. "Rhone Blossom, of course."
"Of course," Nessa agreed. She leaned back towards Shade and whispered, "Who is she?"
"Kylie Simmons," he whispered back. "She's nineteen - failed her last year - and had been after Rhone since they were kids." He smiled. "Sade would say she's the easiest bimbo in the whole school - probably the world, too."
"Ah." Nessa straightened. "Rhone and I are nothing, as I keep telling him."
"Then, why," she screeched, "is he sending you flowers and not me?"
Nessa watched Kylie's face turn pink in jealousy. "Well," Nessa said. "Why don't you ask him? I'm not quite sure, myself."
"He's sending you flowers," she fumed, stamping her foot on the linoleum. "He never sent me flowers."
Nessa thought Kylie's gesture was all too familiar. "Trust me," she said. "It's not one of my crowning achievements." She looked around Kylie and towards the classroom. "Actually. If there's a vase of those damn roses in there, you can have them."
Kylie's eyes nearly bugged out of her sockets. "I don't want your flowers!"
Nessa shrugged. Oops. She'd stepped on her pride. "Whatever. It's up to you. I'm just going to give them away anyway."
A bell rang and Nessa was just hugging Shade goodbye when she saw Rhone stick his head out the classroom door. He saw them, froze, then turned back into the room, his face red with anger.
Oops. She'd stepped on his pride, too.
"You!" Kylie said to Nessa, grabbing her attention. "Stay away from my little flower or I'll make sure you can't walk the streets of this town or hallways of this school without plastic surgery to change that face of yours."
Nessa felt a prickly of fear, but shoved it aside and merely raised her brows. "You don't have to worry about that." She walked past Kylie, patting her shoulder. "He's all yours. I don't want this blossom." She grinned. "Too many thorns."



Rhone was beyond furious. WHY?! Why the fuck had she'd hugged that twin, but wouldn't even like him to touch her? What was he doing wrong?
He paced his room's floor, his feet matching the rhythm to the music pounding from his speakers. He had to do more. Give her more. Show her more. Just more. Then she'd look his way. Then she would fall at his feet. Into his bed.
Oh, he couldn't wait for that moment. He couldn't wait to have her underneath him, writhing on his sheets, against the walls, on the stairs, in his bathroom. . She would scream his name every time, he'd make sure of it. He would make sure he was the only thing in her mind. In her heart.
He froze, mid-step.
Heart? What the fuck did he care about her heart? He just wanted to prove her wrong and fuck her the way a husband was supposed to.
But what to do first? She obviously wasn't going to jump into his bed with a snap of his fingers. No, she wasn't like the rest of the women in the world. He had to get her to accept him without realizing it.
An idea popped into his head, and he smacked his fist into his hand, smiling. "That's it!" he exclaimed, his voice barely able to be heard over his music.
A date. He would take her on a date. It was a great idea! The best ever. There was only one problem: He's never been on a date before.
He'd only had to bring the girl home or take her to a hotel, then it was fun for a couple hours and he'd leave. He had no experience taking someone out. What did people do on dates? Was there some guidelines he had to follow? What about what someone said?
He frowned, going over to click off his music. He stalked out of his room and went in search of Joshua. He was a good-looking guy. Surely, he went on dates. He would know what it was all about. He'd grill him until he got the basic idea then wing the rest of it. It couldn't be that hard.



Joshua was shocked that Rhone was looking to him for advice. And on girls, no less! He had been helping Terry out in the kitchen since it was Annie and Terrance's day off and he was short on hands. Just because they didn't have big dinners every night didn't mean that Terry didn't cook in large portions. He had the servants, too, to feed, after all.
But when Rhone had grudgingly asked for his help with women, he'd nearly dropped a set of plates. Terry had sternly banished him from the vicinity and told him to deal with his problems then hurry back. But Joshua had a feeling that this wasn't going to be an easy conversation.
And he realized he'd been right when he and Rhone had sat in one of the many parlors on the first floor and he'd watched the boy pull out a pad of paper and a pen. He'd looked straight at Joshua and asked, "What do you do on a date?"
Joshua had choked on his water and watched in astonishment as his proud Young Master turned pink in embarrassment.
"Are you serious?" he asked after he'd gasped in a few breaths.
Rhone wouldn't meet his eyes, crossing his arms instead and glowering at the floor.
"With your reputation?" Joshua emphasized in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The boy who got more girls than Adonis was asking for advice on women. "Haven't you ever been on a date before?"
Rhone glared at him. He was extremely embarrassed and that just made him angry. But getting angry at Joshua wouldn't get him answers.
"What do you think?" he gritted out. "I wasn't interesting in their personalities or what they liked. I just wanted between their legs."
Joshua raised his brows at Rhone's bluntness. "Uh. . Right." He leaned forward and smiled. "She must be a special girl."
"More like a nuisance," he grumbled.
Joshua laughed. "The best ones always are." He winked at Rhone's disgruntled expression. For once, he actually liked the kid. This little slice of vulnerability showed just how human Rhone was. "So, what do you want to know?"
Rhone was shocked. Was it really that easy? Even he wasn't so ignorant to know that he had pretty much treated Joshua like shit ever since he started here two years ago. But still Joshua was willing to help him out.
No wonder Nessa liked him.
The thought pissed him off, so he shoved it aside, refusing to examine it further. "What I want to know is," he grumbled, "what you do on a date. A real date."
Joshua sat back. Something told him that Rhone's sudden interest in trying to treat a woman as more than a blow-up doll had something to do with Nessa. Part of him liked the idea of Rhone and her actually making the marriage work, but other parts - the big brother part - didn't like the thought of someone as sleezey as Rhone laying a finger on her, let alone trying to court her. It felt like giving a mouse to a snake.
"That depends on the girl," Joshua explained. "If it's a sweet girl who's kind of shy, you'd be safe with going to a movie or shopping."
Rhone wrinkled his nose as he jotted down notes on his pad. "This one isn't what you'd call 'sweet'. And she's definitely not shy."
Joshua hid a smile. Oh, yeah. The girl Rhone was so hooked on was Nessa for sure. Although it could be that blonde who kept hanging all over him. She was always popping up like she owned everything and was definitely not sweet. But Joshua crossed her out since it had been obvious from the noise upstairs that Rhone had already gotten what he'd wanted from her several times.
"What else?"
"Hm?" Joshua said, pulling himself from his musings. "Oh. Right. If the girl is rather strong-willed and beats to her own drum, an amusement park would be fun. Or the beach with a group of friends." He looked sharply at Rhone. "Yours and hers." Rhone looked up at him and frowned before writing that down. "Or a picnic," Joshua added. "Something exciting. Like taking her and the basket somewhere with a great view and away from everyone."
"You really know your stuff, don't you?" Rhone said, a little jealous. Why didn't he know this stuff?
Joshua smiled. "Well, I have had a few girlfriends. You're not the only one who has looks and charm."
"Ha!" Rhone scoffed. "Like you could compete with me."
Joshua shrugged. "Wouldn't want to. Unlike somebody, I'd like to settle down and start a family someday. With the right girl." He winked. "It's just a matter of finding her amongst the masses."
Rhone smirked. "I'd rather take the masses."
Joshua snorted. He had a feeling that Rhone didn't have a clue as to how much trouble he was in. Nessa was turning his life upside-down and, slowly, he was changing to keep up. Not only that, he didn't even realize how easily he was being led around on a string by her. Joshua was pretty sure that by the time the month was out and October started, Rhone would be head-over-heels in love with Nessa. Of course, knowing him, he would deny it every step of the way - or just not see it at all.
Joshua snickered and Rhone wondered what was going through his head. He didn't like the expression on Joshua's face. It was smug, gloating almost. Something told him it had something to do with himself, and that just didn't sit well at all.
"Anything else?" Joshua asked.
After about an hour of questioning and more ideas - and a severe emphasis on keeping his hands to himself - Rhone stood, looking down at Joshua. "You tell anyone about this, Joshua, and I'll fire you and cut out your tongue, got it?"
Joshua smiled, a little twinge of fear sneaking into his heart. He had no doubt that Rhone would fire him at the drop of a hat, but he wasn't sure he would go as far as to cut his tongue out. But, then again, he wasn't sure he wouldn't, either.
"Right," he said, fiegning confidence. "Well, then, Young Master, I'll just go back to the kitchens."
Rhone grunted. Dammit, he wanted to thank him. Instead he said, "Rhone. You can call me Rhone when no one's around." Joshua raised his brows at him and Rhone felt his face go pink. He shoved past him and out the door. "Only when we're alone, got it?!" he tossed over his shoulder as he scurried away.
Joshua had no idea what he'd said or done to gain a little approval, but he went through the rest of his day smiling.