twenty-nine

        if you would like a visual for Ivy's dress, it's on www.promfy.com titled 'royal blue satin thigh-high slit long prom dress'

•••

        And we resume. The group of teenagers got ready for the New Years' party, putting on nice suits and dresses. Ivy walked into her room and grabbed the dress from where it was hanging up to avoid wrinkles. It was a royal blue color. It was satin and had a slit that showed part of her leg. She put on her beige stiletto heels and curled her hair, causing it to be shorter than it already was. She began to touch up her makeup as Sirius knocked on her door.

"Can I come in?" He spoke, his voice muffled.

"Yeah," Ivy replied as she brushed her eyelids with eyeshadow. Sirius came in with a nice suit on. He gasped once he saw Ivy.

"You look gorgeous. The boys out there will wet themselves once they see you."

Ivy shook her head exasperatedly, adding the finishing touches to her makeup. Sirius walked over, peering in the mirror from behind her. They talked for a few more minutes as they got ready. Ivy sighed.

        "I've got to finish my makeup, it might take a few minutes. Tell them I'll be out soon."

"Alright. Can't wait to see the other boys' jaws drop!" Sirius said with the clap of his hands as he sauntered out of her room. After a few minutes, she gave one last short nod to the mirror before opening the door timidly.

Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were standing in the hallway, looking at the time. They all had nice suits on. Sirius's was the most flashy, it was red and black, while the other three went for more neutral colors. James heaved an annoyed, short groan.

"Ugh, took you long enough," James began, stopping once he took his eyes off the clock on the wall. The boys except Sirius stared at her, wide-eyed. Remus felt a blush rise up his cheeks as he looked at her. The heels added a good few inches to her height, making it easier for all of them to talk to her. She approached them with the small bag that matched her shoes, a smile playing on her lips.

"Come on, let's get going, shall we?" Ivy said, pushing them towards the ballroom that happened to be located in James's house.

"Don't you look lovely," Remus said with a smile. Ivy gave a laugh, saying a bashful thank you.

         James, Sirius, and Peter made knowing eye contact and purposefully walked a little slower than the two in front of them. After a few minutes of walking and not talking at all, Ivy glanced at Remus timidly. "By the way, you look nice too, Remus." She said. Remus looked at the ground, but she could still make out a smile on his face. They reached the dance floor. "Should we dance?"

        "I'm not very good at dancing," Remus said, rubbing the back of his neck. Ivy shrugged.

        "We don't have to, then. It's not very fun, anyways."

        "Are you any good at dancing?" Remus asked as they sat down in the chairs.

        "Yeah, I guess. Like I said today, I do ballet sometimes and ballroom dancing was just an added class. So this is all kind of second nature," Ivy said with a shrug. James and Sirius were dancing with each other completely wrong and bumping into people as they ungracefully waltzed around. Peter was off chatting with some adults.

        "I'm not all that good at dancing or ice skating. I'm too lanky or something," Remus said with a short laugh. Ivy smiled.

        "You weren't that bad at ice skating."

        "You're a shitty liar."

        They laughed for a few seconds before calming down. Ivy was first to break the eye contact.

        "Being lanky is a good thing. I mean, I'm pretty short, and I'd like to be tall," Ivy said. Remus ran a hand through his short, light brown hair, sighing.

        "Yeah, I guess it's alright sometimes. Girls like tall guys, right?" Remus said, smirking. Ivy widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows at his mention of girls.

        "Why are you asking? You got a crush on a lovely lady?"

         Remus smiled, looking down at the floor. If only she knew the half of it.

        "Maybe."

         "What is that supposed to mean? Okay, come on, who is the lucky girl?" Ivy teased. She didn't know why she was doing this because if he actually said someone's name other than herself, she would probably throw herself off the Astronomy Tower.

         "Can't say," Remus said with a cheeky smile, his cheeks turning pink. Ivy rolled her eyes with a scoff.

        "Okay, fine. Keep your secrets," Ivy said with a small, suspicious smile as she looked around the elegant room.

They spent the rest of the night dancing, talking in bad posh accents, and drinking champagne. Sirius brought a lot of personality and fun amongst the majority of the people since most of them were old and boring. Ivy and Remus ballroom danced together, causing James, Sirius, and Peter to gossip from the sidelines.

"Look at him! That smug bastard!" Sirius said as they stared at him. He was laughing at something Ivy had said. "He isn't even a good dancer, I could do much better."

"Ivy looks pretty smug too," Peter said thoughtfully, looking at her grinning face. "She'd probably be happier if Remus would stop stepping on her fucking toes, though."

        As Sirius, James, and Peter whispered amongst themselves, Ivy and Remus stepped off the dance floor.

        "Do you want to step out of this room for a second? It's hot in here," Ivy said, fanning herself. Remus nodded, and they walked out of the fancy ballroom. They stood a few steps away from the dance room near a cracked window so they could cool off. The volume didn't really go down since the double doors were wide open. They could still hear conversations and light jazz music.

"These fuckers are so uncomfortable!" Ivy said as she gestured to the heels she was wearing. Remus laughed, throwing his head back and bouncing on his heels.

"I don't doubt it. I think guys have it much easier when it comes to fashion," Remus said, pointing down to his own shoes. Ivy nodded, throwing her arms up in agreement.

"Gah, thank you! You don't know how many guys I've talked to that say I'm being dramatic," Ivy huffed as she placed a hand on her hip. Remus stuffed his hands into his pockets and smiled back at her. Suddenly, just looking at her standing there, a realization hit him like a truck: he didn't want to be just friends with Ivy anymore. They were all alone. Remus didn't really know what he was doing, but the words were already out of his mouth by the time he realized what he said.

          "Listen, Ivy..." Remus began, pinching the bridge of his nose. She looked at him intently, wondering what he would say next. "Earlier when I said that you know the girl I fancy..."

        "Yeah...?"

        "The girl is you."

        Ivy raised her eyebrows, more than a little bit shocked. She thought about it for a second before everything began to make sense. The little hints James, Sirius, and Peter gave. The accidental eye contact. Sitting up straighter whenever she walked into a room. Looking for her reaction whenever something happened. For someone so observant, it had taken her quite a while to put together this puzzle.

"Ten!"

The crowd inside the ballroom began to count down the seconds to New Years'.

"Nine!"

        Remus knew the tradition. So did Ivy.

        "Eight!"

The New Years' tradition was to kiss at the stroke of midnight. Preferably with someone who you were in a relationship with so this could signal the strength of your relationship.

"Seven!"

Of course, like most traditions, it wasn't necessary. It was encouraged, but not necessary at all. They could just ignore the counting.

"Six!"

Remus and Ivy were speechless. Ivy took a step towards Remus, looking in his eyes frantically for any signs of disinterest.

"Five!"

Remus watched Ivy as she nervously took another step to him, bringing them close to each other. Closer than they had ever been before, now that she was wearing heels.

"Four!"

        Ivy studied his face nervously, wondering if she was making the right choice.

"Three!"

        "Remus..." Ivy began. He listened intently, waiting for her to speak again.

"Two!"

        "I feel the same way," She said quietly, looking between his eyes and lips.

"One!"

        There was a short beat of silence.

"Happy New Year!"

And suddenly in one quick motion, they broke the distance. Ivy cupped his face as he rested his hands on her hips.

After what felt like ages, they broke apart from the kiss. Everyone in the ballroom had gotten back to their conversations and the jazz music resumed. Ivy and Remus looked at each other, still only inches apart. She blinked and took a step back.

     Remus's hands were stuffed back into his pockets, leaning against the wall as if nothing happened. She looked at him with a small smile before looking away again.

"Er... I'm gonna head to bed. It's getting kinda late. Tell Sirius, James, and Peter where I've gone if you get the chance."

"Okay," Remus said quietly. Ivy gave a small nod.

       "Happy New Year, Remus," Ivy said, taking a step towards him.

         "Happy New Year."

        She studied him for a second, looking into his light brown, yellowish-green eyes before breezing past him and walking to her room. Her heels were loud on the tiled floor.

She got ready for bed, almost feeling numb. Sure, she kissed Remus. She was still mulling over everything that had happened.

Outside of the cozy guest room, Sirius was throwing a riot about what Remus had just told him had happened.

•••

in the past few days, i've gotten so many comments and reads and i just want to say THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! i always get so nervous whenever i get comments because i'm scared they'll be critical but they're all so nice and thank you so much.

also, i've this chapter written for weeks. probably over a month. it's been through a lot, let me tell you that. i've edited it so much that it's nowhere close to the original. it took so much self-control not to just release all the chapters i have (i'm about four chapters ahead of the readers hehe)

also, i'm writing a sirius black fanfic on quotev and i might be transferring it to wattpad soon after i rewrite a few chapters (i started that book when i was eleven, so it's pretty horrible) stay on the lookout for that and other works in progress 👀 it will probably be a while though so don't get hopeful ha. the book is called determined. it sucks, so be warned.

in conclusion, thank you so much for reading this story that started out on a whim. i literally saw like a headcanon of how remus would be as a teenager and i was like 'hmm, i'm gonna write a fanfic about that!' so i'm surprised i've made it this far. i'm currently trying to edit the beginning chapters for future readers so they aren't as cliche and don't talk about remus's and ivy's relationship so much because i don't want their only personality trait to be each other.

okay i'll stop now, thank you and bye!!