Closed A Brief Interruption, a Slight Malfunction

[Isadora Novak]

Isadora couldn't quite believe this was her final yule ball ever. She had poured herself a drink and took in the great hall. So many of the dancing kids looked quite young to her now, was she really getting old? She wasn't ready to be an adult yet. She sighed, took a deep sip of her drink, then went over to where she spotted Cameron. She nudged him as she moved next to him. "I guess you don't have a date either?" She asked him with a slight smile. "Have you seen Margo and Michael yet?" She added lightly, sure the two of them were having a very romantic time. She sort of wanted to ruin it, though she knew that was unfair. It just felt like her, Cameron and Margo should all be together for these last milestones. Well, at least she had Cameron.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

The temptation to skip the Ball tonight had been a strong one. Cameron was still pretty sore after his encounter with Yuelia and he was pretty sure Rosie wouldn't hold it against him if he skipped out on getting photos tonight. But there was no getting around it that tonight would be the last Yule Ball Cameron attended ever, and even if he never really cared for them, he couldn't exactly bring himself to ditch. Especially not when it also meant ditching Margo and Isadora in the process. Or, at least Isadora at this point he thought, holding up his camera and snapping a picture of her as she headed over to him.

"What gave it away," he asked her dryly, motioning to the empty space around him where there was obviously no one standing. Well. Besides her, Cameron supposed, clearing his throat as the idea of just saying she was his date flashed through his mind. No, between pushing Margo into a fountain and dumping Veronique, Cameron hadn't exactly had the best track record with girls at dances in the past. "I'm sure they're... around thought whether we actually wanna find them," he said with a shrug, shifting to glance around the hall in an attempt to stop staring at Isadora in her dress. "Oh, look, mistletoe," he said vaguely, the words out of his mouth before he'd really thought about them as he motioned to the sprig floating above them.

 

[Isadora Novak]

Isadora sighed as Cameron took a picture of her as she walked over, giving her no time to adjust her dress or anything. She wondered if herself in the photo would look as annoyed about it as she felt. Probably. The moving picture might give him a rude gesture, which was a funny idea. Isadora smiled when Cameron joked with her a bit about not having a date, at least he wasn't mad she asked. "Takes one to know one." She said with a small shrug. Isadora waved him off. "Let's not try to find them, we might walk in on them making out or something. We'll see them around probably." She said, sipping her drink as she scanned the dance floor. She glanced at Cameron as he pointed out the mistletoe, following his gaze up. "Oh, yeah." She said, but then she froze and glanced back up at it and then back at Cameron. Why... had he pointed that out? Did he mean anything by it? Usually, people wouldn't say anything unless... She stared at Cameron uncertainly.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron nearly choked as he finished processing what they were both looking at, looking over at Isadora and quickly looking back at the mistletoe as he managed to catch her eye. He should play it off as a joke, he told himself firmly. It would be weird but pretty funny to swoop in and kiss her on the cheek, he could probably be super obnoxious about it and maybe narrowing avoid her throwing her drink in his face for it. It'd be funny, maybe he could even take a picture while doing it he thought, blinking fast. But the imagine of leaning down to kiss Isadora had shorted out his brain somehow, even as he turned to do it. Just her cheek, but if he swerved just to the left. Her mouth was right there. It would be weird, Cameron told himself furiously, still somehow moving to the close the gap between him and Isadora's faces.

 

[Isadora Novak]

Time seemed to freeze, which was not something Isadora had ever experienced before. But as she watched Cameron, she became more and more convinced he had meant it that way, the way he was looking at her seemed to confirm it. Isadora's heart was beating fast and her mind was racing, what did this mean? Did Cameron like her? Like that? Isadora didn't- hadn't ever thought of him that way. Or had she? Maybe she had wondered occasionally what it would be like, but dating and stuff had never seemed that interesting to her. She found herself leaning down slightly, wondering where he was going with this. This could be a huge mistake, but she was going to go with it. She wasn't backing down.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron wasn't sure how long he could spend hanging in this moment before he ruined something. He had seconds, less than that even to call it off and still play it off as a joke. Or to swoop in and press a messy kiss to Isadora's cheek like he'd been meaning to. But the thought of kissing her, really kissing her had entered his mind and taken root more stubborn than any weed. And now Cameron was sure Isadora was leaning towards him too. A surge of panic shot through him and he hurriedly closed the gap, fumbling and pressing an awkward, fleeting kiss to the corner of her mouth. Why did girls always have to wear heels to these things he thought, trying to fend off the cringe he was sure was trying to fight its way onto his face as he dropped back from where he'd stood on his tiptoes to reach. Blinking quickly and feeling his ears heat up, Cameron hurriedly looked away from Isadora, trying to act normal.

 

[Isadora Novak]

Isadora's breath caught in her throat as Cameron came even closer, he was actually doing it, he was going to kiss her. Isadora closed her eyes, ready to take in the moment and savor it. Even though she didn't think she liked Cameron that way, this was still special. It was her first kiss. That was supposed to be magical, right? Everyone knew that. But then... all she felt were his dry lips brush against the corner of her mouth, the sensation so fleeting she wondered fir a moment if she had imagined it. Her eyes opened again. Was that it? Surely not. No, it wasn't. Isadora shook her head slightly, she wasn't going to let that be it. If he was going to kiss her, he should do it properly. She grabbed his chin to turn his head back, maybe a little roughly, then leaned down and planted a firmer kiss on his lips, holding his shoulder with her other hand to keep him from running off. Or to keep herself steady. One or the other.

 

[Cameron Roswell]

He'd missed her mouth. Had he been aiming for her mouth? Maybe he'd missed her cheek? Was that worse? Should he be saying something? Or laughing? No, no way would laughing in this situation make anything better, Cameron thought hurriedly until all thoughts came to a screeching halt as Isadora grabbed his chin.

There was no ambiguity about the second kiss. Assuming the first one counted at all. This was definitely a kiss though, closed mouth and still awkward, but Cameron felt something shoot through like he'd been shocked, a hand snapping out to hold Isadora's waist to mirror the one on his shoulder, to stop himself crashing into her, to hold himself in place.

Cameron dropped back onto his heels again, staring blankly forward for a moment until he realized he was now just staring at Isadora's chest and hurriedly averting his eyes with a grunt. "Uh. Yeah cool. Happy- Happy Yule I guess," he said with a half-panicked sort of hand wave, trying to divert to his original plan of playing this whole idea off as no big deal and failing spectacularly as he glanced back to peer at Isadora like she'd grown another head (would he kiss that one too?).

 

[Isadora Novak]

Isadora blinked as Cameron broke the kiss. She wasn't sure what had just happened. She stared at him for a moment. "That's- that's all you have to say after kissing me?" She asked, hissing the last part as if she was trying to keep it quiet, forgetting anyone around them could have just seen them kiss. "Don't- don't look at me like that, you started it." She spluttered urgently as she saw him look at her weirdly. She flushed. "You kissed me."

 

[Cameron Roswell]

Cameron stared back at Isadora, opening and closing his mouth a few times (part of him feeling like he could still feel her lips pressed against his own). "I-what," He finally spluttered. "Who just grabbed who??" This at least, was familiar territory. Kissing Isadora was as scary and incomprehensible as a dark pit, but arguing with her, now that Cameron could do, feeling his face and ears heat up but now sure he could pass it off for annoyance rather than anything else. "Besides, it was-was mistletoe," he added, waving a hand above them again, double-taking when it seemed the sprig that he'd spotted earlier had already whisked itself away to cause problems somewhere else.