Avery kept his word to Loreley and Laila, he each found them a respective places to try and nurture their dreams. Though Agni was against the idea for the girls to separate from each other, she reluctantly agreed.
The week went by in a flash and it was finally Valentine's day. The school was bustling about with exuberant energy as students were running around delivering treats, cards and making confessions.
Olivia was busy stabbing her her food with her fork in the cafeteria, while Rodan kept her company. "I wish I was like you Rodan." Olivia said with a groan, as she spun the meatball around with her fork. "What do you mean?" he asked as he took a sip of his tea. Olivia sighed "You seem perfectly ok with other guys confessing to Autumn while I need to distract myself so I don't go on a rampage."
Rodan gave her a soft chuckle "You do realize we are talking about Autumn right." He placed his cup down and looked at her seriously "She has already rejected every guy that came up to her in advance and right now she's giving a lethal dose of venomous words to the girls that are trying to confess to me, so what do I need to worry about?" he said candidly.
"My goodness Rodan you have become quite the wicked one haven't you?" Olivia laughed. Rodan flashed her a sinister smile "Well of course! My wife has trained me well." Olivia laughed harder and felt a lot better about their initial talk. She gave Rodan her biggest smile "Thanks for cheering me up." Rodan shrugged his shoulders "Not sure what you mean. Even though we both know Eli is devoted to only you so there is no need to worry."
Olivia slumped onto the table "Ya... but he's been hiding things from me. He hasn't told me why he's been meeting up with River and I gotta say I'm worried." Rodan froze at her words, he tried to look at her face but she hide it in her arms "How do you know he's meeting up with her?" he said cautiously.
Olivia peeked up from her arms and looked at him sadly "Quinn told me." Rodan slammed his fist against the table "He's still approaching you! Has he done anything to you? Have you told Eli?!" he demanded as he narrowed his eyes.
Olivia was touched that he felt so protective "You must really love Autumn to want to take care of me too." she told him with a smile. Rodan became furious "Of course I do! She sees you as family and I don't want to see her cry! Now answer my question is he still approaching you!" he yelled.
Olivia sighed, shook her head no and pulled out her phone. She placed it on the table and once Rodan sat down she slid it across to him. Rodan looked at the screen and saw the loads of text messages she had been receiving. His face became pale as he flipped through the messages and images.
Once he was done he passed the phone back to her. Olivia gave him a bitter sweet smile "And he still hasn't asked me to the dance."
...
It was finally time and the Steel girls had gotten themselves ready. Since Eli never asked her to the dance she thought she would do things a little differently and asked her sisters to be her dates for the evening.
Laila and Loreley were excited that they could go but they had nothing to wear. Avery had their backs and ordered the girls all new dresses for the evening. He patiently waited in the foyer as they got ready, to his surprise he teared up a little when they started to walk down the steps.
"Aww my babies look so beautiful!" he proclaimed as he gave them each a hug and kiss while Agni stood to the side quietly looking them over. He bought them all vintage tea dresses all in the same floral prints but in different colors. "I hope you don't mind matching at the dance but I couldn't resist!" he said with such delight.
The girls beamed at him. Laila was wearing a pink dress with red and white floral print, covering the top half of her dress and the bottom trim, while Loreley had a red dress with pink and white flowers and Olivia wore the white dress with pink and red flowers. Avery quickly pulled out his phone and started taking numerous pictures of his girls. The girls were delighted that they had a photo shoot but it was getting late and they wanted to make it to the dance.
Avery grabbed his keys and asked Agni if she wanted to come along for the car ride. "No thank you darling. I have some things to prepare here for your return." she said seductively as she turned and went back up the stairs. Avery turned beat read as he pushed the girls out the door, never noticing the matching disgusted faces they wore.
"Ok dad we will call you when we are ready to come home." Olivia said as she kissed her dad on the cheek. "Bye dad!" shouted Laila. "Bye dad, love you! Drive safe!" echoed Loreley. Avery gave them all a wave as he drove off.
Olivia stood in front of them beaming with joy "What?" the twins asked. Olivia crossed her arms over her chest and brought her face towards them "I'm so happy you are calling him dad now instead of 'father', makes us feel more like a family now doesn't it?" she said teasingly.
The twins blushed crimson for their slip "Whatever... it was bound to happen so get over it." Loreley said in a huff while Laila smiled "It felt so natural to call him dad." she giggled. Olivia laughed at the two and hooked her arms around theirs. "Well enough standing around let's go have some fun!" she shouted as the walked through the front doors.
As the girls made their way into the hall the were immediately assaulted by flowers. There were pots and pot of flowers of all kinds of flowers, roses, carnations, lilies, daisies, buttercups, tulips and peonies surrounding the entrance of the hall.
As they walked further in they saw that the school had set up multiple photo booths along the one wall, a DJ playing in the back, lights shining colorful rays in various directions, raised booth seating areas for people to sit and heart shaped balloon center pieces.
The girls went looking around for Olivia's friends, when they noticed a fluffy bunny girl jumping and waving her arms around, they smiled as they spotted everyone else next to her. Laila couldn't help herself as she hugged Autumn who dressed herself in a white and pink, fluffy one piece sleeveless dress, pink fingerless, arm length gloves, white laced knee high socks and a fluffy, bunny ear, Lolita hat.
Autumn welcomed the affection and snuggled against her chest. Out of everyone Autumn seemed the only one happy to see the Steel girls, Olivia sensed the tension and looked at Blair for some sort of explanation. Blair hugged herself and looked at Marek with pitiful eyes. "I got it." Marek said as he kissed her forehead.
"Olivia is everything going ok between you and Eli?" he asked as he approached her. Olivia was shocked that she was asked such a question. "As far as I know ya. I mean I go to his house regularly, we train and have dinner like normal... the only weird thing was he didn't ask me if I wanted to come to the dance and when I asked him, he dodged my question.... why?" she asked as her heart pounded against her chest.
Marek grabbed her shoulders and gave her a sorrowful expression before turning her around. "Eli came with River and we want to know why?"