I stared at the clock in my family’s kitchen with a sigh. “I should never have agreed to wait for him.”
“He’ll be here,” Eve said, squeezing my shoulder as she tried to edge past me.
Our little house was not meant for this many people. Particularly when half of these people were oversized giants from the football team.
Poor Cooper looked like he was trying to squeeze into a phone booth as he tried to stay out of everyone’s way in the far corner. My mom circled the couples, taking picture after picture as if every girl here was her daughter and not just me.
“Mom, I think you’ve taken enough pictures to last a lifetime,” I said.
“Olivia, it’s prom,” my mom chided. “You can never have too many pictures.”
With that, she turned and took a picture of me. Singular. Solo.
I threw my hands up in defeat. “Once again, I’m the only single person in the room.”
Collette laughed. “But not for long. He’ll be here.”
“Like it wasn’t bad enough that I had to go solo to the Valentine’s Day dance,” I muttered.
No one was really paying me much attention, which was fine. I was more excited than bummed. Because he would come tonight. He’d promised. He’d promised months ago when he’d sent me a long email, which had ended with him asking to be my date to the prom. He’d promised in every phone call since.
He would be here. Even if he was flying back from Switzerland.
Yeah. Apparently, his mom’s oh-so-rational reaction to my interruption at their gala was to take the whole family off to Europe so they could have some quality time.
Quality time without me went without saying.
Still, Derek had held out and remained strong, and now that he was eighteen, his parents were finally coming around to the fact that they could either accept that he was in charge of his own future or risk losing him. Because one way or the other, he was going to walk his own path from this point forward.
Just the thought had me smiling. I was beyond proud of my guy.
I glanced at the clock. But I’d be even prouder if he were punctual.
“Olivia, he’s flying all the way from Europe just to go to prom with you,” Bianca said from behind me when I got caught scowling at the clock again. “I think it’s safe to say that he’s smitten.”
I grinned. “Oh, I’m not worried about that.” Derek loved me and had no problems telling me so every chance he got. I let out a happy sigh. Such a dork. But he was my dork. And my friends were right. He would be here...eventually. His flight was probably delayed or something, but that was no reason that the entire crew had to be late.
“You guys should get going without me,” I said.
“No way.” Collette frowned at the thought of leaving me behind, and I shot her a grateful grin.
“There’s no reason we should all be late,” I said.
“There’s no reason any of you should be,” my mom said. “Olivia, you go with them. Your father and I will be here if Derek comes here first, and we’ll tell him where you are.”
I hesitated until my friends harassed me into saying yes.
With a laugh, I said goodbye to my family, ignoring Tank’s comment that I looked weird dressed as a girl. Apparently, I really didn’t do makeup or dresses very often because Tank didn’t seem to recognize me.
But Derek would. This was the same dress I’d worn the night of the now infamous gala. The night his parents will likely never let me forget.
That was fine. I wasn’t scared of his folks, and showing up that night might have been the best decision I’d ever made.
As an up-and-coming choreographer, I knew better than anyone that no one got what they wanted in life without fighting for it. And Derek? He was worth it.
The Oakwood High school gymnasium looked amazing, as did all my friends. To think, in just a few months we’d be out of the academy and high school and on to the next stage of our lives.
I couldn’t wait. But for tonight, I just wanted to revel in the fact that my friends were still here at my side, and the love of my life... I glanced toward the double doors at the entrance.
Well, he would be here.
As if on cue, he chose that moment to rush through the doors. I caught his frantic gaze moving over the crowd trying to find me and let myself have one moment to take in the sight of him.
He looked so handsome in a suit. Who was I kidding? He always looked handsome. But I felt like the luckiest girl alive as I stood there knowing that he was mine. He’d come here for me. After graduation, we would be together in every sense of the word.
Thanks to him getting into Columbia and me getting into the joint master’s program with Avery Queen and NYU, we’d even be in the same city. I walked toward him, and when his gaze met mine, I nearly tripped over my own two feet.
His smile was blinding. As he made his way toward me, I decided I wasn’t ready to share him with all my friends and the rest of the seniors of Oakwood High. Not yet, at least. So I nodded toward a side exit, and he headed that way too. I glanced over, and sure enough he was racing me.
I choked on a laugh as we both picked up our pace.
He beat me to the door but only by a second.
“Always so competitive,” he said as I barreled into him in the hallway. His arms wrapped around me, and I sighed with sheer pleasure in the relative quiet of the hallway.
He leaned down to kiss me, and my heart just about melted in my chest.
“You’re back,” I said when he pulled back to smile down at me.
“I’m back,” he agreed. “Dance with me?”
I pursed my lips and pulled back further, pretending to think it over. “I don’t know,” I said slowly. “You came late.”
He winced. “It was a long flight.”
“But you were still late.”
“Traffic,” he offered.
I was backing up further because I’d spotted a janitor’s closet and an idea was taking hold. “But you were still late.”
“Your point?” he said. He had a teasing glint in his eyes that I adored. I wanted to make him smile more, laugh more, tease more.
More, more, more. I wanted more of everything with this guy. I opened the door behind me. “I’ll dance with you...if you can beat me at stick-pull.”
“Again?” he said with a laugh.
I sniffed. “I’ve been practicing.”
“Against Tank?” he teased. “Something tells me he’s in a different weight class.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You chicken?”
He laughed as he followed me inside. “You asked for it.”
I probably should have cared that my dress was getting dirty on the floor, but I was having too much fun. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” he said.
I went to pull, and Derek went flying...right on top of me.
I was pinned to the floor and laughing so hard my belly hurt. “No fair,” I said. “You rigged the game.”
He shrugged, totally unrepentant as he kept me pressed to the floor, his lips temptingly close to mine. “You won, fair and square.”
“Uh huh.” I smiled up at him. “And what do I win?”
He arched a brow. “A kiss?”
“And a dance,” I demanded.
“Such a greedy winner,” he teased as he leaned down.
“I can’t help it if—” My retort was cut off by a kiss that stole my breath. Good thing he’d stolen my heart months ago.
“What do you say?” he asked when he pulled back. “Should we get back to the dance?”
“Let’s do it,” I said as he tugged me to my feet.
“You know, I wouldn’t let you out of that closet all night if I wasn’t certain of one thing,” I said as he linked his fingers through mine, and we headed back to the others.
“What’s that?” He smiled down at me, and I squeezed his hand in return.
“This dance? It’s the first of many.”
“And I can’t wait.” He paused before the doors to the gym to wrap me in a tight embrace. “Tonight’s just the beginning.”