The hotel was beautiful and the hall the dance was held in was decorated with silver and midnight-blue silk streamers, balloons, drapes, and tablecloths. Hanging from the ceiling in the same colors were pretty paper lanterns shaped like jagged stars and orblike moons. At the front of the hall were a fondue table, a dance floor, and a DJ setup. My group found our table and sat down. While we waited for our dinners, we talked about the high school years we were leaving behind and the college years ahead of us. Kate and I were going to State together and were determined to be roommates. Landon had a full soccer scholarship there as well, and Chris was going to school an hour west of State. Everything seemed to be falling into place. And then I would glance at Will beside me, who watched me curiously, not as if he found it all funny, but more as if he marveled at me.

After dinner, Kate grabbed my hand and dragged me and Rachel toward the dance floor with everyone else. We joked around and danced like idiots, twirling each other around, not caring if we annoyed the gross couples booty-grinding each other. If they didn’t like us, they could leave—which was what we wanted them to do anyway. I looked back to our table, where Will and Marcus still sat like bumps on a log. Their faces were close as they talked, and when I caught Will’s eyes, he grinned mischievously at me. I took Kate’s arm and pulled her over.

“They’re plotting something,” I said into her ear.

She narrowed her eyes at them. “They sure are. They are up to no good at all.”

After more exchanges of words, they both rose from the table. Will eased his way toward me, moving around people and obstacles. I looked over at Marcus, who rounded the dance floor and made his way to the DJ. He said something to the guy, who nodded a moment later, and then the music changed. I listened to the new music, which was buried beneath the chorus of groans and F-bombs from everyone else, trying to figure out which song it had changed to, and after a few notes, I realized it was completely different. It was a waltz.

Will held his hand out to me and smiled beautifully. “May I have this dance?”

It took everything in me to keep myself from crying again as I nodded and let him take my hand. He pulled me close, his eyes bright and locked on mine. He stepped back, guiding me toward the slowly clearing floor, and his other hand clasped around mine to take the lead. Then we moved, spinning, stepping into a dance my grandfather had taught me when I was a little girl. I was a little unsure on my feet, but Will moved as if he’d done it every day for a hundred years, with a flawless grace that surprised me, made me lose myself completely in the dance, in his face. He was still smiling at me, and we stepped into perfect rhythm with the beautiful music as it led us both like a summer breeze. I felt myself blushing, and I looked away as he twirled me and paused to kiss my cheek. I laughed and he squeezed my hand. Then I noticed that the floor was completely empty, and my nerves were suddenly on fire. Faces surrounded us, watching us dance, and my body locked up with fright.

“Ellie,” he whispered, and I trembled in his arms.

I looked up into his face and I was brought back to him fully, his voice always capturing me without fail. He spun me around again, and I was lost in the music once more. When the song ended, the hall was silent for the longest moment of my life, and his lips found mine. He kissed me sweetly, in front of everyone, one hand on my waist, the other tight around my own. A storm of emotion—joy, sadness, exhaustion—twisted and rushed through me, so much that I couldn’t breathe or stand without threatening to fall, and a tear spilled down my cheek as he kissed me. When he pulled away, his eyes were blazing green, practically glowing in the dark ballroom.

“Are you happy?” he asked, his voice gentle and eager.

I nodded and smiled, my entire body rushing with heat and wings. “Yes. I’ve never been happier in my life.” I was laughing and crying then, even as the song changed back to the modern, upbeat music the DJ had been playing all night and everyone else spilled back onto the dance floor with us. As I let myself drown out the voices and faces and music consuming the hall, I never wanted the moment to end. I believed, in that moment, that everything we’d endured for hundreds of years together, that it was all building up to this moment, always predestined, always meant to be. We were kissing again, arms wrapped around each other, pulling away and smiling, his fingers in my hair, my hands on his shoulders, kissing and laughing. I held him tight, memorizing the moment, the feel of him, the curve of his smile, the sound of his voice, and nothing else existed in the entire world but him and me.

Back at Kate’s for the after party, I was rejuvenated. We were all much more relaxed, and Will took off his tie and unbuttoned his collar, complaining that it’d been strangling him all night. While the boys untucked their dress shirts, we girls all stayed in our gowns, getting as much use out of them as possible, but by this time we’d all taken off our heels, to give our feet a break.

As the night wore on and I’d had enough of dancing and beer pong, I found Will and eased up to him. I pressed my hands into his chest and slid them south. A playful grin toyed with the corners of his mouth as I bit my lower lip and slipped the tips of my fingers into his waistband. I tugged him closer to me. “I need some air,” I said with an edge to my voice. “Do you need some air?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I need some air.”

I walked backward, dragging him along by his pants. “Let’s go get some air.”

Outside, the air was cool but tolerable, and just enough to wake us both up. It was quiet besides our soft laughter, and when we came to a stop, he wrapped a hand around my cheek, smoothing his thumb across my skin.