I laughed, but the sound was breathy with anticipation. “Maybe. But I only had fun because I was with you.”
He finally kissed me again, and this time, the kiss lasted way longer and turned far too heated for a public space.
He seemed to realize the same thing because he pulled back when some giggling underclassmen from my team passed by us on their way to the lockers.
“I should go,” he said.
I nodded. “I should shower.”
“But tomorrow,” he said, a silly grin taking over his face as he walked backwards toward the exit. “I’ll pick you up for the dance?”
I nodded, a dopey grin of my own making my cheeks hurt as I watched him go.
I turned and looked at Emma, Lulu, and Charlotte, who were lined up on my bed, watching me get ready for the dance.
My first dance.
And yes, I was a senior. Maybe it was weird that I’d never gone to a dance before, but dances had just never seemed to matter. “Are you sure I don’t look ridiculous?”
“You look amazing,” Emma gushed. But then again, she’d picked out this aquamarine slinky dress, so she’d better like it.
Lulu nodded. “Stunning, Hazel.”
“You look like a mermaid,” Charlotte said in a voice that was little more than a whisper.
“A mermaid, huh?” I hitched my lips to the side as I studied my image critically. I saw where she was coming from. The color, plus the shiny material and the way it came in at the bottom…
“Is it too mermaidy?” I asked.
“Words I never thought I’d hear.” Will’s voice in my doorway had me spinning around with a gasp.
His smile was all warmth and affection, and it made everything inside me melt all at once.
“You look amazing,” he said.
The other girls were so quiet and still, I assumed they were holding their breath as they looked from Will to me in silence.
Emma broke it with a sigh. “You two are so cute.”
I blushed and ducked my head. Will laughed, crossing to me in three long strides and pulling me into his arms.
“Wait!” I squeaked. “Lulu already put on my lipstick.”
He paused halfway to my lips. “Lulu?” His gaze held mine.
“Yes?” she said.
“Is it alright if I kiss my girlfriend?”
My breath caught on the g-word, but I didn’t protest because...I liked it.
I also liked the look in his eyes as he said it. The look was a question. A confirmation. He was being bold and taking a leap and wanted to know if I was on board.
I gave him a small nod, and then Lulu said, “You’re good. I can reapply when you’re done.”
He didn’t waste a second. He kissed me long and hard and with more tenderness than I would have ever expected from Will Lansing.
“You look amazing,” he whispered when we came up for air to hear the hoots and whistles of my besties.
“Not too mermaidy?” I asked.
“Definitely not.”
“Okay, back it up,” Lulu said with a clap of her hands. “I’m reapplying. Try not to make out again until after everyone has had a chance to see her, ‘kay?”
“I’ll try.”
Emma laughed at Will’s over-the-top wink, and even Charlotte was giggling behind her hand.
Charlotte was shy around everyone, even more so around guys, but it seemed Will’s easygoing charm was enough to make even Charlotte relax.
“Shall we?” he asked, offering his arm.
I normally would have scoffed at the arm thing, but this was also my first time wearing heels, so I wasn’t about to say no to some help.
“You guys want a ride?” Will asked my friends.
And for that I loved him that much more. Not every guy would offer to escort all of my friends, and the fact that he’d offered had my heart melting into goo.
“You two lovebirds go ahead,” Emma said, waving us off. “I can drive us, and I want to see if Max is coming with us or tagging along with Avery and her new boyfriend.”
I shook my head in disbelief, but it was Lulu who voiced what I was thinking. “How crazy that two of our Lonely Hearts Club members got boyfriends in the same week.”
I winked at her. “Maybe you’re next.”
Her pretty smile faded a bit, and I couldn’t quite read the look in her eyes for a second there. But she recovered quickly and was once more the happy-go-lucky daydreamy Lulu. “Maybe.”
Her ‘maybe’ said she highly doubted it, but before I could worry about that, Emma was stepping in, wrapping one arm around Lulu’s waist and draping the other over Charlotte’s shoulders with that grin of hers.
I looked from her to Will and had to stifle a laugh.
How had I not seen it before? Will was like the guy version of my best friend. They both were so quick to laughter. They both forced me to lighten up and laugh at myself…
I leaned into Will as he dropped a kiss on the top of my head in the hallway on the way to the stairs.
“What are you grinning about?” he asked, a smile even in his voice.
“Just thinking how happy I am.”
“Good. I want you to have the best night of your life.”
He sounded so uncharacteristically serious that I looked up to see him watching me with a warmth that flooded my veins and made my ribcage feel too small.
“Will Lulu yell at me if I kiss you again?”
I pretended to think about it. “Lulu? No. But Emma might.”
His sigh was exaggerated as we headed toward the stairs. I knew without a doubt that my parents would be waiting downstairs to take some pictures before we left.
They loved to embarrass me like that.
Sure enough, the next fifteen minutes were a whirlwind as my dad chatted up Will and my mom staged photos.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that whatever photos Will took of us tonight would likely be professional quality. This was her first dance too, in a way, so I smiled my way through it.
“You kids have fun,” my dad called as we walked to Will’s car.
“We will,” I said.
“You sound awfully sure of that,” Will teased.
“I am.” I smiled up at him. “I always seem to have fun when I’m with you.”
“You do, huh?” His eyes danced with warmth and laughter as we reached his car. “So really, what you’re saying is...you need me.”
I scoffed. “I didn’t say that.”
“I mean, what would your life be like without me?” he continued, ignoring my interruption. “It’s sad to think about, really.”
“You are so ridiculous,” I said with a laugh.
His grin was shameless as he opened the passenger’s side door for me. “And you love me for it.”
Epilogue
Two weeks later…
Will
The diner was packed and everyone was in good spirits. With good reason, too. My girlfriend had just beaten her own best time and the team as a whole had beaten their rivals in just about every meet.
“Way to go today, Hazel,” Justin said as he clapped her on the shoulder on the way to his seat in the back.