My Date to the Gala

ike they belonged to someone else's li

r, the trees greener, and the breeze just the right kind of warm. It wasn't just spring

hone

ha

matches your dr

f a navy tie laid across his

e

ed it from a bridal pa

ne dramatically bowing, and he

too formal, too defined-but the shift had happened, undeniable and permanent. There were more s

ena was

her room like a promise. Her heels sat neatly beside it. The corsage her r

ing was

el like she was s

rrived with the energy

ss for the fifth time. Her roommate, Taylor, sat cro

" Taylor said, c

ing," Lena

xcitement. Or maybe

brush at her, lau

n you with Ethan for three years. And I've never

always looked at him that w

"Then tonight's the beg

, but inside, she

waiting when she

his hair slightly messy in a way that looked annoyingly perfect

" he b

"Good whoa

You look like a star. A literal

ing her nerves ea

mele

is arm. "Shal

hand into the crook of his

sparkled overhead, music played from a live band in the corner, and the room

stepped inside,

ose. "You re

. "With yo

olded in frag

ed on her toes once, and she burst out laughing. She spilled juice on her dress, an

s, fingers brushing, s

ved to professors, and shared a plate of mini chee

an to thin and the music softened-t

om, away from the chatter, beneath a g

. "You know I used

ebrow. "Dancing

his. You. With me

eath c

. "So I stayed quiet. I figured if I couldn't be the guy yo

scared too. Scared of

"But you didn't ruin an

him, heart thuddi

he said, pulling her close

e kiss

thousand things fina

lights, in a borrowed suit and a

sn't ju

conclusion of Chapter Three of My Date

o the kiss, her

was something new in Ethan's eyes-some

e began, but wo

ers brushing his. "Y

kind of silence that exists only between tw

mething?" she

yth

bout tonight. Don't let i

a, I've waited too long for you to think this is t

t from sadness-never from sadness-but from the overwh

t the crowd or who was watching. Friends passed them with kno

k outside hand in hand, shoes in their other h

an's shoulder beneath the soft night

was never

w

watch couples like this and wonder if

rm. "You do. You always did. You just neede

once. "I think I was afraid. That if I looked

ever lose

nd gestures, just quiet conv

ped in silence and soft glances, the ki

is fingers thro

e a promis

ka

r tonight-college, jobs, the chao

zed his ha

ars above them seemed