Have fun!”

The second she finished her sentence, some people jumped to their feet and headed out the door, where loud music was starting to play.

“Do you want to?” Elle asked.

“Yes,” I immediately said, my heart leaping at the idea.

Elle only stopped once more to tap Crystal on the shoulder.

“Mom? Will you still be here when I come back?”

“Of course, baby,” Crystal responded, squeezing her daughter’s hand. “My flight is scheduled in two days. I’m staying in a hotel in town.”

Elle nodded, clearly relieved, before she turned around and pulled me towards the door.

I gasped when we stepped out into the entrance hall. Dozens of couples in sparkling dresses and fancy suits were twirling across the floor, drenched in the golden glow of the chandelier overhead. Fairy lights were wrapped around the railings of the stairs and draped across the arched doorways, shining like the stars I could just barely make out behind the windows. It was like I had stepped into a ballroom like the ones in Jane Austen’s novels, except I didn’t have to spend the evening courting the person I had set my eyes on but walked in with her hand already firmly in mine.

“A little corny, isn’t it?” Elle said with a teasing grin that told me she knew exactly what I was thinking.

I shook my head, still utterly starstruck, and whispered, “It’s romantic.”

Elle hummed and lowered into a small curtsy. In an exaggerated Regency-era British accent, she asked, “May I have this dance then?”

“Yes,” I breathed, trying and failing to hold back a giddy smile.

“You may.”

The next thing I knew, Elle was pulling me onto the dance floor, her hands on my waist and her eyes shining brighter than all the stars in the sky. Looking over her shoulder, I saw Jasper and Seth whirling around in a tangle of limbs, both of them laughing as they tried to figure out the steps. Close to them was Sammy, Jasper’s ex-boyfriend; he smiled at Jasper as he twirled by with his arms around Aiden from the drama club, not a trace of hostility on either of their faces. Miss Pepperman and Giovanni were swaying in the corner, offbeat but beaming at each other.

Finally, on the outskirts of the crowd, I spotted Amelia. She was standing with Elina, the girl from our class who was on the cheerleading squad as well. She was grinning at Amelia, tugging at her hand until Amelia breathed a nervous laugh and let herself be pulled onto the dance floor, timidly placing her hands on the other girl’s waist.

“Elle,” I whispered, jerking my head in Amelia’s direction.

She turned us around a little so she could see, whistling through her teeth. “Who would’ve thought.”

“Looks like everyone’s getting their happy ending after all,” I softly said.

Elle smiled in a way that made my heart feel like it was too big for my chest and pulled me closer until I could see every little speck in her warm brown eyes, open and unguarded—and God, I was so in love with her I felt it in every cell of my body, all the way down to my toes.