He’s in an animated conversation with Will. Gavin gestures excitedly with a beer in his hand and Will gives him a wry smile.

I take another step and stop at the edge of the lawn under the string of white lights. In nearly every romcom movie, there’s a moment when the man sees his woman in a new way. Their eyes meet, music swells, and there’s a reaction. I call it the long stare.

“Look at me,” I whisper. “Come on. Long stare for the win.”

The long stare is the second-most common way couples recognize their connection. An awesome meet-cute was number one, but that didn’t quite work out.

The bluegrass music picks up and segues into the perfect song for couples to dance to. I start to sway. Then, thank you fate, Gavin looks up. He sees me. His eyes widen. He says something to Will.

Will looks at me, and something flickers in his eyes, but it’s replaced by a black look. His warning fills my mind. But it doesn’t matter, because Gavin looks at me again. From across the lawn our eyes meet. The lights twinkle, the music swells and—yes—Gavin and I are doing the long stare.

Any second now he’ll feel the connection. In fact, any second now I’ll feel something, that lightning strike of awareness.

Just one more second of—

Will shoves his beer in Gavin’s hand and steps in front of him.

A flare of annoyance fills me. I step to the right and try to see past Will. He steps with me. I clench my jaw and step to the right again. Will moves with me. I step twice to the left. Will moves with me. He completely blocks my view of Gavin. His lips turn up, and his eyes glitter, he shakes his head at me. Telling me no.

“No,” he mouths.

“Yes,” I say.

He’s twenty feet away, steadily moving toward me. I step left, he mirrors me. I move right, he moves too. All the while he holds my gaze. His eyes lock on mine and I can’t look away. I keep moving and he moves with me. We’re in some sort of strange dance that’s taking place a field apart. Every time I try to look away, break away, there he is again, pulling my eyes back to him.

Until all there is, is the music, the lights and me and Will.

I shake my head no.

He nods his head yes.

Suddenly, he’s in front of me. He stops less than a foot away. Entirely too close. I lift my chin so I can keep holding his stare. I won’t be the first to back down. With Will, you can’t show any weakness; he’ll take advantage of it. Every time.

“What do you want?” I ask, holding his gaze.