It did. All kinds of exciting feelings were swirling around in my body now that I was so close to Jude. It made my fight with Margot and my episode on the ice fade into the distance, and I liked that. I liked that a lot.

“Can I kiss you?” Jude said softly.

And just like that, everything else disappeared completely.

I pressed my lips to his. He breathed in sharply, and in an instant he was kissing me back. All around us it was freezing. But the feeling of his lips on mine made me feel warm, safe. I heard a rustling sound, and then Jude’s fingers, ungloved, held my face, ran through my hair.

It was so… good. Somewhere in the back of my brain I knew the reason I’d done it was wrong. A distraction. Something to ease the pain. But I couldn’t deny the way my whole body felt like it was doing something it wanted, something right.

We finally broke away from each other but stayed close, our breaths coming fast, making one big cloud between us.

“I’ve wondered what that would be like for a long time,” Jude said, resting his forehead on mine.

“Really?”

He looked at me incredulously. “I thought it was obvious.”

“There were other times it could have happened, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Winter Formal. Parking lot after rehearsal. Fly Zone.” I ticked them off on my fingers.

“Yup,” Jude said, his smile big and goofy and a bit dazed. “I wanted to kiss you in all those places.”

“So why didn’t you?” It was mostly a joke, but Jude pulled away a little.

“Because—”

Footsteps tore my eyes away from his. “Oops! Sorry!” a familiar voice said, and I locked eyes with someone I hadn’t thought I’d ever see again.

“Juliet?”

“Alina? Oh my God!” I stood up and she enveloped me in a hug. I hadn’t seen her for so long she almost didn’t seem real. When she stepped back, she squeezed my shoulders before letting go. I stared at her face—cheeks pink from the cold, blue eyes framed by pale eyebrows.

“It’s good to see you,” I was finally able to say.

“You too. We’ve missed you. A lot.” She looked over my shoulder to where Jude was sitting, and then back to me with a curious smile.

“Oh. Jude. This is Juliet.” I glanced in his direction. “We went to ballet school together.”

“Uh, hey,” Jude mumbled, stuffing his hands back into his gloves.

“Alina had the best musicality I’ve ever seen. And kickass extensions,” Juliet said. I couldn’t help but smile. That wouldn’t mean much to someone outside the ballet world, but Juliet was trying to make me look good, and that was the only way she knew how.