As if suddenly aware he had an audience, Luke stopped fiddling with the mic and glanced around uncomfortably. “Uh, good evening.”

In the center of the room, Zach waved and pointed to his pedestal. Eyes wide with consternation, Luke shook his head adamantly. The awkward standoff continued until, with a huff of disgust, Zach yanked his robe on and marched over to the corner.

“What’s going on?” Julia wondered, as Zach pushed Luke forward, sending him stumbling toward the platform. “You don’t think he’s planning to—”

“Show us his banana?” Andie asked, smirking.

“I think I kno-o-ow,” Kat sang, turning her paintbrush into a microphone.

Julia glanced at her friend. “He wouldn’t.”

“It was the bonus activity you selected, right?” Andie asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect…” Her voice faltered as she watched Luke step onto the platform.

“Good evening,” Luke said again. He cleared his throat. “I would like to dedicate this to someone I wanted to do something special for.” He paused, nodding at Zach. A moment later, the first soft strains of a vaguely familiar eighties song filled the room. He shifted in a circle on the platform until he faced Julia. “I think she knows who she is.”

Julia watched, frozen, as Luke lifted the mic to his lips. He wasn’t singing, exactly, but making a sort of breathy humming sound. She glanced down, discomfited. It was her fault he was subjecting himself to this humiliation.

But as Luke broke into the first line of the song, Julia met his eyes. And once their gazes locked, she couldn’t look away. She bit her lip, wondering how it was possible for her heart to be a balloon and her stomach a stone at the same time.

He might not be Heath Ledger in the bleachers, but his deep voice was tender and sincere, if off-key. And that bit of imperfection only made it all the more endearing. Julia’s breath caught in her chest as something warm and delicate unfurled inside her.

Andie reached for her hand and squeezed. Eyes still locked on Luke, Julia squeezed back, grateful to have something to hold on to, a link to solid ground, as her world slipped on its axis.

When the song reached its chorus, Luke lowered the microphone. Music still playing, eyes still on Julia, he reached out his hand to her.

“What are you waiting for?” Andie asked

Kat leaned toward Julia and whispered in her ear, “Go to him.”

Julia looked at her friends. They both nodded. Andie gave her one more squeeze, releasing her hand with a look that said if Julia didn’t join Luke, she was out of her mind.

She felt out of her mind. Breathless and scared and excited, she stepped forward to where Luke stood waiting for her on the raised platform, arm still outstretched.

She reached her hand out and he clasped her fingers in his and pulled her onto the platform.