“So where’s Juliet?” I ask it casually, but I can see him grimace.
“I dunno,” he says. “Haven’t spoken to her.”
“Oh.”
“Rosie, I told you it’s no big deal. I’m just doing this for you.” He draws me close to him the way he did by the Cliffs. It feels nice, safe. It makes me start to relax. “We’re okay, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, angling closer to him.
“Good, because regardless of who my technical date tonight is, I want to dance with you.”
“Corny,” I say, “but I’ll take it.”
He stabs himself in the chest with his hand. “Only for you.”
“Okay, Romeo,” Charlie says. “Are we dancing, or what?”
The song changes, and “Walking on Sunshine” starts playing. Charlie thought old songs would be appropriate for the Fall Back theme. “Like throwback,” she said. I’ve always loved this song. It reminds me of summer and being young, and when Rob grabs my hand and starts twirling me on the dance floor, all thoughts of Juliet fly right away.
It’s dark out, and as Rob spins me around, the paper lanterns zigzag beams of light across the courtyard. I feel like I do on theswings ride at Six Flags, like the world is going a million miles a minute and yet I’m completely lost in one moment. Things moving by so quickly, they look like they’re completely standing still. The best kind of paradox.
Charlie and Jake are getting along for the moment, and Olivia is stuck to Ben, dancing way too slow for this song. I find myself smiling so hard I start to laugh. It’s perfect, this moment. So completely wonderful I want to stay here forever.
The song ends, and Rob twirls me one last time. “Nice moves, Rosie,” he says. We’re both a bit breathless.
My dress has shifted dangerously low, and my hair is wet, some of it matted to the back of my neck. I already feel like a drowned rat, and we practically just got here. I need to freshen up.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” I say to Rob.
“I’ll be waiting for you,” he says as he pulls me to him and kisses me once softly on the cheek. He’s a little bit sweaty, and the kiss is damp, but I still walk away with my hand over the spot where his lips have just been. It’s perfect. This entire night is turning out better than I ever could have imagined.
A few freshman girls are in the bathroom, and they take one look at me and scramble to leave. It’s funny to remember feeling that way—small and insecure. Between this dress and Rob’s kiss, it seems like such a long time ago.
I’m alone in the bathroom, in front of the mirrors. I feel dizzy, like I need to sit down, except I’m too excited to even stand still.You’re beautiful, Rob said, and being here now, for the first time since he said it, I think it might be true. I look at this girl in the silver backless dress andfeelbeautiful. I was so silly to think that things might not work out for us, or to even give two seconds to this Juliet thing. It’s Rob. And me. And when he kissed me, it felt right. I was so comfortable being close to him.
I mean, Rob was the one who rode behind me the day I took the training wheels off my bike. He was the one who, when I got stung by that wasps’ nest while pulling up tomato plants in my mom’s garden, bought me sunglasses to cover how swollen my eyes were. He was the one who trained with me every day in the pool at summer camp our fifth-grade year so that I could finally make it to the color orange group. He was there when our dog, Sally, died. He was the one who insisted we have a funeral and even wrote a poem: “Sally did not dillydally. She died today. It’s sad to say.” He was the one who held me when Charlie and I got in a gigantic fight last year, when I thought that maybe we wouldn’t be friends anymore. He was the one who knew it would all be okay.
He knows that Twizzlers are my favorite candy and that up until the fifth grade I thought my middle name was spelled a different way. He’s Rob. And the fact that I’ve known himforever and that he knows me, really knows me, is proof that it was always supposed to be us. That he’s the one. And what makes it really remarkable is that he’s out there right now, waiting for me.
My body is buzzing with this quiet excitement. I can feel it in my toes and through my fingers. Maybe this is our night. I can’t think of anyone else I’d want it to happen with, and standing here now I can picture a lot more than Rob’s hands in my hair. Charlie’s right. This is going to be the best year ever. And next year Rob and I will both be at Stanford. Suddenly I can see the rest of my life laid out in front of me like a red carpet. All I have to do is step onto it.
I apply some more lip gloss with a shaky finger, smooth out my dress, and walk down the breezeway. I feel invincible. Like Beyoncé in a music video. Like I have my own personal wind machine in front of me.
I can hear the notes of a slow song playing. It’s that one from the movieGhost. The one that goes, “Oh, my love, my darling.” Usually slow songs make me uncomfortable, but I’m already anticipating being in Rob’s arms, having his hands around my back, resting my head on his shoulder. I’m walking so briskly, I don’t even notice that I’ve walked right into someone. “Sorry,” I say, not looking up.
“Hang on.” Len puts his hand on my arm, stopping me.
“Umm, hey,” I say, shaking him off.
“I was actually looking for you,” he says.
“Has hell frozen over?”
He cocks his head to the side. “Yeah, it has,” he says. “But it’s kind of a nice change from this sauna of a summer.”
“Is there something you need?” I ask, impatient. I want to get back to Rob. To tell him, absolutely and definitively, I want to be with him.
Len shrugs. “Need? Nah. I just wanted to ask what’s up with your man.”
