I go up first, and smile seeing the small room the way I want it, Lileah and Autumn did a nice job for me. As Olivia gets in she looks around smiling.
“Hayden, this looks…beautiful.” She looks around at the small light around the room, and some flowers.
I take her hands in mine, pulling her closer to me, I give her a kiss.
“I don’t want what happened before to follow us into everything,” I say, keeping my voice steady. “I don’t want it hanging over prom. Over us.”
Her expression softens, but she doesn’t speak.
“I want one night,” I go on. “No past memories, I want to remove them all. Not just for me, but for you. A prom night is meant to be something every girl talks about.” I feel her hands curl into my t-shirt.
“Prom,” I say, holding her gaze. “The way I wanted it. The way it should’ve been. Will you go to prom with me?”
She’s silent for a moment, and then she smiles.
“Yes.” she says quietly. “I’ll go with you.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and for the first time, I know how that night is going to end.
They way it was meant to.
Epilogue
Hayden
I've been standingat the bottom of the stairs for three minutes.
Miles says it’s been five minutes, and I need to calm down. He’s wrong, and I feel him watching me like I’m about to either propose or pass out, and honestly at this point I'm not ruling either one out.
"She's coming," Autumn calls down from the top landing, and the smirk on her face tells me she's enjoying this more than she should be.
"Not helping," I tell her.
"I know." She disappears back around the corner.
I didn’t want to take anything away from Declan and Lileah because this is their prom, their time. So I made sure they both went with the whole fuss and photo shoot from mom, and Mason left with them to watch over Lileah while I’m here.
Mom is standing near the door with her phone already raised. I've told her twice not to make it a thing. She's going to make it a thing. I knew she was going to, but she’s smiling so I don't care.
I loosen my jaw. Take a breath and then I hear her.
Autumn saying something quiet I can't catch. Then Olivia appears at the top of the stairs and every single thought I've ever had in my entire life just stops.
The dress is deep green; I knew this color would look amazing on her. Floor length, fitted through the waist, with something soft around the shoulders that catches the light when she moves.
I asked Trixie months ago if she would help me make the perfect dress for her, and I have no idea, but Trixie knew what would be good for Olivia.
Green for the girl with big green eyes who sat under my tree house at ten years old and smiled at me with a gap in her teeth and changed my entire life without even knowing it.
She's looking at me.
I'm not moving.
I'm pretty sure I've forgotten how.
"Close your mouth," Miles says from somewhere behind me.
I don't close my mouth. I don't do anything. I just stand there and look at her coming down the stairs toward me and I think, I've spent years being angry. Years being hard. Years telling myself I didn't need her, didn't want her, had cut every single feeling I ever had for her clean out of my chest and buried it somewhere it couldn't touch me.
