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Emma chuckles at Juliet’s exuberance. “Let me get a few dates with him under my belt first, okay?”

A few dates.

Huh.

“A few dates?” Juliet points at Emma. “See? I told you, you like him.”

She sighs, like admitting it is some sort of crime. “I guess I like him a little.”

I go back to pulling things out of the nearest box.

“Vinny!” Juliet hops up, suddenly beside me, taking items out of my hands. “These aren’t kitchen towels. They’re for the guest bath.”

I look at the towels in her hands. At the boxes scattered across my kitchen. At Emma sitting on the other side of the counter, excited about some guy.

And a strange thought hits me.

Juliet is moving in just as Emma is moving away.

EMMA

11th grade - April

I’m dancing with the captain of the basketball team. At prom. That feels like information everyone should know.

His name is Jacob Westenskow, and he’s a senior.

He’s cute.

Like, really cute.

The kind of cute that had Blair screaming into her pillow with excitement when I told her that he’d asked me to prom.

So tonight is basically perfect.

I even found a royal-blue dress that complements my red hair. A prom miracle!

The high school gym doesn’t even look like our high school anymore. The basketball hoops have been pulled up. Strings of white lights crisscross above us along the rafters. And approximately four thousand yards of gauzy fabric are draped over anything that might remind us we normally play dodgeball in this room.

The DJ has slowed things down, and couples have crowded onto the dance floor. I’ve been waiting for a slow song all night long, and it’s finally here.

Jacob’s arms wrap around my waist. His hands rest respectfully at my hips. Mine are looped around his neck. He’s so tall I have to lift my chin up to look at him, so instead, I just look over his shoulder. Save myself the neck pain.

Then I see Vinny on the other side of the gym. He’s already looking at me while dancing with Juliet. His hands are at her waist, and her head is against his chest. They are way closer together than Jacob and me, that’s for sure.

Juliet looks gorgeous tonight. Her mom spent six hundred dollars on her hot-pink dress—perks of being the only child. Together they look like they should be the prom king and queen.

Luckily, they’re not.

Vinny doesn’t look away when our eyes meet, and neither do I.

We always said we would go to prom together. Yet, here we are with two different people.

A strange wave of longing rolls through me, followed so closely by sadness I can’t separate the two.

I wonder if he feels it too.

Hard to say. His expression is impossible to read from here. But there’s something in his eyes. Something softer than usual. Or maybe I only see it because I want it to be there.