I can’t disagree—we bailed not long after the announcements, because there was just no way things could get any better. Plus, Noah’s curfew will be up soon, and he kept talking about wanting pie, so we figured we’d all head over to Rosie’s to unwind and celebrate.
Rosie’s is empty at the moment; dinner hour has long ended, and it’ll be a while before the post-formal stragglers and hungry burnouts wander in. Andy feeds Noah forkfuls of Dex’s pumpkin pie in one of the booths, their heads bent close together as they talk between bites. Lou fiddles with the jukebox until it blasts “Love Shack,” and she and Dex and Asha do this funny synchronized dance all in a line.
“I’ve still got the moves!” Dex crows and Lou bumps her hip against his while Asha dissolves into giggles.
“Are you going to help, or am I expected to do all the grunt work?” Sam asks.
I tear my eyes away from the group scene and face him. He looks so ridiculous in that diamond-patterned sports jacket, spatula in hand, and even so I want to just throw him in the supply closet and do all kinds of dirty things to him.
We stayed at the formal long enough to have one slow dance together, my arms wound around his neck, his slid around my waist. It was amazing, the two of us like that, so close, spinning around and around under the swirling lights. Even if the music sucked, even if no one was looking, it didn’t matter because Sam was looking, like he couldn’t stop, like he couldn’t believe I was actually there with him, when really I was the one who should’ve been in disbelief.
Now we stand next to each other in our fancy outfits and flip tuna melts on the grill. Mine turns out better than it did last time, and we make home fries to go with them, and then slide in across from Andy and Noah, eating off each other’s plates.
When Sam kisses some ketchup off the corner of my mouth, Andy says, “Awww. As much as I’d like to stick around with you two lovebirds, Cinderella’s gotta get his ass back to bed.”