As promised, Nathan picked Jazz up for prom in a giant Escalade limo, complete with a cap-wearing driver and a giant bouquet of birds of paradise.

“Not roses?” Jazz asked with a laugh.

Nathan stuck out his tongue at her and made a disgusted face.

“Now that’s hot,” she said, getting into the back seat of the fancy set of wheels. She liked that Nathan considered her different, but wondered still whether it was a good different or a bad different. Perhaps she would find that out tonight.

Her toes tingled inside her strappy heels, as if they, too, couldn’t wait to dance the night away in Nathan’s arms, even if was only as friends. She was the one he’d asked. That point hadn’t been lost to her.

“Roses are too every girl USA, and you’re not just any girl, Jazz Michaels. Tonight you’re my girl, and you deserve the VIP treatment. Speaking of—tada!—here’s your tiara.”

She wanted nothing more than to be his girl, but… “You’re kidding.”

He was not kidding. A moment later, they were en route to prom and she was trying her best to fit the sparkling crown around her fancy updo that her mom had splurged on for her.

“Screw the prom queen,” Nathan said with laughter dancing in his eyes.

She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m sure you’d like to.”

“You’re my prom queen,” he said with that famous Nathan Reed smile that made her heart beat double-time before he snapped a quick selfie of the two of them squeezed in tightly together.

At the dance hall, Nathan pulled her against him extra close when they posed for their official prom photos. “The selfies will be better, but what the heck?”

They both smiled and said “whee!” instead of “cheese” as instructed by the photographer. Jazz felt silly, but Nathan was having a great time—and his joy was infectious.

Whether or not they were here as friends, they were here together. Senior prom was one of those special events you only got to live once, and they had chosen to spend it together. Maybe tonight she could find the courage to say the words she’d kept locked within her heart all these years. Maybe the glam and glitz of this evening would transport them to a magical realm where they both instinctively knew what the other felt and came together with no awkward words, no missed opportunities.

On the dance floor, they pumped their arms, shimmied their hips, and even did the Dougie.

The evening truly was perfect, just as Nathan had promised her… If nothing else, it was the perfect way to say goodbye, to tell him about Burton College and prepare him for her fast-approaching departure in the fall. She’d thought of her future often over the years, and she had always pictured her and Nathan together as hunched old people sitting side-by-side on their front porch.

The tempo guiding their movements slowed, and the opening notes of David Archuleta’s “Crush” filled the room. Nathan pulled Jazz to his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back so they could talk as they danced.

This was the moment. She needed to tell him.

“Nathan, I—”

“Shh,” he said bringing his face to her shoulder. “Listen to this song. Do you know it?”

“Of course I do. It’s on the radio twenty times a day. Listen, I have something—”

“But have you ever listened to it? Like really listened to the words?”

Jazz knew the words by heart. The lyrics perfectly captured how she’d felt about Nathan all this time. Her crush refused to go away, which meant she had to. Leaving was the only way she could ever be free of the secret love she harbored for her best friend.

“It’s… a… beautiful song,” she managed.

His breaths caressed her ear, her cheek. He was so close now. Had they ever been this close before? Jazz was about to excuse herself to the ladies’ room—perhaps splashing a bit of cold water on her face would help to reorient her, wake her up, and give her the courage she needed to have this conversation—when Nathan spoke again.

“This song, these words… It’s how I feel about you,” he whispered.

What? Had Nathan really just said…? No, it was impossible.

“We came here as friends,” she argued. “You said as friends.”

His smile faltered, but the words were out there. Neither of them could take back what had been said now. “I needed you to say yes, and I was scared you wouldn’t if I wanted you to be my date for real.”

“I…” What words could possibly express the way she felt in this moment? Relief? Joy? Shock? The intense need to pinch herself and confirm that this wasn’t a dream.

“Listen, I know it’s a lot to take in.” Nathan’s grip on her loosened as a smile overtook his face. ”But we’re best friends, right?”

Jazz nodded, eager to see where he was going with this, but also wanting this moment to last forever and ever and ever. She’d been waiting for this…for him.

Breathe, she reminded herself.

“So let me tell you about this incredible girl I like,” Nathan continued, pulling back so they could look each other in the eyes as he spoke. “She’s smart, kind, funny, pretty.”

He cocked his head to the side and a sly smile slipped from one cheek to the next. “No, not pretty, beautiful. Beautiful in a way no one else is. She puts up with my insanity and is always there for me, no matter what. This girl, she’s incredible, and I think—no, I know—I’m in love with her. The question is… Does she love me, too?”

The temperature rose a hundred degrees at least, and the room spun. Jazz was sure she’d pass out. But she was also sure that Nathan would be there to catch her, just as he always had been. They were best friends, forever and always.

Was her impossible dream finally coming true? Could she allow herself to believe, finally let herself fall?

“Nathan, I…”

“You don’t have to say anything. I can see your answer in your eyes. I know those eyes, their secrets, their promises. And right now those eyes are looking down at my lips and begging for me to…”

He leaned forward.

She leaned forward.

And they shared the most perfect kiss anyone at Kennedy High had ever seen—the first kiss of the rest of their lives together. It was the kiss of true love and happily ever, and it meant everything to Jazz.