"Jimmy you never fail to amaze me." Genevieve hands him a fifty dollar bill and smiles at me. I look at my new hairstyle and smile to myself. He straightened my hair without making it look fried. It doesn't look flat either. It has just the right amount of volume.

Genevieve's hairstyle is big curls and she can't keep her hands out of it. After we pay Jimmy we go back to my place and start doing our makeup.

I go for a glam look with different types of pink blended out on my eyelids. Genevieve used gold eyeshadows since blue would've looked funny on her in her opinion. We stare at the dresses in awe and I help her get into her dress first.

I zip it up and she twirls around in it. Genevieve helps me zip up into my dress and I sigh in relief once it's on.

I look at myself in the mirror and my jaw drops. I look different. I feel different. After a while, we start getting ready to go to the ballroom that's twenty minutes away.

Genevieve decides to drive my car this time and we use a GPS. After a few minutes, I hear her huff in frustration. "Fuck! I think I took the wrong exit."

I look behind us and then at the street signs. "I knew I shouldn't have let you drive!"

"Me? Please Selena we wouldn't get there until tomorrow with your driving!" She fires back.

I gasp and pull out my phone to get better directions.

"Text your boyfriend the address, we don't want him to be late either." She says.

"Not my boyfriend." I groan.

***

We finally find a parking space after what feels like an eternity. Genevieve missed an exit but it only made the trip five minutes longer. The sun is starting to set and it's getting a little colder. We get out of the car and start walking up the ballroom. We're not even inside and I can already hear the music blasting. Not pop or rap music, classical music.

"Genevieve, this is not a small party." I feel my jaw drop, looking at the outside of the ballroom.

"Well, my parents went all out for 25 years of marriage, ya know." Genevieve nudges my shoulder and smirks as we walk inside.

Everyone is dressed all elegantly and the decorations were probably more expensive than my house. It's slightly dim and there's a bunch of fairy lights in the shape of stars. The disco ball is replaced by a crescent moon and all the tables have a star as a centerpiece. The loud music I heard outside is coming from a live band playing at the stage. Wow. They went all out.

"Selena, glad you made it." Genevieve's mom walks up to us and pulls me in for a hug. Now looking at it, Genevieve is a younger version of her mother. Same big eyes and lips, same light brown hair, same posture. Her dress is a dark blue color with glitter all around. Her hair is in an updo that wraps around her head and her makeup looks glamorous.

"You guys really went all out for this." I smile,

pulling away from the hug.

"Oh, you know us." She chuckles. "Genevieve, would you mind helping me and your father bring in some party favors?"

"Yeah sure. Sel, I reserved a table for us but I'm not sure which. Can you go find it?" She asks me before her mom grabs her hand and drags her outside.

I chuckle at the sight of Marla dragging Genevieve like she's a kid. I look around at the many tables set up that look way too similar to each other. I see a table near the dance floor with a sign on it so I start walking over there and I read the sign.

I sigh in relief and sit down. I feel my phone buzzing and I look down at it.

"Hello?"

"Thank god you answered. I just got here and I am so lost." Grayson chuckles. I stand up from my seat and start walking to the entrance.

"I'll come get you. Start walking the entrance." I tell him.

"I'm in the lobby. There are so many doors and I'm so lost right now."

I smile at the thought of him being confused like that and walk out the two big fancy doors. I go out to the lobby that has a few people in it and see Grayson standing in the center, looking down at his phone.

"Hey." I smile walking towards him.

He looks up from his phone and stares me up and down and does one of his cutest grins. "Selena, you like stunning."

Are you kidding me? Look at yourself.

"Look at yourself." I motion to him. He's wearing a plain black tuxedo with his hair styled fancy yet floppy. I see hints of pink in his cheeks and he pushes his glasses up.

"Shall we?" He asks. I nod and we link arms. I secretly blush and take him inside to the ballroom.

"Didn't Genevieve say it was a small party?" He raises his eyebrow, looking around the place.

"It is small—for her parents." I giggle and take Grayson to the table.

We sit next to each other and I see Genevieve walking towards us with her date. I nudge his arm and we both act like we didn't see her in the first place.

"Grayson, hi." She smiles at him. He greets her back and she clears her throat. "You guys, this is my date, Everett Benson."

A few minutes later Genevieve's younger brother joins our table with a girl. I haven't seen Jack in forever. Every time I go over he's either locked in his room playing video games or at the skate park. He's the same age as my sister and I've always thought they'd make a cute couple. But Cora is at that stage where she hates the idea of boys. Which sometimes I agree with.

Grayson and I greet him and I can't believe I'm saying this but Genevieve has good taste. He has flowy jet black hair with piercing green eyes. They sit across from us and Genevieve stares right at the entrance which Grayson and I have our backs to.

"Oh no." I hear Genevieve mumble. Her face looks like she's seen a ghost.

I look over my shoulder and see Calvin and Gaby walking inside. He's wearing a black tuxedo and Gaby is wearing a skin-tight dark green dress. Of course, it shows off her small baby bump.

Grayson notices me looking at them and squeezes my hand under the table. I turn to him and gave him an 'I'll be okay' smile.

Gabrielle and Calvin stare at me and Grayson for a spilt second and greet Genevieve's parents. I see Genevieve's mom place her hand on her bump and I roll my eyes. Shaking off the thought of them being in the same room as me, I focus on everyone dancing.

"Are you okay?" Grayson whispers into my ear. I look back at Gaby and Calvin who are now sitting at a table away from ours, laughing and holding each other's hands.

"I will be." I nod.

"If you're uncomfortable we can go. We can go get McDonald's or something." He tells me.

That idea sounds amazing. But this party means a lot to Gen and her family and I couldn't do that to her. Besides this overpriced catering food that they ordered is pretty good.

"As much as I fucking love that idea, we can't. This party is really important to Genevieve and her parents." I press my lips into a flat line.

He nods and takes a sip out of his drink.

I start to chug down my drink when Grayson says to me, "God it's like being pregnant is her only personality trait."

I choke on my drink and Genevieve darts her eyes to me. I burst into laughter and put my hand on Grayson's shoulder. Genevieve and Everett look at me like I'm crazy and Grayson awkwardly laughs along. "That is so true!"

"Attention, everyone!" Marla announces through the mic. "We'd like to thank every single one of you for coming out and celebrating Carlos and I's twenty-fifth anniversary with us!"

Everyone erupts into small cheers as they share a quick kiss on stage. Carlos takes the mic and smiles "In those wonderful twenty-five years of marriage, we had two amazing kids. Genevieve Rose Cordova and Jack Austin Cordova." He motioned to where Genevieve and Jack were sitting. They give the crowd a wave and grin.

"Now, for all you lovebirds out there, this song is for you." Marla winks. The live band starts playing a 'love song' and all the couples start going to the dance floor.

Genevieve stands up and drags Everett to the dance floor and Jack kindly asks his date to dance. I laugh at the difference between them and take a bite out of my chicken. Which by the way is kind of dry but I'm starving.

Grayson stands up and sticks out his hand. "Shall we dance?" He mocked a terrible British accent.

I chuckle and dab my lip with the napkin. I slowly stand up and take his hand. We walk to the center of the dance floor and awkwardly stand there for a second.

"Can I uh," He motions to my waist. I feel my heart melt and I take his hands. I put them on my waist and I wrap my arms around his neck.

We start swaying to the music and start to get the hang of it. "You're parents raised a gentleman." I tell him. "I don't think I've ever had someone ask if they could even put their hands on me like that. They all just assumed they could."

"It's nothing that should be praised for. It's the normal thing guys should do." He says. And I totally agree.

"Thank you for agreeing to come here with me and all." I smile, looking up at him. He gives me a warm smile and we switch positions. I rest my left hand on his shoulder and hold his hand with my right. He keeps one hand on my waist and the other is holding mine. I rest my head against his chest as we move along to the slow song.

"Have you studied for the math quiz?" He asks.

"I don't even want to think about math until Monday." I breathe out through my nose.