Seth's strong hand wraps around my own as he he helps me out of the limo.

"Always a gentleman." I say looking up to him, our eyes meeting, our breathing mingling for a moment. A moment which sets off a spark inside me. His cologne tickles my nostrils as I pull away. He offers his arm out for me and nods. I give him a soft smile as we make our way up the stairs towards the entrance of our school gym.

Bea and Luke walk up ahead. While the other couples are slowly making their way behind us.

"These stairs are going to make me snap my ankles." I murmur under my breath.

"You nearly made me snap my neck so all is fair I guess." Seth replies with a small chuckle. My eyebrows furrow together in confusion. To which Seth shakes his head at me with a small smile.

Seth hands over our tickets to Mr Ford who is working at the ticket booth.

"Nice to see you two." He says with a polite nod.

"You too Mr Ford." I say with a small smile which he takes appreciatively.

We step through the two large doors. Gazing around the ballroom.

"It's still overrated." I say after surveying the room.

"Absolutely. And that's the charm of it." Seth says with a chuckle as he leads us to where Bea and Luke are standing talking to a few others.

"Hey guys. Wow you all look incredible." I say as I kiss the girls on the cheek and the boys kiss mine.

"Watch those hands Cory." Seth mutters as one of our mutual friends Cory's hands slip to my lower back. Cory grins apologetically. I just roll my eyes at him with a chuckle.

The overplayed, dated music blares through large budget speakers. Students are bopping on the dance floor like it's the best night of their lives. And I suppose for some of them it would be.

"Can I get you a drink?" Seth offers me, his eyebrows raised softly.

"Yes please." I say with a grateful smile. He gives me a small nod before him and a couple other guys wander off. Bea and Luke have slipped over to talk to another group.

"Watch those hands Cory. Did you hear that. Seth is 100% in love with you." Callie gushes. I just roll my eyes at her.

"No he's not. He's just putting Cory in his place." I say in an 'isn't that obvious' tone.

"Girl you are blind." Millie, one of Callie's friends, says raising her eyebrows at me like she really can't believe I don't believe them.

"Seth and I aren't together nor will we be. Not like that anyway." I say shaking my head at them.

"Not like that? Oh my god you haven't." Callie says a grin spreading across her face. I wince as I look around the room. Bea and Luke are still across the room talking to a few others.

"Callie can we go to the bathroom. I need to fix my lipstick." I say grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the group.

"So.." She starts after I check all the stalls which are empty.

"Kind of we might of.." I start as I fix myself in the mirror.

"Fucked?" She asks jumping up and down squealing.

"Nope. Done stuff. Is a light way of putting it." I say smacking my lips together and tucking my lipstick back into my clutch.

"Oh my gosh. Finally. Jeez it took you too long enough." Callie says with a sigh.

"Shh but someone can't know. And you can't tell ANYONE." I say raising my eyebrows at her importantly.

"I won't. I promise." She says holding her pinkie out. We pinkie promise before wandering out of the bathroom.

I look around the room and spot Seth at the group of girls, now joined by the other guys he went to get drinks with. I grin as I make my way towards him. He looks skeptically around the group before his attention drifts around the room, his eyes scanning. They land on me and his lips pull into a small smile.

"Ran away from me." He says tutting at me.

"Oh you know. Practicing for midnight." I say scrunching my nose up. Seth's face turns serious.

"You better not pull a cinderella on my ass. And if you do take me with you. This place is dreadful." He says handing me my drink.

"Maybe. If you behave this evening." I say taking a sip of my drink and scanning the room.

"I always behave." Seth says with a scoff. I turn to him and raise my eyebrows.

"I do." He says defensively.

"Okay Mr. gets me into detention for a week." I say shaking my head.

"Hold on no that was your fault." He says with a chuckle. I pout at him.

"Like you didn't enjoy being cooped up in a detention room with me. I am great company." I say with a roll of my eyes.

"Eh. Maybe a 3.8 star rating." He says teasingly. My mouth drops open as I land a soft punch on his shoulder.

"I'm just kidding." He says grinning at me. I roll my eyes.

"Hey guys." Bea says joining the circle.

"Ladies, gents." Luke says giving a small wave to everyone. The group launches into discussion which I follow but don't add to.

"C'mon." Seth says grabbing my hand and tugging me away.

"Where are we going?" I ask him.

"We're going to go boogie." He says turning his nose up at himself.

"If you say boogie again I might have to go full cinderella mode." I threaten as he pulls me to a stop on the dance floor and lifts my arms up onto his shoulders, resting his hands on my waist.

"If you do. Then I might have to go evil step mother on your ass." He threatens back.

"You wouldn't dare." I say my mouth dropping open in fake horror.

"Oh I absolutely would." He says with a serious nod. Before chuckling. His hands slip to my lower back, his thumb moving in small circles.

"Watch those hands there princess." I warn him. His lips draw into a smirk.

"Do you remember the seventh grade dance." I start as I look up at the ugly flashing disco lights.

"The one where you wore that beautiful white lace dress and then Troy spilt blue kool-aid punch all down the front of it?" Seth asks to confirm.

"Uhh yeah." I say, confused as to how he would remember that. "Anyway do you remember how I started crying because of that and then you called Trina and she drove you and I to dairy queen because Bea didn't want to leave the dance but I was too upset to stay?" I ask chuckling to myself at the memory.

"Of course I remember that." Seth says grinning.

"Hey Lacey may I have a dance." A voice asks from behind me. I turn around and see Carlos standing there. I nod and pull away from Seth who lets me go reluctantly.

"I'll see ya in a bit." I say to Seth before I sling my arms over Carlos's shoulders.

"Watch those hands buddy." Seth says clapping Carlos on the shoulder as he moves as he moves past.

"He's been using that line all night." I say shaking my head with a chuckle.

"I mean fair enough. You look wow." Carlos says his eyes wide as he looks me up and down.

"Thanks." I say with a small smile. "You look really good yourself." I say to him. We dance for a while before I politely excuse myself to the bathroom to go pee.

As I'm finishing up in the stall I hear a clacking of heels walking in.

"Fucking hell I'm jealous of that stupid bitch. How come she gets every guy so easily. I mean even I can't deny she looks immaculate. All the fucking time. It's such bullshit." A voice whines, one which recognise as Mia. I pause opening the door, listening to the conversation.

"Hey we're all our own person. Lacey doesn't get every guy. She's just close with the ones you want. We all know she hasn't had a boyfriend since Tommy." Another voice says, Emery.

"Whatever. Does this show enough cleavage? I'm going to go get Seth back." Mia says.

I pull open the door and walk out.

"Hello ladies." I say with a shy nod. Mia and Emery and another girl's jaws drop open.

"Mia. Seth treated you like trash. No hate to him. Don't go back to a guy that's going to treat you like that you deserve a guy that's going to treat you like the queen that you are." I say, in a shallow attempt to fix years of harsh words.

Mia's eyebrows draw together in confusion.

"Uhh thanks. I guess your right. But nope he wants me I know he does. Your just in the way." She says cocking her head at me.

"Sorry." I say sincerely, washing my hands in the sink before drying them.

"No your not." Mia says with a snort.

"No I am. I'm sorry you can't see your own worth so you look to find reassurance in guys who clearly don't want you to prove to yourself that your better than every other girl at this school. I'm really sorry that you're that pathetic." I say in a huff, quickly loosing my temper before storming out of the bathroom.

I march out and almost topple over onto Seth.

"Sorry." I say as his hands reach out to steady my waist.

"You're alright." He says tensely before seeing it's me.

"Are you alright?" I ask him noticing how tense he was.

"Yeah just difficult watching you and Mr tall dark and handsome dance." Seth says shaking his head. I just nod annoyance surging through my veins.

"Are you alright?" He says noticing my pissed off expression, eventuating the you.

"Yeah." I say letting out a small huff of breath through my nose.

"What's wrong?" He says tipping my chin up with his finger.

"Your good mate Mia in the bathroom." I say shaking my head, removing my gaze from his. towards an emerging Mia who was practically strutting towards Seth, her boobs nearly popping out of her extremely short dress.

"Let's go I've had enough of tonight." Seth says huffing to himself grabbing my hand.

"Seth wait up." Mia's high pitched voice calls out.

"Look Mia I don't want anything to happen please just." He says rubbing his eyes together annoyed.

"Oh." Mia says confused her gaze dropping before she catches Seth and I's intertwined hand, her eyes immediately narrowing to me.

"Let's go." Seth says squeezing my hand, noticing the look.

He pulls me down the hallway, checking behind us for chaperones. My heels clack against the linoleum.

"Sit." He says gesturing to a small bench. I plop onto it and he crouches in front of it. I tug up the skirt of my dress slightly as Seth pulls off my shoes. He stands up and takes my hand, my shoes in the other.

We jog/walk down a few more corridors before finding a chaperone-less door. Seth nudges it open and holds it open for me.

"Hey where are you two going?" A voice calls. My head whips around as Seth grabs my hand. We begin to sprint, along the empty common. I let go of Seth's comforting hand to lift up my skirt so I don't trip over it. We gas it as the voice calls after us. A large grin stretching across my face.

Once we're well out of the school gates we slow down to a walk. Our laughter mingles as we catch our breathes in the darkness. My feet patter against the wet concrete.

"Where should we go?" I ask Seth as our laughter dies down.

"Dairy queen?" He suggests with a shrug.

"Ooo yes. Got to keep up the traditions." I say with a chuckle. Just as I say that I feel a drop land on my shoulder.

"Oh no." Seth says holding up his hands to the sky, a few droplets falling into his hand.

The rain builds up, pattering down around us. Before suddenly a massive downpour releases on us as we walk through the night, through the scaresly lit road.

My mouth drops open, my shoulders shooting up. Before my mouth stretches into a grin. I spin around in the rain, staring at the sky.

I kick a newly formed puddle towards Seth who's jaw drops open with a grin.

"Oh you are so on." He says jumping in a puddle right besides me, splashing fresh cold water all up my slowly dampening dress. He starts jogging away from me as I sprint after him, I leap and jump into a puddle splashing his trouser pants. He laughs as we come to a traffic light. I press the pedestrian button and jump up and down to keep warm as the cars zoom by, sending splashes Seth and I's way.

Seth's laugh rings through the cold night air as it fills me with joy. I kick a puddle at him again as the light turns green. He grabs my hand and pulls me across the road towards a row of shops. We jog the next block until we reach the dairy queen. Seth pulls open the door and gestures for me to go inside.

"After you M'lady." He says in a posh accent.

"Thank you ever so kindly sir." I say doing a quick curtsey before slipping inside the dairy queen, Seth quickly following behind me.

I look around the dairy queen. A young couple is eyeing us up with 'poor things' looks on their faces.

"You go get next to the heater I'll get us some hot food and drinks." Seth offers. I nod and make my way over to the heater. My soaking hair lies straggled down my back. My dress is soaking against my skin, sending goosebumps all up and down my arms. I huddle against the heater while Seth orders.

He makes his way over to me, putting the order number on the table in front of the heater.

"Instead of kool-aid this time it's rainwater huh." Seth says to me with a chuckle.

"Mm well I mean I do much prefer the rainwater." I say turning around and practically hugging the wall, attempting to hug all the warmth from the heater.

"It's honestly a good look for you." He says chuckling.

"How bad is my makeup?" I ask him dabbing at the under of my eyes.

"Not bad? Intact? I don't know. Whatever special magic potion you used worked." He says carefully searching my face.

"That's good. $207 well spent then." I say with a small smile to myself.

"two hundred and what?" Seth asks in shock.

"I know. Society loves capitalising off womens insecurities don't they." I say shaking my head in over exaggerated disappointment, the disappointment that was woman's reality.

"They really do." Seth says nodding his head, his eyebrows raised.

We launch into conversation about the struggles women face in today's patriarchal society.

"One Barbecue honey glazed chicken strip combo, one soft pretzel sticks, a triple chocolate brownie and a hot fudge cookie?" An older looking waitress asks holding a tray of food.

"That's us." Seth says with a nod. The lady smiles and places the food on the heater in front of us.

"You got my favourites." I say with a grin.

"What ones?" He asks with a chuckle as I survey the foods.

"All." I say with a grin. I pick up a fry and munch into it.

"We all know your eyeing up those chicken strips more than anything else." He says with a grin.

"You know me too well." I say shaking my head and picking one up, taking a massive bite out of it.

"That's the job." He jokes taking a soft pretzel. "And it's a fricken hard one you are fussy." He teases dabbing some gooey queso onto my nose.

"You are a disgrace." I say my jaw dropping open.

"I got it." He says licking my nose. Pulling back with a grin.

"You are a little bit unbelievably smooth aren't you." I say rolling my eyes, finishing off the chicken strip.

"Only like a tiny bit." He says innocently. I roll my eyes half heartedly grabbing a few fries.

Seth opens his mouth and I feed him one with a shake of my head, unable to help the grin on my face.

We eat the rest of the savoury meal, chatting and laughing. Talking fondly about our school years, reminiscing on memories we've shared. Teasing each other. We had made our way to the chairs at the table, Seth's suit jacket was resting on the heater. My dress had slightly dried but, for the most part, it was still very much damp. Seth had ordered an Uber for 15 minutes after we finished our dessert.

"Okay. So I know you can never choose between fudge cookie and choc brownie so I got both. And we can half them so you can get..." He starts.

"The best of both worlds, chill it out, take it slow. Then you rock out the show." We sing in unison before dropping into laughter. I grab a fork and take a massive bite out of the cookie.

"Wow. I have an amazing taste in food." I say, my eyes rolling into the back of my head as the warm gooey chocolate cookie fills my mouth. Making my mouth water despite just eating chicken strips.

"You do. Except for white chocolate. That one stumps me every-time." Seth says with a shake of his head, digging his fork into the brownie.

"Okay but am I wrong? You can't not admit that white chocolate is immaculate. It can have my kids." I say chef's kissing the air.

"You are something. That's for sure." Seth says rolling his eyes as he takes another bite of the brownie.

"So mean to me." I say shaking my head as I place the half eaten cookie onto the table and swapping it with Seth's half eaten brownie. I finish the brownie and flop back in my chair.

"So I am due on the 25th of December." I say rubbing my belly carefully.

"We're having a kid?" Seth asks me jokingly. I roll my eyes and kick him under the table.

"No dairy queen and I are having a kid. Sorry to break it to you, your just the side piece." I say drawing my lips together and shaking my head mock apologetically.

"Wow I mean I guess I knew it it's just harder to hear in person." He says mock crying.

"We are such losers." I say shaking my head, my lips not dropping from the genuine smile that stretches across my face.

"We are. But you are a cold loser. So let's get you home and warm." Seth says standing up and pulling his not so damp suit jacket off the heater and holding it out for me to put on.

"Your going to get cold." I point out.

"How much did your face magic potion cost?" He reminds me, nodding to the jacket.

"You have a point." I say as I shrug the jacket on over my dress.

"Oh my gosh I'm so cold now. I'm shivering why would you wear my suit jacket what if I get cold." Seth whines jokingly. I throw a soft punch to his shoulder.

"That's bullying." I say pulling away as he opens the dairy queen door.

"You say as I open the door for you." He reminds me, then again moving to the Uber to open my door for me.

"Well I mean I didn't say you were a chivalry-less bully." I say pursing my lips together. Seth jumps into the other side.

"You are a tricky one Lacey Carter." He says tutting at me.

"Says you Seth Nixon." I say rolling my eyes at him with a grin. He grins back to me, his green eyes soft and full of emotion. I reach up and ruffle his damp hair. He pokes out his tongue and licks my forearm. I pull away my arm and roll my eyes at him.

"I wonder how prom is going for the others?" I wonder aloud.

"Probably just swell m'darling." Seth says in a fake posh voice. I just roll my eyes with a light chuckle.

"Whatever. We both know they will all be grinding coogies. I can't hug any of the ladies for a week because they'll all have cooties." I say scrunching up my nose in mock disgust.

"Ew cooties." Seth says scrunching his nose up. I grin and without even thinking I plant a soft kiss onto his lips.

"What was that for?" He asks me searchingly.

"Sometimes your just cute like that." I say shrugging it off. Suddenly our lips crash together again. The whole night being conveyed through our merged lips.

"Okay lovebirds your here." The Uber driver says nicely. We pull apart as I reach into my clutch to pay but Seth waves it away. I open my mouth to protest but he hands over a twenty, which covers the cost.

Seth grabs my hand and tugs me inside his empty house, our parents all at mine. Meaning we had the house all to ourselves.