Neither of you moved. You could still feel his breath on your lips, the intense air between you, the longing that was so clearly there. His hands stayed on the sides on your face, and your fingers stayed tangled in his hair.

Slowly, Lin pulled away from you, stepping back and dropping his hands. "I, uh, we should, um, probably get back to the party."

Disappointment filled you as you were thrown back into reality. "Oh. Right."

You walked back through the doors together, your heart still beating loudly in your chest.

"Lin, Y/N."

You both turned and saw Pippa walking over. "Whoa, did you guys get hit by a windstorm or something?"

You suddenly realized how you both must look: messy hair, flushed cheeks, and crumpled clothes.

Lin's hand flew up to his hair, remembering that it had fallen out of its ponytail. To cover up the motion, he smoothed it back. "Something like that."

Pippa's smile wavered slightly, and she squinted her eyes at you. A small smirk grew on her face. "Must've been a pretty strong breeze for your ponytail to come out, Lin," she said slickly.

"I took it out," Lin said immediately, and you were impressed at his quick lie. "It felt a little tight."

"Right." She turned her dark eyes on you. "And it must be pretty cold for both of your faces to be red."

You felt your cheeks go a shade deeper. "It was," you responded as casually as possible. "Why are you interrogating us?"

"Because I feel like something happened between you two," she said, still looking back and forth between you and Lin. "And until I figure out exactly what, or you admit it, I'm keeping my eyes on you." She made the gesture that she'd be watching you, then squinted at you and walked backwards until she ran into Oak.

You let out a little breath. "Great."

Lin gave a nervous laugh. "Uh, I should go find Evy."

"Oh. Okay." You didn't try to keep the disappointment out of your voice.

His eyebrows lowered as he studied your face. He looked like he wanted to say something important, something about what had happened, but instead he just said, "I'll see you later," then walked away.

You stood there for a moment, trapped in a daze and in utter disbelief of what had just happened minutes ago. You had wanted it for so long, wanted it so badly that your chest hurt, and now it had finally happened. You knew it wouldn't change anything, that Lin and Evy would still get married and live a happy life and have adorable kids, but you knew you had needed to do it. You had needed it to happen. Once.

You wandered over to the edge of the room and leaned against the wall, letting your mind drift away.

Before you knew it, the party ended, and everyone began heading home.

You began walking towards the large doors, and Pippa joined you.

"Hey, wait for a second, Y/N."

You stopped and turned to her.

"Are you okay? You kind of spaced out for awhile there."

You paused. "Yeah. Being with a lot of people just drains me. I'm pretty tired."

She nodded. "Well, just know that you can always talk to me. Us sisters have to be there for each other."

You finally smiled. "Thanks, Pippa."

She smiled and wrapped you in a hug. After a moment, she pulled away and asked, "Are you ready to go?" You had gotten a cab to the party and asked if she could take you home, since she lived pretty close to you.

You started to leave, but there was suddenly a hand on your arm. You turned, and your heart skipped a beat when you saw Lin.

"I'll wait in the car," Pippa said kindly, giving you space.

"Hey," Lin said, once she was out of earshot. "I was thinking that maybe we should go somewhere and...talk."

You felt a pang in your chest. "Uh, okay. I'm kind of hungry."

"Me too, I'm starved. Olive Garden?"

You smiled. "Sounds nice."

You left together, walking closely, and waved when you parted to go to your cars.

You got into Pippa's car, and although she was confused when you asked her to drop you off at Olive Garden, she didn't question it. You were guessing she figured that it had something to do with Lin.

You clenched your fists so tightly that your knuckles turned white as she drove down the street. What did Lin want to say? Was he just going to tell you that what happened was a mistake and although he loved you, he loved Evy more? You didn't know if you could handle hearing him say that.

Pippa pulled into the parking lot, and you thanked her then went inside, where you saw Lin just sitting down at a table.

You walked over, and he gave you a weak smile as you sat down.

"Nothing better than 8pm Olive Garden," you commented, and to your relief, Lin laughed.

You both ordered right away, then fell into an uneasy silence.

"So, I, uh..." Lin cleared his throat. "I just thought that maybe we should talk about what happened, just to get everything out in the open."

You ripped tiny pieces off of your breadstick. "Okay." You paused. "Did you mean what you said?"

He immediately knew what you were talking about. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "I love you." He couldn't help but smile when he said it, looking into your eyes, though it quickly fell away.

You also couldn't contain the grin that spread across your face, and you glanced down at the table, not wanting him to see the effect he had on you. "Um, how-how long have you loved me?"

You noticed with a bit of satisfaction that a light pink dusted over his cheeks. "I don't know," Lin answered honestly. "I mean, I knew I was trouble when I didn't like seeing you with Leslie, but as for loving you..." He met your eyes with a reminiscent smile. "I think it was when you sang 'Satisfied' at our first Broadway show. I don't know why, but there you go." He gestured with his hands.

"Lin, that was months ago. Why didn't you say anything?" You asked almost desperately, wondering what could've been if he had admitted his love for you before Evy proposed.

"I don't know, I guess I didn't want to believe that I had fallen for my girlfriend's best friend."

A waiter dropped off your drinks, and you stopped him before he walked away. "Um, could I get a margarita too, please?"

"Make that two," Lin added, and the waiter nodded and walked away. "So, what about you?" You looked up at him. "When did you know you loved me?"

"Um..." When did you know you loved him? "I... I think I have for a long time, but I didn't fully accept and realize that I did until I got an invitation for your engagement party." You remember how much you hated seeing Lin and Evy's names next to each other, how many times you read it over and over again.

He gave a tiny nod. "Yeah, sorry about that." You both let out a small laugh, then Lin ran a hand through his long hair. "I just... I don't know what to do."

Before you could stop yourself, you found yourself asking, "Do you love Evy?"

You saw him visibly tense before letting out a breath. "I- I love spending time with her."

This hit you like a ton of bricks. "You don't love her?" You meant to ask, but it sounded more like a statement.

"I want to, so bad, and I think she's amazing and gorgeous and funny and kind and I don't know what's wrong with me but I just don't."

You could barely speak. You could barely think. "Why are you marrying her?" You asked, your voice shaky, as you worked to keep your eyes from filling with tears.

Lin was clearly distressed, his hand dug into his hair and his finger tapping the table nervously. "I didn't want to say no in front of all those people, and before I knew it, she had planned a party and sent out invites and I just got caught up in all of it." He met your eyes. "I'm sorry."

You nodded, staring down at the table. "Are you still going to marry her?"

When Lin didn't reply, you looked up into his eyes, and saw him averting your gaze.

"Lin."

"I don't know," he said, his voice breaking at the end. "I have no idea what I'm going to do."

That made you simultaneously excited and disappointed. Lin might not marry Evy- but he also might still go through with it.

The waiter dropped off your margaritas, and you immediately took a huge gulp, Lin quickly following suit.

You both ordered another one, and combined with the champagne that you both had had, the two of you got pretty drunk.

You talked about everything that popped into your mind, while also stuffing your mouths with spaghetti.

Everything after that was a blur of getting into a cab and going back to your apartment.

You awoke the next day, your head pounding and your eyes heavy. "Ugh," you groaned, sitting up and running your hands down your face.

You flipped off the covers and went down the hallway, wanting some Tylenol for your horrible headache.

Just as you got the kitchen, a head popped up over the top of your couch. "AHHHHHHH!" You screamed.

"AHHHHH!" The person screamed back, standing up, causing blankets to fall to the floor.

You realized with a start that it was Lin. A shirtless Lin.

You stared at each other, both of you just as bewildered.

"What the hell?"