𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙏𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝘽𝙖𝙙

Bonus scene 3: Prom

♦ ♢ ♦ Xavier ♦ ♢ ♦

My eyes widen, my heart beats out of my chest when she walks into her living room, where Roland and I had been talking while I waited for Kaity.

I get up in a trance, my eyes never leaving her blues, and she blushes, looking down at herself, a slight smile on her face.

I hear Roland's distant chuckle as I walk to my baby involuntarily.

"Fuck," I whisper, lifting her chin with a knuckle so she can meet my eyes again. "You're breathtaking, Kaitlyn," I say before I kiss her lips so gently, a low noise leaves her throat.

"You think so?" She bites her lip once I pull away an inch.

I look her over again, her dress fitted close to her skin, the colour iridescent, between purple, blue and red. Her hair flows down in soft, shiny waves, her eyes highlighted and sharp with eye liner. Her lips in the deepest shade of red, so fucking kissable that I can't resist the urge to kiss her again.

"So fucking perfect," I say.

"Stop it," She smiles, pushing me away before giggling as she goes to her dad. "Watcha think?"

"Beautiful, as always," He says, wrapping her in a hug. "Go, enjoy the night, you two," He smiles, pulling away from Kate.

"What will you be doing tonight?" She asks.

Roland blinks. "Ummm... work."

"Dad," Kaitlyn scolds him. "You need to stop doing so much work. I say you go out tonight too."

"Ummmm..." Roland looks to me uncertainly.

I'm keeping a secret of his. He'd asked me not to tell Kaitlyn yet, so I haven't, but he's been seeing someone he'd said he shouldn't be seeing. I'd walked in on them when I'd come over to pick up Kaitlyn and forgotten she was at her dance class a few weeks ago, so I don't know what's been going on since.

But from the look on his face, whatever that was hasn't stopped.

Good for him though. That woman was beautiful, and he, like Kaitlyn had expressed earlier, deserves happiness.

Not sure about the whole–shouldn't be seeing her part, but I'm sure he'll figure it out.

"I'll see," Roland answers when he realises I kept my word about not saying anything.

Kaitlyn blows out a breath. "Fine, fine. Love you," She kisses his cheek, and he smiles in return. "Let's go," She says, coming to me with her eyes shining.

I kiss her forehead, and interlace our hands together, and start out.

"Xavier," Roland calls, and I pause to look at him. "Take care of her, will you?"

I nod.

His eyes also crinkle, like a silent thank you for letting him deal with his situation on his own first. To that, I also nod, and then Kaitlyn and I walk out.

♦ ♢ ♦ Kaitlyn ♦ ♢ ♦

I sit on Xavier's lap, my face on his collarbone as I smile at the prom king and queen, Luna and Sebastian in front of us.

"I can't fucking believe that this is the end of our school careers," Carter shakes his head. "What a crazy fucking journey."

We all agree to that.

It's bittersweet, for me. Graduation was so surreal, but now feels like everything is being cemented into place. Xavier and I go to Harvard this autumn. Luna and Sebastian are off to Minnesota, where Sebastian's family lives, and Talia and Carter are taking gap years for work placements that they'd found near each other. They also wanted to travel for a bit, so they'll be doing that.