Something to Dream About {Slow Updates}

Twenty Four

♪ Malachi ♪

The day of Junior prom was finally upon us.

Layla, Indi, Ezra and I all sat in the booth of a diner as we ate dinner together. The girls were all dressed up and Layla looked stunningly beautiful.

Her dress had a v-cut that revealed a drool-causing amount of freckled skin and hugged her body in a way that was bound to make me lose my mind at some point in this lifetime. Her hair—which she'd curled—was hanging free. Although, I must admit, I liked it more when it was pulled back. It gave me more of her face to look at.

"They finally chose the wedding date," Indi announced as she took a sip of her Dr. Pepper. She was in a red dress that had wholly captivated Ezra's attention. He could hardly look at anything else but his girl.

"Carrie and your dad?" Layla asked.

Indi nodded. "It's gonna be mid-July."

"Oh, so that gives you a while."

"Of this year!" she exclaimed, putting her hand on her forehead. "And they want me to plan the music. How am I supposed to come up with the perfect playlist in four months?!"

"Well," Layla said, "it is gonna be mid-July, so you have to add Young and Beautiful."

"That's what I was thinking. But then I realized I want that to be mine and Clancy's first dance. What if she thinks I copied her? And what if she brings it up and then when I think of my wedding, I'll think of the fact that she thinks I'm a copycat."

My eyebrows slightly furrowed with concern. That was...definitely one way to think.

"Wouldn't you be copying yourself since you're choosing the music?" Layla asked.

"But it's her special day. I don't want to rip off her special day." Indi threw fries into her mouth, then proceeded to anxiously chew and swallow them. "Also, what if I choose a song for her to walk down the aisle to and she secretly hates it, but never tells me, so then she has to walk down the aisle to a song she hates? It's stuck like that forever! That song that she hates will always be what she walked down the aisle to. And then she's gonna slowly start to resent me, and soon enough, my dad's gonna lose the love of his life because he's never chosen someone over his kids. And then—"

She stopped talking when Ezra set a hand over hers. As soon as their eyes met, all of the tension in her body just vanished.

"Decisions will still be there tomorrow," he said to her, his voice gentle. "Prom won't."

She let out a sigh and nodded. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." He lifted a hand to cup her cheek—and then he kissed her. That was my cue to glare a hole into the burger in front of me.

They were so in love, it was disgusting.

And I'd never been so envious.

‧₊˚♪𝄞࿐₊˚⊹

The Spins by Mac Miller came to an end, slowly fading out from the speakers and into Pistol by Cigarettes After Sex.

My eyes instantly met Layla's across the venue, where she was just coming back from the bathroom with Indi.

"Go get your girl," Ezra said to me, giving my back an encouraging pat.

The world ceased to exist as Layla and I began walking towards each other like an actual, real life movie.

We didn't have to say anything as her hands folded behind my neck and mine found their way to her lower back.

Even though she was so beautiful that there was an ache in my chest, I couldn't draw my eyes away.

Tonight had gone much smoother than the first dance we went to together. This time, when she closed the distance between us so that our bodies were barely flush against one another, I could truly enjoy the proximity.

At the same time, it killed me to know she was so close yet so far. I wanted all of her. Every single piece. And I worried that that would never change.

"What do your grandparents think?" I asked after a moment. "Of you coming to the dance with me?"

She grimaced with an awkward laugh. "They think I came here with friends," she replied. "Which, I mean, I did. They just don't know it was...you."

I nodded, trying to push away the pang that hit me. It was hard to grapple with the fact that her grandparents—her legal guardians—didn't like me.

We fell into wordless swaying again. My eyes diverted between her and the crowd multiple times. I wanted to look at the art in front of me, but I wasn't sure how much was creepy, so I made sure to space it out.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" Layla asked. "After this song?"

I felt a pang of disappointment strike me. I didn't want the night to end. Not yet. "Back to my house?" Almost subconsciously, I traced the lower back hem of her dress, my fingers barely skimming her skin.

"I was thinking we should just walk around for a bit," she replied, an almost imperceptible shudder rolling through her. "I have to be home soon, but I wanna look at the stars."

We lived in a city, which meant there would be ten stars to look at if we were lucky. But this was Layla speaking. So there was only one thing I could say.

"Well, then let's look at the stars."

‧₊˚♪𝄞࿐₊˚⊹

We leaned against the hood of her car outside the venue where music could be softly heard from outside.

My attention was split between the sight above us and the sight beside me.

She seemed completely enamored by the black sky, which only had a small splatter of stars to spare. "When I have kids," she said, breaking the comfortable silence, "I want to raise them in a small town."

I looked down at Layla, a small smile on my lips. "Yeah?"

She nodded, her gaze above unwavering. "Somewhere we can watch the stars—all of them. Not just a few. A place that's just as good as the idea of it."

"That sounds cozy," I replied. "Somewhere like Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah. That's the— Wait." Her eyes snapped to mine, causing my heart to lurch in my chest. "How do you know about that show?"

"I have two sisters."

"Well then they have amazing taste," she replied, her attention drifting back up.

I looked over her head, my eyes latching onto the thick, silky crescent that hung in the sky. Silence hung over us for a few minutes. The quiet was comfortable, but the heavy desire tangled in my chest was not.

My lungs dragged in an attempt at a full breath before I said, "The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

Her head slowly turned towards the celestial body, her smile growing at the sight. "It's always beautiful."

"Yeah," I replied, looking down at the girl beside me. "It is."

‧₊˚♪𝄞࿐₊˚⊹

A/N: This book is so fluffy, I'm realizing; There's like no conflict at all, which is probably why I'm having such a hard time writing it. It's so difficult coming up with happy lovey dovey stuff, but I'm trying!! If there's anything you guys wanna see LMK. I love you all <3