Daniella | ✓

the story

Daniella walked through the hallway, marvelling at the gorgeous dresses, her eyes scanning the room for Ashley. This was her chance, her one chance, and she was not going to waste it. Ashley had broken up with Chad exactly three days ago and now was the perfect time for Dani to make her move. Ashley Porter was hard to miss, her bright red curls bouncing wildly as she twirled around the dance floor, chatting animatedly with her best friend. Dani frowned slightly; there was no way she could reach out to Ashley while Halle was there. She was fiercely protective of her best friend and had a tendency to ward people, especially those who were desperate for Ashley's attention, away. Sometimes Dani wondered if their something motivating Halle's ferocious defends of Ashley but, if what was written in the bathroom stalls was true, then that definitely was not the case.

Jenna and Caitlin grinned at Dani when they saw her and she tottered over to hem, wobbling in her sky high stilettos. "Damn girl," Jenna whistled, "there's no way Ashley will be able to resist you." Dani blushed tomato red, eyes downcast to the floor.

"Do you really think so?" She mumbled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Both girls nodded eagerly.

"Stop being negative," Caitlin scolded, "tonight is going to go perfect and you're going to kiss the love of your life and end up married with ten children." A wistful look came over her and it was clear to both Jenna and Dani that she was dreaming of that situation involving her and James. The James who had dumped her two days previously without a word of explanation.

"Come on, let's dance!" Jenna squealed, grabbing both girls by the wrists and dragging them out into the centre of the hall, surrounded by dancing couples on all sides. "Single ladies!" Jenna cheered, drawing a few strange looks in their direction. Dani gave an apologetic smile, before joining in with Caitlin's dance and swinging her arms around in the air.

Almost two hours later and Dani was exhausted. The three of them had collapsed onto chairs at the side of the auditorium, all of them flinging their high heeled shoes into a corner. "I'll just get Johnny to park extra close to the school." Jenna had said, when Dani pointed out that they did actually need the shoes that were now missing. Dani's eyes flicked to the clock; ten-forty. Caitlin followed her line of vision and squealed in delight.

"It's nearly time. Come on you two, let's dance some more." She dragged them both back out onto the dance floor, starting a new, extremely complicated, three person waltz. There was a lot of clumsy movements, and more than a few shrieks of pain; but soon they were swaying around the room in an, albeit rather strange, rhythm.

The dancing continued, getting more and more wild as the night went on. Soon enough, Dani found herself practically back to back with Ashley, who was now dancing alone. Dani's eyes flicked to the clock, which read twenty minutes to midnight. She shrugged, it was close enough to be her fairytale ball. Mustering up all the courage she had, Dani tapped Ashley on the shoulder. Ashley swivelled round and smiled brightly at Dani.

"Hi Dani, how are you?" She beamed and Dani blushed, ducking her head.

"Fine, thank you. Um, would you, uh- would you-" Ashley raised an eyebrow, looking at Dani in curiosity. "Would you like to dance?" Dani finally choked the words out and a grin broke out of Ashley's face.

"Of course!" Ashley appeared to know a lot more about dancing than Dani did, so she lead them around the hall, twirling Dani around as they went. They continued for quite a while, murmured conversations all blurring into one; mixing with the songs in the background. Dani's shoulders had relaxed and a genuine smile taken over her features. This was what it meant to be happy.

Once Dani had gotten hold of every scrap of confidence she had, she moved one of her hands from Ashley's shoulder to cup her face and leant in slowly, lips parted. Their lips connected; moving slowly against each other at first and then faster, hands gripping tighter, as if they were afraid to let go. Finally, they pulled away and Daniella smiled widely at Ashley, as the clock struck midnight.

"You're not gonna run away, are you?" Ashley teased, "Because I don't think you have any shoes to leave behind for me." Dani rolled her eyes.

"Me, run? I don't think you need to worry about that." Ashley laughed loudly, before leaning in and pressing her lips against Dani's again.