Hazel asked Lucas to homecoming. It was an amazing night despite the crappy music and decoration in the sweaty school gym. They took pictures by the water, because Lucas had never seen the huge lake by her house and she wanted him to see it and to share that memory with her. Then, she had her friend drive them to Coney Island, where he'd never been, and they all three ate together with Lucas and Hazel in one side of the booth, and Hazel's friend on the other. With Lucas that close Hazel could hear her heartbeat, and she was comfortable. When they were waiting to get into the dance Hazel introduced him to her friends, making sure to never take her hand out of his, and relishing in this feeling of pride that came from it. Hazel had a whole cute little speech planned out to say during a slow song that would've led up to a kiss but the DJ played no slow songs, so she settled on giving Lucas a Hershey's kiss off the table of candy conveniently there because of the theme being candyland. The locked eyes and he leaned in, making her heart skip with anticipation and butterflies erupt in her stomach, the awkward poisoning of the chairs they were in made it really difficult to crane her head where it needed to be, so their lips barely touched, and it had a gentleness that made all of the blood in her body just stop and caused the world to slow down and disappear from her thoughts. When their lips parted their noses stayed together with their foreheads and she opened her eyes to see his, a huge smile already taking over her face and a blush covering her cheeks. This was a moment she would never and will never forget. Every kiss afterwards had that same heartstopping effect on Hazel, and she floated around the rest of the night, not once leaving his side. When the dance came to an end, they walked outside, walking side by side while Hazel shamelessly sang fergalicious. Lucas's mom came out to ask Hazel if she had a ride home and if she wanted to use their car for some heat until her mom got there, and as much as Hazel wanted to spend more time with Lucas she knew that if she had accepted that offer she wouldn't be able to leave without being upset, and she refused to be any kind of upset this homecoming, so she declined and stayed outside having a conversation with Lucas's mom, and feeling the distance between them. The sense of longing when she went home that night was so strong, but she knew that this sense of longing and physical attraction that made her heart want out of her chest, was the thing that would make their relationship last and function and she smiled.
