Our Summer

End of Summertime Dance

"Hey Ted, pass the ties!" Noel yelled. Ted threw them backwards as he buttoned up his vest.

"Does everyone have a mask too?" Daevd asked.

"Yes Mom," I responded. He lightly smacked my arm. I laughed and straightened my tie.

"Hey Drew, are ya going to slow dance with Esme?" Noel wiggled his eyebrows. I chuckled.

"I plan to. At the very least, we're gonna get some drinks and hang out," I adjusted my vest.

"Ba-sic," Noel and Ted chanted. I laughed and we left. Halfway down the path we met up with the girls. Everyone was dress up of course, but I felt my heart stop as I looked at Esme.

So beautiful...

"Everyone ready to go?" Sammy asked. We all nodded and continued our journey to the dance.

The clearing was the same one used for the bonfire; only difference was the fairylights that were strung from tree to tree, along with the wooden tables with lanterns on top.

"Hey guys, great job setting this up!" Mila congratulated Sammy and Daevd. They both smiled and laughed it off. 

"A lot of it was Ella and Sarah. We just hauled the tables in," Daevd admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Damn straight," Ella chimed in as she arrived with Aliza.

~~~~ 20 minutes later ~~~~

"AND YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER, IS DOING FINE!"

"Doing fine~" we all harmonized at the end, singing somewhat decently for the first time all night.

"Hey amore... I'm going to go grab a drink," Esme stated, kissing my cheek and walking off to the line.

"Make sure to watch your drink Honey!" I called after her. Her shoulders shook as she looked at me with a wide smile. So damn gorgeous.

"Honey??? You couldn't come up with anything else?" Noel chuckled as he rested his elbow on my shoulder.

"Oh~? Like you could do better," I scoffed. He smirked and said:

"Call her deam pulchrae."

"What? What the hell is that?"

"It's unique isn't it?" was all he said before going to the snack bar with Ted.

"Fyi, it means "beautiful goddess" or "the beautiful goddess"," Sammy leaned back to talk two people away from me, "do you need to know the meaning of amore too?"

"No, I'm not completely stupid," I informed her. Of course I know some basic Spanish I even know some German and French.

It took a while for Esme to return, so
I danced to Electric slide, Cotton-Eye Joe, and Cupid's Shuffle while I waited.

When she came back, something seemed... odd about her dress. It looked a little bit more wrinkled.

I was about to say something, then I just shrugged it off since anything could've wrinkled it and Esme isn't the type to cheat.

"Hey man, the slow song's starting," Ted nudged me.

I recognized the music as it began. This is my sister's favorite slow song.

"Shall we?" I asked, extending my hand to her. She nodded and took my hand.

Looking around, I could see several people jokingly offering their friends a hand. Some accepted, while others laughed it off. However, several couples already had their arms wrapped around each other. To my surprise, one duo was Daevd and Noel. As friends or as..? Ohhh that explains a lot...

I quietly laughed to myself at my stupidity, "God, I'm an idiot."

~~~~~~~

I twirled her around and pulled her back. The feeling of her smiling against me as we swayed to the music was amazing.

Unfortunately the song was nearing the end. I debated on whether or not to do it.

Well... if this is all going away tomorrow... then I want to do this first.

I held Esme in my arms, twirling her one last time before capturing her lips with mine.