Twelve Years Ago
ELLIE
“Hey, Eleanor?”
It was after midnight, and Sully and I had been sitting on the steps of his front porch for almost an hour, not ready to let the night end. Above us, the stars twinkled. Around us, the air was cool. I wore Sully’s suit jacket around my shoulders.
“Sawyer?”
His look was contemplative. “Did you have fun tonight?”
My cheeks hurt from smiling, but I let another one take over my face anyway. “So much fun.”
“Yeah?”
He looked so suddenly hopeful, I wondered if I hadn’t acted like I’d been having fun. Or maybe he hadn’t had fun.
“Yeah, of course. Did you?”
He nodded, and it was enthusiastic enough to soothe my worries. “Yeah. I was sort of hoping—”
When he hesitated, I nudged his foot. “What?”
He shook his head. “It’s kind of silly.”
“Tell me.”
“I just—” A sigh. “I know it was just a dance in a high school gym with sweaty teenagers and cringy music, and there weren’t any wizards or walking trees or spellcasting or any of that shit, but I was hoping there was maybe a moment or two where you felt it.”
My brows drew together. “Felt what?”
Our gazes connected, and something sparked in his, and suddenly, I knew what he was going to say. “A tiny bit of magic.”
He was wrong; someone cast something tonight because I felt spellbound. By him, this moment, the entire night.
“I felt it.”
“Good.” He stood and then whirled around to face me, clapping his hands together like he had an announcement. “So, I have a proposition. How about we do it again, in say…” He checked an imaginary watch on his wrist. “Three months?”
A laugh bubbled out of me. “I don’t think there’s another Homecoming until next year.”
“True, true.” He nodded, as though considering the problem. Then he slid his hands into the pockets of his dress slacks and rocked back on his feet. “But there is the Winter Carnival, and I don’t think either of us have a date for that yet.”
“You’re right,” I said, even as my stomach flipped and twisted. I pulled his jacket tighter around me, reluctant to let go of nights like this one. “But maybe you want to ask someone else to Winter Carnival.”
He made a face, like the idea was preposterous, and butterflies took off. “I don’t.”
“You sure? Three months is a long time. You might change your mind by then.”
“Eleanor.” He leveled me with a look, his eyes alive with a heightened energy. It was Sully, and everything I knew Sully to be. But it was almost something…more than that. His lips curved, and the way he took one step closer to me, and then another, sent my pulse skyrocketing.
“Yeah?”
His smirk grew, as though reacting to whatever words he had on the tip of his tongue, the ones he seemed to be rehearsing in his head. “If I could ask you to senior prom right now, I would.”
My lips parted in surprise.
He couldn’t be serious, but I’d make the mistake of assuming that before, and I promised him I wouldn’t do it again.
“But maybe you need convincing,” he added, grabbing the end of the railing that lined the steps and using it as leverage to swing his body toward mine, and then hovering above me.
I shook my head and then tipped it back, looking up at him.
When it came to Sullivan London, I didn’t really need any convincing.
He grinned, happy with my response, but then he leaned over the railing and began fussing with something in the bush beside the porch steps. Snaps and cracks filtered through the air, and I frowned until he whipped back around with his hands full of flowers.
“Here,” he said, proudly displaying a collection of roses. “They’re not as pretty as you, but they’ll do.”
“Sawyer,” I laughed while taking them from him. “Did you just maim your mom’s rosebush? She’s going to be pissed.”
He shrugged. “She won’t notice. And I didn’t get you flowers tonight. I should have gotten you flowers, and I’m trying to convince you to go to another dance with me, so…”
“I already told you I don’t need convincing. You have a very good chance of me going with you to Winter Carnival.”
“Yeah?” His eyes glittered. “And what are my chances that you’ll go with me on a date before Winter Carnival?”
“Really, pretty good, I think,” I said and then bit down on my lip, if just to keep my ridiculous smile at bay.
“You think?”
He was leaning down now, close enough that I could feel his warm breath against my skin. His eyes drifted over my face. They flicked to my mouth and where I was still biting my lip and then back to my eyes.
“Yeah, I think,” I breathed.
Sully’s grin was infectious. I felt it from my head to my toes. “Can’t wait, Eleanor.”
In the end, I went to twelve school dances with Sullivan London.
After each one, we sat on his front porch. Even if it snowed. Or rained. Or mosquitoes nipped our ankles.
And I always went home with roses tucked beneath my arm.
And a little bit of magic in my heart.