Page 7 of Edge of Forever

For both of us.

THREE

Kirsten

Slow dancingwith Sam is magical.

He’s tall, a few inches north of six feet, but light on his feet. He’s also strong, moving me around the floor like I’m weightless. When I wrap my arms around his neck and gaze up at him, it’s like there’s no one else here. Like nothing else exists but this moment.

“Having fun?” he asks, his breath warm against my ear.

“It’s been great,” I whisper. “What about you? Has it been better than you thought?”

“Much better,” he says. “Your friends are nice, the music’s good, and I get to dance with the prettiest girl I know.”

“When this song is over, do you want to get in line for the photo booth?”

“Sure.”

I move closer, taking in the faint scent of aftershave and the warmth of his body against mine. There’s nothing I don’t like about Sam, and tonight just solidifies that. The only question is what happensaftertonight. He leaves to go on tour soon, andI have to get ready for graduation, college, and a little bit of summer fun before I start on a new phase of my life.

Sam and I have been doing the long distance thing for several months now, since I live in Las Vegas and Crimson Edge is based in Minneapolis. He and the band only got to town a couple of days ago to start recording their album, so although I’ve seen him, we’ve been busy in the days leading up to prom.

In a way, it’s been nice because we’ve had time to really get to know each other. We’ve been able to talk, watch movies online, play virtual games together, and text on and off all day. Most of all, we’ve been open about the perceived elephant in the room—my virginity.

He refused to do it right when I turned eighteen, which was the last time I saw him, insisting it had to be at the right time for the right reasons. I didn’t know what those reasons were at the time, but now that we’ve had time to get to know each other, I understand.

Sex can be intimidating. Most of my friends feel the same way, even the ones who’ve already done it, so I’m definitely not the only one with reservations. Although I’ll never know for sure, I probably would have been terrified if Sam and I had done it two months ago.

I’m a lot more relaxed now that we’ve had time to connect emotionally and intellectually.

I’m also on birth control now, and I wasn’t back then.

“Photo booth!” Gina grabs my arm and we run toward the back of the room hand-in-hand. I know Sam and Tony and Mark are following, so I allow myself to be in the moment with my besties. Other than graduation, this is our last hurrah as a group.

Gina’s going to college in Spain. Cathryn is joining the military. Our friend Jami is going to school in Seattle. And the final friend in our group, Elise, will be playing Division One hockey at a school in New England.

We’re essentially going to be spread all over the planet, so it’s going to be weird not seeing them every day.

But my future is pretty exciting.

“Besties forever!” Gina yells, as we all make kissy motions at the camera.

Cathryn holds up a sign that says “Prom Night Shenanigans” and wiggles her eyebrows at Mark.

“I thought you never wanted to do those kinds of shenanigans again,” I stage whisper.

“That was before we figured out oral.” Her eyes twinkle.

The three of us dissolve in giggles just as Jami comes and joins in.

I don’t know how many pictures we took, or how long we hogged the booth, but we did some with just us girls, some with the guys, some with just the guys, and some with random teachers who walked by.

Then we danced.

We were out on the dance floor every single song until the lights came up and they made us leave.

“What if we took a drive on the Strip?” Sam suggests as we head for the exit. “Our limo has a sunroof.”

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