When the DJ announced that he’d be playing the last song of the night and “You Are in Love” by Taylor Swift started playing through the speakers, my stomach twisted up in knots and my mood instantly shifted.
Because just like Xander had talked about his parents’ wedding song, this song belonged to Hunter and me.
Just stay in the moment, Scarlett, I told myself as Xander pulled me close to him. Don’t think about anything.
But even though I tried to keep myself in the present, right here at the dance with Xander, as the intro played and Taylor started singing the gentle lyrics of the first verse, I couldn’t keep the memories from streaming back.
It was like a music video was ready to instantly play in my mind whenever this song came on. And before I could stop them, all my favorite moments from last year’s spring break started flitting across my mind.
The movie nights cuddled up with Hunter on my mom’s couch.
The long walks in Central Park where we held hands and chatted about our dreams for life after high school.
The breathless dash to the private rooftop above Hunter’s penthouse where we made-out for hours after keeping our hormones in check all day.
So many amazing memories passed through my mind before stopping on the one memory specific to this song—the night Hunter and I had lain side by side on his bed and he told me he had a song he wanted me to listen to.
I could still see everything so vividly. Knew exactly what clothes we’d been wearing as he pulled out his phone and opened it to a playlist he’d titled Scarlett and Hunter.
Yes…he was the type of guy to take the time to do something like that.
He’d scrolled down the playlist, through several songs that we’d listened to together, and then clicked on one I wasn’t familiar with.
But even though I’d never heard this song before, as Taylor sang just the first few lines, I knew it was perfect. It was calming and romantic—a song about small moments that might seem ordinary to anyone not paying close attention, but when put all together made up a beautiful love story.
Hunter and I had just lain there, watching each other as we listened to the melody and lyrics that completely captured the slow and steady growth of a friendship blooming into a romance.
And as the song detailed all the different experiences the couple had together that told them they were in love, I also knew it was the same for Hunter and me.
Because even though we never got the chance to say the words aloud before breaking up, I knew it had been love.
I blinked my eyes shut, urging the memories to just stop. To wait until I was back in my room, so no one would see the way this song made me want to cry.
But the memory of how Hunter had looked deeply into my eyes before pulling me close and kissing me on the forehead only became more vivid with my eyes closed, so I forced myself to open them again.
That was a mistake. Because when I looked past Xander’s shoulder and saw who was dancing right behind him, I found Hunter staring right back at me.
When our eyes locked, my heart squeezed hard in my chest because he was looking at me the same way he’d looked at me that night on his bed.
Like he loved me.
I knew I should look away, to not add any more memories of Hunter to go along with this song. But since this was the first time all night where neither of our dates could see Hunter and me watching each other, I just let myself stare—to hungrily rake in the beautiful boy with chestnut-brown hair and green eyes who looked amazing in his navy-blue suit and tie.
For just a moment, I let myself imagine it was Hunter with whom I was dancing. That it was his jawline that my temple rested against. His hands that wrapped around my waist. His shoulders my hands rested on.
And as his gaze only seemed to get more intense as Addison pulled herself closer to him, I wondered if he was doing the same in his mind. If he was imagining it was me he was holding, and we were back to that night in his room.
He had to be feeling the same things as I was, right?
It had to be just as hard to see me dancing with Xander as it was for me to see him with Addison. I couldn’t be the only one feeling this.
The music swelled as the final chorus played. Hunter pressed his lips together, like he had something he wanted to say to me.
What does he want to say? I wondered, holding my breath.
After three more heart-pounding seconds, he met my gaze again and mouthed what looked like the words, “I wish…” before stopping and closing his mouth again.
Even though my heart had been pounding hard before, it now felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest because I wanted to know what he had almost said.
Did he wish he was dancing with me?
Did he wish we could be together?
Or did he wish we’d never dated in the first place because everything was so much harder now?
I watched him as he looked down at the wooden floor, like he just might need a moment to think over the words.
Words were powerful, and Hunter was someone who knew that better than most people.
After studying the dance floor for a few seconds and giving his head a slight shake, Hunter met my gaze again and mouthed, “You look beautiful tonight.” Then after a short pause, he added what looked like, “And I wish I’d stolen that dance with you.”
Even though I knew that I shouldn’t, I clung to those words. I repeated them in his voice in my mind so they could be burned in there forever. Because after the long and confusing day that I’d had, I needed to know that he still found me beautiful.
And since I didn’t want him to be the only one to be vulnerable tonight, I mouthed back, “I wish you’d stolen it, too.”
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