Kat boiling over.

I look back towards Kat. She's still watching me, waiting for an answer. Across the gym, Rebecca is talking to Carla, but I force myself to look away.

“You're right,” I say.

Kat raises an eyebrow. “About what?”

“I'm here with you.”

For a second she just stares at me. Then the smallest smile starts to form. “Good.” She reaches for my hand.

“Because I was beginning to think I was your backup plan.”

“You're not.”

“No?”

“No.” The answer comes out more quickly than I expect.

Kat's fingers tighten around mine. “Then prove it.”

I smile. “Come on.”

She pulls me back towards the dance floor. The DJ has moved on to another upbeat song, and the crowd is already bouncing along with it. Kat turns to face me almost immediately, one hand settling against my shoulder as she starts moving with the music. I follow her. Finally, I'm not wondering where Rebecca is. I'm not trying to figure out what anyone else is thinking. It's just Kat. And me.

She catches me staring at her. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“You're staring.”

“I know.”

She smiles. “That's better.”

I laugh. “Better than what?”

“Better than looking over my shoulder every thirty seconds.” She steps a little closer. “You're actually here now.”

“I am.”

“Good.”

The song builds, and Kat laughs as she takes both my hands and spins away before pulling me back towards her. “You're not terrible at this,” she says.

“I've been waiting all night for that compliment.”

“Don't get excited. You're still nowhere near good.”

“Cruel.”

“Honest.”

The next song starts almost immediately. Then another. And somehow the time disappears. At some point Michael catches sight of us and points dramatically from the edge of the dance floor. He mouths something I can't hear. Lyndsay, standing beside him, shakes his head. Whatever Michael has said clearly isn't appropriate.

Kat notices and laughs. “Your friends are idiots.”

“They really are.”

“But they're good friends.”

“They are.”

She looks at me for a moment. “So am I?”

The question catches me off guard. “Yeah.”

“Just a friend?”

I hesitate. There's something different about the way she's asking it. Not joking. Not teasing. Kat is serious now and needs a serious answer.

I look at her. She's waiting. “I don't know,” I admit.

Her smile becomes softer. “I don't either.”

Neither of us moves for a moment. The music continues around us, but somehow it feels quieter. Kat's hand is still resting against my shoulder. Mine is around her waist.

“This is kind of weird,” she says.

“What is?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“You've always been there.”

“So have you.”

“Yeah, but…” She laughs nervously. “I've never really thought about you like this.”

“Like what?”

She looks directly into my eyes. “Like maybe you could be something more.”

My heart gives a ridiculous little jump. “Maybe?”

She grins. “Don't ruin it.”

“I wasn't going to.”

“Good.”

We keep dancing. But something has changed. I'm suddenly aware of every little movement. The way her hand rests against me. The way she keeps looking up at me. The way she doesn't seem interested in putting any distance between us. When the song ends, neither of us steps away.

“Want some air?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

We leave the dance floor together. The hallway outside the gym is much quieter. The music becomes a dull thump through the walls, and for a moment it's just the two of us.

Kat leans against the wall. “That was fun.”

“It was.”

“You really stopped worrying about Rebecca.”

I know she's asking rather than accusing me. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

I think about it. “Because you deserved my attention.”

Her expression changes. Not dramatically. Just enough.

She looks down at the corsage on her wrist. “You really mean that?”

“I do.”

She smiles. “That's probably the nicest thing anyone's said to me tonight.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

There's a short silence.

Then she looks back up. “I was really annoyed with you this afternoon.”

“I know.”

“I thought you were going to forget about me.”

“I nearly did.”

She laughs. “That's not helping.”

“I know.”

Her smile fades into something more thoughtful. “But you came.”

“Yeah.”

“And you bought me this.” She lifts her wrist. “And you actually danced with me.”

“I figured that was the minimum requirement for being your date.”

“Maybe.”

She takes one small step closer. “But I think I like this.”

“This?”

“Us.”

My mouth goes dry. “Yeah?”

She nods. “I think I do too.”

The gym doors swing open at the far end of the hallway, and a couple of students stumble out laughing.

Kat glances towards them, then back at me. “Come on.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere quieter.”

She takes my hand again. This time, neither of us jokes about it. We walk outside through the side doors and find a quiet patch of grass around the back of the gymnasium. The night air is cool against my face after the heat inside. Kat sits on a low brick wall. I sit beside her. For a while we just talk. About school. About stupid teachers. About what we might do after graduation. She tells me she doesn't know what she wants yet. I tell her I don't either. We laugh about how everyone keeps asking what we're going to do with the rest of our lives when we barely know what we're doing next weekend. Eventually the conversation slows.

Kat looks at me. “You know what I like about tonight?”

“What?”

“I don't feel like I'm trying to compete with anyone.”

“You're not.”

“I know.”

She leans her shoulder against mine. “I like that.”

I turn my head towards her. She's already looking at me. Neither of us says anything. Her eyes flick down towards my mouth for the briefest moment. Then back up.

My heartbeat suddenly feels far too loud. “Kat…”

“Yeah?”

“I…”

She smiles nervously. “It's okay.”

She leans closer. I meet her halfway. The kiss is brief. Awkward. A little clumsy. And completely perfect. We pull apart almost immediately. Kat stares at me. Then she starts laughing. I laugh too.

“That was terrible,” she says.

“It was.”

“If that’s how we kiss, imagine how bad the sex is going to be,” Kat absentmindedly says.

Her eyes widen. For half a second, neither of us moves. Then she clamps both hands over her mouth.

“Oh, my God.”

I stare at her.

She shakes her head furiously. “Don't.”

“I didn't say anything.”

“You were about to.”

“I genuinely wasn't.”

“You absolutely were.”

I can't help laughing.

Kat groans and drops her face into her hands. “I can't believe I just said that.”

“You were thinking out loud.”

“That makes it worse.” She peeks at me through her fingers. “You're never letting me forget this, are you?”

“Probably not.”

“Great.” She leans back against the wall and exhales, still bright red with embarrassment. “I was trying to say something romantic.”

“You were doing pretty well before that.”

“Until my brain betrayed me.”

I smile. “You're okay.”

She looks at me. “I'm really okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Even after I just said that?”

“Yeah.”

Her expression slowly softens. “Good.”

A quiet moment settles between us again.

Then Kat reaches over and takes my hand. “Can we just go back to the part where we were kissing?”

I smile. “That's probably a safer conversation.”

“Definitely.”

She squeezes my hand. Neither of us is quite sure what happens next. And maybe that's what makes it exciting. We're not suddenly experts at relationships. We don't have some grand plan for what we're supposed to become. We're two eighteen-year-olds sitting behind a school gym on the night of our senior dance, trying to work out what it means that our friendship suddenly feels different.

Kat looks at our intertwined fingers. “So…”

“So?”

“Does this mean we're actually a thing now?”

I think about it. “Do you want us to be?”

She looks up at me. “Yeah.” Her answer is quiet, but completely certain.

“Then I do too.”

Her smile is almost impossible to miss. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

She leans against my shoulder. We're both just soaking in the moment after the step we just took. We just sit there listening to the distant music from inside the gym.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I take it out and glance at the screen. Several messages from Michael.

Another appears almost immediately.

A pause.

Kat laughs when she sees the messages. “He's not going to stop, is he?”

“Absolutely not.”

Another message appears.

Kat shakes her head. “What if we give him something that makes him leave us alone?”

I look at her. “Like what?”

She gives me a mischievous smile. “A photo.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Of what?”

She looks around the quiet patch of grass, then back at me. “Us.”

“You mean…”

She nods towards my phone. “Actually kissing.”

I stare at her for a second. “You're serious?”

“Completely.”

She laughs. “Think about it. We send him one picture, and he'll finally realise we're busy.”

“That might actually work.”

“Exactly.”

Kat steps closer and loops an arm around my neck. “But we're taking it properly.”

“Properly?”

“Don't make me regret suggesting this.”

I unlock my phone and switch to the camera.

Kat looks at the screen. “Wait. My hair.” She quickly smooths it down, checks herself once more in the camera, then looks at me. “Okay.” She moves closer. I put an arm around her waist. She smiles. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

I hold the phone slightly out to the side. “Three…”

Kat leans in.

“Two…”

Our lips meet.

“Click.”

The first photo is ruined because I laugh halfway through it.

Kat pulls away, laughing too. “Terrible!”

“You moved.”

“I did not!”

“You absolutely did.”

“Again.”

I lift the phone. This time we both stop laughing. Kat looks at me for a moment before leaning in. The second picture catches us kissing properly, my arm around her waist and her hand resting against my shoulder. When we separate, we both look at the screen.

“That's actually really cute,” Kat says.

“Yeah.”

She looks at me. “Send it.”

I open the message thread with Michael.

I attach the photo. Send.

We wait.

The reply comes almost instantly.

Kat starts laughing so hard she has to lean against me.

Another message arrives.

Then Michael.

A final message appears.

I lock the phone. “There,” I say. “Problem solved.”

Kat smiles. “Definitely.”

She takes my hand again. “Come on, boyfriend.”

I grin. “That still sounds strange.”

“You'll get used to it.”

We start walking back towards the gym. Halfway there, Kat stops.

“What?”

She looks at me with that same nervous smile from earlier. “Can we do one more?”

I hold up the phone. “Another photo?”

She shakes her head. “No.” She steps closer. “Just one more kiss.”