Epilogue

Sabrina led me down from the roof and down to the parking lot toward her car. After all this time, after all the campaigning and build-up to prom, she decided to leave the prom early with me by her side, her wearing her ridiculously royal looking crown and me with one made out of an assortment of rainbow coloured flashcards. I put my arm around her waist as we walked through to the car and leaned against her.

At the end of the day, I didn't care where we went, as long as we were with each other.

Sabrina opened the passenger door and backed up with a little curtsy.

"After you, my lady," she said.

"Thank you, your . . . majesty." I let her take hold of my hand, and she helped me inside the car.

And once I sat down, she didn't let go straight away but instead raised my hand to her lips. "Where should we take this royal carriage tonight?"

"Wherever pleases the queen," I said.

"A surprise for you, then." She kissed my hand quickly again before gently closing the door and sliding into the driver's seat.

We drove in silence under the starry night, and there wasn't a car to be seen. It was only us on the open road. Her hand occasionally rested on top of mine on my thigh or on top of my hand while she changed gears. Instead of looking out the window and up at the sky or fixating my gaze to the front of the car, my stare sometimes changed between her hand holding mine or to her face as she concentrated on the road. Her smile always curling that little more when my attention was on her.

I didn't know how long we'd been driving for. I didn't really care. It was a little disappointing, actually, for our time spent together in the car to come to an end. It was something that had been constant for us since she'd turned sixteen. It was the only time we'd spent together in such close proximity when we didn't speak – with the occasional interruptions in her house. I'd come to look forward to those ten minutes' drive to and from school. But the difference, a significant difference was we could spend however much time as we damn pleased with each other now.

Still, if it weren't for her not concentrating on the road anymore and smiling directly at me, I wouldn't have noticed that the car had stopped at all.

And when I did finally take in my surroundings, I didn't recognise the immediate area. We were on top of a hill. Blades of foreign grass fluttered in the breeze, but further and beyond the land was the outline of our town in all its glory. It wasn't anything impressive; just yellow lights and building we'd passed every day. But beyond that was the sea and its dark glistening waves under the moonlight. There were no people to impress or put up some sort of façade around. We were entirely alone up here.

Sabrina got out of the car first and fixed me with a pointed look as she rounded, demanding that I stay put. I raised my eyebrows a little and waited patiently for her to open the door. She did, and without a word, she headed to the back of the car. I headed to the front of the vehicle and crossed my arms, staring finally at something that wasn't her.

"I don't understand how your crown hasn't flown away," she admitted, glancing at me as she placed a very convenient blanket on the ground.

"Sellotape's stuck in my hair," I admitted distractedly and nodded to the blanket. "Premeditated?"

"Not exactly." She laughed and held my shoulders as I lowered myself to the ground. I held her hand as she got down too so that we sat side by side overlooking the hill.

"So, you keep a picnic blanket in your trunk . . . ?"

"I do." She linked her fingers through mine. "Do you like it up here?"

"Oddly enough, yes. It's like everyone else is in a snow globe, and we can sit back and relax."

"My mom used to take me here a lot," she admitted and took the crown off her head, placing it onto her lap. "Every special occasion. We'd sit up here for hours, and I'd ask for the same story over and over, and she always told it, always with the same details of her prom night. She always told the story with the same joy. After she was gone, I always thought winning this crown would mean that I'd feel closer to her."

I tightened my fingers around hers. "How do you feel?"

She paused and ever so slowly she looked at me, tears in her eyes but they weren't sad. Her lips quirked. "Happy."

I let her hand go and brushed a fallen strand of her hair back. "Me too."

"I always wanted you to be up here for this moment," she told me and then whispered, "Can I kiss you?"

I didn't answer but closed my eyes and waited. It was like lightning had struck down from the sky and circulated through my body as Sabrina kissed me, holding my face in both of her hands. Then, she pulled back with a laugh and pulled a strand of my hair out, showing me the pesky Sellotape that stuck to her finger, creating a giant mess of tangles.

She leaned in again, kissing me shortly before untangling herself and helping me up.

"We're leaving?" I asked.

"Hmm. I want to do things to you that aren't appropriate for this type of scene. Besides," she said and shrugged. "It's a little cold."

Couldn't argue there, but that didn't mean my breath hitched a little. The residue of the spark that surged through my veins from her kiss seemed to flicker and tingle in the car ride back. It didn't take us long to get back to her house. It was all dark and empty and quiet.

It was only when she was kissing me and leading me backwards into her bedroom that I realised what she could potentially see inside.

I tangled my hands in her hair and somehow managed to flip us over so that I pushed her onto the bed – but before I could jump onto the bed too, she blinked once and meaningfully, looking by me . . .

"Oh my god someone is here," she hissed, scrambling from the bed.

"There's no one here," I was quick to explain and searched around for the source of the break of the window. I found the much larger than I remembered stone on the ground and plucked it and held it up for her to see. "I only meant to get your attention; I swear."

"You tried to break into my house?"

"No!" I denied and grimaced as she pushed me back onto the bed.

"You threw a rock at my window."

"Pebbles," I corrected. "In the name of love."

"Oh yeah? Did you play music and sing while below my window too?"

I looked away.

"Hmm." She stepped toward the window and peered down below. "Oh, sweet Sam. Is that a bow and arrow?"

"You know what?" I said, standing up. "Bye."

"Aw, poor Samantha, all embarrassed and ready to run."

"Sure am." I headed to the door, but she slid in front of it, grinning and poking my chest. "That's fine. I don't need the door anyway. There's a perfectly good and basically open window right there."

"You wouldn't."

"You underestimate my ability to escape situations."

I twisted around and headed to the window and somehow managed to open it without breaking the glass any further. I sat on the windowsill with my legs out the window and laughed as she wrapped her hands around my waist and hugged me tightly.

"No running or . . . jumping out the window for you, Sam. You're stuck with me."

I grinned and placed my hands over hers. "I guess I can't ditch my date with the prom queen."

THE END