nights when the heat had gone out

we danced together alone

cold turned our breath into clouds

we never said what we were dreaming of

but you turned me into somebody loved

~ Somebody Loved - Kinna Grannis ~

Epilogue Five: Two Years Later - Last Night

"He's outside."

Kuki looked at Abby and smiled appreciatively. She had been scanning the room for the last two minutes, looking past boys in suits and girls in dresses, searching for the one person she mostly looked forward to seeing tonight.

"Thanks Abby," she smiled. "Will you keep everyone distracted for me?"

"Sure thing. Now go before Hoagie starts throwing more confetti at you."

Kuki laughed and started weaving her way through the crowded room, past fellow ballerinas wearing semi-formal dresses and proud parents handing congratulatory bouquets. It was the after-party of her last-ever ballet recital, and she was going to miss all of it. But for now, all she wanted was to see him.

She found him alone, standing in an ornate stone balcony that overlooked the softly illuminated gardens of the ballet theater. He had turned around when he heard the doors open, and he smiled gently when he saw that it was her. It was a beautiful night, and once the door closed behind her and sealed away the noises of the after-party, they were left with a pensive silence laced with a symphony of crickets chirping through the night. She smiled at him. He was wearing a suit that perfectly captured the angle of his shoulders and the slenderness of his neck, but here and there was a detail that still made it so perfectly him - a piece of hem that stayed untucked above his belt, a slightly unbuttoned collar peeking over his tie, an open suit jacket that hung loosely at the sides. He was casual and formal all at once, and she loved it, just like how she loved everything else about him.

He leaned back against the balcony with his hands in his pockets, welcoming her as she walked towards him, her heels clicking gently against the stone floor beneath her.

They didn't speak, nor did they feel the need to. Instead, she greeted him by dusting away some nonexistent lint from his suit jacket and brushing away the strands of hair that so stubbornly rested on his forehead. She even tilted her head and gave him a puzzled look when she detected a touch of gel in them.

"I tried," he smiled as his blonde hair fell back over his green eyes.

She laughed and reached for his necktie and loosened it. He hated ties. He hated suits in general, and she knew it. And yet here he was, wearing one just for her.

Once there was nothing left to fiddle with, she slipped her arms through the inside of his jacket and hugged him, her cheek resting against his collarbone and her hands draped gently around his waist. He responded by taking one of his hands out of his pockets and wrapping his arm around her, sheltering her from the cold. He was always protecting her, even when there was nothing to protect her from.

It was hard to believe now that she ever thought him cold, when it seemed that for the last two years he had been the biggest source of warmth and comfort in her life. There had been many things to learn about him - things that she hadn't truly known despite knowing him since childhood - and of the many things she learned was the fact that he was fiercely loving in every way. Loyal. Protective. Sweet. He held her through everything regardless of significance - through movies that made her cry, through hamsters or goldfish that died, through days that darkened amidst her otherwise sunny life. No cause was too little or too great for him to hold her.

Moments passed in silence, and somewhere in between, she remembered that tonight was the last time she danced in front of a crowd. It was a bittersweet thought. She loved every minute of her ballet career, and yet she knew that it wasn't meant to last forever, and though it ached to say goodbye, she did so willingly. But as she thought of this chapter ending, she also began to think of all the other 'lasts' that were ahead of her. Ahead of them. Their last year of high school, their last prom, maybe even their last day at home... The thought of goodbyes suddenly rushed towards her, and she found herself tightening her arms around him as all the possibilities spun in her head. Graduation, college, careers. Adulthood.

"I love you, Wally," she found herself saying. It was the first time she'd ever said those words to him, and she suddenly couldn't understand why it had been so difficult to say before. It was the truest, simplest thing to say now. It had always been true.

There was no reaction from his end - no words, not even the smallest movement - but he didn't need to say or do anything. She knew how he felt. He often joked that he could read her mind, but she was willing to argue that she could read his too. They knew each other's thoughts. They knew each other's feelings. Through it all, their heart beat as one.

"I love you…" she said again, her hands now clutching onto the lapels of his shirt as she buried her face into his chest.

He took his other hand out of his pocket and wrapped it around her, now holding her completely as he planted a soft kiss on top of her head, and from the way his arms tightened around her, she knew that he too was thinking of all the possibilities ahead of them. And though he remained silent, she knew: he was scared too.

No words were spoken as they held each other, both not wanting to think of what was to come, of 'lasts', of possible goodbyes. And as the future and all its unknowns loomed towards them, they did the only thing they could: they held onto each other, hoping that what they had could last forever.