Yo and hello, again! Here's part three...it started off blah, but I like where it ended up. Bit of back story here, but stubborn me still won't give it away! I was gonna wait until I got a 20th review...but...well...I'm antsy!

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She wasn't just a girl. She was The Girl. Throughout his entire four years of high school, she was the only girl he wanted. Sure, he'd had girlfriends here and there, but they were always casual, and he never let himself get too attached. Not that it was much of a fight. They were silly girls with boys and make-up and parties on their minds. There was nothing beneath the surface.

Not like her... she was deep and thoughtful and caring. She was as smart as she was beautiful, and she was very, very beautiful. She was...perfect.

Of course, he wasn't the only one to think so.

They'd started out as friends, and he'd had to endure countless boyfriends coming and going, each starting out in the same fanciful, breathless puppy-loving way. Each inevitably breaking her precious, fragile heart.

It had taken him years to get up the courage to ask her out. All the way up to senior year, and even then, it was well into the last weeks of school. Prom, specifically.

God, he'd been nervous that day. Palms sweating, heart racing, even during the morning classes, when she wasn't present. All day, running through his head, were the possibilities. She could say yes, and make him the happiest guy in town. Or she could say no, and crush him. Despite the less desirable possibility, he had stopped her in the hallway after school let out for the day. And despite his nervousness, he asked her...and he'd never forget the grin on her face when she accepted.

She looked beautiful that night...a strapless lilac dress, hair held up out of her face but cascading down her back in soft curls he longed to run his hands through. He still had the pictures her mother had insisted on taking; the two of them posed outside her house. They were sitting on a wooden bench in front of a large oak tree. She was grinning, looking directly into the camera, and he was regarding her with the softest of smiles, their hands clasped together, resting on her thigh.

Travis sighed, lost in his memories, and took a long gulp of the beer he'd acquired. Swallowing, he paused, trying to remember just where he'd gotten the bottle. Deciding it didn't really matter, he took another swig, trying to ignore how unsteady his steps had become.

It was amazing, really, how easy it was to ignore his inebriated status, so lost in his thoughts. On the exterior, he was staggering, glassy eyed, and had he spoken, the words would have been slurred. But on the inside, his thoughts were clear, precise, and consuming.

The house was emptying now, in the early hours of the morning, but the music was still going, blaring loudly, the bass thumping. He could feel it, not only in his feet, his head, but in his veins.

The music had been loud that night, too.

It wasn't his favorite music, being played so the whole ballroom could hear it, all bass and nonsensical rhymes about living in the hood, and bitches and sex and drugs and...he made do. Seeing the grin on her face was enough to make him tolerate the music.

It was the first time anyone had seen him dance, and it was all because her body was out there with him, shimming and swaying, hearing the beat and responding to it's call. Her hair was out of place, her skin was flushed, and there was a glitter in her eyes only seen when she was at her happiest.

She had never been more beautiful than she was that night, wrapping her arms around his neck, swaying to the slow dances, pressed up against him, her breath in his ear.

He had never been happier than he was then, surrounded by classmates he couldn't stand, supervised by teacher's who made his life hell, in the arms of the girl he loved.

What had he done to mess that up?

Sighing again, Travis drained the last of his bottle, and tossed it to the side. It landed with a soft crash in the bushes to his left, and that was when he noticed he was again outside. Frost lined the grass and clouded the windows of the cars on the street, but he was not cold.

Staring up at the moon, her voice came back to him.

"Star light, star bright...first star I see tonight," she had rhymed, sitting on the hood of his car.

"What are you going to wish for?" he had asked her.

A smile played across her lips. "I was going to wish this night ended as great as it started."

He found himself smiling with her. "How might I help that happen?"

"You could kiss me," she said, her face suddenly serious, the moonlight reflecting in her eyes.

He stared into those eyes, and cupped her chin, tilting her head up slightly. "I would be honored..."

He couldn't forget the feel of her lips, soft and firm as they met his. Couldn't forget how she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him, stroking his back lightly. Couldn't forget the intense feelings that ran through his body as they shared that kiss.

To this day, he couldn't forget how much he loved her.

He felt dirty.