"My room," Tracy breathed upon entering it. "My bed…" she flopped onto her bed and sniffed her pillow. "I missed it so much.

Link sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, balanced rather precariously. Not knowing what to do, he stood up again, walked around the room a few times, and returned to his post there.

"What happened?" Tracy asked suddenly, slightly startled, looking about her room.

"Oh, ah… your mom kinda let me in while you were gone."

Surveying her room, Tracy noticed the rumpled sheets (that smelled deliciously like Link), a picture of her (laid gently next to her pillow), and the chocolate bar stashed there (with another bite taken out of it…).

Tracy narrowed her eyes slightly before pouncing on Link to hug him.

"I didn't know you felt that way about me," Tracy sighed happily as she lay on top of him.

"You didn't?" Link squeaked, feeling slightly squished, but excited that their feelings were mutual. He cleared his throat. "I just missed you so much. I'm sorry if I messed anything up in here."

"No. It's perfect this way," Tracy assured him. She leaned down…

…Just as the doorbell rang.

Tracy rolled over before running downstairs.

Slightly relieved, Link sat up and sighed. He listened to Tracy usher in Penny Pingleton, her best friend. Sliding smoothly off of the bed, he took a deep breath, released it, slicked back his hair, and started down the stairs.

He was greeted by a wide-eyed stare from Penny, who hadn't realized, apparently, that he was already there. She quickly lowered her gaze and gave Tracy a subtle nudge. Tracy shook her head quickly as Link hopped down the rest of the stairs and went into the kitchen to get a small snack. He strung some of the ribbons that Tracy had laid out on the counters, trying to catch snitches of the girls' conversation and wondering if they were talking about him.

Humming to himself, he smiled and thought of how happy Tracy had been when she hears of how he'd come to visit her parents while she was hiding from the police.

"LINK!" Tracy called. "Ma's home!"

Ma.

Link's smile grew as he realized that Tracy had just said "Ma," instead of "my Ma." He already felt like part of the family, and it felt good.

"Aw, Link, you already started decoratin'," Edna said, shuffling into the kitchen with a load of bagged groceries for the party. She set them down on the counter next to Link. "What a dear."

Link gave her a small smile. He knew Edna hadn't always liked him.

"Tracy? Penny? Could you girls come help in the kitchen? I'm making some appetizers," Edna called.

The girls washed up and began to assist Edna. Tracy knew Link was wondering what was going on, and she wanted to assure him, but her mother and Penny were right there. They would have to talk later. She resigned herself to chopping vegetables next to him as he measured out some more streamers to hang up on the wall.

When everything was ready, the doorbell rang to announce the arrival of Wilbur, Tracy's dad, who had picked up the Stubbs family to ensure their safe arrival on his way home.

"Here you go, Miss Hairspray," Link smiled to Inez, placing a paper crown on her head. "Congratulations, Inez."

"Thanks, Link." Inez glowed with pride.

More people began to fill the house, which soon became extremely crowded. Tracy managed to pull Link away from the council boys he was talking to about his new record deal. They escaped to the sanctuary of a quiet upstairs closet.

"Why was Penny looking at me like that?" Link burst out immediately.

"Oh, Link, I think she was just surprised that we were here together. It's really nothing," Tracy promised. "I just told her that you were an amazingly wonderful boyfriend." She paused. "We are… going, right? And it's okay to call you my boyfriend?"

Link smiled and nodded, pulling Tracy closer to him.

"Oh, there's something I wanted to tell you," he said impulsively, and grabbed her and kissed her. As Tracy fell limp in his strong arms, all their worries slipped away with each moment that they were together.