I stood in the corner of the room, watching everyone dance around me. The lights were bright and the music was blaring. My ears hurt just thinking about it. I was there with friends, but a lot were either dancing with boys or in the bathroom dealing with boy drama, which I didn't really want to deal with right now. A gay potato like me wouldn't be much help anyways. I spot my friend Erika across the room, talking with her other friends. Despite us being just friends, I can't help but always think about how pretty she is. I shake the thoughts from my mind and walk up to her. As she spots me approaching her, she leaves her group of friends and goes to talk to me.

"Hey Brianna," she says, the words flowing smoothly over her tongue.

"H-hey, Erika," I reply, trying not to die over how pretty she looks in her dress. I know for a fact that my face is super red, but I ignore it and continue to talk.

"How's the dance? Found a girl to dance with yet?"

I shrug. "I've danced with Jamie, but that was mostly a joke."

She purses her lips, thinking. "Anyone else?"

"I just said no c'mon, Erika," I say laughing. "Doubt I'd have anyone else to dance with. I mean, unless you'd want to dance with me."

I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth. My faces flushes bright red as she responds. I don't know if she felt bad or what, but she replies,

"I'd be cool with that."

She grabs my hand and pulls me over to the dance floor where a slow song is playing, my face flushing so hard I could pass for a tomato. She guides me into a position to dance and begins to lead. Probably for the best, I'd probably fall over and die if I tried to lead. My hand quickly grows sweaty in hers but she doesn't seem to notice. Either that or she doesn't just care. The thought just makes me blush more. I realise I've been looking down the whole time and look up at her eyes. She notices me looking and smiles. Gosh, I love that smile.

Throughout the whole song, I find my lips growing ever closer to hers. I expect her to pull away every time I get close, but she doesn't. By the end, our lips are centimeters apart. We stand like that, lips nearly touching, until some other friends come over and interrupt us. As the other friends talk to Erika, I slink away to the snack table to get away.

My other gay friend, Jamie, whom I danced with earlier, came over, sensing something was wrong. "Everything alright?"

"I'm fIne," I say, my voice cracking.

"Everything is most certainly not alright, Brianna. Tell me what happened."

I recount most of the details, leaving out the ones that would probably matter most. But Jamie catches on and lets out a knowing 'Ohhhhhhhhhhh.'

"You mean to tell me that you danced a slow song with Erika Amherst, held hands, but didn't kiss?"

"She doesn't like me, Jamie!"

"'sHe dOeSn'T liKE mE, JAMiE!'" she says, imitating my voice. "And I'm not gay. She's totally into you!"

"...Fuck."

I ram my head into the snack table a few times over my stupidity. After about an hour, the DJ announces the final couples song. I'm about to sink further into the crowd when a soft hand grabs mine. I look first at the hand, and then at Erika's face.

"May I have this dance?" she asks mockingly. I just nod as she drags me to dance. I sneak a quick glance at my friends who give me a thumbs up. Jamie is holding up a napkin that says, "SUCK FACE" on it. I shake my head and make eye contact with Erika. She's about two inches taller than me, so I have to look slightly up. Around the middle of the song, I realize I'm looking down again. Just as I'm looking up, Erika caresses my face in her soft hands, and presses her lips to mine.

My eyes widen in shock, and I can hear Jamie and all of my other queer friends cheering in the background. Jamie's screaming something along the lines of, "YOU OWE ME FIVE DOLLARS, SEAN." I just smile and close my eyes. We pull apart and I bury my face into the crook of her neck as she holds me. Once the song ends I rush over to my friends and they're absolutely elated.

They're all high fiving me and expressing their happiness, but I'm staring at Erika.

How could such a beautiful girl like her fall in love with such a mess like me?

I have no idea how, but I'm so glad she did.