Ella Nolan smiled softly at her bright baby blue nails. It'd taken her half an hour to paint them her favourite colour and she hoped they wouldn't chip when she opened her car door or played with her keys.

Her favourite colour reminded her—in the weirdest way possible—of a conversation she'd had with her best friend just a few hours earlier. They'd wished that they could stop having horrible dates. They wished that they could find the one already, even though they were at the mere age of 19 and had many years to explore their options.

But Ella, she was different from her best friend. Even though she didn't have the best track record with dates, she didn't give up hope that if she wished enough, if she did enough good deeds, then she would be rewarded with a magical romance.

Her ideal date consisted of him and her, 30 years from now, sitting on the couch they had argued over buying for hours, watching the movie that they both loved with their hands held tightly within each others.

Her ideal date would be her husband looking down at her from where she was sitting on the couch leaning against him and complimenting her even though she was slouched there in one of his shirts and sweatpants, covering the stretch marks she'd gotten from carrying their beloved children.

Ella's perfect date would be sitting on that worn couch snuggled against him, with their children yelling 'mumma' and 'dadda' every few minutes because that's just what children do. They'd then pause their movie and both get up to tend to their children because that's just how he was.

She dreamed of a time that he would hug her from behind after they'd gotten their two vibrant children off to bed, and she would be making them a movie snack. And he'd say to her that her hair was so pretty today even though it was still sweaty from the morning rush to get the kids off to kindergarten.

He would twirl her around their kitchen when their song from their wedding came on, humming the tune enthusiastically and when she started giggling at his silliness, he'd say that he loved her laugh because that's just what he did.

Ella's perfect date would be resting her head on his chest after finishing their movie and he'd stroke her head while whispering sweet words of love and adoration that she readily returned. She would feel his chest move with each breath and she'd thank Fate for using Her magic to push them together.

Now, however, she wished that her best friend would finally see that she didn't want to be best friends with him anymore.