Finally, Mr. Blackwood starts the first song and I place my hand gently in Tate's. It is surprisingly easy to find a rhythm with him but I'm not as relaxed as I was with Ryan at rehearsal. We manage to glide around the floor in sync and we even get the spin right. We don't veer from the basic steps but his valiant effort makes me laugh.

The Samuels are a founding family as well, so this isn't the first town dance Tate has participated in. He spins me a few more times and when the song comes to an end, he gracefully dips me. When he brings me back up to him, I drop his grip immediately when I see Ryan glaring at Tate behind him. Tate's also startled by Ryan's appearance and we both turn to face him.

"Oh Tate, this was my original dance partner. Ryan this is my friend from high school, Tate." The two men shake each other's hands but I think I'm about to witness a pissin' contest. Ryan stands with his shoulders back and his chest puffed and Tate follows his lead. He tries to keep the tone light with Ryan but he keeps his stance firm.

"Nice to meet you. I was just filling in, in case you never showed." Tate says with his easy smile and looks back to me, "Well, I guess my work here is done. Thank you for the dance. I thoroughly enjoyed it."

"No, thank you. It was so good to see you Tate." Tate glances quickly to Ryan before looking to me and then adds, "Do you still golf? At the country club?" Surprised, I nod my head and respond, "Yeah, sometimes. I've been a little out of practice but I still enjoy it. Why?"

"My mom is making me go with her on Monday. Maybe we can get a foursome going, bring Mrs. Sweeney?" he suggests with a shrug.

"I'd love to- that would be fun. Your mother has my number, so hit me up and we'll make a plan." I delightfully say back and Tate gives me a small hug before leaving Ryan and me alone. When he is out of earshot, I turn to Ryan but he cuts me off before I can say anything.

"So, who was that?" I raise an eyebrow to him, surprised by his short tone and reply, "You weren't paying attention when I introduced you? That was Tate, an old friend from high school. He's visiting from Philly and was nice enough to step in for my M.I.A dance partner." Ryan frowns but grabs my waist and pulls me into him as the next song starts up. I look behind him and ask, "Did Austin find Annabeth?"

"Probably," Ryan mumbles and I pull away from him.

"Hey, once again I'm not going to twist your arm to be here," I snap at his moodiness. "If you have somewhere better to be, please go. I'll go find Tate for the contest."

Ryan stops moving and asks, "Do you want Tate to be your partner for the contest?"

"No, I want you to be my partner," I want to add "You idiot" but I refrain myself. "But not if you're going to be miserable the whole time. If you are then yeah, I'd rather dance with someone that wants to dance with me." Ryan runs his hands down his face before unbuttoning the remaining fastened buttons on his jacket. He pulls the heavy jacket off and tosses it on the closest table. He's now in his white v-neck and suspenders, and I'm surprised I find him even more attractive with the jacket off. He grabs my hands again and pulls me into the crowd of dancers. We quickly find our rhythm and with ease, he glides me around the dance floor. He pulls me into him before spinning me out and he's comfortable with his hand touching my skin this time. He's not watching our feet anymore and his eyes finally warm up to me.

When we make a full rotation on the floor, I pull myself up to his ear and ask, "How was work?"

He leans down so he's close to my face as he answers, "They were no shows. We'll talk about this later." He spins me again and quickly brings me back into his arms. I frown, wondering where they've been then and know I'll be limited to my questions. I gaze around the room and am relieved to see Austin with Annabeth dancing directly across from us. Austin's blue eyes are glazed over and he is hardly moving to the music, clearly deep in thought but Annabeth just dances around him- happier than a child at Disneyland.

We make another full rotation on the floor and right after Ryan dips me, he asks, "So you're going golfing with Tate on Monday?" He won't make eye contact with me and I can't help but smile.

"Why? Are you jealous?" I joke but he still avoids my eyes. I was actually surprised that Tate was ballsy enough to ask me to hang out right in front of Ryan. But then again, he may have no idea that Ryan is my supposed boyfriend.

We pass Tate, who is now sitting with his mother at the table I left my gloves on and Ryan quickly spins me away from him. I look to him after a few moments in silence and add, "Who knows if I will actually end up going. But yeah, maybe we'll hang out. Our mothers are friends and they do meet up at the club." I'm trying to keep the conversation light, while at the same time attempting to pull Ryan's fun side out. Finally, Ryan looks to me and asks, "So is he an old friend? Or an old boyfriend?"

I poke Ryan in the ribs in jest as I reply, "Maybe you are a bit jealous. He's actually an old lover. We used to fool around on the football field after school all through high school. He's the one that deflowered me." Ryan stops moving and sternly looks to me. My laugh bursts through the fiddle leading the dancers and once he's in on my joke, I instantly see his shoulders relax.

"He's an old friend. There has never been any fondling of any sorts between us. We did get married in the fifth grade though. And we divorced ten minutes later after he went on the swings with Molly Hamilton. My first scandal." I see a small smile form on Ryan's face and he pulls me in closer to him. Our heads rest against each other and we don't immediately pull away when the music ends.

There is a light applause from the crowd as the formal dancing ends and the performers smile and wave in response. I finally drop his hand when I hear Mr. Blackwood come over the speaker.

"Please give all the Founding Families one last round of applause." Loud clapping surrounds us and then he continues, "Now, we'd like to open up the floor to all dancers and in about twenty minutes we'll start the annual dance contest."

I lead Ryan over to the table my gloves adorn since the Samuels have left and he grabs a water cup off a passing waiter. We drop into the seats and I attempt to fan myself with my weak paper fan again. All the doors and windows are open but it's still warm in the hall. Austin makes his way over to us and he kindly pulls a chair out for Annabeth before sitting next to her.

"Ready to get y'alls butts whooped in dancing?" Austin quips and I dramatically laugh in response. He takes a drink of water and then looks back to me, "Was that Tate Samuels you were dancing with? Did you tell him you were madly in love with him all through high school?" I throw my glove at Austin and snap, "No. Because it's hardly relevant now." Annabeth laughs and replies, "Girl please. If you could get a sweet taste of that boy's honey, you would in a second." I glare at both her and Austin as they laugh at my embarrassment.

With a scoff, I say, "He's not as cute as he was in high school."

"You're right. He's even hotter!" Annabeth squeals and I want oblivious Austin and crude Annabeth to drop Tate, but Austin eggs me on.

"Hey did you tell him you were freshly single? I think mom would approve of Betty Samuels as your mother-in-law. And father would love having a pro baseball player as a son-in-law. You might need to make it happen Sawyer."

"That was the Tate Samuels? As in Tate Samuels that plays for the Philly's?" Ryan asks and Austin nods to him, "Sure is. He and Sawyer used to have a thing." Ryan leans back in his chair next to me and I can see him growing annoyed. I glance to him and am surprised by his jealously. It's not like he's ever made dating me an option. We both know how this ends.

"Can we please just drop Tate and go back to the part of Ryan and I beating you two tonight?" I ask. It's easy to distract Austin with his competitive side and thankfully, Tate doesn't come up again.

We all stop our conversation when Mr. Blackwood announces the start of the contest. I hope Ryan's playful mood comes back so I ask, "Still confident we are going to win this thing?" My stomach flutters at his wry smile and when he meets my eyes, he says, "Hell yeah."