Today was probably the most important day of my seventeen years of life. Not that I had a lot of important days or milestones - I didn't -, but today... today was a special one.

Growing up, I never even thought about prom. Just like I had never considered going to college, or having a fantastic group of people that would make me so happy just to be surrounded by them. So, getting asked to go to said prom put a smile on my face, one I wasn't sure existed.

Would not go to my own prom even classify me as american? In this day and age, it probably wouldn't even matter, which was okay, but I actually wanted to go.

Sure, for Kyle and I, going to prom this year was a bit too early but this was our friends' prom and we got asked to go with Carter and Noah, respectively, they wanted us there with them. So, passing on their proposal was not an option. And who knows? Maybe next year Kyle and I could ask them to come with us, and we'd get to repeat tonight.

Tonight was going to be one last night where we'd all be together as a group before each of us went our own separate ways.

Well, some of us.

My best friend and I still have senior year to go through, which meant that we'd be sticking around for another year at Davidson High. Meanwhile, Noah, Ben and Harper were heading off to college in the fall. Carter was going to take a gap year to help out at his parents' restaurant, Chloé was going to bang on every modeling agency's door, while her brother, Wyatt, was going to go back to Columbia University for his sophomore year.

But today? Today, May 20th, all those plans were months away, and today would be our day.

Chloé, Harper and I were all getting ready together, at my house. They had gotten here in the early hours of the morning and after spending some time gossiping about our dates - Ben, Wyatt and, obviously, Noah -, we'd actually moved onto the getting ready part. In the afternoon, Harper's parents - my aunt and uncle -, came over to see their little girl before she went off to prom, and despite telling Chloé her parents were more than welcome to come over as well, she simply said it just wasn't worth it.

But the real truth was, she had asked them. Told them that mine and Harper's parents would be here too, and that they'd have some company from other grown-ups, but as soon as they learned that Chloé's date was Ben - which, by the way, should definitely not come as a surprise at all since they've been dating for so long now -, they denied the offer.

She put on a brave face and repeatedly claimed it didn't bother her, but I could see how hard she blinked to fight the tears that would form in her eyes and threatened to fall down.

We started by doing each other's hair and make-up (with some help from my dads here and there), and after we were happy with the results, we lost the sweats we were wearing all day, and got into our carefully handpicked prom dresses.

I studied my reflection in the mirror, my eyes looking up and down my own body. The coral blue dress that I bought specially to wear tonight, and that fit my body like a glove, was very flattering. The color matched my eyes perfectly and contrasted the blonde shade of my hair beautifully. The view was definitely different from the usual outfits which consisted of jeans or denim shorts and t-shirts, sometimes a dress or two.

Still barefoot, I walked towards my closet, where I kept the shoes I'd be wearing tonight, which were still in their box. I pulled up the lid and grabbed the shoes, put them on and then looked at myself in the mirror once more, now with the whole outfit on, and smiled proudly. My blonde hair in a french braid that fell lazily on my right side, contrasting the blue of the dress and the white shoes.

Harper and Chloé were still putting their shoes on when I marched out of my room and walked out into the living room.

I could see streaks of sunlight peeking through the small rectangular windows in the hallway, rays of glowing yellow as I took step after step. Or maybe I was just seeing life through rose colored lenses now, and the sunlight had been here all along.

"Zoey!" My father screeched, taking his hands to his checks and snapping me out of the daydream I seemed to be living in. "You look absolutely beautiful."

"I can't believe we raised such an amazing daughter." My other dad said, emotion caughting up to him. "You look extraordinary."

"Thank you." I said in a low voice, looking down at my feet but unable to contain my ear-to-ear smile.

"How do we look?" Harper and Chloé asked my dads in unison, as they marched out of my bedroom and into the living room, where me and my dads stood.

"You girls all look amazing. The boys are gonna have a heart attack when they see you."

"That's the plan." Bold Chloé said, pulling up the right side of her purple dress, revealing her leg underneath the slit.

"You girls got ready with some time to spare, we should just take this time to take some pictures of you individually and then the three of you together." My aunt suggested, already with her camera in hand, as per usual, a common trait of a true, old-fashioned photography passionate. "What do you think?"

No one objected to that idea, and I went first. She snapped some pictures with her professional camera while my dads stood behind her, snapping some pictures with their phones. Pictures I know they'd look at repeatedly for the rest of their lives, reliving this special day. And I knew that I would, too.

My uncle (Shocker! Another photography lover as well!), came up from behind my aunt, showing us his new film camera and unable to stop throwing amazing facts at us about it, indicating that he was taking some special film snaps as well.

"Now let's take some with the proud dads!" My aunt said with a smile filled with excitement, and she proceeded to take pictures of me with my parents.

Harper went after me. She posed against the threshold of the living room, pretty used to smiling for the camera and letting the lenses find her instead of the opposite. She also wanted some pictures with her parents, and that was my cue to step in and take the camera(s), trying my best to snap some great shots.

When it came to Chloé's turn, I couldn't help but feel sad for her that she didn't have her parents around for this. I engulfed her into a tight hug, whispering how sorry I was in her ear. She replied, also in a whisper, that it was more than okay, but then again, I knew she was lying to me. It wasn't okay. But there was nothing any one of us could do about it. So, pretending like I believed her was the best I could do.

We weren't on our own for too long, since the guys arrived around an hour later, which was just on time. We'd agreed on them coming over to pick us up at around five, which would give us all more than enough time to take all the pictures we'd save for prosperity. We heard a loud honk from outside and we all made our way to the large living room's window and stood by it, watching everything from inside the house.

The limo we had rented parked right outside and the boys jumped out of the large back seats, nervously fixing their hair and suits before walking towards the front door. Once they did, the doorbell sounded and we waited for my dads to open the door, welcoming them inside.

Noah's eyes found mine instantly, but, unlike Chloé and Ben who ran off to each other, we remained in our spot, timidly waiting for the other to take the first step towards the other.

Eventually, I did.

"Zoey, you look..." He smiled. His goofy grin I knew like the back of my hand now, was different today. It was shy. Still goofy, still very Noah, but shy and contained. "So beautiful."

"You look really good, too." I ran the palms of my hands against his chest before looking up into his chocolate brown eyes with a smile. "Dapper."

When we all talked about tonight, and going all together as a group, Harper was a bit indecisive since she didn't have a date. Me and Chloé told her that that was no big deal, because it was the twenty-first century and she should not not go just because she didn't have a date. Plus, we were all going as a group, we were all each other's dates. But turns out, Chloé's brother - Wyatt - was going to be Harper's date tonight.

After a quick round of introductions, - my aunt and uncle were dying to meet Noah, but when Wyatt shook their hands and told them he was very happy to be Harper's date tonight, they were shook (in a good way) - everyone knew who was who, and it was time for the couple's pictures.

Noah and I were first, taking some nice digital photos and some analogical ones as well.

"Hey dad," I called. "Can you please get my polaroid camera?" I asked, referring to the black and slightly white camera my aunt and uncle had gifted me for my last birthday.

"Sure."

Noah's eyes found mine and he looked at me, seeming pleasantly surprised that I had an instant camera that self-developed the pictures taken.

"In case you haven't noticed," I used my thumb to point at Harper's parents who were talking to Wyatt in the corner of the room. "They're major photography enthusiasts."

Because what do your photography lovers aunt and uncle give you when it's your birthday? Anything that's remotely related to photography. Cameras, film rolls, a GoPro, tripods... the list is actually endless.

"Rock and roll music and photography..." He bobbed his head up and down in an approving movement, right before saying, "l like it."

When I was just about to tell Noah that I knew a thing or two about photography due to my influences, I got interrupted by the sound of a camera going off and the following sound of the polaroid picture coming out of the device.

My dad had brought the camera like I'd asked, and he'd taken the liberty to snap an instant picture of me and Noah, smiling at each other like I was his glowing crescent moon and he was my bright sunset.

Noah thanked my dad with a warm smile, as he handed Noah the plastic sheet with some dark shades already appearing on the picture.

I inched myself closer to my date, as I looked at the image of the both of us, slowly starting to grow colors and become more and more vivid by the second.

And, it was rapidly becoming clearer and clearer that the way Noah and I looked at each other was special in its own special way.

This was going to be the happiest day of my life, no one could ruin this day for me.

Or so I thought. 

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author's note: ahhh! CLIFFHANGER! sorry, lovelies <3 

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xoxo, mars