Seven months later

Katie
"Come on, please let me put on a little makeup," Izzy whines.

I shoot her a glare through the mirror. "No Iz. I have on clear mascara and lipgloss."

Izzy sighs. "You're no fun."

"Here zip me up," I tell Izzy.

Izzy zips up my dark green-blue prom dress.

We're getting ready for prom in my room.

Izzy stands beside me in the mirror and we take tons of selfies.

Izzy chose a tight, deep red sparkly, floor-length dress. It's strapless with a slit up the side. She is wearing her hair in a half-down updo.

She looks like a freaking goddess.

I chose a green-blue flowy floor-length dress. With spaghetti straps and a v-neckline. It has a small slit up the side, but you couldn't tell.

My hair is down in loose waves.

"I still can't believe you're wearing cowgirl boots," Izzy says shaking her head.

I smirk. "They're comfortable."

Clair knocks on my door.

"Come in," We say.

"Wow, you both look so pretty," Clair exclaims.

I blush and Izzy smiles.

"The guys are here," Clair says.

I follow Izzy and Clair out of my room.

I let Izzy go downstairs first to take the most of the attention.

"Holly hell sweetheart, you look amazing!" Tyler yells.

While everyone is distracted I come down.

I can fool everyone, but not Wyatt. When I come down Wyatt's eyes immediately find mine.

He looked amazing.

Tyler had the glorious idea that they dress like cowboys.

Izzy about had a cow, but I loved the idea.

Wyatt is wearing a solid green shirt that matches my dress. Whitewash jeans and cowboy boots that my dad got him for Christmas.

His messy curls are styled for once. I bet Margret fixed his hair.

He usually wears his hair in a messy way that I love.

I walk straight up to Wyatt. "If you keep your mouth open like that you'll catch flies," I tease.

Wyatt abruptly shuts his mouth. "You look, wow, I mean stunning."

I tilt my head. "Huh, not the first time I've made Wyatt Kent speechless."

Wyatt rolls his eyes and pulls me to him. "You always make me speechless."

I laugh. "You look pretty good yourself."

Wyatt pulls back and places a soft kiss on my lips.

"Don't start!" Tyler yells.

We pull apart and everyone is staring at us.

"Awe Ty, let them kiss, it's so cute," Margret gushes.

"It's not cute when you come downstairs to eat breakfast and Katie's got Wyatt pushed against the counter swapping spit," Tyler complains.

"Thanks, Ty, now I'll never get that image out of my head," My dad mumbles.

Christmas Day my dad finally proposed to Clair. A month later Clair and Tyler moved in.

At first Tyler and I fought constantly, not bickering, like full-on yelling at each other.

Mainly because the five of us had to share one bathroom. Tyler would take forever just to piss me off.

Finally, my dad put in another bathroom in the basement for me and Clair.

We rarely fight anymore.

I've learned if I have sweets I want to eat I have to hide them in my room.

Somehow Tyler still finds them though.

Tyler shares Derek's room and they never fight. I guess they get along so well since they're both disgusting pigs.

Now our house is always full and always loud, but I wouldn't ask for anything else.

"Okay, let's get some pictures of just the guys," Margret says.

"Mom, yall have taken plenty of pictures!" Wyatt groans.

Clair swats Wyatt's arm. "She wants to remember this moment that's all."

Over the past few months, Clair and Margret have gotten very close.

At least once a week they get together to drink wine and gossip.

"Mom, if we take any more pictures we will be late," Wyatt argues.

"Fine, fine. Go have fun." Margret sighs.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Tyler mumbles as he pushes Izzy towards his car.

My dad grabs Wyatt's arm. "Have her home at a decent time, alright?"

Wyatt nods. "Yes sir."

My dad loves Wyatt, but he still pretends to be the overbearing, protective dad.

My dad pulls me in for a hug. "Have fun."

I laugh. "I will."

My dad lets me go and Ava walks over to me.

"Let's touch up this lipgloss," Ava says grabbing my face.

I sigh.

Ava finishes my lipgloss and gives me a quick hug. "Have fun, okay."

I roll my eyes. "I will. Now can we go?"

Wyatt grabs my hand. "Bye."

"Keep an eye on her, Wy," Derek yells.

Wyatt opens my door and gives Derek a thumbs-up.

After dating Wyatt for several months I've gotten used to him opening my doors.

He starts his Jeep. "Will you tell me where we are going to eat?" I ask.

Wyatt smirks. "You'll see."

"Sweetie, your car has more horse hair in it than mine," I exclaim picking horse hair off my dress.

Around October Wyatt applied for a job at my barn.

The owner loves Wyatt so he got the job easily. Wyatt worked part-time doing whatever, fixing fences, working on tractors, or feeding horses.

It was nice. I got to hang out with my boyfriend at the barn all day. When he had time he would take Sammy out on a trail ride with me.

And when he was working on a tractor with no shirt on I definitely didn't stare.

What! My boyfriend is hot. It's not my fault he was working on the tractor right in front of the arena my lesson was in.

Izzy still teases me about screwing up the strides to the jump because I was staring at Wyatt.

He's turned into quite the cowboy.

Over the summer he and Tyler are going to be a coach at a football camp for little kids.

Izzy and I wanted the four of us to eat dinner together, but the guys didn't want to. So we're going to separate restaurants.

After five minutes I try again. "Just Wyatt, you know I hate surprises, please tell me," I beg.

Wyatt rolls his eyes. "Alright, it's the place we had our first date at."

I look out the window in thought. "The bowling alley?"

That's where Wyatt took me on our first official date.

"No Kate, not the freaking bowling alley," Wyatt says dryly.

I grin. "Good, because I would like to be able to dance with you tonight. Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last time we went bowling."

Wyatt glances at me. "It's not my fault the ball was slick."

The last time we went bowling Wyatt dropped the ball on his foot and couldn't walk on it for a week.

I laugh. "That's why there are finger holes."

Wyatt shakes his head and we pull into Logan's Roadhouse parking lot.

"Oh," I say.

Wyatt smiles. "Did you forget?"

I shake my head. "No, I didn't forget I just didn't think you considered that as our first date."

Wyatt unlocks the car. "Of course, it's the first time you let me pay."

I laugh. "Remember you almost got into a fight."

Wyatt wraps his arm around me. "Of course, that's the first thing that comes to your mind from that night."

I giggle. "No, the first thing that came to my mind was when you kissed me on my forehead when you dropped me off."

Wyatt opens the door to the restaurant. "Yeah, that was a good night."

Even though it was packed we didn't have to wait for a seat.

Normally if the hostess is a female we get seats pretty quickly.

It used to bother me, but I got over it. Wyatt never gives them any attention.

Sometimes he's flat-out rude. I told him he had to be nice sometimes.

What? It's nice to get seated quickly or to get free chocolate cake.

When we get to school Wyatt parks beside Tyler's car.

Izzy is sitting in his trunk and Tyler's helping her take her shoes off.

"That's why I wore my boots and not heels," I tell Izzy.

She glares at me.

"Luckily, I had a pair of Crocs in here for her," Tyler says.

Wyatt laughs. "Izzy, Katie won't let me wear my cowboy hat."

Wyatt got a cowboy hat from Tyler and Derek for Christmas. He loves it.

He wanted to wear it tonight, but I wouldn't let him.

What can I say, I love to see Wyatt's hair.

He looks hot in a hat, but I love it when he styles his messy curls. Let me rephrase that, when Margret styles his messy curls.

(Which is rarely.)

Izzy smiles. "Katie can be pretty bossy."

I glare at her. "Well, I'm sorry, but I would like to go to prom with Wyatt Kent, not Wyatt the Cowboy."

Everyone laughs and Wyatt places a kiss on the top of my head.

Wyatt
"Are your toes blue yet?" I ask Katie.

She laughs softly. "No, I told you you're getting better at dancing."

We have been dancing for a while. Now we're swaying to some country song.

"It helps when you have a good partner," I said flirtatiously.

Katie rolls her eyes.

I pull her closer. "I got a call from another college."

Katie looks into my eyes. "What did you say?"

"The same thing I told the other seven," I respond.

Katie sighs. "Maybe you should reconsider, I don't want you to miss out because of me."

I shake my head. "I'm not. When I toured Clearbrook I could tell it was the college for me."

"You being there is a bonus," I add.

Katie giggles. "Does flirting come naturally to you?"

I tilt my head to the side. "I was flirting?"

Katie leans forward to place a quick kiss on my lips.

She pulls back way too soon. After seven months I still feel like my entire body is on fire when we kiss.

I spin Katie around to the music and Stacy waves to us.

Katie smiles and waves back.

Jacob takes Stacy's hand and pulls her onto the dance floor.

Stacy playfully rolls her eyes and Katie laughs.

Stacy has become a part of our little group. After she apologized to Katie she talked with Izzy.

It was a lot of crying involved but Izzy forgave her immediately.

Stacy did all of our senior pictures. That's actually where she met Jacob.

Katie and Izzy helped push them together.

They're one of the oddest pairings.
Jacobs is a total cowboy and Stacy is a girly girl who hates to get dirty.

Stacy has changed mentally but physically she still dresses the same.

They have been dating for six months. Jacob even talked Stacy into attending the community college with him.

Stacy is working on building a photography business and Jacob wants to own a ranch.

They make each other happy and that's all that matters.

Ryan and Gloria are swaying on the other side of the dance floor. Ryan got into a college a few hours away and Gloria is joining him.

They're both sporting prom queen and king crowns.

At homecoming, I was voted homecoming king and Tyler decided to play a joke on Katie.

He put Katie's name on the ballot without her knowing and she was voted homecoming queen.

Katie was so pissed that she didn't talk to Tyler for two weeks.

He had to buy her an apology cake to get her to talk to him again.

For prom, Katie made sure neither of our names were on the ballot.

Doing her prom proposal was even better, but that's a story for another day.

The song changes and a familiar song starts.

Katie lays her head on my shoulder and we slowly sway to Those Eyes by New West.

"You know the first time we danced to this I was scared to death," I whisper.

"Really?" Katie says quietly.

I chuckle. "Yep."

"That doesn't look like three inches apart to me!" Tyler yells from the drink table.

I watch Izzy punch his arm and give us a proud smile.

Over the past few months, Tyler has become one of my best friends.

All of Katie's family has. I've learned that just because you're not related by blood doesn't mean you're not family.

Katie sighs. "I can't believe I agreed to spend a week with him in a two-bedroom beach house."

Right after we graduate the six of us are going to the beach for a week.

It took a lot of convincing from Izzy to get Katie to go.

"It won't be too bad," I say.

"We can take moonlit walks on the beach and cuddle in a hammock," I add.

"Yeah, I guess it won't be too bad," Katie reluctantly agrees.

"This summer is going to be awesome."

Katie leans back. "And then we go to college."

I smile. "You nervous?"

Katie grins. "Nope, because I'm going with you."

I lean down and press my lips to hers.

"I love you, Katie."

"I love you more, Just Wyatt."

All good things must come to an end sadly.