Puck The Halls | Jack Hughes

TWENTY FOUR

My all time favourite song plays here the speakers, and I can't hide my audible gasp when the unmistakable acoustic guitar filters through the venue, changing the tone to a slow dance. Jack notices the way my eyes light up, the smile on my lips.

"You've played this for me," he tells me, a tiny grin on his own lips. "I remember, it was right after that stupid movie that used to be a book was released. The Stars are Wrong, or whatever."

I clap a palm over my mouth and laugh, bright and sweet and real, because I had played it for him before, but that definitely was not the movie name.

"The Fault In Our Stars," I correct him, giggling. He shakes his head, shrugging, then just sits back in his chair and watches me. I feel strange under his gaze, but I'm still smiling, still tapping my fingers and humming the words. (Song name: All I Want - Kodaline)

"Do you want to dance with me?" He blurts, a furious blush creeping up the back of his neck, over his cheeks.

I feel weird. My stomach flips repeatedly and my heart hammers in my chest and my hands are suddenly sweating but the way he's looking at me with these big hopeful eyes, his chest rising and falling gently, like he's trying to remember how to breathe, reminds me that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

"Yes," I whisper, trying to hold back my own blush. I'm pretty sure I fail.

Jack stands, wiping his palms on his tux, and I do the same, except there's nowhere for me to wipe my own hands because my dress is made of glitter, so I just hope he doesn't notice how nervous or clammy I am. Jack holds a hand out for me to take, then leads me to the middle of the glimmering dance floor.

We're in the centre of the ballroom, and for some reason I'm reminded of that one scene in the Titanic where Rose is on the staircase, then I laugh, because Leonardo DeCaprio's name is also Jack, in that movie.

Jack turns to me, my Jack, his eyebrow raised in question. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," I hum, right as he wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me close to his chest. "I'm just remembering that one time I tried to teach you to ballroom dance before your senior prom."

"Do not remind me of that," Jack laughs, tipping his head back. "I was so bad, it was embarrassing."

"You kept stepping on my toes," I giggle.

He smiles at me, eyes full of adoration. "I was nervous."

My laughter stops completely, replaced by nerves of my own. "Why?"

He steps out, and pulls me into a spin, before pulling me back to his chest. "Because I had this stupid big crush on you."

I spluttered, coughing on my own spit. "Me?"

"Yeah," he hums, our foreheads meeting between us as he brushes his nose to mine. My heart races in my chest as he spins us around slowly, the most romantic moment of my life to date. "But you kept talking about Nathan Montello and his stupid fucking abs."

I bark out a laugh, not being able to control it, my eyes glimmer at the memory. "He had killer abs and you didn't want me."

"Oh, I wanted you, big time," he breathed, my hands play with the ends of his hair, and his eyes flutter closed. "But Trevor would have killed me."

I take a shaky breath of my own, we're still dancing, spinning, laughing. Jack has one arm wrapped around my waist, the other holding the back of my neck, cupping my neck on its entirely with his palm. I realise we're inches from each other, and I know we've kissed once before, but this feels different, it feels like this moment was made for us. Just us.