𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫.

026.

standing in the middle of the ballroom, cindy glanced around at the couples. thoughts of asking matt to be her escort for the night had slipped her mind amidst the excitement and the margaritas she had indulged in yesterday.

paige began to speak, everyone's attention on her. "attention, everyone. please welcome our debutante waltz instructor, ms. covington, all the way from ms. covington's school of ballroom dance in newton."

she thanked paige, glancing around the room, "thank you, paige. as you all know, the waltz is the most highly anticipated part of the ball. so, please join your partners now... and we will begin with fundamentals, starting with the box step. when the music starts, you do not..."

nicole stepped in front of cindy, taking her attention away from ms. covington, "hey. where's your escort? weren't you gonna ask matt?"

cindy sighed and admitted, "well, six margaritas kind of ruined that plan."

nicole chuckled and corrected her, "i actually counted seven. but don't worry, i'll be your partner for today."

surprised by nicole's offer, cindy's eyebrows furrowed as she hesitated for a moment. eventually, she smiled gratefully and aligned her hand with nicole's. "really? that's so kind of you."

"sure. but you need an escort for the big night." nicole reminded her with a small nod, their fingers intertwining. "paige is gonna have, like, an aneurysm if you wait too long."

"yeah, so will my mom and susannah." cindy joked, even though it wasn't a lie.

the sound of fancy, classical music filled the ballroom, signaling the start of the waltz. cindy focused on her steps, glancing down at her feet in her heels, her height slightly altered by the elevated footwear.

curiosity getting the better of her, cindy looked up at nicole and asked, "did you do all of this last year with conrad?"

"well, conrad was spared from ms. covington." the girl giggled, glancing over at the older woman watching everyone. "i was originally supposed to go with this guy james, but he dropped out last-minute. so conrad stepped in to save me."

cindy hummed as they continued to dance, "yeah, susannah taught him a lot of dances."

"conrad actually, um... he-he left me on-on read last night." nicole stammered, the mention of last night made cindy nervous. "and i was wondering if you've seen him at all today."

cindy blinked, shaking her head. "no, he was... he was still asleep when i left."

nicole just nodded, a small frown on her lips, "now that we have the steps, let's pick up the pace."

but before they could jeremiah approached the two. "hey, ladies." jeremiah greeted, their heads turning to him, "mind if i have this dance?"

nicole smiled and stepped aside, allowing jeremiah to claim cindy as his dance partner. "yeah, she's all yours," she said playfully, giving a wink to cindy.

oh god, she thought jeremiah liked cindy.

cindy held onto jeremiah's hands as he twirled her, "jeremiah, you're gonna get me in trouble with paige."

jeremiah glanced down at his outfit, which consisted of a fishnet shirt, and grinned mischievously. he whistled toward steven, who threw him his suit jacket. jeremiah caught it and quickly slipped it on over his shoulders, taking cindy's hands once more. "how's this? better?" he asked, his charm evident.

"okay." she rolled her eyes in defeat.

"hey, alexa. play 'so pretty'." jeremiah called out, as he pulled himself and cindy in front.

"alright jeremiah." cindy smiled as he began dancing to the music, the whole room's attention was on him.

he threw the jacket back to steven, moving his hips to the beat. cheers echoed as the boy rubbed his hands over his stomach, loving the attention, as a smirk was plastered on his lips.

however, their dance came to an abrupt halt as paige stormed into the ballroom, a frantic look on her face. she noticed no one slow danced, and she immediately pinpointed jeremiah as the culprit. "alexa, stop!" she commanded, her frustration evident. "jeremiah fisher, why aren't you at the pool?"

jeremiah straightened his posture, a sly smirk playing on his lips. "we had a 'code brown.' yeah, we lost the keys to the chemical closet," he explained, his tone filled with mock seriousness.

paige rolled her eyes as she looked in her pocket for the spare set of keys, throwing them at the boy, "there you go. get going, jeremiah." jeremiah catches the keys, sending a wink to cindy, "catch you later, cinderella."

cindy shook her head, amused by jeremiah, before her gaze landed on conrad. he leaned against the doorway, his eyes focused directly on her. conrad raised his hand, holding his phone, and waved at her.

returning the gesture, cindy waved at conrad, her heart racing in her chest. nicole joined in, waving as well.

nicole giggled, flustered as she admired the tall boy, cindy smiled at the boy before turning away.

author's note, thank you so much for more than 35k reads, that's fucking insane