Route 262

~epilogue~

We're five minutes late, according to the clock that sits embedded into the dashboard of my car. I'm driving like I'm about to be killed; on this trip, I've nearly hit two cars, a stop sign, and a pedestrian that was dawdling in the middle of a crosswalk.

But by the time that we get to the public town gardens, it doesn't appear that we've been missed too badly. I see a dozen couples laughing, cracking up. Five thousand brightly colored prom dresses seem to dance before me, and above everything ring the shouts of a girl holding a camera: "Hold still everyone!"

I race out, and I hear James slam the car door behind me, running after me. There's Sydney, standing with her new boyfriend amidst three other couples, all of them laughing together. She looks at the two of us, still in the parking lot, and waves for us to come over.

I'm about to run to her, when I feel James tugging at my hand.

"What?" I say.

He's smiling down at me, looking perfect in his tux and purple vest. "You don't think I'm going to let you go to your senior prom looking like that, do you?"

"What's wrong with the way I look-" I start to say, before I feel his hands fiddling with my bow tie. I insisted that it be one that you actually tie, not a clip-on one, but I'm paying the price for it now; it's come untied, flopping in the wind like a dead fish.

He fiddles with it for a minute or two, before he gives it one final jerk and takes a step back. "Perfect," he says, and he takes my hand, and we walk over to everyone else.

"OK everyone!" yells the photographer. "Can all the couples get together in their poses?"

It's a scurry of teenagers throwing goofy smiles on their faces and scrambling to wrap their arms around each other in a variety of ways. James is no exception to this, and as he throws his arm around my shoulders, and as the camera clicks, I can feel him laughing, for no reason at all besides the pure glee of it all.

And maybe like any normal teenager, I should be worrying right now if the picture will come out dumb, or if one of us but not the other will be voted prom king, or even how drunk we're all going to get after prom finally finishes tonight.

But when the poses end, and we all line up to get in the limo, I look into James' eyes, and he gives me the subtlest wink, and grins.

And as I grab onto his hand, the thought comes to me that this, right now - this is just enough.

~The End~

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A/N

Thank you so much to everyone who's stuck this through to the end of the story! All of your comments, votes, and reads on this have been amazing, and I hope you enjoyed this!

-Peter