"every breath you take i'll be watching you."

★・・・・・・★

It's been a month since El came back and finished the fight against the Mind Flayer.

Kristen was helping Amber get ready. Amber's brown hair was curled back and she had light makeup on. It really popped out her dark brown eyes. Amber got her dress on and she thought she looked decent. It was a dark blue dress, and she wore black flats with it.

Amber decided to ask Max to dance tonight and make a move. She's been wanting to since Halloween night. She just hoped it wouldn't freak Max out so badly. Or preferably at all. She'd been practicing how to ask Max, but it wouldn't work. She decided to just wing it.

"Amber! Time for pictures!" Mrs. Wilson called out to her.

Amber went downstairs and her mom took pictures.

"So, who are you going to ask to dance tonight?" Kristen asked her.

"Uh... Lucas," Amber lied with a smile.

Kristen drove her to the school dance. She got out and went into the gym. She saw the party but her eyes landed on Max. She thought Max looked pretty.

She hasn't seen her other friends in a while. She didn't even know if they were still her friends. But she knew they weren't coming to the dance. They've known about it for months and all agreed to not go.

Dustin came over, his hair all... weird. Like Steve's

"Holy shit. What happened to you?" Mike asked.

"What do you mean, 'What happened'?" Dustin asked.

"What?"
"Dude."

"Is there a bird nesting in there?" Lucas asked as he touched Dustin's hair.

"No! What do you mean, 'What's wrong with my hair'? There's no bird nesting in here, asshole. Okay? I worked hard," Dustin said as everybody laughed.

Just then a slow song came on.

Lucas turned to look at Amber, a light smile on his face.

"Amber," he said getting his attention. "Care to dance with me?"

"Sure," she smiled back, taking the hand that he held out for her.

Max watched as the two went onto the floor, Lucas putting his hands on Amber's waist and hers on his shoulder. She was a bit jealous.

"This is nice," Amber broke the silence between them.

"What?" he asked.

"The dance."

"Yeah. I have a question for you."

"What's that?"

"You like Max, don't you?"

Amber was stunned, not expecting that to spill out of Lucas's mouth.

"What? W-why do you think that?"

"You seem to enjoy her company."

"Okay, that's because she's my friend."

"But you look at her a certain way."
"How?"

"How my Mom and Dad look at each other."
"Okay, I'm—"

"No, not like that. Not like that. I didn't mean it in an insulting way. You just... I don't know. But if you do like her, don't try to hide those feelings and just tell her."

-

"Okay, everyone! It's the last song of the night! A slow song!" The DJ called out as he started playing "Every Breath You Take" by The Police.

It was time to ask Max to dance.

Everybody else was dancing as Amber exhaled.

"Hey, Amber," a boy in their grade approached her. "Do you want to dance?"

"Uh," she murmured as she looked back at Max. "I think I'm just gonna dance with one of my friends."

"Oh, okay," he said, walking away.

"Hey, Max."

"Hi."

"Do, uh, do you want to, I," she stuttered over her words.

"Are you trying to ask me to dance, Shortcake?"

"No, of course not. Unless you want to."

"So smooth. Come on."

Max smiled as she took Amber's hand and led her out on the dance floor. Max put her hands on Amber's shoulders as Amber put her hands on her hips.

"You know... I've been waiting for you to ask me to dance," Max said.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I've liked you since Halloween," Amber confessed. "I really hope you aren't, like, grossed out or anything. You know, since gay is, like, weird or something."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Amber said softly.

Max took her hands off Amber's shoulders and left Amber confused.

"Come on, follow me," Max said.

Max took Amber's hand and followed her outside. They saw El on the way out and knew that she was there to dance with Mike.

The music was so loud that they could still hear it outside. Max decided to continue to dance with Amber outside and she gladly took her invitation to dance with her.

They danced and Max decided to make the move.

She kissed Amber. And she didn't regret it.

Amber smiled at Max and hugged her while still dancing.

"Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Amber asked with no hesitation.

"Yes. I would love to, Shortcake."

Then they danced the night away. Happy.