Candence slipped on her dress and slowly breathed in, while she zipped up the strapless dress. She touched her bare neck, and ran her fingers across her collarbone, trace each line. She put his necklace around her neck, and softly fastens it shut. The small locket gently lie right where she had touched her collar bone, she opened, then closed it really fast, remembering the picture that was inside not wanting to remember again, not wanting to bring back the memories of the laughter they had, of the love they shared, then of the lonely nights she sat in her room waiting for him to call, the days when she sat on a park bench, watching girls and boys stroll by, in the moment in love, and together. She remembered missing him like crazy, and wanting to be wherever he was for that day.
In the mirror, she studied her whole self, from the very top of her head, to the point of her toes; she needed to look perfect that night, better then she ever did before. She pulled her long blond curls to the front of her body, and then pushed them back, remembering his words, on how she hid herself with her hair.
She placed one more bobby pin into her up do, applied a smidge more of eyeliner to her upper lid, slipped on her heels slowly then walked to her bedroom door.
She let out a long slow breath, then inhaled letting the fresh rain breeze come through her windows and into her lungs.  She put her hand on the door knob, and closed her eyes, this was the first step, the first step to moving on, to getting away from all the memories, to being in love again, was giving someone else a chance.
She slowly moved the door open, and made her way to the rail above her living room, and saw Derek, her mom and her dad on the level below her, she smiled when she saw Derek smiling to her parents, and she let out a sigh of relief finally having faith in her evening.
She made her way to the stairs, and took them one by one slowly, twisting around, until she arrived at the final stair and looked up to see her mom, her dad, and Derek staring at her in awe. He walked over to her and hugs her tightly, and kissed her hand in a true gentlemen manner.
Her parents then took pictures of them together, but she remembered that her mom smiled more when she was with him, not Derek.  She remembered the way her dad and him could bond over sports and James Bond movies. She remembered the way her mom thought he was the most polite man to ever walk the earth.
She snapped out of it, as he took her hand and led her to the door, and she smiled and waved to her parents as they walked out and headed to the door.
>>>>
She had to admit, Derek was the perfect gentlemen the whole night, and he made a lasting impression on her at the formal, but he could never compare to him. Every moment a new memory came back, everything Derek did reminded Cadence of him. And she just couldn’t get him out of her head, and at that moment she knew, that she would never love again.
Derek drove her back to her house, while the ride home was silent; she kissed him on the cheek on the way out of the car like she would her dad, hoping he got the idea that she wasn’t ready for a relationship. It had start to rain again, so she borrowed his umbrella, as she walked up her long driveway to her house alone, after the formal.
All she could think to herself was another night alone, another cold rainy night. She wondered if he knew what night it was, she wondered if he saw her bulletins on MySpace, if he saw her status, if he remembered her, or if she was just another song to him.
As she began to walk slowly up her driveway, the rain came down harder and harder, and through her blurred image, she saw a boy soaking wet sitting on her porch. She knew who it was immediately, and he began to stand up slowly, and she began to walk a bit faster.
He arose from where he was, and started to walk towards her, she walked even faster, and as did he, he started to sprint.
They reached each other and Cadence stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at his face glowing, soaking wet, along with his tux.
“You remembered.” She said simply to him, as the rain fell down on her long hair washing out the curls, and running the makeup down her face.
“You’re even more beautiful then I remembered.” He whispered to her and moved closer, the bodies practically touching.
“Nick.” She said blushing looking him straight in the eyes.  At that exact moment, he grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her tight to him, owning her whole body. He pulled her head and softly pressed her lips to his, his eyes closed yet he could see everything about her. He quickly turned for soft, to passionate. She released from him and held onto his body tight, silent tears falling as she leaned into his shoulder, yet they were happy tear, and for the first time in a long time, that was a real smile on her face.