The cheering was still ongoing.
“We can kill them later. Just stay. Stay and be my date to Reunion Prom. Let me give you tonight to make up for being an idiot. Please.”
She hadn’t thought he could fix it. There was no going back and changing the past. But everything about tonight was as close to a do-over as they could manage, all the way down to the reunion prom theme and the corsage he’d bought her. Not a pity date, as she’d originally thought. A new beginning.
So she smiled up at him and tried not to let the happy tears spill over. “Okay.”
Zach tied the corsage to her wrist and lifted her hand to his lips.
Lexi felt a little flutter in her belly. “You matched my dress.”
“I had help.”
“Who?”
He offered up a sheepish smile. “Your mom.”
Lexi’s mouth dropped open. “You talked to my mother about all this?”
“I told her what you weren’t ready to hear yet. That I’d messed up, I’m crazy about you, and I needed help to fix it.”
She thought about her mother’s insistence she couldn’t leave the house without the dress. “She was in on the whole thing?”
“Yep. Turns out your mama’s been shipping us for years.”
“I don’t even know what to think about that.”
“I’m gonna go with grateful.” When he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side, Lexi didn’t hesitate. She finally didn’t have to, and it felt glorious.
“There will be squee about this. You know that, right?”
“Mama Morales can hug my neck as much as she wants. I’ll be hugging hers right back.”
Their friends converged.
“So, y’all good now?” Eli demanded.
Jessie popped him on the shoulder. “Hush it!”
Lexi had no idea what to say. How much had Zach told them? Then again, did it matter? They’d just been making out in front of everyone.
Leo stuck his hand out to Reed. “Called it. Pay up.”
“You bet on us?” Lexi demanded.
Reed, at least, had the good grace to look sheepish. “I mean…this is a surprise to no one. We set up a pool back in high school about how long it would take y’all to get together.”
Cecily sighed. “Of course you did.”
Zach stiffened. “You did what?”
“Dude, it’s not our fault you’re an idiot,” Jace insisted.
Tara slapped a hand over his mouth. “Excuse him. Apparently I can’t take him out in public.”
Shaking her head in amusement, Avery sidled up. “I, for one, want to know where you got that dress. It’s absolutely fabulous.”
“My mother made it.”