Alone.
For a second, I stood frozen, likeWhat just happened?
Then I turned to make eye contact with Ashley, likeDid you see that?
But all she could do was stare back at me, baffled, with the same question.
Finn just left the dance floor?
He couldn’t do that, could he?
I mean, let’s just set aside for a minute the nonzero amount of humiliation you get from being abandoned in the middle of a slow dance…
The real problem was: Finn walking out meant that we couldn’t win.
Right? I mean, no matter how rigged a rigged contest might be, there was no winning a couples’ dance contest if there was no couple.
Which meant that someone else would be gettingmykiss tonight.
And it also meant, I realized with horror, that the actual best slow dancers would win. And there could be no doubt about who the real winners would be.
Cooper and Bridesmaid Two.
As all those realizations came avalanching down into my head, I felt a funny panic. I actually didn’t know what to do. I found myself just standing there, alone, surrounded by swaying, happy, romance-tipsy couples.
The obvious next step was to follow Finn’s lead: pull out my own phone like I also had some critical business and stride off the stage, too.
But—like in a nightmare—I couldn’t seem to move. And then I understood with certainty that if something didn’t change somehow, I would—guaranteed—start to cry any minute.
I could feel the tears crawling up my throat.
What was Cooper’s formula for faking a faint again? Stop, drop, and roll?
I willed my legs to crumple beneath me.
But I couldn’t even makethathappen.
And then, just as my eyes started to sting, someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close.
Cooper.
“I’ve got you,” he said into my ear. “Just reach up and hold on.”
So I did. And then I leaned my forehead against his chest. My throat had been feeling so thick, but somehow, at the rescue, it cleared. I took a deep breath and said, “What about Bridesmaid Two?”
I couldn’t stomach anyone getting left mid-dance at this point. Even her.
“She’s fine,” Cooper said. “Pete cut in.”
“Pete’s not allowed near the bridesmaids.”
“Emergency protocol.”
I didn’t have to feel bad for Bridesmaid Two, did I? She’d had Cooper to herself all night, after all. She could let someone else have a turn, right?
Cooper grasped one of my hands in his—and crooked the other around my waist. Then he clamped me tighter to him and spun us around a little.
I pulled back to smile up at him. “I was about to start bawling.”
