I'm back! I know it's been months since I've posted, and I'm sorry for that. In my defense, I was adjusting to my first year of graduate school for my Masters in History, which involves a lot of reading and writing of the non-fiction type. So I decided now that I'm on break I should dip back into fanfiction because it used to relax me and I really enjoyed it and I've missed it. I'm working on various multi-chaps, all from the poll that is still open on my page, and hopefully I will have something ready to post by the end of the month or the end of June!

Anyway, enjoy this short one-shot that was really just an exercise for me to try to get rid of some of the writing rust. Don't know what made me decide to challenge myself with 2nd person right off the bat, but hopefully you still like it!

You can lie to your friends and to your family but never to yourself. You have to admit this truth as you look at yourself in the mirror, tugging on the hem of your dress and tucking another curl into place. As much as you had assured everyone that you were going as friends, just friends, you hoped differently with all your heart. All the while you were getting ready, you were pretending it was for a date, a real date.

Your first date.

At sixteen, you'd never had a date. You'd only ever wanted one with one person, and he'd never asked.

But that didn't matter, you told yourself firmly. You had asked him to the ball – as friends – and he had agreed and was waiting for you two floors down.

But you wanted him to see you as beautiful and sexy and something other than his almost tomboy best friend. So the dress was a little short and the heels were a little high but you were desperate and this was a last ditch attention-grabbing effort.

Finally you make your way down the stairs – carefully – to where he's waiting for you. You can spot his platinum hair from half a flight up but he's facing the other way and doesn't see you coming. You hesitate for a second, wanting that big fairytale entrance and wanting that shocked look on his face so you stop and silently command him to turn around and watch you walk down the stairs.

Hopefully you don't trip.

He does turn and you see his eyes go wide and butterflies starting fluttering up a storm in your stomach. Carefully you make your way to the floor and walk towards him, giving him a hug and acting like your normal bubbly self because he can't know how absolutely terrified you are right now. And he doesn't seem to, but he still has that somewhat shocked look on his face as he offers you his arm and you walk into the room together. Now everyone is looking at you and you want to turn and run and go back to your room and your pajamas and take this makeup off, but Scorpius is holding your arm as if he knows what you're thinking and won't let you leave.

So you ignore everyone and as soon as the music starts you ditch the ridiculously high heels and dance all night with almost no breaks and you make him dance with you and don't allow anyone else to cut in. This is your night to make something of the two of you damnit and you aren't going to let some slaggy girl or some arrogant boy get in the way of that.

Finally you suggest to him that you catch your breath outside on the balcony and when he agrees you silently thank Merlin that McGonagall held the ball up on the fifth floor instead of the Great Hall like always. The two of you step outside and you breathe.

More music starts, slow this time, and he looks at you and asks you to dance and of course you say yes, what else would you say? So he wraps his arms around your waist and you put yours around his shoulders and discover that without your heels your head fits perfectly under his chin. All these years and you've never noticed and it makes you slightly sad. So instead of being sad you decide to be brave like the Gryffindor you are and maybe be slightly dumb and reckless like the Gryffindor you are too.

"Want to know a secret?" You ask him, and you can feel him draw back to look at you. You've never had secrets from him and now he's worried and you can only hope that this secret won't send him screaming back inside and prevent him from ever speaking to you again so you decide to ease into it.

"Sure."

His voice is flat and you can feel your knees get weak out of nervousness because he doesn't sound very happy or very curious and you're terrified. "I was really nervous when I was getting ready tonight," you admit and bury your face back into his shoulder so he can't see you blush.

"Why?"

Your nerves overcome you and so what you say comes out as one word because you can't breathe: "Iwaspretendingthiswasadate."

He doesn't say anything and your heart is swelling to bursting but not from love. You feel humiliated and he doesn't even know the half of it and now he's stopped dancing and you're panicking.

"You did?"

Wordlessly you nod and refuse to look at him as you utter your next sentence. Thankfully you remember to put spaces between the words this time. "I wanted this to be a date for us and I wanted to look good so that maybe you would want it to be too."

He doesn't say anything but he hasn't run off either and you start to get a little hopeful. Then he pulls back and now is when you think you really might cry.

But you don't get a chance to because then he kisses you. Scorpius. Malfoy. Kisses. You. On the lips and everything and you can't believe your good luck and can only hope he's enjoying the kiss as much as you.

"I wanted it to be a date too," he finally says and this time your knees go weak because you think you might faint from joy. "I've wanted to ask you out for years and was always afraid you'd say no."

There was no way you would have ever said no, you admit to him, and you've wanted him to ask you out for forever.

He kisses you again and you again are grateful for the balcony, for its privacy and isolation and for the fact that being outside and feeling the wind is reminding you that you are awake, you aren't dreaming, and Scorpius Malfoy wants you too.

I know this was very rough but I hope you still enjoyed it! Review and let me know what you thought, I would super appreciate it! I need all the constructive criticism (emphasis on CONSTRUCTIVE) I can get right now. Much love (: