She squeezed Oz's hand. "I'm going to go walk around a bit, okay?"

"You want me to come with?" He stood, adjusting his tuxedo jacket with one hand.

"No, that's okay. I just want to gawk. You stay here in case Buffy shows." She looked around. "I haven't seen her yet, and Xander's been gone for a while. Maybe I'll run into him."

He nodded and gave her a smile. Watching her walk away, he couldn't help but admire the emerald green velvet dress she was wearing. He also couldn't help but be glad Buffy had helped her pick out the outfit this time, and not Xander. Not that he didn't trust Willow, or even Xander, but he'd decided it was better not to tempt fate.

Willow stayed to the edges of the room, ducking between groups of people, doing her best to stay out of the way. She ducked her head to avoid a cluster of balloons and ran into someone. She looked up. "I'm…sorry."

"You're an oaf, just like your partner in crime." Cordelia was wearing a stunning blue gown that shimmered in the lighting.

"You look beautiful, Cordy." Willow smiled. "That dress is stunning."

She was taken aback. Appraising the other girl, she nodded. "You don't look too bad yourself. Obviously a mall dress, but I can forgive you for that. We can't all avoid the rack."

Willow let a grin lift the edges of her mouth. "Who are you here with?"

Cordelia almost hid her pained reaction to Willow's question. "Devon. Everyone assumed I would go with…him, so they made other plans. Even though we broke up forever ago, I'm still not…"

"I'm sorry. Again. Still." Willow looked sadly at the other girl. "But Devon, he's fairly nice. Not too bad looking. Obviously not up to your standards, but he'll do in a pinch, right?"

Nodding happily, Cordelia let some of her animosity slip away. "I guess I did teach you something, didn't I?" She walked away and Willow continued her journey. She saw Buffy enter and waved. Then she saw Buffy's date.

Angel looked stunning in a tuxedo.

Which was good. Every girl in the room and some of the guys as well were blatantly checking the couple out. Even though they'd both been seen at the Bronze a million times, nothing packed the same effect as both of them dressed to the nines.

Especially not on Xander. Who was supposed to have been Buffy's date.

Willow saw him duck out of the room and followed him quickly. He was leaning against the wall in the hallway, his head bent.

"Xander?"

He raised a hand in greeting.

"Xander? Are you okay?" She moved closer, noting the rise and fall of his shoulders. He wasn't crying, but he was close. "Don't cry."

"I'm not crying. I'm laughing." He met her eyes and she flinched at the sight of them. They were filled with self-hatred. "I'm an idiot, you know that? I was dating the most popular girl in school. And I screwed it up. I had the most beautiful person in the world in love with me. And I let her slip away. I lusted after the one woman in the world I could never have. And instead, I'm her friend. Which would be okay, except she agreed to come to this thing with me as friends and she's here with him."

"So you don't have a date…"

"I always expected to come to this soiree with you, you know that? I imagined it; the both of us, love's losers, being support for the other. Dancing all the dances together because no one would dance with us. But I forgot to take into account that you were going to grow up and turn into this gorgeous thing."

She stood directly in front of him. "Xander. Stop it. I'm not going to let you do this to yourself. Yes, you have lousy taste in who you fall for, and you tend not to notice what's right in front of you. But you're a wonderful guy, whom I, for one, like very much. So get off the self-pity riff, okay?"

He smiled in self-recrimination. "Sorry, Will. I don't mean to spoil your prom. I know that homecoming wasn't quite what you expected."

"It wasn't bad though." She blushed and pushed the thought of their kisses out of her mind. "So come back to the table with me and have fun."

"Are you gonna dance with me?"

She felt the heat rise in her face again, so she nodded to avoid looking at him. "I think I can swing that."

The five of them spent the evening laughing and having fun, no thoughts of evil creatures, vampires - save Angel, or Hellmouth on their minds. Occasionally, Cordelia would glance their way and smile, making the evening that much better. She eventually drifted over to their table.

"So, Prom Queen. The announcement's coming up soon." She smiled. "I hope you all voted?"

"We didn't even split the vote." Xander grinned impishly. "We all voted for Harmony."

"What?"

"Just kidding, Cordy. You're the only Prom Queen in my book." He batted his eyelashes at her, laughing when she stormed off to the next table. "Think I went too far?"

"Nah." Oz shook his head. "She just likes to play upset."

A slow song started and Angel stood, holding his hand out to Buffy. She took it and the remaining three watched them move into each other's arms. Willow sighed. "It's so romantic. Tragic, but romantic. Like those novels my mom reads in secret."

Oz raised his eyebrows and Xander laughed. "You don't know? Mrs. Rosenberg refuses to admit that romance has anything to do with relationships. She believes it's all physical and psychological. But that doesn't stop her from reading the tawdry little things."

Willow laughed. "She's a slave to Harlequin romances."

Oz nodded, "Do you want to dance?"

She looked surreptitiously over at Xander before nodding. He seemed to be okay. "Sure."

He watched them walk out onto the dance floor, wondering if it was ever going to not hurt when she walked away from him. He knew, intellectually that she was always going to be his friend. And he had a hope; deep down in his heart that someday they'd manage to find the romance she'd wanted from him for so long. But it still hurt to see her give away parts of herself to somebody else.

"You look lonely." Larry sat down at the table and sighed.

Xander looked around. "No. I like my own company."

"Don't worry," he smirked. "I'm not hitting on you. I just wanted to thank you for keeping my little secret all this time. I realize you're…not. But you didn't violate my trust. You're an all right guy, Harris."

Xander nodded. "Thanks."

"And you're kinda cute." Larry laughed at the look of horror on Xander's face as he walked away.

Xander placed his warm hand on her bare shoulder. "Do you want to dance?"

"Sure."

"He won't mind?"

"No. He won't mind."

He took her into his arms; his mind flooded with images of the last time they'd danced together. "You look beautiful tonight, Will."

"You look good yourself." He ducked his head and she turned her head slightly to look up at him. "Why are you so fidgety all of a sudden?"

"I guess I just wanted this last opportunity to tell you that I'll miss you."

"Miss me?"

"When you're gone…to college. Doing life…stuff."

She looked perplexed. "What makes you think I'm going anywhere?"

"Well, your mom. She told me that you got accepted to MIT."

"Did she also tell you I got accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Yale, Vassar and every other college she could think of to submit my application for me?"

"You didn't…" Surprise and excitement filled him.

"I'm doing something worthwhile here. And I can still get a good education. Dad understand and Mom, well, she'll come around eventually." She pulled him a little closer. "I'm not leaving Xander. You can't get rid of me that easily. So you don't need to miss me."

"I already do miss you, Will. I miss…I guess I wish sometimes that the fluke never happened, that it wasn't so hard to be friends anymore. To not have to worry am I'm thinking the wrong thing, am I saying the wrong thing, am I touching something I'm not supposed to. I just wish I didn't have to worry about that anymore." He was shocked by the look on her face. She seemed almost ready to cry. "Not that I'm sorry I kissed you," he added hurriedly. "But…cause I'm not. I just…I wish it were different."

Her hand moved up from his neck into the soft tendrils of his hair. She opened her mouth to say something when the song ended.

"Well, there's the end of the song. You go and have a nice night with Oz."

"Xander…"

"No, no, no. I'm okay." He sniffed back tears. "I think I'll go find Buffy or Cordy and see if I can con them into dancing with me."

She caught his hand and squeezed it. "Xander, even if I were going a million miles away, our friendship will always be there, tying us together. It means too much…you mean too much to me to ever let it go. Understood?"

"Understood." He backed away from her; his brown eyes lit up with happiness. "Almost last dance. You better go find Oz. Goodnight, Wills."

"Goodnight, Xander."

Oz sat next to her in the van, his nervousness plain. He kept adjusting his tie, watching Willow out of the corner of his eye. "You had fun?"

"Lots." She smiled at him, biting her lower lip to hide her giggle.

"Do you…should I…"

"I think I just want to go home?" Her tone was apologetic. "Tonight was wonderful. I loved it. But it's kind of sad too, in a way. So, although I want…I don't want anything to make it…I want it to be about good things, that are good without sadness?"

He smiled at her. "I understand."

"I knew you would. Because you know that it has to be right." She reached over and untied his tie so that he would stop playing with it. "Don't be nervous."

"Okay, but Will? When you're trying to persuade me that we shouldn't? Don't start undressing me."

She giggled and took his hand. "Sorry."

They drove back to her house in companionable silence. Oz sighed happily. It had been a good night. For the first time since Cordelia's accident, everybody seemed to have gotten along with giving in to any of the undercurrents that laced their relationships. He cast a quick glance over at Willow and smiled, trying to hide his concerns. Graduation was just days away and then they'd all have to consider their futures seriously. "Hey, Will?"

"Yes?" She looked over at him, the dim light of the moon making her eyes sparkle.

"I'm really glad you're in my life."

She beamed at him; her smile was like a jolt of electricity to his heart. "Well, Oz, I'd have to say the feeling is most definitely mutual."

He parked along the curb in front of her house and climbed out of the van. Opening her door for her, he handed her a cross to carry. "I'll walk you in."

She held his hand, resting her head against his shoulder. The night had been beautiful. In some ways, she wished it would never end. And in others she wished it had all been different. When they reached the porch, she wrapped him in a strong hug. "Thank you for a beautiful night. I'm sorry about…"

"No. No apologies necessary. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Willow."

She kissed him softly, her lips lingering so that she could carry the taste of him into her dreams. "Goodnight Oz."