I'd thought prom might be the last time I got to see my friends for a long while, but the wedding had brought us all back together.

Usually, Lisa and Chrissy would have been the life of the party, making spectacles of themselves and dragging every available man out onto the dancefloor. Instead, she stood off to the edge of the excitement by herself, watching everyone else have fun without her. It must have been strange for her to be at an event with so small an acquaintance. There were hardly any of our classmates in attendance, Charlie and Will were both spoken for, and she had met none of my family before. Taking pity on her, I made a move to approach her rather than continuing in my search for Will.

My pity, it seemed, was unnecessary.

Her solitary stance hadn't gone unnoticed; Lewis made his way to her and thrust out a hand to shake hers. Lisa regarded it with some apprehension before she shook his hand stiffly. I bit back laughter as he stammered throughout his introduction, stumbling over his words as he awkwardly asked her to dance, making sweeping gestures toward the band as he did so. Awkward though their introduction was, it successfully charmed Lisa. Soon, her arm was linked through his, and I lost them in the crowd.

As I'd followed them, Georgia and Wyatt caught my attention. He still held himself with an air of superiority, but while he was in conversation, his mouth was closed more than it was open. For once, he was listening to what other people had to say without talking over them and singing his own praises. Georgia cast him affectionate smiles and patted his arm reassuringly throughout and I found myself full of hope that he might improve with her help. It was amazing what a person was willing to do to better themselves in the eyes of the person they loved. I would always question Georgia's attraction to my stepbrother, but I would also cheer for her happiness, with or without him.

'Well, well,' Freddie said, making me jump. 'Don't you look stunning, mon ange?'

I turned on my heel and threw my arms around him. 'You made it! I thought you'd ignored the invitation?'

'From you? Never. But,' he said, disentangling himself carefully from the hug, 'I have been told by my cousin that, if I hit on you, he will punch me again.'

'Well, now I want to flirt with you just to cause trouble.'

'Mon ange,' he cooed the nickname, 'you are a wicked girl. You would let him damage this piece of art,' he gestured to his face, 'for your own amusement?'

'Yes.'

Freddie laughed. 'I have missed you. And I have missed my chance with you! Will is lucky to have captured your heart where I could not.'

'It wasn't luck.'

'Fate?' he asked. 'Do you believe such things?'

'No,' I defied. 'Coincidence, maybe, but not fate.'

'You are not romantic,' he sighed. 'Perhaps your friend over there believes in fate?'

He nodded in Meg's direction. I looked back at her over my shoulder and smiled. 'Well, she's read enough novels to believe that sort of thing. Maybe you should ask her yourself?'

'Oui, I think I will.' He kissed my hand. 'Always a pleasure.'

I covered my mouth with my hands, watching in awe as Freddie sauntered up to the quietest girl I'd ever known. Meg stared up at him in disbelief as he introduced himself with a gentlemanly bow. I thought she might faint; the blood rushed to her cheeks so quickly that it must have left her feeling light-headed. In a daze, she was led away to dance, her eyes as wide as saucers.

Well, if anyone could get her to come out of her shell, it was Freddie.

'What are you looking at?' Jenny asked. I pointed out the dancing pair, not quite able to make enough sense of it to form real words. She gasped, 'Oh, that is so cute! Look at them!'

'I know!' I hugged her arm. 'How perfect would they be together? He would make her so much more confident.'

'Didn't you kiss him at Christmas?'

'Yeah, and she is going to love that. I mean... if it happens. He was really good.'

'Good at what?' Will asked.

'Oh - er - nothing,' I backtracked quickly. 'Dancing, or something, I guess? Hi.'

'Jenny, do you mind if I borrow my girlfriend? Charlie's looking for you. He's worried that Eric might steal you away, I think.'

'Really? He's so sweet.' Jenny pecked my cheek. 'I'll see you in a little bit, okay?'

'Okay, have fun!'

'So, what is my cousin good at?' Will asked.

'I told you, I just meant dancing! Anyway, how do I look?'

'Gorgeous, as always,' he said. 'I still want to know -'

'If I kiss you, will you stop asking?'

'I'll think about it.'

'Then I'm not going to do it,' I teased.

A crash interrupted us. Someone had tripped and knocked over a waiter carrying glasses of champagne. Chrissy apologised profusely to him while he assured her it was no big deal. While she was trying to brush the spilt drink from herself, a young man came to her aid. Henry dabbed gently at a splash on her cheek. Their eyes met, and I had a feeling another couple had just been made, at least for the duration of the party. He was a little older than her, but not so much that it wouldn't work. He had seemed like a good guy whenever I'd spoken to him. I just hoped his employers didn't mind him dancing on the job, because Chrissy quickly dragged him off to do just that.

'What is it about weddings?' Will asked.

'What?'

'Everyone gets it into their heads that they should pair off.'

'Romantic setting?' I asked. 'Or maybe it's just a good place for people to meet. Could be all the booze, though.'

'I'd better not see my sister kissing your friend. I'll need therapy for the rest of my life.'

'Don't be so grouchy,' I chided. 'It's sweet. Look at them! I haven't seen Lisa look that genuinely happy in forever, and Meg is talking to someone besides us. And I mean talking and not mumbling and trying to vanish into a hoodie.'

'Yes, it's all very sweet,' he reluctantly agreed. 'Just don't tell anyone I said as much.'

'Yeah, your life would be so over if they knew you had feelings,' I joked.

'I know. It would ruin my reputation as a dashing, stoic hero sort, don't you think?' Will flashed a charming smile.

'I thought your reputation was as a miserable git?'

'Cute. Very cute. Why do I love you again?'

'My upbeat personality and perky butt?'

'Hm... I might need to reconsider this relationship.'

'I mean, if you insist,' I said. 'Eric and Freddie are both here. I can just -'

'No,' he said. Will pulled me into a hug. 'Absolutely not.'

I laughed against his chest. As if I was going to trade him in for anyone else when it had taken us so long to get together in the first place. I didn't have the strength to start all over again with someone else. Besides, for whatever reason, I loved him with all my heart.

'I meant to ask,' he said. 'Where are you going to live?'

'Uh, above the garage,' I said. 'At my house.'

'Is there room?'

'Room for what?' Jenny arrived with Charlie. 'We noticed you weren't dancing. We were going to tell you to stop being miserable. Are you actually talking about something important?'

'You guys are coming to live at our house, right?' I asked. 'I know your place is bigger, but we have a beach.'

'I wondered when you girls were going to start thinking about that,' Dad said. His arm was around Madeleine's waist and she leaned into him comfortably.

She smiled up at him. 'Can I tell them, now?'

'Go ahead.'

'Mrs Darcy - uh - Harriet,' she said, upon realising that Will's mother had approached us and could hear her, 'has kindly agreed to sell us this place.'

'What, here?' I asked. 'This house?'

'Seriously?' Jenny asked. 'We can live near the beach?'

'I know it's smaller than our current house. But there's only the two of us in that place, and I thought it might be time to downsize. This way, Greg can still go to work, and we can all live together.'

'And we're going to get a smaller house in the town,' Mrs Darcy added. 'Just in case you kids were worried that we were going to stop visiting this part of the country.'

'Is that okay, girls?' Dad asked.

Jenny hugged him tightly. 'Thank you!'

'Well,' he held her tight, 'your sister won't have space for a piano in our current place, anyway.'

'What would I need a piano for?' I asked.

'Don't be mad,' he said, 'but there was a phone call for you this morning because, apparently, you're terrible at checking your emails. I took a message. You got into the Royal Academy of Music. I thought you might need a place to practice when you came home to visit.'

'I - I what?! I got in?! Oh my God!' I hugged Will with such excitable force that he almost fell over. He wrapped his arms around me, laughing as I shrieked completely unintelligible words in my excitement.

'I guess that means we're going to see a lot of each other,' he said. 'I got into the London Business School. So, you can't get bored with me and find someone else. I'll be studying around the corner from you.'

'You're joking!'

'No, you really can't find someone else.'

'You know that's not what I meant,' I laughed. 'I never thought that I would - I mean with my exam - I can't even imagine it right now, I am freaking out!'

Jenny pouted. 'Now I wish I'd gotten into a university closer to you both.'

'You're going to Oxford, it's not that far away. If I had brains like yours, I'd totally go there,' I said. 'We'll see each other at weekends.'

'Maybe we should have waited to buy a house,' Dad said. 'You girls are only going to enjoy it for a few weeks.'

'Or we should have a few more kids,' Madeleine suggested.

'Oh, ew.' I covered my eyes. 'I didn't need that image.'

'Me either,' Jenny agreed. 'Charlie, let's go dance, okay? I need to get that visual out of my head.'

'Yeah,' I said. 'Will, I have to get away from them before I puke. Wanna dance?'

'With you? Always.'

His hand in mine, Jenny's in Charlie's, we ran off to find our friends on the dancefloor.

So there we were.

Sisters, friends, lovers, and family. Wherever I turned, I found someone who'd brought meaning to my life. Things may not have gone quite the way I'd pictured in my final year. Like, I hadn't thought I would pin the hopes for my future on music, or that I would go out with a guy I'd hated so much to begin with. But, for once in my life, I was excited about what the future might hold. It was risky, and totally unpredictable, but that was what made it fun.

'What are you smiling about?' Will asked.

'How proud I am of us,' I said.

'Isn't pride a fault?'

'It depends on what you're proud of,' I reasoned. 'It's a fault if you're conceited, but I'm proud of how far we've come, and who we are now because of what we've been through together.'

'And what we'll continue to face together,' he said.

Maybe I shouldn't have been snogging my boyfriend in the middle of my father's wedding, but no one was complaining, least of all me. Most young relationships didn't last all that long, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But I felt sure, as he held me and we sank into another blissful kiss, that I wouldn't love anyone else the way I loved him.

I would be his Beth forever, and he would be my Darcy.

The End.