After a couple of songs I decided to take a little break, so I moved off the dance floor. I walked around for a bit to check out the rest of the house, and as I was going past the front entryway, suddenly I saw Conor walk into the house.

The most surprising thing wasn’t that he was wearing a cool, retro suit, with a skinny tie, and suede sneakers. It wasn’t that he didn’t see me right off.

It was that he had walked in with a girl on his arm. A petite, dark-haired girl with light brown skin and a very cool black-and-white wool checkered coat.

I couldn’t believe it. What was he doing with a date? Then again, why shouldn’t he be allowed to bring someone? Just because we’d hung out together and had a good time, that didn’t mean he was banned from seeing someone else.

I kept sneaking glances at them as they checked her coat, and walked into the big room. Every time I did, they were laughing.

I walked back over to Sean, who was hanging out by the Sno-Cone cart with his friends and the other girls. He didn’t even seem to notice that I was back, or that I’d been gone.

“So I just saw Conor,” I said, sidling up beside Sean.

“Oh, yeah? You want a cone?” Sean asked.

I shook my head. “No thanks. I’m holding out for a snowball,” I said. “So, uh. Conor. He has a date for tonight?”

“Yeah. Guess so.” Sean nodded.

“Really,” I muttered.

A minute later, Conor and the girl he’d come in with walked past us and gave us a small wave. I waved back, my arm completely lifeless. His date gave me a friendly smile.

Yeah, I’d be happy, too, I thought, as I listened to Sean and his friends go on and on about how great the season was going to be, and whether they’d make it to the tournament, and where they wanted to play college hockey…. If I were with Conor.

About half an hour later, after dancing to a few more songs and making some more small talk, I was sitting on a window seat, looking out at the snow that had begun to fall, and wondering how long I’d have to stay. Because we had come to the party with other people, I’d have to wait for them to want to leave. It didn’t look as if I was going to get a chance to actually talk to Sean about things, and it didn’t seem like I would see Conor much, either. The night wasn’t exactly going my way, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

A waiter walked past with a tray of the round snowball-shaped cakes, and I jumped up, nearly knocking him down. “Oh. Excuse me,” I said.

“No problem,” he replied.

“I just kind of wanted one of those,” I said, feeling my face turn red.

He held the tray out to me and I lifted up one of the snowball cakes on a napkin. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks.” I took a bite of the coconut-covered cake, wondering why they’d serve something that was so difficult to eat without making a mess. There must be some etiquette about how to eat something this crumbly at a party. But if there was, I didn’t know it. No doubt Gretchen would.

I was taking another very delicate bite when suddenly Conor was standing beside me. “Wouldn’t these be great for a snowball fight?” he asked.

I was so surprised to see him that I nearly choked on a coconut flake that went down the wrong way.

“I could totally see this place breaking into mayhem,” Conor added.

I brushed my mouth with a napkin. “Food fight, you mean?”

“Yeah.” Conor grinned. “Should we do it?”

“No,” I said, looking around at everyone, all dressed up. “I don’t think we’d be very popular.”

“Do we care? Anyway, you’re leaving soon, and nobody here really knows who you are anyway.” He nudged me with his elbow. “Do it. Show ’em that pitching arm.”

I didn’t appreciate how close he was standing to me. It was really hard to have finally realized how I felt about him, and then see him walk in with someone else.

“It’s not a pitching arm,” I said, trying to move away a little. “First base, remember?”

Conor put his fingers around my arm, completely encircling it. “Definitely not a pitcher’s arm. A little too skinny for that.”

“Not skinny,” I said, brushing at a crumb on my wrist. “Toned.”

“Right. Toned.” He grinned. “You’re all about the toned. Or is it tonedness?”

“I think it’s tone-ocity,” I said. I finished the snowball and dabbed at my mouth.

“Tenacity, maybe. Look out, you missed a couple.” Conor reached out and brushed a coconut flake off my mouth. He was standing really close to me.

I thought, No fair. No fair doing that to me. Didn’t you come with someone else?

But for that matter, didn’t I?

“Thanks,” I said. I flagged down the server who was passing us and managed to get a glass of punch. Conor took one, as well.

I felt like I should make a toast. It wasn’t New Year’s Eve, but this party felt as if we’d all start singing “Auld Lang Syne” at the drop of a hat. Or a glass of punch.

“Well, cheers,” I said as I tapped my glass against Conor’s.

“What are we toasting?” he asked.

I adjusted the wrap on my shoulders, which had slipped a little. “To spring?”

He laughed. “Why would you want spring?”

“I don’t know.” I gazed around the room, looking for Sean. I couldn’t believe we’d come together; I hadn’t seen him in at least twenty minutes. I wondered if it was the same for Conor and his date. “Maybe I’ve been here long enough,” I said.

“I disagree,” Conor said. “Respectfully and all, but still.”

“Respectfully? That’s not like you.” I looked over at him and smiled.

“Well, on second thought, maybe you have been here long enough,” Conor said, frowning.

I was about to ask him what he meant by that when two things happened. One, Sean appeared at my side, sliding his arm around my waist. Two, about three girls came over and said, “Hey Conor, want to dance? Come on. You’re dancing.”

“Sounds great,” Conor said loudly as they pulled him out onto the dance floor.

“Where have you been?” Sean asked.

“Uh…right here?” I said as I watched Conor and the girls laughing and dancing together and my stomach did somersaults. “What about you?”

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Sean said. “Well, some of the guys went outside for a while. And then Kevin was showing us around the place.”

It’s called a date, I thought, irritated. Look into it! Didn’t he realize that I would know nobody here, and therefore he should look after me?

Then again, had I really missed him? Would I have been any happier if we’d spent the whole night standing side by side and not talking? At least this way one of us was having a good time.

“Anyway,” Sean said, “do you want to dance?”

“Not really, thanks,” I said.

“Come on, Kirsten. You have to,” Sean said. “We’ve hardly danced together at all.”

And whose fault is that? I thought. “Okay, sure. Let’s dance.”

As soon as we got out onto the dance floor, though, someone in the band decided it would be funny to play a slow ballad. So I awkwardly put my hands on Sean’s shoulders, and we started moving slowly around the dance floor. I wouldn’t call it dancing, exactly. Gretchen would go berserk if she could see this, I thought with a smile. All my waltzing practice gone to waste.

As we turned around, I saw Conor dancing with someone else—not the girl he came with, and not the three girls who’d pulled him onto the dance floor, but still another. What was it about these brothers? Conor was just as bad as Sean. They were chick magnets! And I for one didn’t want to end up on the family refrigerator.

“So, Sean,” I began. “You know the weekend we’re going away together? That ski trip, up north?”

“Which weekend was that again?” he asked.

We circled again, and I exchanged glances with Conor. “It’s next weekend,” I said.

“Oh. Sorry,” Sean said. “I kind of forgot.”

“No, don’t be sorry—it’s okay. It doesn’t matter if you remember. I—we’re not going,” I said.