Ned had his fingers laced between hers, her head nestled on his shoulder, as they half-drowsed on the picnic blanket. Hannah had been in one of her moods where she just hadn't been able to stop cooking, and Ned had been more than happy to pack up a basket and take his girlfriend for a picnic lunch.

"That was..." Nancy felt Ned rub his belly in satisfaction. "Great."

"Yeah," Nancy agreed, nuzzling into him. "Today's been perfect."

"Mmm," Ned chimed in, drifting off. "Love you."

"Love you too," Nancy whispered in reply. She knew that she should bring it up, but she just couldn't start.

Everything had been going fine between the two of them until Bess had gone on her weekly shopping trip and told her that the prom dresses were out.

Nancy had never cared. She was a sophomore; next year would be the first year she'd be able to go to prom, and she already had dresses, the kind she wore to cotillions and semi-formals when she went with her father. But this, Bess had been quick to point out, was prom. And Ned was a junior. And Ned would be able to invite her to prom.

"Maybe he isn't going," Nancy had said.

"You mean he hasn't asked you yet?" Bess had raised her eyebrows in response.

Now, Nancy closed her eyes and thought about it. It really wouldn't be so bad, she knew, if he didn't invite her. What scared her was the thought that maybe he'd invite someone else. He was her boyfriend, but he hadn't been that for long.

Don't be silly, she told herself. There is no one else. He's said that a thousand times.

Then she thought of how irritated he had been when she'd called off their date a few weekends ago so she could do surveillance on an apartment building, and wondered if this was how he was getting back at her for it.

Nancy sighed unhappily and buried her face against Ned's shirt, inhaling the scent of his perfume and skin. Bess seemed like the perfect girlfriend, but she'd never had a boyfriend this long. Nancy had never been a perfect girlfriend. Even though she cared more about Ned than she had about any of the others.

"Hey."

Ned's voice was thick with sleep, and Nancy smiled as she answered him.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Nancy said. "Think maybe Hannah's finished that chocolate cake yet?"

Ned practically went from prone to standing instantaneously. "I think we should go find out."

Nancy laughed, and helped him gather up the blanket, half-waiting the rest of the afternoon for him to ask. But he kissed her goodbye at her front door and she watched until his taillights were out of sight, her heart steadily sinking.

--

"Maybe you should buy a dress anyway."

George was a few hundred feet away trying on a new pair of running shoes, while Nancy and Bess loitered between the racks of dresses. Nancy slipped her finger and thumb down the seam of a shimmering lavender dress, her expression sour.

"So that if he asks me the night before, I'll be ready?" Nancy shook her head. "If he waits that long, I'm not going."

"You wouldn't go?" Bess turned wide eyes on her friend. "Seriously?"

Nancy sighed, feeling frustrated. "Maybe he doesn't want to go with me. Maybe he doesn't want to take a sophomore to prom. Maybe he's just mad about those dates I've broken with him so I could work on a case."

"He's crazy about you," Bess replied. "And I know he may not love all those cases you take on, but still, does he really seem like the kind of person who would punish you with something that mean?"

Nancy shrugged. "Maybe it doesn't seem mean to him," she said. "Maybe he just wants to have a date that night. I don't know. And I don't want to talk about it."

"Not even with him?"

"How can I bring that up?" Nancy asked. "'Hey Ned, by the way, you haven't asked me to prom, and I just wanted to make sure you didn't want to go with me'?"

Bess scoffed. "You don't say it like that," she said. "Next date you have, wear a really cute dress, and mention that you and I are going to go to a concert or something if he doesn't plan anything for that night."

"That sounds pretty obvious."

"Or tell him you want to go to a really nice restaurant. Ask him if he's rented his tux yet. Or if you need to get some pig's blood together."

Despite herself, Nancy cracked a smile at the marked disinterest on Bess's face. "Yeah," she agreed. "That last one is sure to get him to open up."

Bess sighed. "He's a guy, Nan," she said. "They forget things all the time. Or, he's evil and you should dump him immediately."

"Well, if those are my two choices," Nancy said dryly. "Come on, let's see if George has bought her shoes yet."

--

They were studying at the table in Ned's kitchen. Edith had left them with glasses of milk, a plate of cookies, and an invitation for Nancy to stay to dinner. Nancy was going over biology worksheets, while Ned had graph paper out and was doing his math homework.

Then he sighed, threw his pencil down, and reached for a cookie. "There's no way you'll stay for dinner now," he sighed, unhappily.

"Why?" Nancy asked, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear as she looked up at him.

"Because these cookies are too good," he said. "And now you won't be hungry."

Nancy smiled. "I'll stay for dinner if you want me to."

"I do," he replied, almost too quickly, and Nancy had to laugh.

"All right, then."

She turned back to her homework. Ned picked up his pencil again, bouncing the eraser off the paper in a nervous rhythm. Nancy had to fight hard to keep her gaze trained on her book, although she hadn't been able to concentrate long enough to even read the next question, much less try to formulate a response.

"Nan?"

"Hmm?" She made a big show of looking distracted, enough to keep her from losing it.

"Um... I know how River Heights's prom is on the same day as ours this year."

Nancy ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall down so it could hide her small smile. "Yeah, I think I remember hearing about that."

"And... look, can I be honest for a second?"

"Sure."

"I know you probably want to go to yours, with Bess and George, and that's cool. I mean, I can't really say you can't do that, because they're your best friends and everything."

Nancy looked up at him, her mouth dropped slightly open. Surely this wasn't the reason he had been dragging his feet on asking her.

"I know it's selfish but I'd love it if you'd come to Mapleton's prom. With me."

"Oh..." Nancy launched herself out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Ned's neck. "Yes, yes, I'll go with you. I can't believe you actually think I'd ditch you and hang out with some upperclassman just so I can be at River Heights's prom. Like I care about that."

"What about Bess and George?"

Nancy, half-perched on Ned's lap, leaned forward until their foreheads were touching. "Well, Bess is a resourceful girl. If I tell her today, she'll probably have someone lined up in time. And George would rather die than buy a prom dress. I mean, unless you fix her up with that hottie Scott Forrester."

"Hottie?" Ned repeated in mock outrage. "See if I do you any favors now, missy."

Nancy shrieked as Ned started tickling her, jolting the table as she writhed away from his touch. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I was just repeating what she said," Nancy managed, entirely out of breath. "Man. That's why you were waiting?"

"Were you waiting for me to ask you?"

"Well, yeah," Nancy admitted, going back to her own seat. "I couldn't exactly invite myself. It'll be different next year, when I'm an upperclassman, but still."

Ned smiled. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So, you'll go. I have to warn you, though, Mom will want you to come over here so she can take about a thousand pictures of us before we leave."

"And will we get a limo?" Nancy asked, propping her chin on her hand.

"They do have a big backseat," Ned mused aloud, jumping back when Nancy gasped in outrage and smacked him on the arm. "I was kidding!"

"No you weren't," Nancy said, her eyes twinkling, utter certainty in her voice. "So I guess that's a no to the limo, then."

"Unless we all want to split one."

"And a corsage?"

"We can go the whole nine yards, babe," Ned said, lacing his fingers behind his head and sitting back. "White horse-drawn carriage and sparkling grape juice, everything."

"You must think I'm a cheap date. Sparkling grape juice?"

"Lock-in at the church gymnasium?" Ned countered, leaning forward.

"Midnight curfew?"

"Trip to the lake after?" Ned traced his fingertip up her arm. "Just the two of us?"

Nancy shivered. "Oh, yes," she replied, her blue eyes hazed as they met his. "That's the best idea I've heard all day."