Luckily, Kie sat down two baskets of fries and other batter-dipped goodness in front of them, providing Collins with the perfect out to avoid having to respond to JJ's remark. 
With food finally available to them, it was silent for a good while as mouths were too busy chewing to engage in any conversation. The music in the restaurant was the only thing that filled the void, that and the sound of dishes being stacked against each other by the servers and busboys. 
The first bite of the legendary grits from The Wreck felt like it melted on Collins tongue within moments. She savored the spoonful and felt like she was a survivor of the sandy desert that hadn't eaten in days from how unbelievably good everything tasted. The Carreras were a Godsend.
She was holding back a giggle while in the midst of swatting JJ's hand away from poking a french fry up her nose, when John B was being coaxed by Kie to come dance with her. They chewed their food and watched as he walked over to her and the two began to sway in sync with each other to the melody of the song playing. It was beach-y sort of tune, a bit upbeat but not too upbeat for a quiet and relaxed night in the restaurant. 
Collins watched in admiration as the two danced together, they seemed so close, she wondered if there was anything going on there between them. 
A nudge redirected her attention away from John B and Kie and Collins was soon looking back at JJ, who raised his brows inquisitively at her. "For your information, I do a wicked sprinkler."
A soft chuckle escaped from her and Collins simply shook her head at him. "I'll be the judge of that."
Standing up in their seats, John B and Kie cheered once they saw Collins and JJ making their way over to them. Once they were facing each other, Collins felt as stiff as a tree. She just didn't know what to do. She tried swaying from side to side, shuffling her feet with each movement in an attempt to loosen up just a little bit, but she still felt uneasy. Kie made it look so effortless, everyone did. 
She looked up at JJ's blue eyes and smiled gently, hoping she didn't look as nervous as she felt. She didn't know why she would be in the first place; maybe because it felt like she was at the school dance and she was dancing with a boy for the very first time in her life. That was reason enough for her to be nervous, right?
There was the year when she'd wanted Reid McAvey to ask her to the Kildare County Spring formal, as if he ever would've even considered her. It was more of a fantasy, really, because he had absolutely no idea she existed. He was gorgeous, like in the way that other than his looks, there was nothing else really special about him. He wasn't into sports, he didn't come from a lot of money, and he wasn't the smartest guy in the room, but he was just a good looking guy. Now that Collins thought about it, it was pretty shallow of her to have a crush on someone purely based on appearance alone. 
But even so, if Reid had walked up to her one of those days leading up to the dance and suddenly popped the question, she probably wouldn't have hesitated to say yes because she would've felt like she was hallucinating or in a dream or something along the lines of that and you don't say no in your dreams. It didn't matter that she didn't know a single thing about him and he didn't know a single thing about her, she would've said yes without even taking a breath. All because she desperately wanted to live some kind of fairytale that she was the kind of girl a guy like that noticed and wanted to take to the dance-- and not because of some bet or prank like the books and the movies sometimes did.
Yet, somehow, Collins felt like if her fantasy had come true and she'd gone to the Spring formal with the Reid McAvey, it wouldn't have been even half as incredible as it was dancing with JJ in that moment. She could've been the prettiest girl in the room or won flower queen, or anything else that was remotely fantastical and completely unrealistic, and none of it would've made her feel as good as she did right then. And that was saying a lot for a dream, which is supposed to be significantly better than real life.