Friday, March 8 – 5:30 PM
Owen
I groan in embarrassment for probably the tenth time this hour and put my head down on the table again. I’m probably bothering everyone else in the library right now, but I really don’t care.
I can’t believe I asked Maria to go dancing with me. I don’t know how to dance! How am I supposed to dance with a broken hand, anyway?
“What a stupid idea,” I whisper, looking down at my cast. It used to be white, but now it’s covered by a rainbow of colorful, childish doodles—a product of boring classes with too many markers. I’m not much of an artist left-handed.
Maybe I can back out of it. I could say I’m too busy. I’m sure Professor Meador has some extra papers that I could grade. It’s cold season—Maria wouldn’t question me suddenly getting sick, right?
The idea of chickening out tugs at me and whispers for me to give in to it. I could skip all the embarrassment of stumbling around the dance floor like an idiot if I call her back and cancel the whole thing.
“No,” I whisper to myself. “I don’t want to back out.”
I really don’t. I don’t know why I want to go dancing with her, but I do. The second I read the weekend activities and tonight’s event schedule, I knew I had to invite her.
I can do this. It’ll be fun.
My phone rings in my pocket, and I grab it and head out to the lobby to answer the call. It’s Tina.
“Hey, what’s up?” I ask, already regretting coming out into the ice-cold lobby. Why do they never turn on the heat out here? It can’t be more than fifty degrees!
“Hi Owen!” she says, her voice as bubbly as ever. “I just wanted to let you know that if you don’t dress up nicely tonight, I’m going to rip your balls off. Okay?”
“Holy shit!” I exclaim in shock. “Where the hell did that come from?”
Maria warned me that Tina can be a bit vulgar, but I assumed she meant that the tiny, pink-loving girl swore a lot. It never once crossed my mind that she might one day threaten my manhood.
“Seriously. Dress nice. Really nice,” she tells me. Her voice is soft, straightforward, and pleasant as if she was talking about the weather instead of about hurting me. “I’m a dead girl if you don’t, and then you’ll wish you were dead when I’m done with you.”
“Why? What are you talking about?”
“Just do it and trust me, okay?” she snaps at me, and then she hangs up before I can get in another word.
I sigh and shake my head. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m kind of attached to my anatomy. I need to get home and change in a hurry.
––––––––
“Little overdressed, don’t you think?” asks the bartender, grinning at me from behind the counter.
“Oh shut up,” I hiss.
Here I am at the grad union—the stupidly named Big Red Barn—in a sport jacket and slacks, and I’m the only person in the building tonight who isn’t wearing jeans and a tee shirt. I’ve had more than my fair share of stares already and it’s not even eight o’clock yet.
“Hey Owen!” calls out Tina from behind me, cheerful and high-pitched as always, and I turn and hop down from my barstool as she cuts through the packed crowd with Craig at her side.
She’s wearing a knee-length, sky blue dress with a shiny pink belt, and Craig is just as overdressed as I am. The look on his face tells me all I need to know: everything that happens tonight is totally Tina’s fault. At least I know he’ll have my back later when I kill her.
Tina grins, winks at me, and then quickly grabs Craig and steps to the side. It’s all I can do not to let my jaw drop as I catch sight of Maria following behind her.
Her long black hair is hanging free, and she’s wearing a stunning, calf-length black dress with wide straps that cover her shoulders up to the curve of her neck but leave her arms bare. Her skirt billows out just slightly from her waist, and some kind of white, lacy fabric barely peeks out from beneath. What’s that stuff called, anyway? A slip? A petticoat? I have no idea, but whatever it is, she looks gorgeous. I’m completely blown away.
She follows behind Tina and glances nervously at the casually attired crowd around her. She shoots her diminutive friend a glare, and just as I think that she’s about to chew her for the cruel dress-up prank, Tina nudges her and points at me.
The way Maria’s eyes light up when she sees me makes the whole night worth it.
“Hi Maria!” I call out to her, and I race up to her and hug her tightly.
She hugs me back and just when I think the night can’t get any better, she kisses me softly on the cheek.
“You look really nice,” she whispers in my ear, and I feel myself blush. Her eyes are glowing with happiness tonight, and that—more than the dress, more than anything—is what makes her so beautiful to me. I love seeing her happy.
“Thanks. You look... just amazing,” I stammer, and now it’s her turn to blush. I don’t have words for how beautiful she looks. I don’t know where all my words went, but I don’t have them anymore.
“Hey! You grad students get to have a bar on campus?” cries out Tina in awe. She grabs Craig’s hand and drags him behind her to the bar.
“Oh that poor bartender,” I groan, and Maria giggles. I wonder if she knows how beautiful her laughter sounds. It’s light and musical, and it puts me at ease no matter how awkward I feel.
“Let me guess... Tina made you dress up?” she asks, and I nod and roll my eyes.
“She threatened to do terrible things to me if I didn’t,” I answer, offering her my hand.
“Yeah, me too.”
A shiver runs through me as she takes my hand and wraps her fingers around mine, and we join the others at the bar.
“Can you do Cosmos?” Tina asks the bartender excitedly as we sit down next to her.
“Of course I can,” snips the bartender as if he’s offended that she even had to ask.
“Oh kickass!” she shouts happily, and she orders two.
Maria and I look at each other in bemusement. Tina’s way too excited about this.
“Okay... a pair of Cosmos,” he deadpans, and then he turns to Maria and me. “What about you two?”
“Can you do anything with pomegranates?” asks Maria, and she turns and smiles warmly at me.
I’m completely speechless and as soon as she turns back to the bartender, I pull up my sleeve and pinch myself. I’m still awake.
“Pomegranate Cosmo work for you?” he asks, and he glares at Tina out of the corner of his eye.
“Sure, sounds great to me!” answers Maria.
“That Cosmo thing really bugged you, huh?” I ask, and the bartender rolls his eyes at me before going back to mix our drinks.
“Wow, what a stuck-up prick,” I whisper to Maria, and she grins and nods in agreement.
Grumpy the Bartender returns with our drinks a few minutes later. I turn to Maria and raise mine to offer a toast.
“To trying new things.”
“To getting outside our shells,” she answers, and I know exactly what she means.
I can drink to that.
––––––––
I’m feeling a little wobbly as I head out onto the dance floor with Maria by my side, but the booze is the only thing keeping me from running for the door right now. I feel like everyone’s watching me and waiting to laugh when I fall on my face. I should know better than that by now, but I’m still nervous and embarrassed as the instructor tries to show me what to do.
“Okay, you take her hand like this,” he says, placing Maria’s left hand in mine as we face each other, “and then put your right hand on her shoulder blade.”
She smiles at me and squeezes my hand gently as the dance instructor forces us into the right positions, and then he starts to walk us through the steps.
“Left, tap, left... right, tap, right... back, rock,” he calls out, keeping the beat for us as we shuffle awkwardly back and forth on the dance floor. I’m staring down at Maria’s black flats the whole time and still somehow keep stepping on her toes.
“Alright, you’re getting there,” lies the instructor, and he stops us again.
“Next thing you two need to learn is a basic spin,” he tells us. Maria smiles and I can’t tell if she’s nervous or excited. Maybe she’s both.
“It’s the same timing, but now it’s your turn to get some special steps in,” he tells Maria as he walks around us in a circle. “This young gentleman is going to push you out under his left arm with his right hand, and...”
He trails off as he sees the cast on my arm.
“Dude, your hand’s broken,” he points out, as if I didn’t already know.
“Oh my god!” I exclaim dramatically. “When did that happen? I never noticed the cast!”
Maria giggles at my stupid act, and I feel like I’m the king of the world, broken hand or not. The instructor rolls his eyes at me.
“All right, missy,” groans the instructor as he turns to Maria. “You’re going to have to grab his hand during some of the spins, so just make sure you get the tips of his fingers, okay? Stay away from the thumb.”
“Got it,” she answers, nodding intensely as she takes in his words.
A jaunty song blares over the speaker system, and the instructor grins at me and flashes a thumbs-up.
“Okay, get ready, you two! And, one... two... go!”
The only way I can keep the beat for even a moment is to count out loud, and when I finally look up from my feet, I’m relieved to see Maria doing the exact same thing.
“One and two,” I mutter. “Three and four... back, rock...”
Ten minutes pass as we go back and forth in place, and then suddenly it all clicks for me. It’s like when Maria showed me how to snowboard properly—everything just makes sense now.
Now it’s time for some fun.
Tina floats past us, completely ignoring the rule about the guy leading the way, and she sticks out her tongue at us as she pushes Craig around the dance floor. Maria and I return the gesture in unison and then burst out laughing.
“You hanging in there?” I ask, and she nods back excitedly. Her smile is radiant tonight.
“Okay, then hang in there a little more!” I call out, and I send her out for a spin.
Maria laughs as she ducks under my arm and spins out away from me. Her dress billows up around her and shows off her long, incredibly sexy legs. It’s all I can do not to stop dead in my tracks and stare. God, it’s hard enough to keep my hands off of her without seeing that!
Excitement and longing flicker to life inside me as I reel her back in—her eyes glittering with happiness—and then send her out for one more gratuitous spin. My mind is filled with wonderfully dirty thoughts now, and it’s all I can do not to pull her back in, put my arms around her and kiss her right this second.
Maria gets more confident as song after song flies by, and I do my best to keep up with her. As I pull her back in from a spin, she ducks under my arm and raises hers to push me out for a spin of my own. She’s picking up moves from other couples on the floor now—teaching me how to lead her into them—and I simply can’t get enough of her.
I’m the worst dancer in the world—and I’m sure Maria’s toes would agree with me on that—but crappy, clumsy dancer or not, I’m with the girl of my dreams and I’ve never been happier in my life.