September

21: The Party pt.2

The party was more lowkey than Emily's usual. Less decor fit the theme but it was still strange to see her take things a step back. Music played classic instrumentals and jazz. It complimented everything well.

Dakota was still standing next to me. It was still awkward between us, of course, it was. "You okay? I know this isn't really your thing." I said after a while of silence.

"Yeah, it's fine. Surprisingly isn't that bad," he said with a slight smile.

"Good, yeah I'm actually a bit surprised that this isn't crazier."

He put his hands in his pockets. "So since we're giving this another shot, if you're not doing anything tomorrow we could go out to eat. Just us."

I shifted my feet to get more comfortable in my heels. I rarely wore anything besides boots but today was different. It wasn't that I hated heels, I actually don't mind on occasion but they're not as comfortable as boots. "Uh yeah, that sounds nice."

"Okay, so I'll pick you up. Will eleven, eleven-thirty be alright?"

"That's perfect."

"Alright, then it's set," there was a small smile on his face. His eyes sparkled it had been a while since I'd seen that look.

The music changed and Emily went to the front of the room. She picked up the microphone that was sitting on the fireplace mantle. "Now for the best part of any party. Dance competition. To make things even more interesting you don't get to choose your partner." she paused as everyone in the room got super quiet. "Your partner is whoever you're standing closest to. So pair up."

She moved her hand down as she watched the room pair up. "Well, I guess it's you and me," I stated.

"Good thing," he laughed. "Otherwise I'd most likely be stuck with Dylan."

"That would be the highlight of the night." I couldn't hold back my laugh.

"For you maybe, definitely not for me."

The sound of the microphone being tapped caused us to stop our conversation there. "Alright so I don't have enough room for everyone to go at once so to make it work I'll have three couples go at once." She pointed and assigned everyone a number. We were thirteen. "Now I have a drawing bucket with numbers and the rest is self-explanatory."

She drew out a paper. "four," then another. "twelve," and finally the last one for this round. "fifteen."

Each group moved to the center as the rest of us moved back to give more room. She threw those slips of paper into the fire and then announced. "Let the dancing begin." she turned on a song and each of the couples danced.

They were all decent. Especially for improvising. I looked at Dakota. He mouthed some words and I nodded. When the song ended the room came alive with applause. "Wonderfully done. Great first round. Let me just write up some scores then I'll do the next drawings." Emily wrote some things in a notebook and then looked up. "Now for round two."

She put her hand in the jar. "one," group one moved to the center. "five," group five did the same. Dylan was in that group and Dakota laughed when he realized it. "and three."

It happened the same way. Music played and they all did well. Emily wrote down scores once it was finished and then did the next drawing. We weren't in the next round. But we were drawn in the fourth round.

Emily shot me a look and I ignored it. Dakota and I stood side by side while we waited for the music. After a few seconds of standing in the center the music played. He took my hands in his and we danced. We glided, I felt like a protagonist in a Jane Austen novel. It was obvious he's danced before and I used to when I was a kid so it was easy for us.

"It's been so long since I've danced," I whispered.

"I didn't know you danced," he replied.

"I try not to think about it," I said. And it was true I tried to forget everything in my childhood but the memories were never far away.

"Then I won't push."

"Have you ever danced before? You're so good I feel like you've had to of had lessons or something."

"Yeah. My mom taught me. Said it was important to know."

"Well, it's certainly come in handy. It's like she knew the future." I smirked.

"She probably did. I didn't understand the point then."

The music ended but he kept my hand in his and we walked back to where we were standing before. Emily wrote down some scores and then the last group went. We watched them dance.

"I'm glad I had you as a partner," I said.

"And I'm glad I had you," he said.

I smiled and my heart pounded. It seemed to want to jump out of my chest. Like it wanted to soar. I wondered where we would be if I had never broken up with him. It was obvious I never lost the feelings but was scared to move too fast it was a second chance. And I didn't want to screw it up. But I felt myself losing control more and more every time we spoke.

Before I knew it the song was over and it was time for the results. "Now for the ranking. At number 15 we have group one." I tuned out most of the results. Then I heard our number. We got first place. I glared at Emily from where I was. She knew what she was doing but everyone in the room clapped as Dakota and I walked up to where Emily was. She gave us the microphone.

"Thank you, Emily," I said. Dakota stood behind me, I turned to him and mouthed a question. He whispered in my ear. I nodded. "My partner is shy but he also says thanks. I guess those dance lessons paid off. You all were a tough competition so congratulations to everyone." Then I handed the mic back,

"So let's get back to the real party." and she put the mic back on the mantle and played the music again.