Old Me

14 - First Dance

Someone came up behind me and put their hands on my shoulders causing me to jump.

"Sorry Bea, didn't mean to scare you," my Uncle Marco said.

"Oh, hey. No, that's okay," I said.

"Happy Birthday and congrats! We're really proud of you," he said holding Sam's hand.

I scooted my chair back and stood up to give them both a hug. Apparently, this was a cue for the rest of my family to come up and congratulate me and give me hugs and kisses as well, including my dad's parents. I ended up being swept into the kitchen where my nonna (my dad's mom) was making me open her present.

I opened the card and started to cry at her sweet message and found two hundred dollars and a gift card to PF Chang's. The gift card might sound weird but I love that restaurant!

I gave her a big hug and thanked her profusely while I looked for my nonno (grandad) but he was outside. I tucked the card with the money in one of the kitchen drawers before heading back outside. It looked like everyone had finished eating as Teo was standing by his DJ station to start the music.

"Alright, alright, welcome everybody to Beatrice's celebration!" Matteo said into a microphone. I glared at him annoyed that he had used my full name.

"Love you cuz! Now, by demand, I'd like to welcome Bea and Zio Giorgio up to the dance floor for a father-daughter dance to break the ice."

I rolled my eyes and found Zia Aurora pushing me towards the "dance floor" which was really just an open space on the deck. My dad walked up to me and pulled me into a hug as the music started to play.

He held my hand and we started to sway. I could tell he was getting choked up by the lyrics and my cheeks were burning being the center of attention. I tried to ignore the twelve people, one of which being my mom, who had their phones out to record and take pictures.

I focused my gaze on my dad who was smiling and teary-eyed.

"I love you tesoro, you're my little warrior, and you've done so much, especially...especially after..."

"Shh, dad, don't cry. I love you, and I'm so grateful that you were able to help me pay for college and have supported me so much. I know just how much you've sacrificed for me, and I really, really appreciate everything."

Great. Now I'm starting to cry. I blinked the tears away and my dad spun me around.

When the song ended my dad pulled me in for another hug, kissing me on the forehead while everyone clapped.

"Let's get this party started!" Teo said spinning a track and letting a pop song start to play.

I made my way back to my table to hopefully finish my food if it was not too cold and was stopped several times on the way for more hugs and kisses.

When I finally made it back to my seat, Cat was on the dance floor with my dad, Marco, and Sam.

"I'm gonna go dance, meet us up there yeah?" Lucia asked.

"Yeah, I'm just going to eat."

The rest of the table followed Lucia, leaving Michael and me to ourselves.

"Enjoying the party so far?" I asked.

"Yeah," he smiled, "I am. Thanks again for inviting me."

"Good, and I'm glad you came."

I finished what I could of the food on my plate; my aunts definitely served me way too much food.

"I have a question," Michael said breaking the silence between us.

"Shoot."

"So who are Siena and Matteo's parents?"

"Oh, that's my dad's sister Carina," I looked around the room to point her out, spotting her recording Teo DJing, " who's married to a dead beat. He doesn't usually come to family functions."

"Oh, I'm sorry for prodding."

"No, it's okay. You didn't know. Yeah, he's an alcoholic asshole, but she refuses to leave him. So Siena and Matteo pretty much lived at our house as much as possible until they were adults. Siena has her own place, it's like a townhouse that she shares with some friends from church and Teo."

"Wow," he said shaking his head in disgust, "I have a certain kind of hatred for people who hurt others."

"Yeah, I definitely do as well."

"Well, on that note, would you care for a dance?" he asked smiling widely.

"Um, sure."

I stood up and brushed off some crumbs from my dress and took Michael's hand. When we made it to the dance floor the music changed to Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" and I glared at Matteo who seemed to have done that one purpose.

My cousins awkwardly left the stage and my mom and dad joined my grandparents, Lorenzo, Aurora, Marco, and Sam in swaying to the music.

I met Michael's gaze who seemed unphased by the slow music and raised the hand I was holding and placed the other on my hip. I was honestly shocked, but then considering he was a sexy, tattoed god of course he knew how to slow dance.

"Where'd you learn how to slow dance?" I asked making conversation to calm my nerves. I hoped he couldn't tell that my hand was beginning to sweat.

"My mum."

"Oh, that's sweet."

He smirked and kept us moving to the beat. I got my dad's glare from across the dance floor and gave him a "drop it" look.

"You feeling better now?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Much better. Thanks."

He smiled widely and dropped his hand from my waist twirling me out and reconnecting his hand to my hip which he slid to rest on my back.

Zia Aurora sent me a wink making me blush even more knowing that my family was watching all of this.

The music finally changed to an upbeat song and Michael removed his hand from my back. My cousins circled around us again and Michael let go of my hand. I joined my cousins in singing to Bruno Mars and jumping around.

I caught Mikey with his eyes on me smiling at my silliness which kind of embarrassed me a tad, but he joined in on the silliness a little bit and from what I could tell was having a good time.

I can't believe that we only met a few days ago.