It Takes Two.

T- The New Girl In Town

His hand is reaching out to mine, begging for a dance. I met the boy in front of me not even thirty minutes ago and he's asking me to dance with him. The room is full of people I don't know, and this old music isn't really my thing, but something tells me to just do it. To let go. Of course, last time I did that I ended up with a butterfly on my wrist and a long lecture about using sewing needles on my body, but just one dance couldn't hurt. Right?

I grab his hand, dragging him closer to the couples gathered in the room. They all laugh and swing, people clapping and cheering around them. Sebastian awkwardly mingles around the edges before falling completely into the dance with me. I step side to side, a safe, easy dance move that can work for just about any song on the planet. Even the super fast songs like the one playing currently. 

I slide his hand around my waist and grab the other, holding it up in the air. We speed up, floating through the fast paced music, and I can feel myself becoming lighter. For the first time all day, I feel like I belong in the room. I laugh at Sebastian, and the way he's looking at me. He spins me away, but he pulls me right back. He wants me to be here with him, moving our feet and hips, not wondering what our parents think. I look into the smile across his face, and the ache in my stomach comes back. We step back and forth, listening to the sound of my grandfather's singing voice, having the most fun I've had in years. I never want this perfect moment to end.

Then, stupidly, I break eye contact with Sebastian and I see her. I stop right in my tracks, holding eye contact with those bitter sweet blue eyes. I let go of Sebastian's hand, looking over his shoulder at the only girl in the room that I knew before coming in. I look into his eyes again, searching for some sign that he might forgive me for leaving. But, after diving deep and far, I can't find any, and staying in this room with her and him and my parents and so many voices is starting to catch up to me. I stumble backwards, knocking into the dancers behind me and squeak a simple apology out. Trying to force myself to stay upright, I book it out of the room as quickly as my drained legs can take me, gasping for fresh air. 

I shove myself down the steps and toward the front door, the afternoon sun blazing down on the uncovered area. Once I push it open, I remember how to breathe again. A slight breeze whispers in the air, and the exhaustion of being in that room hits me right in the chest. I sit myself down tenderly on the ground, praying that no late parties would walk by and find me here, broken and alone. I think about Sebastian upstairs, and wonder if I should have taken him with me. It's too late now, I guess. 

Cars drive by, one parking right in front of the dentist across the street. A woman pops out of the driver's side, holding a tiny chihuahua in one hand and a designer bag in the other. She screams California, the leggings and big hair duo pushing her deep into the influencer lifestyle. She definitely does yoga, and I laugh at myself for watching while she goes about her life with her little feral dog in hand. 

Just then, the door of the building pushes open, and a familiar pair of orange pants walks out. He stands right in front of me, looking down at my pathetic dress and dumb shoes. I don't look up at him, his face will just make me feel more guilty for leaving that perfect moment we were just having. For being worried about what everyone thinks. 

He sits down right next to me, leaning himself against the old bricks. It's clear in the way he fiddles with the buttons on his jacket that he doesn't really know what to say.

"I'm sorry," I tell him truthfully. 

He looks into the side of my face, and I can tell that he's upset. Maybe he's come out here just to tell me that I'm a terrible person, who leads people on and then leaves them dried up in the dirt when it gets too hard. 

"Don't be. I just want to make sure you're okay. If anything, I should be the sorry one. I asked you to dance and it got overwhelming. It's my fault you left," He says. I look over to him now, but there's not a single drop of anger across his face, or in his sweet, understanding voice. 

"It wasn't your fault," I tell him quietly. His head moves up, and he looks at me again. Every part of my body tells me that this moment is good, that we're trusting each other. I owe it to him to give him an explanation. This moment's been a long time coming anyway.

"There was a girl behind you. May. We used to go to school together, before I took online classes," He just sits there and listens to me, no interrupting, no weird noises. Just nodding, and listening, "I've never told anyone about her. Not my parents, not my friends. No one. She was my first crush. My first kiss. My first girlfriend. I thought I was madly in love with her, that we were living this beautiful teenage dream. But we weren't. Because after just a couple months I found out that she was straight. That her friends had dared her to ask me out, and that it went too far. She had been kissing me, and then laughing with her boyfriend about it for months. She told everyone that I was delusional. She outed me on Facebook, and it forced me to come out to my entire extended family, who were super homophobic. I think it's why my mom hates me so much. She had to let go of an entire family, just because her daughter dated the wrong girl. I never told my parents how she knew I was bisexual. It just hurt too much to let her get the credit."

After a second of letting it all sink in he says, "So what I'm hearing is that I'm currently in the top spot for a dance partner?"

I laugh at his terrible joke and realize that this moment never had to be such a big deal. That I really can trust the boy next to me. "Yeah, you're my number one, Seb."

"Well, listen, when you're ready to go back in, I'll be there right next to you, okay? And I'll make sure that this May girl gets what she deserves," He says, holding up the least threatening fist in all of humanity. 

After I laugh at him yet again, I tell him, "Thank you. For everything." And wonder if I'll be able to go back in at all. But the thing is, there won't be any coercing to get me back in that room. I can take my time, and he'll still wait right here next to me. 

(Word Count: 1227)

This scene changed a lot from what the original plan was, but I'm super excited with the way it turned out.  Have a great day!