Something Peculiar

21

As Lisa led me down a hall to the south wing, I realized that I'd never seen any of this before. When In-sung had teased Hye-kyo about this being a palace, he wasn't kidding. There were so many places I had yet to see. It was astounding. Lisa gestured to a few rooms, pointing out the library, meeting halls where business was conducted, the opulent dining hall where we would hold the dinner on Saturday, and then finally, the ballroom.

Pushing open the doors, which seemed to be two stories high, Lisa led me into the grandest room I had ever seen. Massive and exquisite, the ceiling seemed to stretch on forever, thanks in part to the fact that the entire thing was skylight. Gold beams ran across it, holding up glittering diamond chandeliers. The floors were marble, the walls were off-white with gold detailing, and it looked every bit the ballroom from a Disney fairy tale. The decorators had started bringing things in, and stacked chairs and tables now leaned against one of the walls. T ablecloths, candlesticks, and all sorts of decorations were piled around them. The only other thing in the room was shite grand piano sitting in the opposite corner. Otherwise the room was empty except for Lisa and me.

I hated how taken I was with the splendor. I hated even more that the room was so magnificent and I looked like I did. My hair was in a messy bun, and my skirt felt far too plain. Lisa wasn't exactly dressed to the nines either, but her standard black button down shirt and dark wash fitted jeans looked much more fitting.

"So what's the fun part?" I asked, and my voice echoed off the walls.

"Dancing," Lisa's lip twitched with a smile, and I groaned.

"I've danced with you before, and I know that it needs some improvement."

"The slow circles don't cut it?" I grimaced.

"Unfortunately, no. A proper waltz should be enough though. If you can master that, you'll be set for the ball on Staurday."

"Oh, no." My stomach dropped as I realixed something

"I'm going to have to dance with these people, aren't I? Like strangers and old men and weird handsy boys?" Lisa laughed at that, but I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

"I could lie to you, but to be honest, those are probably the only people who will ask you to dance," Lisa admitted with a wry smirk.

"You're enjoying this more than I've ever seen you enjoy anything," I said, and that only deepened her smile. "Well, I'm glad you find this funny. Me being felt up by complete strangers and tripping all over them. What a great time."

"It won't be so bad." She motioned for me to come over. "If you learn the basic steps at least you won't be tripping over them.

I sighed loudly and walked over to her. Most of my trepidation about dancing with strangers melted away the instant Lisa took my hand in her. It suddenly occurred to me that before I had to dance with them, I got to dance with her.

After a few directions from her and a rough start by me, we were dancing. Her arm was around me, strong and reassuring. She instructed me to keep my eyes locked on her so I wouldn't get in the habit of watching my feet while I danced, but I wouldn't have looked anywhere else anyway. Her dark eyes always mesmerized me. We were supposed to keep a certain distance between our bodies, but I found it impossible. Her body nearly pressed against mine, and I delighted in the sensation. I was certain we weren't going as fast as we should, but I didn't care. This moment with her seemed entirely too perfect to be real.

"Right, okay." Lisa suddenly stopped and took a step away from me. Disappointed, I let my hands fall to the side. "You've got that down pretty well, but there's going to be music. So you should see how you do with that."