Check, Please?

Chapter 7

Anna looked absolutely gorgeous as she walked down the isle in her red wedding dress.  It was unconventional, sure, but it looked good.  She requested that everyone in the audience and the bridesmaids all wear black and white, so she stood out like blood on a white rose. I looked next to me at Timothy Sanderson who was blubbering like a baby and wiping his eyes with a handkerchief that Harry passed him.  Anna forced Tim to allow Harry to be one of his groomsmen, despite the fact that we had never met Tim before.  I raised an eyebrow at Harry, who imitated the motion and then widened his eyes. I giggled before looking back to Anna, who was almost at the end of the isle.

She was radiating.  What, exactly, I couldn’t tell you.  I guess it was love.  Fake love, I couldn’t help but think.  Was it possible that she had really been so in love with three different people that she agreed to get married?  To dedicate the rest of her life – or more realistically, a few months – to these gold-digging suckers?  How could that happen for her, but it hadn’t happened a single time for me? I just couldn’t comprehend it. I gripped my flowers and looked back at Harry who was studying me closely.  My face must have given it away that I was lost in thought.

The ceremony didn’t last long, which was good because my shoes were killing my feet.  Anna accidentally ordered the wrong size for me which almost made me doubt our going-on-nine years of friendship.  I didn’t make a big fuss about it though; Anna was already stressed enough about the rest of her wedding.  She was a perfectionist, and while I tried to get her to let the wedding planner to her job and get everything straight, Anna ended up running around and straightening everything herself.  The reception took place at a country club about twenty minutes away from the small church, so Harry and I drove to a Walmart on the way and bought me a cheap pair of knock-off Keds to spare me from having to wear the horribly painful heels for the rest of the night.  I slipped them on after jumping out of the car and ran with Harry to the reception just before Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson made their grand entrance as a new couple.

I stood at my table and clapped along with everyone else as Anna and Timothy began to spin and dance with each other on the dance floor in front of us.  Beside me, Harry clapped and cheered sarcastically, and when I shushed him he continued to clap but used my bottom and one of his hands instead of both of his hands.  I jumped forward involuntarily onto the dance floor just to try and get away from him, but when I got on the floor, the crowd clapped more.  Harry laughed at me as I frowned at him and the crowd cheered even more, egging me on to dance.  Anna grabbed my hand and pulled me to the middle of the floor, swinging her hips and shimmying.  I laughed as she made faces but was still uncomfortable with everyone watching.  I loved to dance… but in the dark… and in a close crowd… where no one could really see me.  I felt so weird being out in the open with Anna and her new husband where all of their older family could see.  I didn’t know what to do or how to move.  Usually I would grind my butt into a guys pants, but that didn’t exactly seem appropriate for this occasion.

Thankfully, the song was over before too long and changed to something a little more classy.  Harry walked up behind me and turned me to face him.  He placed my left hand on his shoulder and took my right in his own while holding my lower back with his right hand.  He stepped slowly to the beat and pulled me with him.  I looked around at the other couples beginning to dance.  Since I wasn’t looking, I stepped on Harry’s shoe, causing me to catch my breath in my throat and pull away from him.

He smiled and pulled me back to him, returning one hand to my back and holding my hand in the other. “It’s okay,” he smiled. “Just mirror my feet.”

I looked down at our feet and watched as he pushed his left foot toward mine.  I stepped back away with my right foot.  He stepped with his right foot and I stepped back with my left.  After a few moments, Harry pulled my chin up to him. “Now just feel it.  Don’t watch anymore. You can do it.”