Ode to Love & Dance

Maria

I fell for someone the first day I learned the waltz.

I guess, that was not surprising as I haven't had many close interactions with other girls prior to this moment. This was my sophomore year in College and my interactions with girls were very limited. Yet, here I was, holding the most beautiful girl in the room, Maria. It was my first time attending this ballroom club at Grand Valley and our first dance was the waltz.

Maria was beautiful. Her height was almost the same as mind. The dance allowed me to get close to her. I was amazed by how well she followed.  I must be doing something right, I thought.

I danced with several other people that evening, but at the end of the day, Maria was the only person that stayed on my mind. I developed an idée fixe. I had to ask her out. It was all I could think about. I started thinking about all the places I could take her, all the things that we could do. I asked my friends for recommendations. I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted her to fall for me. I knew from the weather forecast that it was going to rain next week. I used that to my advantage. I went to the store and bought an umbrella just so I might have the chance to walk her through the rain after the dance workshop.

After waiting a whole week in anticipation of seeing her again.... She wasn't there.

I was disappointed. After the lesson, I got desperate. My irrational brain thought that I would never see her again. I had to look her up on Facebook. It might have been my only way to get in contact with her again. Facebook returned three Maria's from the school of Grand Valley. I couldn't believe that I was even looking for this girl, but it was happening, and I wasn't stopping.. I messaged each Maria.

"Are you the girl that I met at ballroom club?" I would ask them.

Even though I missed my target, they were still very supportive. "I am not, but good luck in finding her!"

The last Maria was the correct one. I proceeded to write a two page poem of how beautiful I thought she was and how I wanted to take her on the date. I couldn't control myself. I resisted for a bit, but I ended up sending it to her on Facebook. 

"I don't know you well enough," she responded.

I felt a stab in my chest. "We can get to know each other more at ballroom though. I'll be there next week."

I waited. I looked out for her the following week. She was there and was beautiful as I remembered.

I walked up to her and my mind blanked. Her silence didn't help my case. Eventually, it was time to dance, so I asked her to dance. I held her and... every... second... was... awkward..... Fewer than 5 words were spoken. It was really hard to form words.

At the end of the dance we said good bye. No more words were spoken that night, and I never saw her after that day; she never came back to the dance workshop again. The other dancers say that many people leave after the first few weeks, but I couldn't help but think that she left because of me. I decided that it was best that I deleted her from my Facebook.