Last Dance, Last Chance

I've never seen everyone so beautiful before. The multicolored lights dance around the large dome as bodies press unto one another. A slow passionate melody plays in the background, as if coaxing everyone to fall into the abyss of wonder and excitement of what is and what could happen as the night wears on.

Sitting on a table with my group of friends, we eye the dance floor with bitterness. We have been dancing with glee and slight teenage awkwardness a few minutes ago but the DJ decided to punish all those who are not in a relationship, or being courted by someone from the opposite sex, and played a slow, tortuously romantic dance. The floor emptied and only a few fortunate ones remain, mostly those who are a part of the popular slash beautiful crowd.

As we sit in silence and in shame, I think of how depressing it is that this scene will be forever embedded in my memory as the last dance of high school, last melody and lyrics that will paint the vivid images of being young and supposedly carefree. Then something shuffles beside me and I stare at him for a few seconds before my brain even start comprehending what it is seeing.

"May I have this dance?"

Hands out, breath held. The world seems to swirl in slow motion as the lights and the faces go all blurry. All except one. As we head to the floor with the lucky beautiful ones, I can't help but feel as if I am one of them too.

As his hand takes mine and his other arm wraps around my waist, a frighteningly awkward second passes between us.

"Hi."

"Hello there."

"Look, I know that we don't know each other quite well," he started, "but.."

He stops, looking quite unsure on what to say next. What can you say after almost four years of looking at each other in the hallway yet never speaking even for once yet you know something is there in between the stolen stares and secret whispers? What words can you utter in the middle of all the uncertainty and the enchantment of the moment?

The days of cliques and teenage Caste System is drawing to a close. No more rumors, no more drama, no more hallway to look across in.

"I'm going to be frank with you," he says. With the closeness of our swaying bodies, I could almost feel his heart pounding in his chest. "I... don't know you, but I think I've seen enough to know that you are worth every ounce of energy that I've put into... admiring you from a distance. And that..."

I look up at him and it seems as if he is at a loss for words.

"Let's just say I have watched too many movies to let this moment pass by," he continues with a smile and half a nervous laugh. "and that, I can't help but wonder and now possibly find out, maybe... maybe you want to know me better... too."

So, what do you do when all your dreams come true?

You wake up.

The scene dissolves and I see him a few meters away, dancing rather bashfully with that someone everybody expects him to be with.  Like the main characters of a romantic flick right at its most climatic scene, I can't seem to tear my eyes away even though the wicked feeling that I have already grown accustomed to is building up again inside me. Once more, it poisons my veins and enter malicious thoughts into my head. This time, it steps up to a whole new level as it lets traitorous daydreams invade my reality.

The music stops and the Class of 2010 raise their glasses to a bright future as confetti falls from the streamlined ceiling. I catch a glimpse of his wide smile across the function room. Maybe in another place, another time, and probably with another person, I would have my happily ever after. But as of this moment, I will have to deal with experiencing dreams in my imagination and living in the reality that so disappointingly contradicts it.

Last Chance - Allure

Photo: In The Midst of Dance by ivy046