THE DANCE CHALLENGE
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Wayne stared blankly at the nurse as she propped up his pillow. She didn't look back, or even give him a second glance. Of course, he didn't know her, but something about her seemed strangely familiar.
"Excuse me, Miss?" Wayne finally said after a while.
"Yes?" she answered immediately, almost jumping out of her skin.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked, quite sure that the
woman standing in front of him was an acquaintance of sorts. She looked vaguely familiar, and the riveting way she carried herself caught his attention.
"No," she replied softly. "I don't think so…"
"Oh, okay…" he replied, still slightly confused.
"Don't try too hard to recall," she smiled kindly at him, still not maintaining eye contact. "Sometimes amnesia patients want to remember things so badly, they start thinking too hard."
"I suppose so," Wayne resigned. He swore that he knew this girl; he knew her ruby red lips, her big brown eyes and most of all, that smile. "But I'm sure I know you…"
The nurse shifted uncomfortably. She looked almost afraid, as she quickly looked for an excuse to leave. "I have to go now," she said as she smiled again, not wanting to seem rude. "You take care, okay?" she said as she pinched his nose lightly.
That gesture! It was her.
"How do you do this to me, baby?" a young Wayne asked as he held her close to him. All around him stood couples with happy faces, as they danced with their partners, thinking about the future. "Wayne," she sighed as she buried her face into his chest. "Let's just dance."
"I can't even begin to explain how I feel for you," he said, ignoring her request. He simply had to express his love for her, and the prom was the best time. "Can we go somewhere alone?"
"Let's go outside," she relented, suddenly feeling the urge to drop everything and run to a chapel with him. "We'll talk."
He nodded and let her take his hand, leading him to the open baseball field. Once there, they began dancing to the faint sound of the music booming from the school gym.
The young lovers danced for a while, absorbing every fine moment of their synchronicity. They moved together flawlessly, as the tune of their natural rhythm became one. "What is it?" she finally asked, her voice not as chirpy as it usually was. Perhaps the intensity between them was a little overwhelming.
"I love you," Wayne confessed, leaving his fragile heart entirely in her hands.
Unfortunately her hands seemed to be just as fragile as his heart, if not more.
"I'm leaving tomorrow," she whispered. "What?" he blurted, unsure if he was hearing things. He didn't stop dancing, afraid that once he did, their spell would be broken.
"My family's going away," she said, not knowing of any other
way to put it. "And we're not coming back."
"I knew it," Wayne exhaled after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "I knew you were too good to be true, to be mine."
"No," the girl shook her head as she gave a little sob. She had started to cry softly, her tears wetting his neck. "I'll always be yours."
"Look at me," Wayne said, holding her chin up. He pinched her nose lightly for a moment and let it go. "Do you feel that?"
She looked at him with confused brown eyes, the very ones who held the look of love and pain at the same time.
"Every time I breathe," he said sincerely. "I'll think of you. And I know you'll do the same."
She gave a tiny laugh and a cry at the same time. Her tinkling laughter stained his heart permanently. "I love you," she mumbled as she put her head on his shoulder as they danced again. The music had faded, but they were moving to a melody of their own. Faintly, Wayne heard someone's voice
announcing the prom king
and queen. When he heard their names being called, all he could do
was close his eyes to hide from the irony. They couldn't be any
further away from the royal titled bestowed to them. They
couldn't.
"Who was that?" a female voice jerked Wayne out of his
nostalgic thoughts. It was his wife.
"A memory," he answered simply, as he inhaled deeply.