Dancing With Me

Picture generated by me using MetaAI

The music was loud, laughter echoed in the air, and the dance floor was packed with happy humans and crazy dance steps. But Rita just sat alone by the corner tapping her feet to the rhythm of the music. It was her fifth time being a bridesmaid for one of her friends. She wondered how they made getting married so easy when she couldn't even catch anybody yet. Not even a talking stage.

But right now all those didn't bother her. She was a proud mother to a cat and she was happy with it. What bothered her was she was trying to dance and twisting an ankle again. It's been like a thing for her these days.

She hugged her glass of whisky. It was her fourth, maybe fifth of the night.

“Too risky. Not gonna try it. Not after last time. Not after the fifth cup." She muttered to herself and gulped down the remaining drink from the cup.

That was going to be her excuse if any of her friends tried to get her to dance. She would simply tell them she had had enough to drink to try and get on the dance floor.

“Come on, Rita!” Marah yelled over the music, coming closer to drag her to the dance floor. It was as if she read her thought “Come on girl. You used to love this!”

"You're right, I used to. Not anymore. Remember what happened the last time, and besides, I've had a lot of alcohol to be dancing," Rita argued, quickly pulling back.

"Come on. You twisted your ankle just once" reaching for her arms.

"Twice" Rita countered.

"Okay twice. But this time you'll be fine. Trust me" Marah tried convincing her

But Rita stood her ground and shook her head vehemently.

Marah sighed and gently let go of her arms. "Uhhh" she grunted and walked back to the dance floor.

Rita smiled as she had won. Her celebration was cut short by the voice of a tall black-haired man putting on a brown blazer suit. One could notice how well-chiselled he was, even with the suit on.

"Hey, anyone here?" He asked, pointing to an empty seat on the same table with Rita.

"No, no", Rita answered, startled as to where the tall, handsome guy appeared from all of a sudden.

"Oh great", he said, unbuttoning his suit to aid his movement, and then he sat down even before Rita would ask him to. "Thank you. I'm Ben, by the way," he said.

"Rita" she replied softly and slowly as if she was trying to remember her name.

"Beautiful name. Family of the bride or groom?" He asked.

Rita noticed he had a cute smile, but she wasn't in for the chit chat "Friend to the bride," she said, praying it would be his last question.

He nodded, and for some seconds, there was silence.

"Seems like you're not much of a dancer?" He spoke again, breaking the silence.

Rita looked at him instead of saying a word. Her eyes with questions like why he asked such.

"Sorry, I saw your friend trying to get you to the dance floor before I got here," he explained.

"So you just concluded that?" she chuckled, leaning forward and resting her elbow on the table and her face on her hands

"I don't wanna sound rude. What else could it be?"

She smiled. She was gradually losing up, and she couldn't tell how or why. "Had a pretty bad experience a few times".

"I see," he nodded. "But hey, it's a good party. What could go wrong? Never say never"

Rita relaxed on her seat folding her arms and rolling her eyes "You're starting to sound like my friend":

"That one", Ben said, pointing to Marah digging it out on the dance floor.

Rita nodded, laughing hysterically at her friend's dance moves. "Yes"

"Maybe she's right. You can't let a few bad experiences stop you from having that kind of fun," Ben joked, still looking at Marah with her weird moves.

Immediately the music changed to a much slower rhythm. And couples leaned into each other swaying left and right.

"Nah. Nice try. But I'm still not dancing" she said.

Ben quickly leaned forward and stared her in the eyes as if to study her "What if I promised you that I'd keep you safe on that dance floor?" he said in a soft and convincing voice.

Rita leaned forward too. She could feel Marah's eyes on her. She bit her lips a little "But.. what if?..."

Ben didn't let her finish. He quickly stood up and stretched out his hands. "Come on. I promise to keep you safe", he said.

At that moment, Rita found it hard to say no to that irresistible tall man standing before her.

"Never say never", she muttered and gave him her hands, and together, they walked to the dance floor.

He gently pulled her closer to himself. And gently they swayed from left to right. Rita patiently waited to see if she would miss a step again, but she was safe in his arms. It felt like Ben held her steady from falling.

"See? You're fine" he whispered to her ears.

She whispered back, "Thank you" he smelled of fresh lavender, and she loved it.

Gently he pulled back his head to look into her face.
"I want to do this again with you another day. But this time just me and you beneath the open night sky"

She blushed and hesitated a bit before saying, "Sounds great. I would love to"

And they continued swaying to the music till they were the only ones left on the dance floor. That was the beginning of something beautiful for them.

A few months later, they got married beneath the open night skies.