The Summer I Learned to Dive - By Shannon McCrimmon Page 0,49
was wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt. We were the only two in the barn dressed in normal clothes.
“Thanks Nana. He didn’t tell me I needed to dress up for the hoe down,” I said. I looked at my jeans, emerald green button up blouse and brown flip flops. I felt out of place.
“You look great,” she said. She squeezed my hand. “Your grandfather owes me a dance. We’ll be back,” she said grabbing a hold of his hand, leading him to the dance floor. I watched them dance as I stood shyly against the wall. I didn’t know anyone and felt too uncomfortable to make small talk. I fidgeted, playing with my hair nervously. I looked around the room and saw Jesse talking to some people. He smiled at me and walked over to me.
“Having fun?” Jesse asked.
“Yeah, sure.” I lied. “I didn’t think you’d be here, too,” I said.
“Everyone comes to this dance,” he said. “It’s an annual event.” He grinned.
“Oh,” I said bobbing my head, unconsciously moving to the beat of the music.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
“That’s okay,” I said.
He looked at me peculiarly. “What?” I asked.
“Let me guess. You don’t dance,” he said, his arms folded.
“I dance. I took ballet for a year,” I said.
“It’s not the same,” he said.
I rolled my eyes at him. He laughed. I was tempted to stick my tongue out at him, but kept myself from doing so. Instead, I stood there silently. Unexpectedly, he grabbed a hold of my hand. “Come on,” he said walking in haste toward the dance floor giving me no time to resist.
“I don’t want to dance, Jesse,” I said attempting to release his hold of my hand although I wanted to keep holding onto to it.
“Just try one dance. If you don’t like it, I’ll leave you alone the rest of the night,” he said smiling, so sure of himself.
“Promise?” I said but I didn’t want him to.
“My word of honor,” he said moving his hand to his heart. I followed his lead and danced with him. He was right, it was fun, more fun than I expected. And it wasn’t difficult to grasp either. I kept my eyes on him, imitating what he did and it was easy to keep up.
The tempo changed when the band began playing a slower song. People left the dance floor leaving couples only. I looked at Jesse unsure of what to do. He took a hold of my hand and moved me closer to him. He placed one hand on my back and continued holding my hand with his other. We swayed slowly back and forth. I smelled his cologne; it was sweet, musty almost, like the outside. I leaned my head against his muscular chest. I tried to control my breathing. My heart was beating rapidly. I hoped that my palms did not start sweating. They usually did when I was nervous.
“Your hair smells good,” he said, I could feel his breath on my head.
“Thanks,” I said anxiously.
“It smells like flowers,” he said. “You’re having fun dancing, aren’t you?” he asked almost smugly. He knew my answer before I could even utter it.
“Yes,” I said rolling my eyes.
“Told you,” he laughed. The song changed and we stopped dancing. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
“A little,” I admitted. I hadn’t eaten in several hours and my stomach was growling.
He led me to the buffet table and handed me a plate. We each filled up our plates with food. He poured tea into two cups and handed me one. “There’s a spot over there,” he said motioning to empty chairs toward the back of the barn. We sat down and started eating. I didn’t talk much; I was nervous but didn’t understand why. We had been around each other for weeks but somehow, being with him at a dance made it feel like a date and I was very inexperienced in that area. I didn’t know what the proper protocol was—how to act, what to say. Thinking more about it made me even more nervous.
“Save room for dessert,” he said and laughed. I instantly blushed.
I looked at him, embarrassed realizing that I had just made myself look like a pig. I had cleaned my plate in the same amount of time that he had eaten a few bites of his. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and took a sip of my sweet tea.
“I’ve never been to a dance like this,” I admitted.