The hall had plenty of corners for me to hide in, and that was what I planned on doing—sulking until the party broke up and I could go back to the dorm without anyone noticing. Really no point to the fancy clothes after all, was there? Well, now I knew.
I must have been standing there fifteen minutes, staring at nothing in particular, when I heard my name. “Polly?”
Tenzig approached, holding two glasses, head tilted in query. He’d followed me.
I glared. “I’m not interested in dancing.”
“You really should try it. But for now I just wanted to see if you’d like a drink. Or something.” He held out one of the fancy punch glasses, filled with purplish drink.
“You’re being awfully nice all of a sudden.”
“I don’t know what gave you the idea that I’m not a perfectly nice guy.”
“Because
you’re kind of a jerk.”
He ducked his head, hiding a smile. “Come on. You just have to get to know me.”
If I didn’t know better, he seemed like he actually was trying to be nice. I took the glass he offered and drank a sip. Just fruity punch. No itching powder or hot sauce or poison or anything. I drank another sip.
“Thanks,” I said. “You know, you should ask Marie to dance. She really likes you.”
“But I want to dance with you. I wasn’t trying to scare you or put you on the spot or anything back there.”
“I wasn’t scared,” I said.
He brightened. “Prove it. Come dance. Really, there’s nothing to it.”
It was half-dare, half-earnest request. Now, when it was just the two of us, I couldn’t find a reason to walk away. “All right, then. If you say so.”
He stuck his elbow toward me, and I knew what to do with it because I’d seen couples walking around like this all evening. I set the punch glass on a nearby table, tucked my hand in the crook of his elbow, and together we walked to the open space of the dance floor just as the band started a new song.
We had music and dancing on Mars—of course we did. I even recognized the tune, something that got played over and over because it was familiar. But I’d never danced the way I’d seen couples here dancing, two by two, as if it meant something. Not even with Beau. We’d held hands at concerts, that was it. Courtship rituals of the common Earth human. What did I think I was doing?
But Tenzig knew what he was doing, just like he always did, and he put my left hand on his right shoulder, his right hand on my left hip. Clasping our free hands, we were locked in formation.
“Just move along with the beat,” he said. “Follow my lead.”
I was so nervous I had a hard time even listening to the music. Again, I wondered when the fun was supposed to start. Though Tenzig seemed to be having a fine old time—his smile was warm, and he never looked away from me. Disconcerting, really. Especially the way his attention made me flush. My toes flushed, feeling warm and tingly inside my sandals—which it turned out, made even my feet feel sexy.
Okay, maybe this was a little bit fun.
I felt awkward, but he didn’t seem to mind. Just smiled wider, steadying me with his hand on my hip. I grasped his opposite hand and used it to brace myself. Probably didn’t look like much, not like the elegant couples who must have been doing this their whole lives. But that didn’t seem to matter.
Maybe I’d get used to all this after all. Earth gravity, the way the skirt hung off my hips and kicked around my knees, the way everyone around here seemed to care so much about not just what you did but how you did it. Courtship rituals. It was a game and I just had to learn to play by the rules, like Charles said. That was all.
Tenzig yelped, a screech of shock. At least, it sounded like shock, and pain. He sure faked it pretty well, because I couldn’t tell what had gone wrong. At the same time, he pushed himself away from me and glared.
“Ow! That’s my feet you’re stepping on! You’re so … so clumsy! You can’t even function in full gravity, can you?” With a final glare, he stalked off to the punch table, where a group of his friends clustered. His Earth friends.
Leaving me there in the middle of the floor with a wide circle of people surrounding me, staring at me. Somebody giggled. I didn’t see who. The music never stopped.
“I … I didn’t—” My voice choked, my eyes stung. Had I stepped on him without noticing? I didn’t think so. I wouldn’t put it past me. But I hadn’t. I knew I hadn’t.
“I didn’t step on him,” I said softly, for all the good it did.
Heads together, murmuring at each other, people turned back to the drinks, the food, the music. But they continued stealing glances at me over their shoulders. I could only imagine what they were saying about me. Bowing my head, I picked at the fabric of my skirt and walked out. Straight past Stanton this time. I didn’t care if she was standing guard. I didn’t care about anything. She let me go, following me with her granite gaze.