“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Natasha.”
Her facial expression told me nothing. She squeezed my hand. Although her expression didn’t change, her light squeeze to my hand confirmed what her eyes had already told me. She let go of my hand and I felt like all the energy had just left my body. I knew then that, despite the man sitting next to her and whatever was going on with them, this woman belonged with me. I knew then that I would do whatever I had to do to make this a reality.
I stood up straight and looked around to the other ladies at the table. “Perhaps each of you will do me the honor of dancing with me later.” And then I returned my gaze to Natasha.
“Why wait until later,” Robin, one of the women at the table asked and got up. “This is my jam!”
I smiled and took her hand. “Well then, let’s dance,” I said, but I didn’t stop looking at Natasha. I danced a couple of songs with Robin. She was kind of cute and she made a play, which I politely ignored, before I escorted her back to the table. When I got there, Lloyd was still deep into his conversation, and still ignoring Natasha. From where I was standing, it looked like she was only half into the conversation she was having with the woma
n sitting next to her.
I looked at her and gestured toward the floor. She smiled like she was considering accepting my offer to dance; then Natasha cut her beautiful eyes at Lloyd and she shook her head no. As if she was saying “I would but, the only reason I’m not, is out of respect for the man I’m with.”
I respected that.
I did.
It made me want her more.
“I’m ready for my dance now, Victor,” another of the women at the table said.
I leaned close to her. “I’m ready, too,” I said and hit the floor, because I really do love to dance.
But when I got back to the table Natasha was gone.
My heart began pumping hard in my chest.
After quickly promising to come back to dance with the rest of the ladies, I excused myself and went looking for her. I didn’t know what I would say or do, but I was driven to find her. Once I came to the conclusion that she had left for the night, I set out in search of Vanessa. She knew Natasha, they were friends. She could tell me everything I wanted to know about her. I didn’t find her either; and it left me feeling empty and I couldn’t understand why. I’ve been interested in plenty of women before, and it never had me feeling like this.
It was just then that my cousin, Sydney, walked up to me shaking her head. It was like she could see what I was feeling on my face and she was laughing at me.
“What?”
“You need to go get your cousins,” Sydney said.
“Who?” I answered; happy that she was clueless about my anxiety.
“Desana and Dior.” They were my Aunt Anita and Uncle B’s twin girls. And those two are a trip!
“What they doing now?” I asked, because it was always something with those two.
She grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor where a crowd had formed a circle. Sydney and I pushed our way to the front.
Sydney pointed. “See.”
I looked and saw Desana and Dior, our two baby cousins, twerking with some man.
“I mean, look at them! Squatting and thrusting their hips like that.”
Granted, Sydney is a bit of a prude, but I have to say that those two seventeen-year-olds were doing the most sexually provocative twerking I had ever seen.
“Where’s Uncle B and Aunt Anita?” I asked.
“Come on, Victor. You know Aunt Anita was feeling no pain before the wedding; so you know she was drunk and Uncle B got her up outta here.”
Sydney and I got the twins off the floor to a round of boos from the crowd that had formed around them. But once that minor crisis was averted, my mind returned to Natasha. Even though she was gone and I had no way of contacting her, I knew in my heart that I’d see her again. And you know what? I knew it wouldn’t be long before somehow, something would bring us together.
Chapter Two