Save the last dance for me
Another rainy day, so much rain it made everyday seemed so on edge and dismal. Sabrina sat alone on her porch as the eastern wind blew, making her long hair dance around her. All-encompassing her back to a time in her life that she couldn't still to this day forget. Her heart still raced when she thought of him. "How could he not be alive?" she thought but she had lost contact with him over the few years.
Coping in everyday Manhattan life- only after midnight, despite the projections that Lower Manhattan will be bustling, the neighborhood is quieter than the fabled night before Christmas. Sabrina?s first day in the big city upon getting a cushy job! She walked to Times Square in the rainy day and was standing at the corner of 5th Avenue and 48th St looking at half a million people (or more) just as bright-eyed and bit nervous as she was. She was standing there alone, carrying her red umbrella. She appeared weak and delicate in the harsh rain, wearing not enough to keep her warm. Someone plucked up his courage and neared her, "Wanna have a drink and little dance at "The View" the rotating restaurant in Times Square" Excuse me!" she uttered and headed her way back as far as she could. Upon getting back to her apartment, she found the same guy living in the same apartment building, on the same floor. Poor thing, sighed and let it go. Meeting the same stranger became everyday story. Her idea of a nice guy meant clean-shaven, short hair, a button-down shirt, and denim jeans. This guy was the type of guy she categorized as a "skag"--long unkempt hair, unshaven, dressed in a muscle shirt, odd pair of khaki pants. She wanted to turn her car around and make out of there like a bat out of hell, but she said a prayer, swallowed hard. On second encounter, he introduced himself as Perry and her hatred was all he could get in return.
As Elizabeth Hardwick said "I am alone here in New York, no longer a we." time was flying , life started moving in fast lanes for her. One of those rainy days, her umbrella had a broken spoke, She looked like a wounded soldier, carrying her rusted rifle walking weakly. Suddenly she realized "Wait a minute, where is the skag Perry dude? It?s been how many? a month?" She could care less but turned out she saw him the very next morning- no more a skag- short hair, clean shaven and all those "it" factors. Came to find out he was not all that he showed himself to be. He was one of those people that take on the personality of another person or persons with whom he was around. Unwittingly she asked "what happened?" He answered with a stoned heart "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth till the last breathe- I lost my mom and learnt it hard way that life presents us with lesson". Got her thinking for a while.
Maybe it was the rain, all the trains were full of people with umbrellas, not caring about who just passed by. Sabrina found herself in front of changed-Perry. All he did was smile bluntly and headed to his destination. Quite shocked, she felt bad that night about her being mean to him all those days for he wasn?t what he appeared to be. Somebody was knocking at her door, and to her surprise, Perry stood there, "you left your umbrella outside, I fixed the broken spoke" and before she could thank him, he walked away quietly. Filking a few of her new experiences, the days went by. Consumed by him she stumbled upon more than just an average attraction towards him. She even surprised herself when she took in that she was falling for him blindly. Big city and a loner, she found herself longing to meet him and confer to him. However, like life, everything that is good has a bad to it. Another rainy stormy day, she saw him walking across the lower Manhattan. She did not open up her umbrella, she wanted to share his. "Hey, come close" he comforted her. "Broke your umbrella again?" hesitating, she didn?t answer anything. She asked "It?s a Friday, wanna go to ?The View? little drink and dance?" That night, he treated her perfect. Quietly she sneaked into the girl?s room to flatten her red top against her small waist, glossed her lips and brushed her long, middle-parted, streaked hair before getting to the dance floor. Her arms clasped behind his neck, his behind her waist, leaving no airspace between them. They shuffled side to side, hugging more than dancing (square dancing, dust off the shoulder move and what not), careful not to step on each other's bare feet. The vibe was so strong; they needn?t speak anything before they found the warm depth within them had instantly pulled towards each other. His dark, warm eyes and sweet plaid cap sitting with attitude on his proud head won her heart. The cryptic signals they understood, meaningless to the crowd around them, were deeper to her than the world would ever know. To her the rain always brought great adventure in some form whether real or just in her imagination. Like any romance caught between situations, this one was fragile and probably fleeting. He stole her purity away that night and she found it amazing.
To give it a second step, she decided to talk about it next day. Saturday, Sunday and whole week thereafter passed, she couldn?t get hold of him. Thinking he must be busy straightening up his priorities after the demise of his mom, she waited on him. It was again a rainy Friday when she was walking in the Time Square being bemused if he stopped his destiny because he is scared of what may be attached to love! Did we have just that one night stand? To her dismay, she saw Perry with his hand around a charming blonde stepping towards the dancing room. Carrying the most deceitful lie, she followed them to the hall. They were square dancing, with even and odd dancers rotating separately and in opposite directions; she watched them drooling, and a single tear rolled down her face and there she rested her head for a long silent while....
No matter what she did, he crept into her mind. She tried so hard to get over him and couldn?t. She couldn?t begin to express the love she had for him. They walked together, first as friends, than as kissing partners and finally hurt her feelings more than anyone ever could, after plucking the flower off her out in the rain. She never knew how he could do this to her but he did. She still treasured him but tried to move on under the busy Manhattan sky. She knew he didn't see her tears, because they were washed away by the rain.
Bringing to mind the remorseful past, Sabrina?s face faded into the gray winter light of the sitting room. She said to herself "Dance all your life Perry, Just save the last one for me", Love is not selfish.
Only God knows! Do you have faith? Cupid strikes again, Darn!
~By: Ashley
