Flower Dance
“Ok, Abby, you’ve been brimming with excitement like a shaken soda can all practice. What’s going on?” Sam asked, after a half hour of trying, and failing, at practicing.
“Al plays bass, and she sings.” Abigail blurted out, almost too fast to understand her words.
“WHAT?” Sam exclaimed, jaw hanging.
“I heard her playing by the mountain lake. I asked her to join our band, buut she suggested that I ask the other members first.” Abigail looked pointedly over at Sebastian.
Of course she said that. She wouldn’t want to be in a band with me, Sebastian thought.
“Absolutely!”
“Absolutely not.”
Sam and Sebastian exchanged glares.
“We need a bass player,” Abigail implored.
“We’re fine as we are,” Sebastian argued, though he didn’t truly believe what he was saying.
“Sebastian, a word?” Sam asked, motioning towards the door. Sebastian sighed and walked out of the room, followed by Sam, who closed the door behind him. “Look man, I know you’re struggling with your crush, but you can’t hide from her. Abigail is right; we need a bass player, and what are the chances that we’ll find another? Can you just try, for the band?” Sam said in a low volume.
Sebastian wanted to argue with him about having a crush, but he instead decided to use it against him and proposed, “Fine, Al can join the band, but only if you ask Penny to dance with you at the Flower Dance.” Sam had been too scared to ask her the last two years, so there was no way he would follow through with it.
“Deal. When you see me dancing with a hot redhead, don’t go trying to take it back.”
The two shook hands, then went back into the room.
“Good news, Abby, we have a bass player, and I am going to dance with Penny at the festival. Bad news is now you’re stuck with Sebastian as a dance partner.”
“What? That wasn’t part of the deal!” Sebastian exclaimed. It was bad enough to have to dress in that tacky blue suit, but to have to dance too?
“With Maru and Al joining the bachelorette pool this year, we need all of the bachelors dancing. Plus, you know we need to protect our lesbian from being asked by other guys.”
“Any chance you could ask a girl this year?” Sebastian asked Abigail.
“There is a girl I’d like to ask, but what are the chances she’s into girls? I’m not risking it, mm-mm, nope.”
“Fair enough,” Sebastian relented.
“Thanks, but, uh, what the hell happened when you guys stepped out for ten seconds?”
Sebastian groaned. “We made a deal. If Sam asks Penny to dance, which he won’t, then Al can join the band.”
“I don’t know what that has to do with Al joining the band, but ok....” She pointed her finger at Sam, “You better not fuck this up.”
“And pass up this opportunity? Not a chance. On another note, if Penny rejects me at the Flower Dance, make sure I’m buried with my guitar, please.”
--
Al tentatively walked into the clearing for the Flower Dance. She was still growing used to attending festivals that the entire town attended. The Egg Festival earlier in the season had gone alright. It was a low-pressure social engagement, mostly aimed towards the children. The Flower Dance, on the other hand, was, well, a dance. Al had barely had the time to commission Emily for a dress. It was an A-line dress, with puffy off-the-shoulder sleeves, and a ribbon with a flower motif tied at her waist. Still, she felt unprepared.
It was a sunny Spring day, and the flowers of the valley were in full bloom. The rest of the town appeared to already be there, which didn’t help Al’s nerves. Some of the men wore blue suits, while some of the women wore white dresses. She spotted Abigail and Sam across the clearing and sighed in relief.
“Hey guys,” she said as she approached them, “can anyone tell me what the deal is with this dance?”
“Al! Your dress is gorgeous! Where did you get it?” Abigail said, not quite responding to the question.
“Thanks! Emily made it. I’m not exactly a white dress person, so I didn’t have anything on hand.”
“Ah, of course. My mom insisted I wear the dress she made for me last year,” she looked down at her dress with a look of barely concealed disdain. It did seem a little juvenile for Abigail’s age; mothers tend to always view their daughters as their little girl. “Maybe if I ‘accidentally’ spill some punch on it I can have Emily ‘fix’ it,” she continued, with heavy use of air quotes.
“You’re going to rip your poor mother’s heart out, Abby,” Sam said with fake concern.
“Story of my life,” Abigail sighed.
“Ok, guys, please, can you explain what this dance is before it starts?” Al pleaded.
“Wait, Lewis really didn’t tell you?” Abigail asked.
“Nope. He just told me I needed a white dress.”
“So, here’s how it goes. All bachelors and bachelorettes between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five are forced to participate in this archaic mating ritual. The boys have to ask the girls to dance with them. The girls can say no, but if both a bachelor and a bachelorette don’t have a dance partner, they’re forced to pair up. Last year we had one more guy than we had girls, so one of the bachelors had to sit out. This year we have one more girl than we have guys since you just moved here, and Maru is eighteen now, so one of the bachelorettes is going to have to sit out. The dance itself is the same every year, but it’s easy to pick up.”
“Ok, that’s actually way worse than I thought.”
“You don’t have much to worry about,” Sam began, “I’ve figured out how everyone is going to pair up already. You see, Alex is going to ask Haley, because they’re living out the classic jock-cheerleader love story. Elliot is going to ask Leah, because they both have artistic souls or whatever. I am going to finally ask Penny this year, so Harvey will probably ask Maru since they work together. Shane is going to ask Emily, because she’s the only person nice enough to dance with him."
“Harsh!” Abigail interjected.
“Hey, I’m just laying down the facts."
“So, basically, the only guy who might ask me to dance is Sebastian,” Al concluded.
“No... There's someone else I want to dance with,” came a voice from behind her. She turned around to see Sebastian, as broody as ever in his pale blue suit. Al couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy; she hadn’t even asked him to dance, yet here she was, getting rejected by him. What was his problem? She looked into his dark eyes, wishing she could see what was in their depths, to understand what was going on in that head of his. He held her gaze for a long moment before looking past her, towards Abigail.
“Sorry,” his intended dance partner said, in a surprisingly soft voice.
“What?” Al asked, looking back over at Abigail and Sam, but they just looked back at her with hesitant looks, as if there was something that they couldn’t bring themselves to say. “There’s no reason to be sorry, Abigail. I’m not disappointed—I just didn’t know he was behind me. Honestly, it’s better that I sit out my first year.” Was she disappointed? Or was she just offended? The questions ringing in her head made her angry, another emotion she couldn’t understand.
“You sure? For a moment it seemed like... never mind. Have you tried the wine? I’ve heard it’s the best free wine you’ll get at the town festivals,” Abigail responded.
“Wait, are you under the drinking age?” Al could have sworn they were the same age.
“Two more years, sadly. Sam and Sebastian can drink, though.”
“Abby was the little freshman we adopted junior year,” Sam said, pinching her cheek.
Abigail swatted his hand away and said, “Hey, don’t you have someone you need to ask to dance before someone else does?”
“Shit! You’re right.” He downed the rest of his wine glass. “Wish me luck!”
And then there were three, again.
“He’s not,” Sebastian said.
“He is,” Abigail countered.
The three of them watched as Sam approached the timid redhead. He said something and rubbed the back of the neck. She smiled and said something back, which caused him to break out in a large smile.
“Welcome to the band, Al,” Abigail announced.
“None of you make any sense,” was all Al could say, pouring herself a glass of wine.