Love of My Life

The signs were everywhere. Covering the walls, planted in the grass wherever there was some, pasted onto trees. How could he not notice them? Signs promoting the world renown Natasha Romanoff, the famous Russian ballerina. It wasn’t the kind of thing he was into - ballet. But he’d heard word that what Romanoff did was very modern. She supposedly had a very sophisticated and classical way of dancing but the tracks she danced to were very modern. Even still he never seriously considered going until Peggy, his neighbor, asked him if they could go together. And so Steve found himself going to see what all the fuss about “Natasha Romanoff” was about.

They took their seats in the second row and Steve had a perfect view of the stage from there. The lights dimmed and Steve settled comfortably into the theater chair. Romanoff sauntered onto the stage wearing a black tutu and leotard complete with a pair of red pointe shoes which matched perfectly with her scarlet locks. She smiled, greeting the crowd, who applauded with thunderous intensity.

Suddenly, a song boomed throughout the auditorium. He recognized as the one and only “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. He was skeptical, unsure how this song could be transformed that much. She spun. She leaped. She flew. It seemed as if her feet never touched the ground as she continued this amazing momentum of movement. She was in tune in every aspect with the song. She took no breaks, moving onto songs like “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison and even “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics.

Steve was agape, unsure how she could take his breath away any more than she already had. But just as he thought that, Romanoff revealed her final number. The one and only “Love of my life” by Queen. A seemingly never-ending twist led her right to the edge of the stage. She stopped, looking down at the crowd below her with a huge smile adorning her face. Steve felt as though she were looking right into his soul when they made eye contact.

After Natasha twirled off the stage, Peggy leaned over to Steve and said, “wasn’t she amazing?”

“Yeah,” he replied in an enamoured voice.

“We should get out of here,” Peggy tugged on Steve’s shirt to get him to stand up.

“You go on ahead. I have to do something first.” he said, knowing he had to see if Romanoff felt the same as he just did. Steve fought the crowd, heading away from the exits. He slipped backstage while nobody was looking and wound up right by her dressing room. He entered without hesitation and found her, removing her earrings, the smile had soured to a frown. An empty wineglass sat beside her on the vanity.

“Hello,” he got her attention.

She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance. She stood, backing away from him. He could be anyone. “Who are you? What are you doing back here?” she asked as she slyly took a loaded pistol out from the underside of the vanity. She aimed it at him as a warning, but she was ready to fire if he tried anything.

He placed his hands in the air. “I’m sorry. My name is Steve. Steve Rogers. I saw your show...it was amazing. You’re amazing. It’s just…”he hesitated.

“Spit it out!” she ordered.

“At the end, it seemed like you were looking right at me. It made me feel something and I wanted to know if you felt it too.

She giggled, putting the gun down in the realization that he was no threat. The giggle soon progressed into almost hysterical laughter.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s just so funny to me that you mistook that as me being attracted to you.” I don’t even remember your face.” she said.

He wa embarrassed, his whole face becoming a bright shade of pink. “Oh. It was my mistake, Ms. Romanoff.” He began to walk out, but turned around and rushed back into the room, whisking her off her feet and kissing her sweetly.

She was tense at first, scared, but she eventually relaxed into his embrace. Something about him soothed her. When they disconnected, she noted, “I’ve gotta hand it to you, Steve. Not many people can make me relax like you just did. But it definitely felt like you don’t get much practice.”

He acted offended, gasping in that dramatic way. They both chuckled. She looked up at him, their eyes connecting. How was it that this stranger was making he feel so...strange?

“So will you take a chance on me?” Steve asked, the seas of his eyes glimmering with hope.

“I can’t,” she said, pushing away the emotions she felt.

“Sure you can.” he said.

“No. This career. This life I lead doesn’t allow for boyfriends. I tried it once. It was messy.”

“I’ll be different.” he assured her.

“You don’t know that.” she turned away from him.

They were both silent for a few moments until Steve began to quote the song, “love of my life.” He spoke the words rather than singing as he said:

“Love of my life,
You’ve hurt me.
You’ve broken my heart
And now you leave me
Love of my life
Can’t you see…
Bring it back, bring it back
Don;t take it away from me because
You don’t know
What it means to me.”

“You like Queen?” she asked, a smile trying to establish itself on her emotionless face.

“They’re only my favorite band.” he told, hope washing into his eyes on the blue waves.

She was silent, seeming to debate something with herself. Suddenly, a man entered the dressing room, a look of surprise showing up on his face as he was greeted by the sight of Steve. “Do you need me to remove this man?” he asked Natasha.

Natasha looked at Steve and smiled before saying, “yes.”

Steve was thrown out of the theater on his ass, by the guard who was all too happy to be able to rough someone up. Steve laid on the sidewalk outside the auditorium for a while before Peggy came over to him, wondering what took so long. She helped him up and tried to talk to him, but his mind was still fixated on Natasha Romanoff. He had to see her again. He had to convince her that they should be together. Ignoring Peggy, he walked over to one of the posters lining the walls of various buildings and ripped one off. He examined the poster before finding out that her next show was in Queens. How apt, he thought.

He took one last look at the beautiful girl’s face on the flyer before folding it up and placing it in the pocket of his jeans.