Dance of the Field

The party is buzzing with music and laughter, but my mind is elsewhere. My best friend and dance partner Samantha is chatting away beside me, but I'm not fully listening to her. My thoughts keep drifting back to dance. Junior National Dance, it's a competition that awards cash to the winners in various categories and my team wants to win their upcoming competition, so rehearsal is constantly on my mind. I live and breathe dance, it's everything to me, I aspire to be a professional dancer one day.

I lean against the kitchen counter, still thinking about the last routine we'd practiced. Everyone expects perfection, and thats what they will get.

"Xamira, you're zoning out again," Samantha's voice cuts through my thoughts, snapping me back to reality.

"Sorry," I smile at her. "just thinking about the competition and our rehearsal."

"You always are, you need to relax and have fun. I'm on the same team, but you don't see me stressing about it nonstop."

I'm about to answer her when I get this weird feeling someone is watching me, I look around the room and spot the reason I felt like I was being watched. Oh...he's cute. He looks asian, has black hair that seems like it just got cut, he's definitely taller than me, and he has a soccer jersey on with baggy jeans.

I think we have a few classes together, but I don't recall talking to him before. He's always surrounded by his friends, and I'm always with my dance crew or at rehearsals. I've seen him at soccer games, so I know he's on the soccer team and that his last name is Rivera. 

I try to look at him again, but he's facing his friends. "Why do you keep looking at Mason?"

Mason huh? Suits him. "I'm not looking at him, I'm staring" I smirk at her.

She starts laughing her ass off "Thats the same thing, you big dope!" and she looks behind me and goes wide eyed, "Don't look but Mason is walking over here."

I instantly turn around and to my surprise, he actually is walking over here.

"Hey, Xamira," he looks flustered.

"Oh, hey Mason" Samatha starts walking away, smiling at us. Traitor.

"You play forward right? Varsity? Correct me if I'm wrong." I sound so stupid right now.

"Uh, yeah." He rubs the back of his neck, and I swear I see his cheeks turn a light shade of pink, yeah he's definitely a package deal. "Thanks. I saw your last dance competition, it was awesome."

His compliment catches me off guard. He saw the competition? "You saw that?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss any of your dances."

We just stand there for a moment, the noise of the party fading into the background as we talk. It's strange, here is this guy I barely know, yet somehow, it feels so easy to talk to him.

"Hey listen, do you want to possibly go-" his friend then chose to come up to us and grabbed his shoulder

"Yo, Mason! Where've you been, man? You came to the party but didn't tell me?"

Mason looks at me in an apologetic way. Seems like he also doesn't want this conversation to end. But I need to get back to Samatha anyway.

I smile, nudging his shoulder, "Go. We can finish talking another time. It's time for some team bonding". He hesitates, but his teammate is already pulling him away. As he walks off, I can't help but watch him.