Slowdance

A cold shiver, and Halley thought it best to get dressed again. As she stood up shakily and picked up her black dress, she realised their moment was all over. It wasn't necessarily gone, though. It was fresh in her mind, vivid and clear, like it was stamped onto her memory permanently. She kept picking out her favourite parts and replaying them over and over in her head like a VHS recording.

After getting into her underwear and slipping on the dress, she went over to Curtis.

"Did I fall asleep or something?" asked Halley.

"Yeah," said Curtis without breaking concentration. "You looked pretty tired, so I wanted to leave you alone. Oh, I'm really sorry, by the way. I needed my clothes back, but I left your dress for you to lay on."

"Did you move me?" Halley asked in surprise.

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. Hope you don't mind."

"Are you kidding? That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me," she said, eyes twinkling.

He grinned at her.

She didn't know if her face was glowing or not, but it felt that way. She got the sudden urge to crouch down next to him and peck him tenderly on the side of his head. Turning his neck to her his face lit up.

He grabbed a dry paper towel and wiped at the spot one last time before standing up. "There," said Curtis with a sigh. "I think that's the best I'm gonna get it. It's not like this carpet was super clean to begin with, so they probably won't notice."

Halley giggled. Curtis reached for Halley's hand and pulled her up to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get back to the party."

She waited a moment for Curtis to cross the room and switch the lights off at the box, picking his tie up off the floor along the way. He reached her side and they left, Curtis shutting the wooden door gently behind them.

As they moved away Halley looked back over her shoulder longingly. She'd been anticipating this moment and had accepted the time to leave when it came, but now that it came to it she didn't want to leave. A piece of her heart was in that ugly room, and she was leaving it behind. It made her sad. In the end she knew that it was alright because the rest of her heart was walking right alongside her.

Halley took a hold of Curtis' arm as he was fastening his tie back around his collar.

"What's wrong?" he chuckled, staring down at her.

It took a few seconds for the thoughts in her head to reach her lips. "What's going to happen to us?" she asked him.

He paused shortly, before confidently saying, "Nothing."

"How do you know?" Halley said.

Curtis finished tightening the knot of his tie. "We'll meet up all the time," he went on. "I can get my driver's licence for you. Then I can drive to you whenever I want. Or I'll force Maria to drive me, I don't care. How does that sound?"

Her sombre expression broke into a smile. "Fine," she said, and he looked happy.

"Can we be boyfriend and girlfriend?" Halley suddenly asked.

Curtis laughed. "Of course. Whatever you want."

Then it was official. Halley walked with Curtis back to the party room with her head on his shoulder. When they got around the hallway to the door, Curtis reached for one of the handles and it swung open in front of them with Uncle Geoff's face appearing in the doorway. Startled, Halley let go of Curtis.

"There you are," Geoff huffed, then looked at the two of them. "Oh, Halley -- I see you've already met Curtis."

She nodded.

"Good to see you getting along. A-Anyway, we were all worried about you. Didn't know where you went," Geoff continued with a frustrated tone.

"We were just hanging out downstairs," answered Curtis. "It was my idea, sorry. I didn't mean to make you guys worry."

"Ah, that's alright. Don't sweat it my boy." He clapped Curtis' shoulder heartily. Of course he'd say that. Halley rolled her eyes.

"Come on then." Geoff beckoned them back into the dim room and they slipped inside. "We've got the cake now, do you two want any?" he asked.

"Sure," replied Curtis.

"Yes," said Halley.

Curtis leant in and whispered into Halley's ear. "I told you we were gonna miss the cake."

"Whatever," she whispered back with a smile.

Apparently, the two of them had rejoined the party completely undetected. Halley was trying to deduce how much time they were actually gone, and though she wasn't one hundred percent sure, she figured about half an hour at the most. It was a decent portion of a party to miss, but not much time away from her obnoxious family.

The whole family gathered in the middle of the room in a dense ring around a huge white cake that was topped with a plane made of fondant and Geoff's name written crudely in red piping. Halley stood with Curtis as they had some cake. She almost spit hers out when she saw him shoving his whole piece stupidly into his mouth. She slapped his arm and he laughed in amusement with his mouth full of cake crumbs.

The party didn't drag on for much longer after that. Halley and Curtis hung around each other, not doing anything in particular except for sharing their thoughts and laughing and having fun. When it was time for the party to actually end, and the venue staff came in to let everyone know, they ended up having to help pack up. Halley's parents were clearing away all the glasses and dishes, while Halley herself was put on chair duty. She had no idea why, because couldn't pick up more than two on her own without dragging them across the floor -- even that was difficult with too many. Curtis ended up coming to her rescue, picking up four at a time to stack against the far wall along with another staff member.

Halley's family was exchanging extended goodbyes in groups. She stood watching them all, staring blankly with her arms crossed over her chest, jumping when Curtis stepped up beside her.

"I guess this is it for now," he said to her. She wished he didn't have to remind her. Not that she would have forgotten without his help.

"Yep," she said, unmoving. Halley was upset, but in reality not at him. At her situation. He was only trying to soften the blow, as was so typical of him. She was truly grateful.

"I realised I don't have your phone number yet," he continued. "I would've kicked myself if I forgot."

Halley finally turned to him and sighed, heart heavy. "I don't want you to go."

He took a breath. "I know. Me neither. It won't be bad at all, I promise. We can call every day -- or however much you like. Even if I'm busy studying I won't forget about you."

She couldn't help but smile. That seemed to be a recurring theme throughout the night. She took his hands and swayed with them.

"I believe you," said Halley, finally coming to terms with the truth. Giddy again with optimism, she said, "Are we gonna tell my aunt and uncle?"

Curtis thought about it. "We'll keep it a secret for now." Halley could work with that.

"Oh, your number," he said again. "You keep making me forget."

"I don't have my phone on me," Halley responded. "I left it at home. I don't know why I did that, though. I almost regretted it."

"That's alright." Curtis had that look he got when he was cooking up a solution, scanning his surroundings. These were the things she was going to miss, but she put the thought aside. "Wait here."

He ran off. She watched on as he approached her Uncle Geoff, chatted something at him, to which he handed Curtis something small. Curtis gave him the thumbs up, then came right back over.

"Hold out your arm," Curtis instructed, and she obliged. He popped the cap off a black permanent marker and began to scrawl over her skin. "I borrowed Geoff's pen. He said he only had it because he was doing newspaper crosswords earlier today."

Halley laughed, and when Curtis let go he capped the pen. From elbow to wrist along the underside of her forearm was his phone number written in huge, messy black numbers.

"What? What'd you do that for!?" she scolded him, laughing in shock. "How am I supposed to explain this to Mum?"

He contorted his head around to read it. "I don't know. Say you were bored."

She frowned. "That doesn't even make sense. And your handwriting is so messy," she said after looking at it again.

"Okay, you try writing something on someone's arm."

Halley was smiling from ear to ear at him when she noticed her towering cousin, Keith, approaching from behind Curtis.

"Curtis," he said in his deep voice, and Curtis spun. "Geoff's going. He wants you."

"Tell him I'm coming." Keith nodded and stalked away.

Curtis turned back to her with a regretful look in his eye. "I gotta go now."

"Okay," Halley said to him, her smile a little less enthusiastic. "I'll see you."

Curtis stared at her. He pulled Halley close in one motion and kissed her on the lips. It didn't last for more than five seconds, but it was enough. She was inflated with that sense of wonder again before he let her go.

"Call me as soon as you get home," was the last thing he said to her before finally departing. Watching him leave, all she could do was wave at him. He waved back before sticking his hands in his trouser pockets and rejoining Halley's aunt and uncle.

Halley's mother appeared like a flash next to her as she kept her stare in his direction. "All right, let's go home, Halley" She checked the silver watch on her dainty wrist. "I won't keep you here any longer."

She turned away without objecting and walked towards the exit by her parents in silence.

-

Back out in the cold air of the night, Halley hugged her bare shoulders for warmth. She braved letting one of them go to open the passenger door of their car when she heard her mother have something like a heart attack.

"Good lord," she gasped. "What did you do to your arm?"

Halley quickly looked down at her forearm. "Oh, this--" As she frantically searched her mind for some kind of an explanation, she stopped, realising she already had one. "I was just bored. That's all."

Her mother rolled her eyes at the response but left her alone. As Halley popped the door open and climbed in the car, she suddenly laughed out loud, putting a hand to her mouth. Through the rear-view she saw her mother stare at her strangely for a few seconds, only making it more amusing.

As the car started up, Halley took in a deep, joy-filled breath. Looking down at the messy ink on her arm, she smiled. She knew without a doubt this would be the night that she would never, ever forget.