WHEN WE DANCE

Jack entered the living room in awe of the decorations. He knew exactly what the night was to entail, cake, balloons, drinks, an established jazz band, and at least a hundred guests all looking their finest Grace was spoiled but she deserved it, today was her twenty first birthday and not a detail was to be missed. Jack smiled to himself as he noticed the party organizer/decorator flush at his presence.

"Excuse me sir, the guests aren’t due to arrive for another hour.. You’re a bit early aren’t you?" Beads of sweat began to appear on his unusually large forehead.

"I’m a friend of Grace’s." Jack noticed Austin, Grace’s boyfriend, they’d been dating for seven months now and nearly every guest that night was aware of another event to occur amongst the festivities. A marriage proposal.

"Jack! Jack over here!!" Austin was with Grace’s parents, whom Jack had known since grade four when he moved to New York. Grace, like him, was a new kid in school, just moved from London England, and almost as nervous as Jack was. They became the best of friends almost immediately, they were inseparable and things really hadn’t changed ever since. She confided in him, called him every day, even with the arrival of Austin in her life Grace remained very loyal to Jack she really valued their friendship. Jack of course felt the same way, very loyal, and unfortunately very much in love, he’d loved her for years, always too shy to admit it. He’d never been good with women, he envied Austin, rich, powerful, and soon to marry Gracie.

"Jack, I’m glad you could come!" Austin smiled giving him a welcoming hug. Jack tried hard not to sneer. "Yeah I wouldn’t miss one of Gracie’s parties’ for the world."

"We’re so excited about.... you know...the engagement, when are you going to ask her?" Evelyn, Grace’s mother asked, in a very strong English accent, it seemed everyone save for Grace knew about the proposal.

"Ah, ah, ah, you know it’s all supposed to be a secret." Austin winked charmingly causing Evelyn to giggle, and Jack’s skin to absolutely crawl.

"Where’s Grace?"

In a dismissive manor Evelyn told Jack that Grace was in her bedroom getting ready. He took the elevator to the third floor of their lavish three story condo where Jack knocked on Grace’s door, his heart pounding. He felt tonight would be the only chance he had to win her heart, he felt that he needed to win her over before the proposal, but how does one go about stealing a heart?

"Just a moment!" He heard Grace’s soothing voice call, like as if she was in a rush to cover up. He could hear her shuffling around the room and couldn’t help but smile, he wondered if she thought he was Austin, maybe she was touching up her makeup, wanting to look her best for him. A wave of jealousy washed over Jack, he felt such a hatred for a the man who’d beat him to the woman he loved.

The door flung open and Grace’s glowing figure stood in the doorway. She looked absolutely stunning, even though she was in a towel, he hair and makeup were already done. Jack felt himself awestruck when Grace squealed and flung her arms around him.

"JACK!!" His heart swelled to capacity, he felt the strongest urge to kiss her, tell her everything he’d pent up for years, how much he’d loved her, how he’d been terrified to tell her.

"I’m so glad you’re here, come in I need your help!" Grace dragged Jack into her bedroom and disappeared into her closet. In her absence Jack noticed pictures of Grace and himself all through high school pasted on her mirror. There they were in their uniforms for football, she was the classic cheerleader, and he was the bench ridden football player who, regrettably only joined to spend more time with Grace. And there they were again taking pictures of themselves in the empty gymnasium whilst they skipped a very boring math class. Jack felt the urges nearly erupting inside him. How would she react if he walked straight into that closet and kissed her? Somehow Jack knew she would never do anything to hurt Austin, she was too kind for her own good.

"Ok what do you think of this one?" Grace waltzed out wearing a sparkling yellow cocktail dress that made her tan glow. She looked stunning as usual.

"I think that one’s perfectly appropriate."

Grace burst into laughter, "appropriate? That’s all I get? ok, obviously this one’s got to go. Since when do you use that word anyways?"

Grace stumbled back into the closet and out of sight.

"Appropriate is a perfectly appropriate word to use!!" Jack laughed trying to redeem himself. His charming come ons weren’t exactly going as planned. What the hell was he thinking anyways? ‘Appropriate? Jesus Christ, she looked like a fucking goddess.’

"This one?" Grace stepped out again in a silk midnight blue floor length tube dress that clung to her every curve. Jack’s tongue nearly fell to the floor and unrolled down the hallway like in cartoons.

"Mmmmm, too dressy, do you SERIOUSLY intend to get drunk in that little number?"

Grace smiled brightly. "You’re right....again, ugh! This is so much harder than I thought. I’ve only got so many dresses left. You’re a bad influence, I’m going to run out of clothes if I keep you in here." Grace stumbled towards Jack, who laid comfortably on his side in her bed.

"C’mon, get outa here, I’ll just surprise you later with my impeccable taste and you won’t be able to say a damn thing about it." She scooted Jack out of the room and locked the door.

‘Great going you fucking moron? How do you expect to win her over when you’re LOCKED OUT OF THE ROOM!’ Jack thought to himself as he descended the winding staircase.

"Jacky boy!!" He looked up to notice Shelly, a good friend of Grace’s. The guests had finally begun to show.