Dear Diary
This weekend I performed at the opening night of a friend’s art exhibition. It went well and encouraged me to continue training so as to tackle the next choreography which I’ve been avoiding.
During the week things were pretty quiet with Karate Kid. I was enjoying the peace and I felt that my message had gotten through to him. Speaking too soon, Saturday after he sends through a message: ‘I heard that there’ll be a special performance tonight…’
I knew it was best not to reply. We weren’t on speaking terms in my books and a reply would only confirm what he already knew. Focused on rehearsing I blocked it out of my mind – there was no way that I’d be letting him unnerve me for my performance.
I arrive to the gallery early and start getting changed into costume. I was able to warm up in the attic section of the building which had been converted into office space. I found a dusty mirror that I set up on the office desk. I’d spend the next 1.5 hours there dancing with my iPod. I heard familiar voices arrive downstairs but kept dancing. Karate Kid could wonder all he liked where I was hiding.
The performance part went well. Dance Teacher filmed it and the rest watched intently. I didn’t make eye contact with Karate Kid for the entire performance so as to hold my center in line. At the end of the song my friend asked for photos to promote the exhibition. Karate Kid came up to me and hugged me – it’s so difficult to squirm out when I’m putting on a poised public facade pretending like nothing happened last weekend. He posed with me in the group photo (not by my choice mind you).
After getting changed I spoke to other friends at the gallery. Karate Kid kept gravitating towards me. I did my best to ignore him. I spoke with Dance Teacher who’s been unwell since his international travels. Hopefully he has test results back soon. He wasn’t planning to go out to the dance party afterwards.
At the end, Karate Kid says goodbye to everyone so that he can leave for the party. He leaves me until last and saya he’ll walk me to my car. Hoping he’ll give up, I take a painfully long time talking to everyone as I say goodbye. He waits in the background. It irritates me that he thinks he can talk to me. Like a gentleman, Dances Teacher offers to take my bags to my car for me – finally! A great reason not to have Karate Kid walk with me. This relief was short lived….he tells Dance Teacher that he’ll walk me and takes the bags from him…grrrr.
Thankfully, it was only a short walk to my car. When we get there I tell him that I need to leave for the party as I really wanted to dance. I then realise that I left my iPod back at the gallery. He gives me the bags and runs back to get it for me. When he returns he tells me that I must tell him when I’m leaving the dance party later. I tell him that I don’t have to do anything. He says that he has a surprise for me. I laugh and get into my car. Bribery has never worked on me. Besides, I’m sure it’d be an underwhelming surprise not worth sacrificing dignity for.
At the party I have some amazing dances. Mr Spark is there and says hello at one point whilst I’m sitting at the side during performances. Throughout the night he makes eye contact with me. I’m sure he wanted to ask me to dance but I wasn’t going to make it easy. The Tardy Teacher was also there. He waited on the side to ask me to dance his final dance before leaving that night. I actually received many compliments on how nice my dress – just what the doctor ordered.
Karate Kid did ask me to dance. He pulled me in close for most of the song and stroked my hair at one point. I let my guard down near the end of one song whilst I was doing decorative hand movements. He grabbed my hand quickly and intertwined our fingers. Noooo! I couldn’t escape this one. I instead chose to let my hand be limp. When the music finished I promptly thanked him for the dance and walked away.
Near the end of the night I sat to the side planning my escape. Karate Kid wasn’t dancing as much, instead he sat down at the sides. I wondered if he was waiting and watching for signs that I may be leaving so he could catch me. I held my ground. I was more patient than him. All I’d have to do is wait until he was dancing, just one dance….
It did get to a point where I decided I wanted to go home. I couldn’t see him through the crowd of people. I figured I’d take my chances and do the dash. Who knows if he saw me leaving or not, most likely not as I did manage to leave without any hassles. As I drove home I thought to myself that I was getting so good at the Cinderella Act. I also thought that he had some nerve to harass me after telling me that he didn’t want anything serious with me. Who did he think he was still hanging around but with no good intentions?
The next morning I wake up to a despondent message from him: “Well you ran away again. Well i was going to tell you to finish work early on thursday so i can take you somewhere fun…”. I thanked my lucky stars that he didn’t catch me the night before.
Now what? I gave the kiss of death last weekend. He’s meant to be scared off and not talking to me anymore. How come it didn’t work? I’m meant to be going dancing at the same party he’ll be going to tonight. Do I ignore the message? Or maybe reply beforehand. What do I say? Do I avoid going to the party? But I want to dance!
Anastasia
The Contemporary Princess 