LS: The Beginning (34 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Awards Dance

It was the day of the awards dance. The weather turned out to
be as perfect as forecasted. Not too sunny, but not too windy either. I had secretly bought my
outfit for the day; neither Lisa nor I wanted to see the other’s
outfit
before the event. We had received invitations from the student
union saying we won awards and our presence would be expected, but unfortunately the invitations didn’t have any extra information, so we were left in the dark about the award(s) we
were going to receive.

Lisa’s head was placed on my firm chest, while the melody in her soft voice played in my head. It took a while to convince her to sing. I'd always begged her to sing for me, but
she'd always refused saying her voice wasn’t good. It was hard to compare Sharon’s voice and hers. Sharon had a diva-like voice
,
whereas Lisa’s voice chanted in sweet harmony. So I’d probably end up picking Lisa's.

“Do you dance?” she asked, turning to glance
at me.

Her question triggered a funny bone in me. “Why do you ask?” I
inquired. My fingers were marching over her flat stomach. She giggled at each tickle.

“You should be called ‘Stephen: The man who always answers a question with a question’. Try to answer mine first and maybe I’ll answer
yours.”

“Okay. Yes. I do dance.”

“Interesting, can you show me some of your moves?” she politely requested.

I sniggered. I hadn’t danced at a formal event; therefore
I didn't really know how to dance. I could do the Crip Walk a
nd the shoulder shuffle, but that was about it.
“Dancing is when one moves his or her body.” I moved my left hand
in a fish-like manner.

Lisa laughed. “Actually locomotion is the movement of the body. Dancing, however, is the rhythmic
movement of the body,” she corrected. “So can you really
dance?” Her voice sounded serious this time around.

"No,” I answered, tired of messing with her head.

“I guessed as much,” she said. Huh? Was it that obvious?

The minute she removed her head from my chest, the warm affectionate feeling left with her. She moved close to her sound system and placed
a CD inside the music player. Then she gestured at me to stand up. I grimaced as the music began playing. It was inordinately slow compared to the music played
in a nightclub, where I had once danced. I couldn’t use any of my dance moves to dance such a slow song.

Reluctantly, I stood up from the
soft and comfy bed.

“You need to learn how to dance, because you’ll need it tonight,”
she said.

I moved closer to her. “All right, are you going to teach me?” I said, looking down
at my feet.

Lisa smiled. “Hold my waist with your left hand, then place your
right hang into my left hand and slowly move your feet like I do. There are two positions:
leading and following. Since you’re the male, you’re usually the one leading, which means you’re the one to move me forward, backward, and so
on.”

"Cool."

I held her waist and tried moving her around like I'd seen on the TV. During the first few minutes, I stumbled over her foot a couple of times.

"No worries. You'll soon get it," she encouraged.

It took me a while to grasp the concept, but once I understood it, it became
easier for me to dance and eventually lead. Lisa’s teaching was gentle and fun. Only a dumb person wouldn't understand. As usual the time
moved so fast that we thought the wall clock in Lisa’s room had broken,
only to check our various phones to find similar results.

It was time to get ready, and I needed it to look like a normal dating event and not a married couple event, so I left for my
house. Stacey was getting dressed when I arrived. I went into the dining-room and
checked my mail. I was met with a heap of letters waiting for me. It had been a while since I checked my mail.

Stacey was going with Julie, and they were using Julie's car. Therefore, I wanted to use my car to drive Lisa to the event, but I hadn’t
asked Lisa and I guessed she would want us to use hers. Frankly, I didn’t care which car we took to dinner.

Dressing didn’t take as much time as I'd expected. I'd bought a white
slim-fitted suit, a sky blue shirt, a pair of sky blue shoes and a slim white tie. For the first time, I wore the white wristwatch
Lisa had bought me.

As I strolled down the stairs, Stacey smiled cheerfully at me. "You look very handsome in white," she said. "Let's take some pictures."

She took a picture of me, and one with the
both of us, and then she requested I take a photo of her alone. Stacey looked gorgeous wearing a black dress with black heels and matching purse. Her hair fell down her shoulders, and her honey brown skin glowed.  After taking the pictures, I stood in the lobby and glanced at the staircase, making sure I didn't forget anything. Once I was certain, I dashed off to Lisa’s house, leaving my car
behind.

I waited in the living room for my date to come down from her
room, and eventually she did. I knew my girlfriend was pretty, but seeing
her that night as she made her entrance into the living room made me
realise
how extremely beautiful she was. Lisa was wearing a remarkable red
dress that made her look absolutely magnificent. Her neck was bare, giving her a sophisticated look. Her nails were painted red to match her dress, her red high heels
and glistening red lips. It seemed very unfair to the other girls who would
be attending the event.

I edged forward, hugged her and gave her a corsage I’d bought when shopping from my suit. “You look stunning,” I commented.

Lisa smiled. “Thanks. You look good as well.” I took
that as a consolation prize. Every guy dreams of having an ideal girlfriend, whereas I’d been blessed with my perfect idea of a girlfriend. Wasn't I lucky?

We were on the way to the event when Lisa's hand pressed the pause button on the cars stereo.

“You’ve been staring at me for a while now. Is everything okay?” she
asked, smiling.

“Yeah, I'm just so glad I met you,” I said.

“Same here,” she replied.

“I love you, Miss Morgan.”

“I love you too, Mr. Wilson, but if you keep looking at me like that, you won't have anyone to love,” she said.

“Please, don't say stuff like that. The tongue’s powerful, you know.”

We stopped at a stop light, and she turned to look at me. The hazel part of her eyes grew red, and this frightened me a bit. “Okay, I'll never say stuff like that again, but you were distracting me,” she said. The stop light turned green and she continued driving.

"Not my fault. You look stunning."

"Thank you." She blushed.

I turned to look at the road ahead, allowing her to focus on driving. We arrived at the event on time and parked right beside
Catherine’s car. I was unsure if Stacey had arrived because I didn’t see Julie’s
car.

The hall was decorated like prom, at least the few proms I watched on TV. The usual ribbon and balloon decorations were in place. There were round tables with six chairs
surrounding them, and a stage, which I assumed was for the presentation of
awards. At the end of the court was a long table, filled with party-style snack foods. There was a reasonable amount of space between the tables and the
stage. The disco ball at the center of the court emitted various
colors of light on to the dark court. There were many people of different races
and ages present. I guess that’s why it’s called university, a union of various cities. A soft melodic track was played, adding a bit of sophistication to the atmosphere.

After glancing at almost all the guests, I still stood by my
opinion that Lisa was the most glamorous girl present.
Lisa, Sharon, Catherine and I were seated at a table close to the dance floor, with two
empty seats to be occupied. There were bottle of wines on the table, and napkins placed in empty glasses. I was hoping Derrick and his date would turn
up, but was utterly disappointed to see Stacey and Julie come to the table. I regretted the fact that I’d advised Stacey to go easy on boys. Everyone
stood up and exchanged pleasantries – except, of course, Julie and Lisa. I was so engrossed
with Lisa's dress that I forgot to take any notice of what my friends
were wearing.

The awards ceremony began. They started with academics. Lisa
and I collected awards for best students of the year in our respective
departments. The next category was sports. Derrick collected the MVP
award for basketball, but I didn’t pay attention to the remaining awards
in that category. The next category was social awards. The first name was
the hottest and sexiest guy of the year, and it was given to David, Lisa's ex. Lisa and I looked around, hoping he wasn’t present, and fortunately he wasn’t.

The next award was the hottest and sexiest girl of the year, and it was given to Lisa. The
audience went wild. Some even stood up to acknowledge her award. As for me, I was
given the cool and charming guy of the year. Sincerely, I don't even know why they chose me, but they did. I’m guessing Stacey or Sheryl had something to do with it. Also, Sharon was given the award after mine as Ms. Cool and Stunning. Strangely, we, the sophomores, collected most of the awards. The awards
ceremony came to a close as the vice president of the student union gave
out the last award.

It was time for the dancing. Derrick was given the position of the DJ, and he sure looked happy about it. Before
anyone entered the dance floor, I quickly went to Derrick and asked him
,
“Hey, can you play track six and dedicate it to Lisa from me?” I
handed him a CD filled with my favorite songs.

He glanced at me for a long second. “I feel you, bro. I’ll
do so a.s.a.p.”

“Thanks, man,” I said.

I returned to my seat, knowing Lisa would have overheard, but at least she didn’t have a clue of the name of the song. Though, she could read Derrick’s mind, but I doubt she’d have been that desperate. She smiled in anticipation of the surprise ahead.

Derrick stopped the background music. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Hope y'all are having a good time. It's time to dance, y'all. I hope you've brought your dancing shoes." He sniggered.

"Today, I’ll start with a song dedicated to Lisa Morgan from
a guy who not only loves her, but cherishes their union.”