Dyani

Part 38

Even though I had a pleasant day and I was very tired, I didn’t sleep well that night. Nightmares  controlled my sleep, making me wake every hour or so. Around three in the morning I had enough and went downstairs in my nightgown and robe. I made myself a cup of hot milk and put some anise in it. When I was little that used to calm me down, but this time it didn’t. I was restless and so tired. Both my hosts were sleeping, or at least in their bedroom. I tried watching some television, but most programs weren’t decent. I checked the closet to see what dvd’s there were, but none caught my interest. When my cup was empty I brought it back to the kitchen and rinsed it. I sighed and walked around the first floor for a bit, eventually ending up in the massive ballroom. It looked huge without all the people in my dream a few nights ago, I walked up to the center and saw that one corner had been lifted up a little bit. I was sure that it was used for the musicians. I hummed a tune, a waltz, like the one being played at my great grandmother’s ball, so many years ago. I could picture all the people in the room and I could almost hear the actual music. I tiptoed around the ballroom, as if I was dancing with someone.

‘One, two, three,’ I whispered at myself.

While I was swirling around the room, I closed my eyes, which made the illusion I could hear in my mind, even more vivid. I just pictured myself dancing with someone, when I felt an arm around my waist, a hand inside my own and the small pressure of someone leading me. I opened my eyes and looked into the eyes of Alex. I didn’t stop, because he was leading me quite well. I had never had dance lessons, I had only tried a few times after watching the usual disney movies. He twirled me around the dancefloor and I loved every second of it.

‘I hope I didn’t wake you, when I went to watch some television?’ I asked, when we concluded our dance and went to sit in the living room.

‘No, not at all. I always wake up twice or so, a night,’ he said, giving me a small smile.

‘Why are you awake and dancing with no one, in the middle of the night?’ he asked me after a comfortable silence.

‘I had some nightmares, so.. ehm.. I didn’t want to try again,’ I said.

‘I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sleep after such an exhilarating dance,’ he said, winking at me.

‘I’ve never danced before, it was nice to have someone leading me, it gets boring dancing on your own,’ I said.

Alex chuckled.

‘If we’re going to be awake for some time, would you like to practice?’

‘Sure, we can bake cookies!’ I exclaimed.

‘That’s not what I meant, but sure!’ he said, happily.

We went to the kitchen and very enthusiastically, I started explaining about all the ingredients we could use. He wanted to try double chocolate cookies and plain vanilla cookies. We both made our own batch, so he could see how I would do it and he could try it himself. While kneading the dough, we talked about other things. He told me his last boyfriend had broken up with him only a month ago and they had been together almost three years. When I told him I had never even kissed a boy, let alone have a boyfriend, he hardly believed me. He was really good in shaping the cookies and they looked even better than mine, so I told him we would let Charley try and guess which were his and which were mine.

Around four in the morning, we had made all the cookies.

‘I think I’ll try and sleep a little bit more,’ he said, when he finished putting his cookies in a jar.

‘I’ll stay here, clean up and maybe bake something else, not sure yet.’

‘Would you like me to help?’ he asked, while yawning.