3TS: The Chances of Starting Again

Chocolate

That embarrassing moment when you feel so beautiful and then your ultimate crush tells you that you have food on your face.

There were some different things that came with this cycle's New Year Dance.

This time around, our New Year's Dance was extended until after midnight. But this time, our school's gym was a fairytale spectacle, fitting the "royal" theme (the principal insisted to make it sound grand). Christmas lights (used from the Christmas Party) lined the walls, with cutout stars reflecting its warm glow every which way. The whole room was lit up as if it was in a royal ball at a prince's castle, far, far away.

But tonight, my "royal ball" felt complete when I saw him. I was eating near the food table when I spotted him.

Trent's tuxedo was white, with a light blue polo beneath. His hair wasn't up or moved sideways, but just plain down with no gel at all. No popular girl would have said he was handsome. No girly girl would have said he was "cute". But his smile. That warm smile he gave me as he recognized me. That smile he gave me as he came up next to me.

That smile he gave me as he pointed to my face as he said, "You have chocolate on your face."

Well, that "royal" moment ended. I laughed and wiped it away as quickly as I could.

Soft, "royal" music started to play. (I like writing "royal". It makes me feel more like a princess, Journal. Haha!) And I soon looked across the room, wondering who would be my first dance. My hands were tucked under the table cloth, tightening and untightening over and over.

My heart thunked against its door louder and louder as boys stood up around me. It pounded harder and harder as the announcer asked the boys to pick a girl. And it finally froze with the first guy offering his hand to me.

I looked up, seeing that smile again. "Want to dance?" Trent asked politely.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't whisper. I couldn't even open my mouth. So I just smiled and nodded.

We danced for what seemed forever to me. But the moment ended with him leading me back to my seat just as the song ended. It wasn't big. He didn't dance for me longer than a song. It was just a normal dance, but it was a dreamed reality that would stay in my memory forever.

Trent kept on surprising me. When dinner was finished up, and Trent danced with a few more girls, he came to offer his hand again to me.

Surprised, I squeaked, "You've already danced with me!" I faked a cough, to try and calm myself and my odd high voice.

"Can I take that as a yes?" He says as he slowly reaches for my hand. I follow him to the dance floor again.

But his best surprise was just a few minutes away.

"Ladies and gents, this is the last dance." Students (mostly girls) groaned loudly.

"So...did you have fun?" Trent turned to me.

"Yeah, I wish it didn't have to end though." I said, trying to mean generally of the dance, and not specifically with him. But did I sound specifically? Or generally, Journal?

"But it's been a good ending of a beginning." He said mystically as he squinted in the distance.

"What?" I said, following his gaze. But before I could recognize what he was looking at, his hand gently turned my chin to look into his eyes.

"Do you know why?" He says as he smiles, lightly laughing at my confused face.

I couldn't speak. 

And my heart literally opened its door wide, just to listen to what he wanted to say next.

Everything around us seemed to go silent as my ears perked up to hear him.

"Because I get to spend the first minute of the year with you." He whispered into my ear.

My heart could have literally jumped through its door and rode with the fireworks that started to erupt outside the windows. The noise should have been loud, but as I stared up at Trent, I couldn't help but sense the fireworks were muffled. That dancers around us, gazing at the fireworks, were blurry. And that we were the only two people in the bright room.

I didn't know what to say, Journal. So I just smiled, as if he just complimented me on my dress.

He smiled back, and said softly, "Happy New Year, Krissa."

And that's when I knew my mind finally knew the right reply, "Happy New Year, Trent."

And then Trent's eyes gazed to the windows outside. It was as if the bubble around us popped as the loud shouts and sounds came cracking into my ears like thunder, as I followed his gaze.

He let go of my hands. And it was only then that I felt my hands were shaking. I held them together, looking at Trent from the side of my eye. 

I felt something different that night. With him.

Was it relief that we were finally the closest of friends? Was it of the excitement around us of the new Year? Was it because there was a big chance that he could actually like me?