Page 21

As we were walking back towards our table, people kept cheering, their eyes following us. I just smiled at them, while Colton waved at them as if he was royalty.

I was laughing at how ridiculous he was being, when he turned his head at me—an amused look on his face as if daring me to do the same.

Taking up on his challenge, I copied his wave.

That was how we ended up, walking back to our seats, waving one hand in the air, the other one interlocked with each other.

‘Now that’s what I call a duet!’ I heard the DJ say, once we finally got ourselves back into our seats. ‘Everyone, give it up for my nephew and his date for their performance of ABBA’s “Waterloo”!’

The crowd erupted in cheers and thunderous claps once again.

‘Nephew? The DJ is your uncle?’ I asked Colton once the crowd settled down and the next person was walking to the stage.

‘Yup,’ he nodded. ‘It was his idea to have the themed karaoke.’

I thought about pointing out how his uncle might have mistaken this little hang-out with Colton for a date. But it seemed like an honest mistake, considering it was a Saturday night, and we were the only two people at our table, so I just let it slide.

And okay, maybe there was a tiny part of me that liked the fact that it looked like a date to someone else.

‘Are you okay? You look a bit flushed.’ I heard Colton ask, a slightly worried look on his face.

I put my hands up to my cheek, and he was right: it did feel warm.

‘I’m okay. It might have been the adrenaline rush from singing just now,’ I told him. ‘It might have been the margarita as well.’

‘Hold on, let me get you some water.’

I was about to stop him, but he was already out of his seat.

The heat was catching up to me, so I decided to take off my cardigan. Placing it on my lap, I let the air from the AC cool down my skin.

Colton came back just a few minutes later, a glass of water in each of his hand. ‘Here you go.’ He set down the glasses on the table, pushing one to me.

‘Thank you.’ I picked up the glass and took a long gulp.

‘Karaoke wore you out, huh?’

‘I did just give my best performance,’ I said, setting the glass—now only half full—back on the table.

Colton chuckled. ‘You looked like you had fun up there.’

‘I did. But it wouldn’t have been as much fun if you weren’t up there with me,’ I told him, grateful that he had been willing to sing with me onstage. ‘Thank you for being my karaoke partner, partner .’ I emphasized the second partner with a soft nudge to his stomach.

‘You’re welcome, partner,’ he answered, giving me a soft nudge back.

As other patrons were taking their turns going up on stage, Colton and I were stuck in our own little world: just catching up with each other, as if we hadn’t seen one another in a long time, when in truth, we had just met last Wednesday for our ASL practice session.

But this was the first time we had ever hung out together, not out of necessity for practicing ASL or bumping into each other at a party, but because we wanted to be with each other.

There was also a certain feeling to it, a sense of assurance that we chose to spend our time with the other person.

Our conversation paused whenever someone just finished a song.

We would either clap along with the rest of the crowd or just take in what the person on stage had been singing.

Just like our turn, Colton’s uncle didn’t announce the song they had picked out.

The next songs after us were also equally upbeat as ours.

But it seemed the lively music of night had slowly started to simmer down, when Colton’s uncle decided to get up on stage.

‘Is everyone having a good time?’ he announced on the mic.

The answer came in the form of a very enthusiastic ‘yes,’ in unison from the crowd.

‘As much as I love the upbeat music, I think it’s time we slow it down a bit. For my turn, I would like to invite everyone along with their partner for a little slow dance.’ Colton’s uncle signalled to Aunt Edna, who was now behind the DJ booth.

The first notes of the song played, and I recognized it instantly.

It was Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’.

The tables began to empty one by one as people started taking their partners by the hand, leading them to the floor in front of the stage, slowly filling up the open space.

A smile appeared on my face, when I noticed half the bar was on the dance floor, leisurely swaying to the music, and Colton’s uncle’s melodious voice.

I heard a scrape of a chair moving next to me. Looking over, I saw Colton was out of his seat.

‘May I have this dance, milady?’ he asked, one hand offered out to me, the other behind his back. He had a slight bow to him, as if he was asking me for a dance at a ball.

I giggled at him. Putting my hand in his, I answered, ‘Of course, you may, milord.’

He gave me a playful grin, and got me out of my chair once again. This time, he led me to the front of the bar where all the couples had gathered.

When we finally found a vacant spot that was slightly closed off from the crowd still in their seats, Colton let go of my hand and placed both his hands gently on my waist. He pulled me closer, while I put both my hands behind his neck.

We started swaying to the soft beat of the song, letting the music enfold us.

‘Does your uncle sing every karaoke night?’ I asked him, breaking the silence.

‘Occasionally,’ he shrugged. ‘Whenever he feels like it.’

I just gave him a nod, settling back into silence as we continued slow dancing.

‘I was here by the way—last Saturday night,’ Colton said out of the blue.

I tried to remember what had happened last Saturday, and he must have noticed me blanking on it, when he added, ‘during the party.’

‘Oh, right. The party,’ I answered him, stopping myself before I could say something else—things that were beyond being the just-friends territory and things that I wouldn’t be able to take back once I had let them out.

Colton didn’t say anything, he just continued staring at me with a contemplative look. I knew what he was trying to tell me, what he was willing me to do. He wanted me to say the words I had been holding back on.

It might have been the alcohol, it might have been our proximity, or maybe because we were swaying to one of the most romantic songs ever written. But, at that moment, I went against all logical thoughts my brain was throwing at me, and admitted what my heart wanted to say.

‘I was looking for you at the party when I arrived. I was a bit sad when you weren’t there, and I didn’t know where you had been,’ I confessed, before quickly adding, ‘Not that you have to tell me where you were.’

That was definitely oversharing. I tried to cover up my embarrassment by turning my gaze down at my sandals.

But Colton stopped me when he lightly placed his fingers under my chin, bringing my eyes back to him.

‘You were the first person I looked for when I arrived at the party,’ he said. His tone was quiet, as if he was whispering a secret to me.

His eyes locked with mine before they darted down to my lips.

And at that moment, a sudden urge came upon me.

I wanted to kiss him.

So badly.

And I think he wanted to kiss me too.

Warning signs were going off in my brain, alerting me of how bad of an idea it was. But it seemed my cloud of judgment was fogged up by the thundering beat of my heart, which had been slowly winning the battle by the second.

And damn it, it was just one kiss. I could just blame it on the alcohol tomorrow, right?

Colton must have been waiting for my approval, so I gave him the tiniest bit of a nod.

I wasn’t even sure if he saw it, until I could feel he had started to lean in.

Closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Until we were sharing a breath.

Until our lips were almost touching one another.

Closing my eyes, I waited for the feel of his lips on mine.

But it never came.

Instead, I felt a warmth resting against my forehead.

Opening my eyes, I saw Colton’s face close to me, his forehead touching mine.

And as his uncle sang the last line of the song, Colton followed along.

His eyes stared into mine as he softly sang, ‘ Oh my darling, you are wonderful tonight. ’

We continued swaying to the song, foreheads pressed with one another as the outro played out. We lingered in that position, even when the song was finished, and the crowd had burst into soft cheers and claps.

Smiling at me, Colton pulled back and I could finally catch my breath.

While a part of me was sad he didn’t fully lean in, a part was equally relieved.

It had been just a spur-of-the-moment thing.

We were slow dancing, our bodies pressed closely together.

I was not surprised he felt compelled to do something like that, for we had been lost in the romantic haze of it all.

Or I might have misread the moment entirely, and let my imagination conjure up what I had wanted the reality to be. Maybe Colton wasn’t even trying to kiss me and just wanted to press his forehead to mine—platonically.

He proceeded to pick up my hand and raised it to his lips, gently placing a soft kiss on my knuckles. I didn’t know how I was supposed to react to his gesture, but my panic was short-lived, when Colton offered his arm to me with a playful look on his face.

‘Milady?’ he asked. It was then I realized the kiss on the hand was part of the royal ball bit he had been doing.

When my brain finally caught up with him, I placed my arm inside his and answered, ‘Milord.’

And we were back to being the Clara and Colton that I knew.

Once we got back to our table, I pulled out my phone to check the time, finding out it was almost midnight.

‘Everything okay?’ Colton asked me.

‘Yeah.’ Putting my phone back into my purse, I continued, ‘I just didn’t realize how late it was.’

‘We can leave if you want.’

‘I kinda don’t want to go home just yet,’ I said sheepishly.

‘I didn’t say anything about going home.’

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, puzzled by what he was saying. ‘You have a place in mind?’

‘I do,’ he said, before drinking the rest of his water. ‘What do you say? One last stop before I drive you home?’

At this point of the night, all my defences had already been down, and I didn’t even hesitate with an answer.

Smiling at him, I said, ‘Sure, why not?’