1972
fourteenth of october
the harvest moon masquerade
evening
“No, no–wait. I want to switch to Truth.”
Aurie was
not having it, though. A dare was a dare and there was no turning back on it. Sofia pouted a moment, but her friend was right
of course. But dares were certainly getting more dangerous the older she got. Or maybe it was the same amount of danger but she just had a lower embarrassment threshold.
Weren’t you supposed to get more confident the older you got? Well, fifteen just wasn’t the age for it, apparently.
“Fine, who again?” She followed her friend’s finger and she nodded, “Got it, got it. Be back.”
Sofia ran her hands down her
dress, tucked a red lock behind her ear and, with a deep breath, crossed the dancefloor to the person standing near the drink table.
For a moment she was frozen in place by the fear of rejection. It was dizzying. Her heart was going to crack into a million pieces. It was
–
dramatic.
She could be confident.
She
could.
Finally she tapped their shoulder and then smiled. “Hi,” she said, “Do you want to dance?”
Almost immediately the flimsy faux-confidence cracked and fell to the floor at her feet and with it the protection she’d mustered against the irrational fear.
“I mean, if you want– I mean–” she said quickly, “I mean just
one dance and then I’ll leave you alone.
Forever if you want, which is a big trade off for a 3, maybe 4 minute song, but, uhmmm…”
She adjusted the
mask on her eyes.
