Michael wished he had bought a ticket for one of the back rows. He looked at the sea of suits and evening gowns around him and hid his legs under the chair, trying to look inconspicuous in his t-shirt and jeans and failing miserably. He prayed for the show to start so the lights would go off.
His prayers were answered almost immediately. The lights dimmed and the curtain rose to reveal a group of dancers walk in gracefully onto the stage and holding the audience captive with their beauty and poise. The girls were all one more beautiful than the other. Their semi-transparent costume hugging their supple bodies and very elegantly accentuating their curves.
But Michael did not have eyes to spare for them. He was looking at the young woman at the piano. Her hair pulled back in a fierce bun, wearing a black sleeveless button-down evening gown, fingers poised over the piano keys, waiting for the cue to start, her deep blue eyes combing the audience looking for someone. They came to rest on Michael and she smiled. The smile lit up her entire face. Her nose scrunched and her eyes crinkled prettily.
She was nice-looking enough, but compared to the vision of loveliness that the dancers were, no one in the audience was looking at the pale, averagely pretty looking girl in the corner.
Except for Michael. He beamed back at his sister, Katie.
Then she bent down at the piano and started the music.
Michael turned his attention to the stage but his eyes kept flitting back to Katie. As the show progressed, his eyes settled on Katie and his mind wandered.
This was one of the craziest weekends of his life. He thought about how it all started last night.
_________
When Michael's cell rang that night, it was the worst possible timing. He had in his bedroom right then, the hottest girl in his campus, drunk and naked.
He considered not picking up, but then looked at it and it said, Katie calling...
He had to pick this one up.
"Hello", he whispered.
"Michael, hi. Are you busy right now? Can you talk for a couple of minutes?"
"Umm..., he scratched his head and looked at the door behind which his wildest sexual fantasy was unraveling, but Katie sounded desperate. He shot a look full of longing at the door. And said, "Sure Katie, tell me."
"Mike, Derek and I broke up."
Michael's heart did a huge flip inside him. He tried to sound more upset when he...wasn't. "What? Why", he asked, not caring for the reason at all.
And Katie proceeded to tell him all about everything that was wrong in the relationship. And not so surprisingly, she was blaming herself more than the *$&%#, as he called Derek in his mind.
Half an hour later, Katie was still talking. Michael was yet to open his mouth. At last Katie took a deep shuddering breath and said, "So I don't know if he's gonna show up at the concert tomorrow. You're still coming right?"
Michael cleared his throat to check if his faculties of speech still functioned and said, "Wouldn't miss it for the world. And tell you what, I am going to take you out to dinner after and we can talk about whatever you want. Bitchin about Derek or the Grand Success that was your show, your pick."
What he was really telling her was of course that she had him to fall back on if there was any trouble. That there was safe place for her to go.
"Thanks Mike." She said softly, "I love you." And she hung up.
