To a Girl in Yellow Dress

I zig zagged in between an endless maze of tables, and finally caught sight of the yellow dress again. There she was. I walked up to her just as she was starting to stand up. She didn't hear or see me and seemed quite startled as I got close and said, 

     "Hi, I'm Jason." 

She stared into my eyes, her mouth open, her cheeks flushed. She tried to stand up all the way and simultaneously looked ecstatic and mortified. She stumbled against her chair, fell into the butter on the table, and made no sound. Part of me wanted to run away because I felt terrible, the other part wondered if she was deaf, and maybe thats why she was startled and hadn't spoken. I quickly racked my memory, then slowly signed,

     "Hi, my name is Jason." 

She started to sign back, but then, she she shook her head and spoke,

     "I'm Melody." 

I almost had to have her repeat her name, I was so enamored with her eyes. They were green, startlingly green, like the color of a vintage glass bottle. 

I wanted to die when I replied with, 

     "Well, how about I call you Land O?" I was trying, but failing (or so I thought) to be funny. She looked confused, so I grabbed the cloth napkin off the table and started wiping the butter off her arm. She blushed, then asked,

     "Lando, like the star wars guy?" I laughed out loud. 

     "Land O...like Land o' lakes...cuz...the butter." 

It was her turn to laugh. I instantly felt better about my lame joke and the ice was broken. We started talking and couldn't stop. I found out she was a nanny to the brides cousin, had been divorced, and was two years younger than me. 

I told her about my job as a math tutor, how I had been almost engaged once but broke it off pre-proposal, and loved David Bowie. She responded by telling me about being obsessed with Billy Joel, and all about her best friend, Ellie. 

When she finished, I asked her to dance. I was thrilled when she murmured, 

     "Um, ok." 

I grinned and stood up, then she added,

     "But I have no rythm and I'm not good at it." 

     "Who cares?" 

I smiled at her, shrugging. Melody seemed scared as I lead her to the dance floor, she clung to my arm and bit her lower lip. 

When we found a good spot, she looked up at me, unsure what to do. I took her in my arms, and showed her the most basic step, we were basicslly just swaying. I nodded, to show her it was okay, that her dancing was fine. She grinned, then pulled me close, her head fitting perfectly under my chin. 

As I kept one hand in middle of her back, with the other holding her tiny hand, I knew, as we danced, that something life changing was happening. I breathed in the lavendar scent coming from her hair and brushed my thumb over the soft fabric of her dress. I leaned in to kiss the top of her head, caught up in the moment, but remembered I had just met her, so instead I leaned towards her ear and whispered, 

     "You're dancing is fine, this is...so nice." 

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