"Really? Now?" he asked, looking at me.
"Yeah. I mean, if you want."
"I do," he said nodding.
We took a few steps away from the spot where we were standing, and got to the edge of the area where people were dancing. James took a hold of me confidently, placing one hand in mine and the other on the back of my waist.
And there it was—happening again.
I honestly never knew what the word swoon meant. I had read romance novels, but I had never experienced swooning, myself. I could imagine it was a certain, specific feeling that came over a person, but now I knew what that feeling was. I was light-headed and love-struck as James took me into his arms. We were only touching lightly, but even still, there were currents of electricity flowing through me at the places where we made contact.
The Christmas Song was basically over, and I prayed with all my might that there would be another ballad. I got my wish. Quentin went right into another song. It was My Girl, and it wasn't as slow as the one before it, but there was no need for James and me to separate. We just kept touching and swaying.
James led me, and I was thankful for that.
The extent of my physical attraction to him was honestly a surprise. I could hardly look at him. He was movie star handsome, and I didn't even know it. I must have been extremely loyal to Michael to not have noticed the extent of this handsomeness when I met him the first time.
"See, I told you they weren't playing all Christmas music," he said as we swayed.
"Yeah, he's switching off, isn't he? I'm glad. It might be weird dancing to Christmas music."
"We were just doing it," he said. "Was that weird for you?"
"No, no, no, definitely not weird. No. I meant, you know, like that one was generic. But how about Silent Night… is it weird to slow dance to that?" It was an honest question, I looked around at the other couples dancing and wondered.
"He played Silent Night earlier before you got here, and there were people dancing."
"Were you dancing?" I asked.
"No," he said with a smile.
"Were you dancing to other songs?"
I pulled back to look at him and I experienced a wave of excitement and desire. He was big and masculine, and I felt protected and cared for in his arms. I had to fight the urge stretch up and kiss him right then.
"Did I dance with anyone before you got here?" he asked. "Is that what you were asking?"
"Yes."
"Yes, I did," he said. "A couple of nice young ladies asked me to dance before I decided to go take a shower. I was just coming back down here when you came in."
All those butterflies turned into jealousy. "Who did you dance with before? Young ladies? Who? Were you, like, fast dancing or slow dancing?"
"Fast dancing? No. I'm not big on fast dancing."
"W-wuh, you were slow dancing with someone?" I must have sounded as stunned as I felt because James pulled back to focus on me. "I mean, who was it? Were you really?"
"I guess you call it slow dancing," James said, innocently. "We were just doing this like what I'm doing with you now."
"You were dancing with someone like this? Who? Who was it?"
"I danced once with Dizzy's daughter, and once or twice with Quentin's sister. She asked me. They asked me. I wasn't even thinking about dancing, but I felt bad."
Both of the girls he mentioned were attractive, and it was with great difficulty that I kept a neutral face and didn't allow my extreme jealousy to show.
"Are you jealous?" he asked.
"What? Me? No. Yes. I am. I think I am."
My eyes met his.
"I didn't think I would be jealous, but thinking about Amanda or Jesse dancing with… twice?" I said. "Jesse asked you twice? Or was it Amanda that asked you twice?"
James smiled at my apparent frustration. "I don't even know their names. Jesse was the one who mentioned a second dance, I think. We were already out here dancing, and she just asked if I wanted to go again."
I made a groaning sound like I was mad, but then I smiled at him, using the moment as an excuse to squeeze him and hold him a little tighter.
"I'm just kidding. It's my fault for being late. But I am a little jealous. I would have been here earlier if I would have known other women were dancing with… you."
When I started the sentence, I was going to be playful and say something like 'other women were dancing with my man', but I couldn't bring myself to call him that as a joke when I really meant it.
I couldn't expect him to turn down those girls when they had asked him to dance, though. He was a nice guy, and he wasn't going to refuse them. And more than that, he and I were just friends. We had never, ever talked about being more than friends. Oh, goodness, why hadn't we talked about that?
James leaned down, holding me close and putting his mouth near my ear.
"I happen to be really happy that you're jealous," he said.
Goodness.
I was trying to pick the best thing to say in response to that when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Can we steal James to come show Dad that card trick when y'all are done?"
I glanced back to find Debbie and Dawn Carson. They were sisters in their thirties, and they were also the daughters of the people who owned the diner on the corner.
"Dad's only staying for a few more minutes," they said to James. "And we wanted you to show him that card trick you showed us earlier. That one where our card was on top, remember?"
"Sure," James said. "I'll be right over."
They thanked him, and he looked at me again as they walked away. The song was ending, anyway, so our swaying had come to a stop. A faster song started, and I pulled away from James, smiling and giving his arm a squeeze as I took a step back.
"You better go catch Mister Carson," I said. "We can dance again later." I was trying to be casual and easygoing. His popularity wasn't a surprise to me. I had seen him making friends at Teddy's party that time. I knew he had a way of being the center of everyone's attention. It's just that I never knew that I would want to be the center of his.
"How about you come with me, and then we can dance again when I'm done," he said.
I bit the inside of my lip and nodded, blinking up at him. James bent down and kissed my cheek, squeezing my upper arms to hold me in place for a second while he did it. He let me go, and I smiled at him.
"Stay with me," he said. "Come with me over there and don't leave my side."
"Okay," I said, agreeing easily.
James pulled me along, following Debbie and Dawn, and for the next half-hour, I watched him entertain the eight or ten people who were in Mister Carson's group. He showed them four card tricks and a magic trick with a coin. It was a special coin that Mrs. Carson had in her purse, and he made it appear in Dawn Carson's pocket. Even I didn't know how he did it. It was fun, and I loved that he knew how to make people smile.
I had grown up on this block, and I knew some of the employees over at Carson's Diner, but I rarely talked to Mister Carson himself or to his immediate family, so it was nice to spend a few minutes with them.
James and I excused ourselves when we saw my brother motioning for us to go to him. The Carsons had been meaning to slip out, anyway, so they took off.