Wedding = Chaos (III--Dancing Madness)

My sister got me to serve as money collector for the dollar dance, the dance where the bride (and sometimes the groom, as in this case) dances with a bunch of people who have each paid a dollar to dance. Of course, there are a lot of people who pay more in, just so the couple can get more money for the Honeymoon. So I collected money for April, Landon's sister collected money for him.

Since the reception was Mardi Gras themed, April and Landon both wore tons of beads to be given to the people they dance the dollar dance with. I had an oddly shaped glass to hold out so people could drop in their money. As each stepped forward, they had beads put on them and then danced.

There was a great assortment of people lined up to dance. Grandparents from both sides, parents from both sides, etc. My Dad, even though he'd already danced with April, got in line just the same. My Mom got in Landon's line, Landon's Dad got in April's line... you get the idea.

I had the thought that I might just drop in a dollar if the line got thin enough. My cousin, Steven, had a different idea. He came up and said, "If I put in a dollar, will you go dance with her?" I told him he could go dance with her, but he wasn't interested in that, even though my other present male cousin had already danced with April. I agreed under the stipulation that it'd have to wait for the line to get thinned out some.

I noticed things were getting thinned out and the dance had gone on for a while, so I called Steven back up. I told him to stand in line like he was next, then take the glass of money while I danced with April. I passed the glass off, and walked up to April. With it as dark as it was, she couldn't quite tell who was coming up to her until they were there. She got some beads halfway on me and screamed out, "OH MY GOD!" After another second of two, she added, " MOM! SOMEBODY! GET THE CAMERA! YOU'RE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS!" I danced with her for a few minutes, which was heavily photographed, and let the next guy take a turn.

Then, there was the twisting later on, which I got dragged into for a minute. Not too bad--

******Commander's Interjection*********
--Bullshit, you're a terrible dancer. That's why the last time you danced before then was at Senior Prom in 1997. Eight years ago. Also, you sucked less then.
*****End Interjection*****

OK, I'm a terrible dancer. My parents are excellent dancers, my sister is fair to good at it. Me; no desire, no experience. As some other facet of my mind has blurted out, it's been a while.

Then, there was Crystal. Some of you have heard this tale, already. I'm not brain dead, I remember things if I hear them a time or two.

I was taking some pictures with those disposable cameras, trying to get some pictures just so relatives could remember the dance (that's a long story itself), and I found myself being dragged to the dance floor to dance with my sister again. OK, she took me by surprise, it's payback for earlier. Then, she spun me into a group of her friends that I knew only by reputation for being unique individuals. They took turns dancing upon me.

One of these two was a girl by the name of Crystal. I found this out because she decided I was going to be her dance partner for the next song, which was a slow song. And she kept hold of me during the next song. And the next song. And the next song. We had a fine discussion while we danced. Then there were the points where she was dancing upon me. Bump and grind sort of dancing. I sure as hell don't know how to do that, much less how to react to it.

She was very into dancing and very taken with me. I don't know what to do here! Most people whould say, "Hey baby, wanna go back to [fill in the blank]?" Not me. I'm family, so I'm post-reception clean-up crew or I'm disowned. I barely know this girl and--

Then I saw, she was moving her face in, closing her eyes, and slightly pushing out her lips. She wanted to kiss me. I barely knew this girl, so no way I'm doing that. She was nice enough, simple normal girl, loved, absolutely loved dancing. Finally, I made a really cheap excuse to get off the dance floor. She wanted me to stay with her, but I said I had to sit down. She wanted me to catch up with her, even though I never did.

The next morning, I learned my sister had been proclaiming I had a new girlfriend the whole time. UGH. Aside from totally being taken off guard, I got the experience of jumping into the dollar dance with my sister, which is a memory I'll always keep with me.