Take My Hand and Don't Let Go

As I walked into the ballroom of a new hotel in the middle of New York City, I linked arms with Joe, whom also had Ariel on his arm, and the three of us walked down the steps that lead to the dance floor. In front of us was another couple who had a third wheel. It were three friends of Serena and Ariel. On the left was Ashlee, beside her was her fiancee Patrick and then the single lady Bianca, who I would be joing on the east side of the ballroom as soon as I walked down the steps to where the single people had to wait for a desperate man to ask them to dance. Behind us were Serena and Kevin, and following them were Denise and Paul.

Joe inclines his head towards me, his black mask covering half of his face and I shadowed my eyes to look at him but still keeping my face forward, I just needed to get another image of him in my mind

"don't worry about him, he doesn't know what you're wearing and if I see him coming towards you I'll do my best to stop him" Joe whispered to me, not meeting my eyes

"are you sure ?" I asked him, still nervous about Nick, who was here tonight but I still didn't know what his appearance was, so if he asked me to dance, I wouldn't know it was him, and the voice would be a problem, I blocked it out of my head so that I couldn't even hear it in my memory, and I was told by certain family sources that he had done the same.

"I am positive" he said as we reached the bottom of the staircase "I'll see you late" he said, and then I was suddenly moving my legs towards where my eyes were following Bianca's teal dress sway as she walked towards the so-called "singles area".

Bianca and I locked eyes for a moment, I sent her a fake smile and she returned the gestured as I kept moving to an empty spot next to her.

"are you nervous ?" she asked as I reached my destination

"a little, what about you ?"

"a little, it is just that I don't want to end up with a bastard" she replied to me

"I feel the same way" I mumbled to myself, obviously hoping Nick wasn't going to be the one.

Music was already playing, Ariel and Joe were the only people I could pick out of the croud who were swaying on the floor. I sighed, a little bit of envy in it. Of course I loved Joe and Ariel, but they were just so happy together, so in love, this should have been the kind of love that everybody expeienced, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't one of those 'together just for sex' relationships. It suprised me that they had been together for almost two years and that they wern't engaged yet. Though that thought probably set the whole thing up. I recalled Joe's palms being filled with sweat as our hands gently brushed against eachother before we put our arms together as we were entering the building. His face filled with akward joy, but it wasn't fooling me know, he wasn't trying to be funny, he was hiding his nervousness in sarcasticness.

This made me feel acomplished, especially now that I knew it and it was a secret.

A voice that came up from the band that was playing on the stage interupted my thoughts about Joe and Ariel.

"okay, everybody, it is time to dance with the person that you didn't escort here tonight" the lead singer said, and before I knew it, the reconizable mask was now in my field of view and suddenly pulling me onto the dance floor.

"Joe, why are dancing with me ?" I asked, looking around at the other couples. I saw Kevin and Serena breaking the rules by continuing to dance with eachother. Ariel dancing with Paul, Denise and the man I saw before who was talking to Paul and Denise vefore we got to the hotel. I think he was Denise's cousin or something in relation to her.

"because Serena rejected me" he said with his little sarcasticness again "because I wanted to dance with you"

"okay, well..." I said, looking around to make sure that Ariel wasn't in the hearing range "when are you proposing to Ariel ?" I asked him with my little mischivious smile and watched the most hilarious shock form onto his face

"how in the world did you figure that out ?" he asked me, still with shock

I chuckled silently "I just know you"

"ha.ha, very funny, but really, don't tell anyone, I'm doing my best to make this a surprise" he said going from humor to serious.

"your secret is safe with me" I honestly told him

"good" he said, and then we carried on a gentle conversation about him and Ariel.

"when are you gunna do it ?" I asked with pleasure

"I'll share another dance with her, and then we can sway all the way to the stage, and when we get to the stairs, I'll walk her up the stage right as the band's song starts to fade out, take the microphone, and pop the question" he explained to me

"aww, Joe that's so sweet" I told him as the song ended

"thankyou my young friend" he said

"eighteen to twenty-one is not that young Joseph" I told him as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around sure enough to see Ariel standing infront of me

"may I have the pleasure of dancing with him ?" she asked with a very sincere smile plastered onto her face

"yes you may" I said to my new friend "thanks Joe" I said before kissing his cheek and leaving, passing by Ariel and gave her the same sincere smile that she had given me.