Dave: The Last Dance of the Evening

The birthday party had carried on well into the night. Dave was amazed by the stamina displayed by Paris’ parents, which threatened to outweigh his own. As the midnight hour approached, the smallest party guests were rounded up, though most of them seemed too hyper to sleep, most likely due to second helpings of the sugar laden birthday cake. A small boy of five apparently had skipped that indulgence, though, judging by the way he latched onto Dave’s leg and peered up at him, giving in to a gigantic yawn before mumbling “Are you my mummy?” Dave had been talking with Steve, who immediately snickered knowingly, forcing Dave to shoot him a ‘don’t even go there’ look before kneeling down and ruffling the boy’s hair, telling him in no uncertain terms it was time to go to his room.

Though he’d arrived with a plan to be polite, unobtrusive and not give any reason for stodgy members of the family to be shocked, Dave had slowly been worn down throughout the evening by the antics of Auntie Eileen. After he’d returned from his walk on the beach with Kate, she’d asked him to dance. The band had calmed out from the earlier Scottish tunes, and to Dave’s surprise, they played a nice easygoing rendition of “Moonlight Serenade”, well within Dave’s comfort zone. But as the song ended, she gave him a huge smile and refused to let go of his hand, and Dave knew he’d been had.

( Dancing ... )