I was incredulous at
the meanness of their reaction. Joanne and I had just put on a spectacular display of
dancing, we had thrilled the crowd, we provided energy to make the
night memorable. But no good deed goes unpunished.
Like Prometheus chained to the mountain for the crime of
bringing fire to humanity, it was my Fate to suffer mightily.
The
Diva Twins were angry at me for
doing what I was supposed to do, entertain. But
that was not how they saw it. In their
minds, this night was all about them.
They could not believe I would assist a complete nobody in
upstaging their Beauty Contest. How dare I ruin their fun!
In the next moment something
very funny happened...
they actually spoke to each other in a civil way.
Victoria looked at Patricia and Patricia looked at
Victoria. Victoria rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, you first."
Patricia wasted no time.
The Princess dragged me off the floor, took
me to the corner, aka the woodshed, then roared loud and clear.
"Rick, I am
your girlfriend, damn it!! What business do you
have dancing with anyone before me? I expected
you to show me proper respect in front of all these people.
Furthermore, who is that woman? And why does she
look at you like that?"
Pinned down by her
withering attack, I felt nothing but disgust for Patricia.
Seriously, as far as I was concerned, if Patricia wanted the
first dance, then quit sharing drinks and goo-goo eyes with strangers. If
you want respect, try standing by my side. But did I say
that? No! I wanted to live. As Patricia reamed
me out, out of the corner of my eye I saw Joanne heading for the
front door. Coward. Remember to leave flowers at the
grave.
Victoria tapped
Patricia on the shoulder who willingly stepped aside. It
was such an amazing display of cooperation, I worried that they
had become teammates. Victoria wasted no time turning on
the guilt machine. Boy, did she ever! With Patricia
watching from a nearby perch, Victoria lit into me.
"I am very angry at
you! Your lack of respect for me is intolerable!
Is there some reason why you chose to show off with a complete
stranger instead of your dance partner? We took a dance lesson
this morning for the sole purpose of performing together.
I extracted a promise that you would perform with me only to see you
betray me at the very first opportunity.
Where is your sense of
decency? Could you have at least shown the courtesy of asking
me first? No, that asking too much. Instead you chose to
embarrass me in front of all my guests by taking some stranger out on
the dance floor before me. Thanks a lot, buddy. My
friends can see how upset I am. You have ruined what should
have been the happiest moment of my life. Now I will be forced
to answer their questions all night long. I am so bitter I
could scream!!"
Noticing Patricia nearby,
Victoria got closer and began to whisper so only I could hear.
"Deep down I feel hurt,
really hurt. Do you lack even the slightest sense of
gratitude? I organized this event. And I came to your
rescue when Patricia was giving you a hard time. What a slap
to see you give the honor of the first dance to some nobody.
Why would you do something like that? Why would you
deliberately sabotage the biggest night of my life?
By the way, I have a
question that requires an honest answer. Who the hell is
that woman? Is that your little dance assistant
on Monday? Did the two of you plan this behind my back? Obviously you two are very
familiar which leads me to wonder where she learned to dance like
that. Clearly you taught her those acrobatics moves, so you
planned to embarrass me in advance, didn't you?
And while I'm at
it, why does she look at you like that?"
Victoria had not realized
Joanne was the party. I suppose that made sense since she had only seen Joanne
for all of 30 seconds two months ago. I resented Victoria's sharp
words. In my mind I had done nothing wrong. Since I came to
this party alone, that gave me the right to dance with whomever I chose.
I longed to snap back and put Victoria in her place. Bad idea, so
instead I tried the soft approach. I swore our performance was spontaneous and unexpected. As for the
hug, we were just friends and I guess the girl got excited. Why
make such a big deal out of it?
"Damn it, Rick, this is
my party! That should have been me out there! That is
why I'm incredibly angry at you!"
I knew what really
bothered Victoria. In her heart she knew she could never
have duplicated what Joanne did. For one thing, Victoria
did not know the first thing about acrobatics. A born
competitor, it galled Victoria no end to be upstaged at the
exact thing she had pegged her hopes on... performing. And
at her own party no less. Although I was angry at being
forced to defend myself, there was a part of me that realized
this stunning turnabout was a cruel reward indeed considering
all Victoria's hard work.
"Calm down, Victoria.
I most certainly did not plan to sabotage your evening. Besides, I
have told you about Joanne. She helps me every Monday, so I
decided to reward her with a dance."
"I did not realize
she was that good a dancer."
"That makes two of us.
I had no idea she was that good. In fact, that was the first time
I have danced with her in public."
Victoria eyed me coldly.
"Are you telling me the truth?"
"Yes, Victoria, that is the
truth. Our dancing was a complete accident, you have my word on
that."
"And why did she look at
you like that?"
"Isn't that a question
Patricia is supposed to ask?"
"Go to hell!!"
Realizing she was out of control, Victoria spun and stormed off with smoke coming out of her
ears. As she passed Patricia, she pointed to me. "When
you're done, I want to speak with him some more."
Patricia hit me with
the exact same questions. Where did Joanne come from?
Why was she so good? Why Joanne did hug me so tight at the
end of our dance? Was I dating Joanne? Have I ever
dated Joanne? Have I slept with Joanne? How did
Joanne and I meet?
