Chapter 286: Speed Dancing, Part 1

I've only danced a few times in my life… even lesser times actually accompanied. Focusing on keeping in grace with the melody, I wouldn't know my right foot from my left. 

But out of respect and for the keepsake of tradition, I bottled away those qualms and tightly sealed the cap shut. Now was I supposed to stand here or was I supposed to stand there? The announcer said to line ourselves, and yet everyone's placement felt sporadic and spontaneous. 

Then just as spontaneous and sporadic, the music began to play and suddenly it was a free-for-all scramble for a partner. When the commotion had dwindled and the dust had cleared, I found myself hand-in-hand with an Elf. 

It wasn't Ash, sadly. No, I looked around, scoured, as I clumsily tried to keep pace… and I saw her distinct flutter of white quite a ways away, waltzing along to the music, her hands entwined with that of the seriously, astronomically, undeniably lucky individual that got to her first.