Dance of a Lifetime

by Frank Downey

  "Whozzat?" asked Rick." I thought Ally was your girlfriend?"

  Crash laughed. "I'm just kidding. Ally is my girlfriend. That stunning creature is Sophia-Warren's girlfriend."

  "You're kidding," said Jack.

  "Nope."

  The basketball game came to a halt, as the guys looked at Sophia. "Hey, Warren!" Matt shouted. "You didn't tell us your girlfriend was a complete, total, knockout!"

  Warren laughed, as Sophia blushed. "Now you know."

  "You're a lucky guy," shouted Jack. Sophia just blushed even deeper, as Chris whispered to Cheryl, "Just wait, Jack, you could get lucky with her, too."

  "Why aren't you playing?" Sophia asked Warren.

  "I was. Then Crash came in, and I needed to take a breather. Now if I go in, the sides will be unequal."

  "Let's both go in."

  "You play?"

  "Used to. I was always pretty good."

  "Let's go." They joined in, Warren with Rick's team like he was before and Sophia with the other team, over the protests of those guys. "How could can she be? She's a girl!" They quickly found out that she wasn't too bad at all. She could shoot, and at one point she picked Crash's pocket, turned around, and fired in a three-pointer.

  "Jesus Christ, getting my pocket picked by a girl."

  "Serves you guys right. How good can she be, she's a girl, my ass." Sophia teased.

  "Just tickle her next time." Warren advised.

  "Yeah, right. You'd kill me. Ally would really kill me."

  Warren laughed. "Too true."

  Sophia had the ball, and tried to go up for a lay-up, but Warren was guarding the basket. He tried to hold his ground as Sophia slammed into him, but he went down in a heap, with Sophia on top of him. Sophia looked at him, and, instead of getting off of him, snuggled into his chest.

  Crash cracked up. "You guys all right?"

  "Yeah," Warren said, while Sophia laughed.

  "OK!" said Rick, as he stood over them, making some sort of mock-referee motions with his hands. "That'll be a technical foul for MOLESTATION! Two shots for the lucky guy on the bottom of the pile." Everybody cracked up at that.

  The girls at the picnic table were watching this. "Jesus, how disgusting," Cheryl was saying. Christine nodded agreement. "Why doesn't the little slut just boink him right there on the court?"

  Ally overheard this one. "Y'know what?" she said. "I don't usually say anything out of respect to Mo, but, Cheryl, you've always been a nasty little shrew."

  "Who cares what you think?"

  "You don't care what anybody thinks, except your robotic little buddy over there," Ally spat out disgustedly, pointing at Christine. "You don't care about Warren. You don't care that Mo and Warren are friends, and that Warren and Sophia truly love each other, and that Mo-since she's Warren's friend-is trying to make this whole thing easier for them. You don't care about any of that. All you care about is how many nasty digs you can get in. And you're supposed to be friends with Mo, and you don't care about what an uncomfortable position you're putting Mo in-Mo's too damn nice to say anything, but it's certainly plain to me that you've put her between a rock and a hard place."

  "Yeah, well, Mo knew how we felt about that slut when she invited her here."

  "Maybe," Mo finally spoke up, "but I mistakenly thought you'd have a little class about it."

  Cheryl sputtered, and started to say something, but the basketball game was breaking up, and the players, including Warren and Sophia, were making their way back to the picnic table.

  "Whew!" Sophia exclaimed. Warren handed her a Coke. "Thanks, dear heart. I needed this." She took a sip. "Oy. I can't remember the last time I worked up such a sweat."

  Warren got a gleam in his eye. "This morning, with me."

  "Oh yeah!"

  "That's disgusting! Do we have to hear the details of your little sex life?" Cheryl spat out.

  Sophia cracked up. Warren just looked at her blankly, and said, "Actually, I was talking about ice skating."

  Cheryl stared blankly. "What?"

  "Ice skating. We're skating together, and we did so this morning. Sophia used to be an ice dancer, and since I was always a singles skater with crummy jumps, she persuaded me to take up ice dance, and to take it up with her. And we were working hard today, and worked up a sweat."

  "Yeah," Sophia agreed, "but it's a lot easier to make that sweat go away when you're working in a cold ice rink."

  Mo smiled at them. "So you guys are skating together? That's really cool."

  Sophia smiled back. "Yeah, I really missed it. I hadn't skated in a couple years. Luckily, I didn't forget much. We're going to use the next year to train and stuff, and, a year from September, we're planning on competing, see how we do."

  "Excellent!" added Ally.

  "We gonna see you in the Olympics some day?" asked Crash.

  Warren laughed. "Well, anything's possible, but most skaters that get that far train a hell of a lot more than we have the time to do. Considering we just started skating together, however, it's gone swimmingly well."

  "How cozy," spat out Cheryl. "How positively cozy. So Sophia has limited getting her body all sweaty to the confines of ice rinks?"

  Sophia just laughed at her. "Not hardly. There's basketball courts, too." She smiled at Warren. "And a few other places I can think of."

  "I thought I said we didn't need to hear details about your sex life, slut." Cheryl said.

  Sophia stopped laughing, and looked down. Ally looked like she was going to slap Cheryl, but Warren took over: "Geez, Cheryl, I think we should give you all the details. You could take notes. And then you'd have a reference, just for the odd chance that someday you might find a guy stupid and or desperate enough to give you a sex life that doesn't involve your right hand and a cucumber!"

  Mo got all wide-eyed, and said, "Warren!" but there was a slight smile on her lips. Crash and Ally fell on the floor laughing, as Sophia looked at Warren with a huge smile. Cheryl was, of course, indignant. "I don't have to sit here and take this from you!"

  "Good," Warren said. "Don't sit there. Scram. Good bye. Do Svidanya. Don't let the fucking door hit you in the ass on the way out. On second thought, do let the fucking door hit you in the ass on the way out."

  Cheryl sat up straight. "You cannot tell me to leave. I am Mo's friend. I was invited here."

  "Yup. I was, too. And so was Sophia, who has sat there and taken your abuse-and we've heard every word of it-and not said a thing. And she wouldn't, out of respect for Mo. Something you apparently have none of. Come on, Soph, let's leave these two hyenas to their cages." They got up off the picnic table and wandered over to the chairs on the grass, finding Lisa, Len, Tina, and Kate holding court. There were a few chairs left, but Sophia and Warren grabbed a seat on the grass. Crash, Ally, and most of the crew from the basketball game joined them. Cheryl and Chris were left alone at the picnic table, along with Mo, who really was caught between a rock and a hard place.

  "Do you believe the nerve of him?" Cheryl said.

  "Yeah, I believe it," interjected Mo. "You certainly deserved it."

  "What?"

  "Come on, Cheryl. You know you did."

  "Some friend you are!"

  "After that little display, Cheryl, I could say the same for you." Mo made a decision. She got off the picnic table and started heading towards the chairs. "And, by the way, the cucumber line was dead-on." And off she went, leaving Cheryl and Christine alone and indignant.

  The gate opened. "OK, Dah-lings, I'm here-the party can now begin." It was Siobhan Bates, the one of Maureen's school friends that Warren actually liked. She made her way over to the knot of people on the grass.

  She was exchanging greetings, blowing kisses in her flamboyant way, when she got to Sophia.

  "Sophia Daniels? Oceanview High's favorite party favor? What on earth are you doing here?"

  Sophia's heart sank. Not again, she thought. But Warren spoke up, "Be nice, Siobhan, that's my girlfriend you're talking about."


  "Huh? WHAT?"

  "Yup," interjected Mo. "I told Warren to invite her. They've been going out for a couple months now."

  "Oh," said Siobhan. "Well, that's different. I'm sorry, dear, I shouldn't have said that. I know Warren well enough to trust that he's made an honest woman out of you?"

  Sophia just smiled and nodded.

  "Good. Any girlfriend of Warren's is a friend of mine." She looked over at the picnic table. "What's with those two?"

  "Ah, well," Warren said, "they weren't as accepting of my choice of girlfriends as you are."

  "Figures. Well, War, they don't love you like I love you." She blew kisses at him. "You happy, me happy."

  Everyone laughed at that. "Besides which, Cheryl is just a complete bitch anyway, and, as for Chris, she's still kicking herself for turning you down. More so now, I'd surmise."

  "Turned you down?" Sophia asked.

  "Warren asked her out, about six months ago." Siobhan supplied. "Turned him down flat."

  Sophia just looked at Warren. Warren grinned sheepishly and said, "Desperation."

  "True," grinned Siobhan. "As some of us told you at the time, War. Anyhow, she shot him down, wasn't nice about it at all-which got him over her in a damn hurry, thank God-and I have it on good authority that she regrets it. And now she sees you getting all cuddly-like with a girl who is forty times better looking than she is. She must be having a conniption."

  Warren laughed. "Here's a question-if she's been kicking herself, why'd she turn me down in the first place?"

  Siobhan looked at Warren like he had three heads. "For the same reason we told you not to ask her out in the first place, dummy. Because if she went out with you, she'd never hear the end of it from Cheryl. And Christine doesn't take a dump without Cheryl's permission."

  "Ah."

  "I'll have to go over there and thank her for saying no." quipped Sophia. "Now I get Romeo here all to myself." Everyone laughed at that.

  "Nope, you still have to share him with me," said Siobhan. She blew more kisses. "However, I am generous with my men."

  "All zero of them," joked Warren.

  "Ah, my dear," said Siobhan, "that is only because I am very discriminating."

  "Oh, really?" said Warren. "Is that why you went out with The Fabulous Mike Kelly for six months?" Siobhan shot him a glare.

  Sophia was amazed: "You went out with Mike Kelly?"

  "You know him?"

  "Unfortunately."

  "Ah well," said Siobhan, "we all make mistakes, don't we? Hopefully we learn from them."

  "Yes, we do," said Sophia happily, "and, I can tell you that I sure learned from mine," as she snuggled into Warren, getting a chuckle out of everyone.

  "Who's Mike Kelly?" asked Alison.

  Siobhan just rolled her eyes. Sophia giggled, and responded, "Mike Kelly is the most gorgeous, most fantastic, most desirable guy at Oceanview High. And if you don't believe me, just ask him, and he'll tell you all about it."

  "Aah," said Ally knowingly. "One of those."

  "Yup. A legend in his own mind," quipped Sophia.

  "I'll tell you, it was an interesting experience," related Siobhan. "I spent the whole relationship feeling like a fifth wheel, intruding on the fabulous romance between him and him."

  Sophia laughed, "Well, the closest I've ever come to that is my current relationship with The Genius, here." Everyone laughed at that, except for Warren, who was busy trying to look intellectual. "He only crosses the line into insufferably smug once in a great while, luckily." Warren gave her a "who, me?" look. "Yes, you, Romeo."

  "Uh, huh. Is that why you gave me a boatload of shit because I had trouble with that sequence on the ice today?"

  "Of course. Payback's a bitch, darling." Even Warren laughed. "I am a better skater than you are. That is the one and only thing I am better than you at, and don't you forget it."

  "I agree-with the you being a better skater part, of course."

  "Good boy. He's easily trained, at least."

  "Oh, come on, Sophia." It was Cheryl. She and Christine had snuck up on the group unnoticed. "You mean to tell me that the only thing you're better at than Warren is skating? Jesus, you'd think you'd have enough experience in other areas to lord it over poor, inexperienced Warren."

  Mo shot her a look, about to say something, but Sophia spoke up first. "Well, Cheryl, experience is fine, but mere experience is nothing compared to sheer, unadulterated, overwhelming talent."

  "Yeah, right. Surrrre," piped up Christine.

  "Yup," said Sophia. "I won't go any further, because y'all said you didn't want to be bored with the sordid details of our sex life, but, I'll just tell you, Christine, that you made one heck of a big mistake when you turned him down. A big mistake. You should've taken him up on it. He's so good he might have even made a sourpuss like you smile once in a while." Sophia looked at Warren. "Oh, look, he's blushing. He is so damn cute when he blushes." Whereupon she launched herself at his lap and tackled him into the grass, kissing him, provoking laughter from most of the gang, cheers from Siobhan and Ally, and sputters of indignation from Cheryl and Chris.

  "Y'see?" said Cheryl. "The little hussy would probably do him right here."

  "Not a bad idea," agreed Sophia. "Anyone got a camera?" she said with a grin. Then she climbed off Warren, who sat up, blushing but bemused. "Ah, well, why tempt ourselves, dear heart?"

  Most of the gang couldn't conceal their laughter. Cheryl, however, was still trying to get digs in. "So, Sophia, did you have cozy little scenes like this with the rest of your boyfriends?"

  Sophia stopped smiling. She got a hard look on her face, and made a decision. "No. No I did not. In fact, I wouldn't have dared. I wasn't allowed to do things like that."

  "Allowed?" snorted Cheryl. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

  "Sophie, you don't have to do this. Not for those two," Warren interjected.

  "Yeah, I do. Maybe not for those two, but for myself. And maybe for people like Mo and Siobhan, who have been so nice to me, but I know still have their doubts." Mo and Siobhan started to say something, but Sophia cut them off. "You do, and it's natural. You care about Warren. It's all right, I understand, having a little bit of experience in caring about Warren." She grinned lopsidedly at Warren, and then got serious again.

  She took a deep breath. "My reputation precedes me. It's not a particularly nice one, but it's not entirely right, either." She looked at Cheryl and Christine. "You call me a slut. Now, that implies that I sleep around, something I've never, ever done. I've been to bed with more than one guy, but it was always one at a time. Slut also implies that I enjoy sex, something that also isn't true"-she blushed, and smiled a little-"well, it wasn't true before Warren. Slut also implies that I had some choice in the matter, which was only half-true."

  She reached her hand in her pocketbook, and withdrew a photo. Warren saw her, and tried to stop her. "Sophie, you really don't have to do this."

  "Yeah, I do. Warren, trust me. There are parts of my past that I have to answer to-but there are parts that I do not, and I'm tired of trying to answer to them. But I also have to face up to this. It's over, and now I have you"-she smiled at him-"but it happened. I've avoided talking about it, a lot. Maybe that was a mistake. These are your friends. They care about you. They worry about you. They deserve to know the truth about your girlfriend."

  She took a deep breath, and looked at Cheryl and Chris. "You asked me if I had this kind of fun, the kind I have with Warren, with my previous boyfriends. No, I didn't. I have a picture here of the kind of 'fun' that my previous boyfriends, especially my last one, provided for me. I keep this picture with me all the time, as a reminder of where I was, and as a reminder to make damn sure I never get there again. I got lucky. I got myself out of this, with the help of the most wonderful guy in the world. But this is what my life was like when you all were calling me a slut."

  She handed the picture over to Mo, as Siobhan, Cheryl, and Chris looked on. It was
a picture taken in that week after she had dumped Scott, in the aftermath of the beating. She had had Jesse take the photo, as a reminder, and also to give copies to the police. She was naked from the waist up, except for a bra, but the vicious bruises on her shoulder, chest, and back were plainly apparent-as was the black eye, bruised cheek, and bloody lip.

  "Oh Jesus," commented Mo. Siobhan just gasped. Chris and Cheryl had the good sense not to say anything, but even their eyes got wide. Mo handed the photo back to Sophia.

  "So. There it is. Do I party too much, not do well enough in school, hang around with some less than savory friends? Yeah, I do. But I was never a slut. And the guys who were spreading around rumors that I was a slut were also doing this to me." She pointed at the photo. "I wasn't a slut. I was a victim of boyfriend abuse." She took a deep breath, and looked at the four girls. "If you pray for anything, please pray really, really hard that you never let your self-esteem plummet to the point where you allow anyone to do this to you. Because it ain't pretty." She forced a smile. "Luckily, Romeo over here forced a self-esteem elixir down my throat before things got any worse. Not to mention that he treats me like a princess-for the first time in my life; I'm happy-for the first time in my life; and he's almost as good in bed as he is at making chip dip." Even Warren laughed at that. "And I'm going to get up now, and go over and grab some of that faaaabulous chip dip, because, if I stay here, I'm going to break down." Warren started to get up. "No, dear heart. Stay with your friends. I'll be back in a minute." She walked away, unsteadily, sobbing a bit, to the table where the snacks were set up.

  The group was silent for a minute. Then Tina, who hadn't seen the picture, said, "What was in that photo?"

  Mo replied, "Sophia looking like she just went five rounds with Muhammed Ali, in his prime. It was brutal. Man, that took a lot of guts to do that."

  "Yes, it did," agreed Ally, looking pointedly at Cheryl and Christine.

  "You're right. It did," agreed Cheryl.

  "I love her so much," said Warren. "I want to kill the guys that did that to her. Ah, well-all I can do is pray that she continues to heal."

  "Is she?" asked Mo.

  "Yeah, she is," smiled Warren. "Slowly, surely, but she is."