by Amy DeMeritt
“Hey, Stacey.” She gets really excited and blushes beet red. “Oh, my god, you remember my name.” Symone snickers and nudges me in the ribs, before saying, “So, Stacey, do you have a table for all of us?” The girl looks at Symone and is speechless for a moment, but then rushes behind the hostess stand and looks at her seating chart. “Yes, our long King Arthur table is available”
Stacey grabs menus and bundles of silverware wrapped in cloth napkins, and leads us to a long thick wooden table with high back cushioned chairs. We take a seat and I notice Sara and the others in the dance group pull out their ID’s.
“Do you have a drink menu?” Stacey nods and grabs a thick black book off the center of the table and hands it to Sara. “I’ll grab more so you don’t have to share. I’ll grab a couple pitchers of fruit water and some rolls and butter as well.”
“Thank you.”
She rushes away and Keira leans over to look at the drink menu with Sara. The rest of us open our food menus. Awenasa is sitting to my right and has her left hand resting on the table, so I reach over and take her hand in mine and hold it while we look at our menus. She looks over with a smile and kisses my lips for a moment.
“What are you going to get, puppy?”
“I think I want the duck this time. What about you?”
“Depends what the special is, but I’m leaning towards the sage rubbed roasted chicken.”
“That sounds good. Can I have a bite?” She smiles and kisses my lips again. “Of course, puppy.”
Symone is sitting directly across from me and when I look up, she’s watching me with a small amused grin. I stick my tongue out at her and she laughs and looks back down at her menu.
Stacey and our waitress return with pitchers of fruit water, glasses, baskets of bread, and dishes of butter.
“Stacey, is Dana working today?” She smiles and nods. “She is and I told her you’re here. She’s going to come out to say hi in a few minutes.”
“Cool, thanks.”
Stacey nods in a happy way and leaves the table. Our waitress takes her place and looks around with a friendly smile.
“I’m Kelly and I’ll be taking care of you today. Can I take your drink orders?” The dance crew orders mixed drinks and I raise my eyebrows when they also order shots. Sara looks at Shannon, who is the only one in the family over twenty-one and asks, “Will you do a shot with us?” Shannon looks at me as if asking my permission and I smile. “I don’t care if you drink, baby.” She smiles and nods. “Ok, sure.”
Kelly leaves to put their drink orders in and Dana comes out a moment later. I stand up and give her a hug. When I pull back, she looks at the table smiling and waves to everyone.
“How’s Alexis doing in class?”
“Great. She’s having a blast and she loves Jaime and the friends she’s making. Her attitude about everything is a complete turnaround. I can’t thank you enough.” I smile and shake my head. “That’s really great, but I’m paying for this meal today.” She laughs and blushes. “Ok, but can I make you something special off menu?”
“As long as you charge me for it. Can you make the giant shrimp that you made last time?”
“Absolutely. I’ll have some plates brought out soon and surprise you with a couple others.” I get an idea and I take her elbow and walk her away from the table so no one can hear me. “I know your inventory is based off your menu, but do you happen to have buffalo or elk?”
“Actually, I just received a nice piece of elk this morning for the planned appetizer special for tomorrow. I’ll make you a few plates of that as well.” I smile and give her a quick hug. “Thank you.”
When I sit down, I take Awenasa’s hand and kiss it. She smiles and looks in my eyes, asking, “What did you do, puppy?” I smile and shrug a shoulder. “Nothing that special, but it’s for you.”
Before she can respond, the waitress is back with the drinks and to take our food orders. When she leaves, each of them pick up their shots and Sara and the others look at me with smirks. They clink their glasses together in “cheers” and then down the shot.
After swallowing, they say, in unison, “Damn firewater,” and all of my girls laugh really hard. I just look at Sara and shake my head. “How long have you had that planned?” She laughs with a proud goofy grin. “I thought of it when we were following you here.”
“Cute. So, what’s this project Jade’s working on?”
We talk for a little while about Jade’s project and projects all of them have been working on this summer till two servers bring out trays of multiple plates of appetizers. They pretty much fill the entire center of the table with some of the most artfully made delicious looking food I’ve ever seen.
Our waitress sets two plates closest to me, and says, “These are your special request. You have marinated elk loin kababs with a balsamic fig reduction and fire roasted summer vegetable kababs. Enjoy.”
Awenasa looks at me with tears brimming in her eyes and quickly wraps me in her arms and pulls me into a kiss. Elk is a big staple food on the reservation and she has been missing it a lot. I ordered her some online, but it’s been on back order for weeks and probably won’t arrive before we have to leave town. When she pulls back, she rests her forehead against mine and looks in my eyes smiling.
“Thank you, puppy.”
“You’re welcome, love. I hope you like it.”
She gently kisses my lips and I wipe her eyes dry with the pads of thumbs before she releases me. When we pull apart, everyone is looking at us with smiles and haven’t even touched the food yet.
“What? Haven’t you seen two people kiss before?”
They laugh a little and start eyeing up the plates to see what they want. I smile when Sara immediately reaches for the giant shrimp. She was drooling over the picture I sent her last time we came here.
Awenasa and I split the elk between us and my girls before we offer the remainder to the rest of the table. I watch Awenasa slide the meat off the skewer and cut a small bite off. Without dipping it in the reduction, she eats the bite of meat and immediately smiles around her fork.
“Perfect. Thank you, my love. This is so delicious.”
I smile and kiss her cheek. Each of my other babies also agree that it’s delicious and we all dive in to finish off our plates and try the other amazing appetizers Dana created for us. Sara and the rest of the group are really enjoying the food and love the atmosphere of the restaurant, which makes me happy. This is my town and I like that I have someplace enjoyable and impressive to host them. The others are used to being able to go out to great restaurants in Philly, New York, Baltimore, and DC, so it’s nice that I have someplace here that can easily compete with those big city restaurants.
Sam has been out with the whole group like this when we were in New York, but this is the first time all of my girls have been out with my dance crew and I can tell they’re all enjoying themselves. The conversations mostly comprise of each person talking about projects they’ve been working on this summer or will be working on after California and my girls hang on every word, completely intrigued.
Since Symone has stopped her aggressive behavior, being out together like this is even better than it was in New York. The tension that existed then, is gone. Even if she looks at me too long, or glances at my lips, it doesn’t make me tense up anymore. Even Sam is more relaxed and actually engages in conversation with her, which I can tell makes Symone really happy. Symone’s attitude if very different from the other times I’ve had to be around her.
The rest of lunch is really good. The food is delicious of course because Dana prepared it, and we have a lot of fun laughing and talking. It’s really nice. After we’ve finished eating and Kelly clears the table, she asks if we want dessert and we unfortunately have to decline because we’re all so stuffed.
“Ok. Do you want split checks, or all on one?”
“One, please, and I’ll take it.”
Each member of the dance crew shake their heads and tr
y to argue. I actually surprise myself and everyone else when I raise my hand and voice a command of silence in Cherokee as I had watched Awenasa do when we were back home at the gathering. Everyone stops talking and looks at me with surprised smiles. Awenasa just looks at me with a huge smile and looks at me like she wants to kiss me. After Kelly walks away, Sara leans forward with an amused smirk.
“You teaching my baby sister how to be fluent in our native tongue?” Awenasa smiles and takes my hand. “I’ve been trying. She’s getting better, but her accent still needs work.”
When Kelly comes back with the billfold, she looks nervously around the table and tentatively holds it out to me, as if she’s waiting for the table to erupt into an argument again. Since none comes, she smiles and hands me the check. I hold it on my lap while I pull my wallet out of my pocket so no one can attempt to snatch it to look at it. As I open the billfold, Awenasa leans over to check out the damage and laughs a little as she sits back in her seat. The bill is over five hundred dollars. I actually expected it to be worse because of the drinks and appetizers. Each of our meals were almost or over thirty dollars each and the appetizers were around twenty dollars each – and we had several of those.
“How much is it, baby sister?”
“None of your business.” Sara laughs and shakes her head. “Ok, big shot. Trying to show off or something?”
“No. You can pay for the rest of your shit while you’re in town. Can’t I treat once?” She smiles and nods once. “Ok. Thanks for your generous hospitality.” I smile and shake my head. “Weirdo.”
She laughs and swigs back the rest of her mixed drink.
I hand Kelly the billfold back with my debit card as she’s walking by and when she comes back with the copies for me to sign, I try to keep it on my lap to sign so they can’t see the amount. As I’m pulling it up to close the billfold, Symone leans forward some and gasps.
“Quiet, Symone.”
She looks at me with pure shock and is actually speechless. With tip, the bill is over seven hundred dollars. I’m actually feeling a little panic in my chest from watching this much money disappear on just one meal. Technically, if it wasn’t for this dance group, I wouldn’t have any of this money, so I want to do this for them.
We stand up and I hand Kelly the billfold as we’re leaving. She thanks us and tells us to have a nice day. I don’t get four paces and I hear her gasp. My group turns to look at her and she’s looking down at the check shocked.
“Is everything ok? Did I mess it up?” She looks at me with a slack jaw. “Do you realize how much tip you left? This is almost half of your bill.” I smile and nod once. “I know. Oh, can you tell Dana the food was amazing?” She nods and closes the billfold. “Yes, I’ll tell her right now. Thank you so much. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
I take Awenasa’s hand and we file back out of the restaurant. As we’re passing the hostess stand, Stacey brightens up and smiles and waves.
“Bye, see you again soon, Kayla.”
“See you around.”
She smiles really big and blushes some, making Symone giggle and nudge me in the arm.
“So, Elvis, you going to show us what else this town has to offer?” I smile and laugh at Symone’s Elvis joke. “Sure.”
We start walking down Oliver Street, with them looking around with interest, and Symone nudges my arm again. I look over at her and she’s smiling really big.
“Thanks for lunch.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you for not telling the others how much it was.”
“Sure. So, what’s your favorite thing to do around here?”
“I don’t know about favorite, but we like that cupcake place over there. You get to decorate your cupcakes yourself. It’s a lot of fun. I usually end up eating half of the toppings before we finish them though. Um,” I stop and look around and then point back behind us across the street. “Over there is a cool arcade that we like to go to sometimes.”
“Yeah? We should check it out.” I smile and shrug a shoulder. “Sure.”
Chapter Seventeen
Symone may have agreed to let Jaime fill Jade’s spot for the Giz Anderson music video, but I know she’d rather never see her. I’m nervously holding my breath as we walk towards Jaime’s studio. Symone is standing so close to me that her arm keeps brushing against mine. I glance at Awenasa on my other side and she gives me an encouraging smile.
I asked my girls to come with us so I can have them with me as much as possible before I have to leave town. Shannon, unfortunately, is at work though.
Jaime is sitting on one of the benches just inside the door with her foot up on the bench next to her thigh. She’s wearing a pair of black leggings with a few mesh patches that show off parts of her legs and she has an oversized tee shirt on that’s hanging off one shoulder.
She smiles at me and slowly stands as I walk over to give her a hug. I wrap her in my arms and squeeze her. She runs a hand over my head and rests it on the back of my neck. While still holding each other, she pulls back enough to look at me and smiles.
“Are you ready to dust off your gypsy dance shoes?” She laughs and smiles really big before kissing my forehead. “I’m ready. I sent emails out to all of my students and their parents last night to let them know. I just need you to give me details later on the flight plans.”
“Good. Ok, we’ll do that later. Let me introduce you.”
I take her hand and walk her over to everyone. I introduce each of them and when I get to Symone, they look at each other with cold blank expressions, not even saying a single word to each other. Symone glances down at our hands still entwined together and then looks in my eyes with agitation. I slowly release Jaime’s hand, and thankfully, Sara takes charge and gets everyone’s focus on the routine.
We follow Jaime out onto the dancefloor and Jaime shows Sara where she can hook up her phone to the stereo system so we can rehearse with the song.
“Ok, this is the first time we’ve actually rehearsed this with Kayla in person, so we’ll do a run through first so we can get comfortable with the parts we have together, and then we’ll show you the pieces you’re taking over.” Jaime nods and moves to stand against the mirror. “Let’s start with the carnival pieces.”
We get into position and Sara turns the music on. The dance starts with Keira and I walking with our arms looped together smiling at each other and she gets distracted by something and spins away to look at it, leaving me waiting with my hands in my pockets. Symone comes in dancing around me, trying to get my attention, and I pretend to be trying to see around her, looking for Keira.
Symone persists in trying to get my attention and I become frustrated and start dancing to convey my frustration and attempt to shoo her away. Symone steps back, but as soon as I turn my back to her, she comes up behind me. With her hand’s only an inch off of my body, she attempts to caress me on my arms, back, head, and neck. As her hand actually lands on my hand, I jump and spin around to look at her.
We battle through dance again and then she retreats to dance with and confide in Sara. While they dance, Keira returns and we saunter and dance around like a couple happy in love. Tonya moves in and starts to mock each of our pairs through dance and clown like gestures and movements.
We continue the back and forth choreography of Symone trying to get my attention and affections, while she continues to retreat to Sara. Towards the end, Sara starts to chase after Symone to get her attention and pull her away from me. The carnival portion ends with Keira in my arms and we’re looking into each other’s eyes smiling, while Symone is hunched over on her knees in Sara’s comforting embrace.
“That was really good. You turned that song into a really good short film. The story was told so well through dance that I would have perfectly understood what was happening without the music.”
“Thank you. Your role is similar to Tonya’s. The two of you will be like funhouse jesters or clowns that we’re not aware of, but you mock
us in our tragic love stories. Let’s run through the beach scene once and then we’ll go back to the carnival and show Jaime her choreography.”
All of them clear the floor, leaving Symone and I alone. Sara restarts the music and Symone and I start dancing to reach each other. It’s a mixture of hip hop, lyrical, and contemporary dance, and it’s very expressive and full of emotion.
When we reach each other, the dance turns very romantic and tender. Our bodies move together in perfect rhythm with the music. I spin Symone away from me, grab her hand, tugging her back, but she leans forward with her back leg raising some, as if her momentum was suddenly stopped. Something different from the original choreography comes into my mind and I act without even thinking.
While I continue to hold her hand, I bend down and lift her leg to the height of my waist, glide my fingers up the inside of her leg, and walk forward. I wrap her arm behind my neck, and loop one arm under her thigh and one under her other arm. I lift her up to my chest and spin her once.
As I set her down, we pick up the choreography from where I decided to go off script. The beach scene ends with us laying down with her head on my chest and her leg draped over mine. After a few moments, Symone sits up and looks in my eyes with a big smile.
“I love the sudden burst of inspiration you had.” She looks up at the others and asks, “What do you think? Should that lift stay in?”
All of them smile and agree that they like it, including Sara. We stand up and Sara has us do the beach dance a couple more times to make sure we remember the flow of the dance with the new lift addition. After we run through it a few times, we start working on the carnival dance again so we can show Jaime her parts.
Keira shows her videos on her phone of Jade during rehearsals they held back home and that helps Jaime to pick up the routine pretty quickly. I can tell that Sara’s very happy with Jaime’s performance and skill.
We rehearse for a couple hours before we decide to call it a day. Jaime offers everyone a cold bottle of water from a fridge she has in the lounge in the back and I’m the first to come back out onto the dancefloor with Jaime after grabbing a bottle. I take a few sips of water and then sit on the center of the floor and lean back on my elbows.
