Dancing

“When did you stop dancing?  I always liked going to your shows.”  Pete took a sip of his wine, but never broke eye contact.  I blushed.  I had accidently spilled Pete’s drink down the front of his shirt when I backed my chair out from the table.  My jaw almost dropped as I remembered.  Remembered Andrea.  And Pete.   

“I didn’t know you came to any of the shows.  I never saw you.” I gulped down half my drink and immediately regretted it.  I had a hard time not choking on the frozen margarita as most of it went down the wrong side. 

“Well, you were pretty popular in college.  You were going places.  And at that point I was still dating Andrea.”   

I knew I needed to get out of the bar sooner rather than later.  The memories of what he had said to me while we were in college were coming back, hard and strong.  I had managed to push aside all the memories of Pete and his girlfriend from college, but I had never completely forgotten.   

When I had first run into Pete in the bar, I hadn’t immediately recognized him.  I had only meant to be there for one drink, so I thought it would be easier if someone else bought it for me.  But as the evening progressed, the night Pete and Andrea came into my life came back to haunt me.  Just as it had for the last six years.  Again, I needed to escape.