May I Have This Dance?

"Oof!"

I stumbled back a bit but I ended up catching whoever ran into me. It all happened so suddenly. I was heading through the outside mall when I got hit by someone. I looked down to see that I'm holding a girl in my arms, but I was too annoyed at the moment to notice her features.

"Jesus, can you watch where you're going? Why are you even running around in the rain? You're gonna slip, fall, and bust a lip or something."

The girl groaned and looked up at me causing the both of us to freeze. My eyes widened and her face filled with surprise as we finally took notice of each other. That orange hair, brown/green eyes, and the soft features of her face. Once again I'd run into my mystery redhead.

"My God, I guess you just happen to be blind, right? Sorry about that...I just don't get out much uhm.."

She pushes herself off of me and grunts as she's doing it. She's visibly flustered as she tries to fix her appearance. She then lets go of me, gets up, pats herself down and moves the few hairs that managed to find their way in front of her face. Redhead composes herself and sighs before returning back to her calm and cool manner.

"I didn't mean to run into you like that, I was just roaming around because I've never really checked out the city at night like this...or really the city in general."

A smile slowly creeps onto my face as I listen to her. I place my hand under my chin and playfully glare at her while I tease her.

"You've never fully been around Brooklyn before? How do you get around then? As a matter of fact, do you even know your way home from here?"

Her confidence slowly starts to fade and she gets that child lost in a grocery store type of look as she scratches the back of her head and looks around. This makes me laugh and gives me the feeling of wanting to take care of her. Redhead bites her bottom lip in frustration and a tint of red rushes to her cheeks as she huffs angrily.

"Listen here, I'm not completely clueless! I can find my way home perfectly fine, I just wanted to look around. The mall is nice, but I was wondering what other kinds of places are around here. I didn't know it was against the law to walk around where I live."

My laughter slowly dies down, but the newfound grin on my face doesn't. If she wanted to look at the places around here, she'd probably love the park. She seems like the peace and quiet type anyways. This also gives me an excuse to hang out with her longer, get to know her and figure out what she's really about.

"It's not, but since you're so lost, let me take you to this park that's not too far from here. You'll like it."

Instinctively I hold my hand out, wanting her to take it. She flinched as if a raised hand had instilled fear in her time and time again, before.She looked at my hand then back up to me. I could see the cautiousness in her eyes but she decided to trust me and with a faint smile trying not to show herself as she did.

Off we went into the rain to a park that was about a ten minute walk from where we were at. The redhead is clumsy and slips every now and then on our way there. It's taking everything in me to suppress the gigantic smile that wants to break free. Although it was too late because she saw me and gently tried to smack my shoulder.

"It's not funny, you're the one who has me running around like a lost puppy in the rain! If I fall and break my face, I'm blaming you."

By this time we had made it to the park but when she moved to hit me I stopped the hit, taking her wrist into my hand and pulling her against me. The surprised look on her face was all I needed to see to know that I'd caught her off guard.

"You think I'd really let my fragile redhead fall so easily?"

Her lips started to part in protest, but before she could say anything else, I pulled out a small speaker and set it down on the edge of the fountain that was near us.

"What are you doing??"

Red asks with curiosity laced in her voice. I turned to her, holding out my hand to her as the song "Lights Down Low" by MAX started to play. I smile towards her, and she hesitates. She thinks over her next move before finally giving me her hand, and allowing me to take the lead.

Heaven only knows where you've been.

But I don't really need to know, I know where you're gonna go.

We were slow dancing in the rain. The way the droplets collected in her hair only made her look even more beautiful than before. My right arm was wrapped around her waist, while my left hand was intertwined with hers.

Can I stop the flow of time?

Can I swim in your devine?

'Cause I don't think I'd ever leave this place.

As the music picks up, I earn a laugh from her as I spin her around. Everything around us felt like it was going in slow motion. It was like time had stopped and we were the only two people alive. I know I've only met this girl, but in this moment it felt like I'd known her all my life. I brought her back into me from the spin, she rests her head against my chest and gently hums along to the song.

'Cause baby, we're just reckless kids.

Trying to find an island in the flood.

Oh.

Just turn the lights, turn the lights down low.

Oh.

Within the moment, Red closes her eyes as she then wraps her arms around my neck and my arms are now wrapped around her waist. Sooner or later I can feel the vibrations of her laughter against my chest.

"What's so funny Red? I wanna laugh too."

She looks up at me, grinning as I spin her around once more.

"It's your heartbeat. Its racing pretty fast. You sure you're okay?"

She was right. I hadn't even noticed it until now, but my heart was racing faster than Roadrunner. I scratch the back of my head and look away.

"Yeah I'm fine don't worry.. you just really know how to take a man's breath away Red."

She laughs some more and raises an eyebrow.

"That's my specialty Hakeem. Looks like you've fallen under my spell. First you'll experience a loss of breath and then you'll find yourself falling in love!"

The playful wink that followed her sentence made me laugh. At this point my cheeks were starting to hurt from all of this smiling and laughing.

We talked and danced until the song was over. When the last note hit, the two of us just stood still, gazing at each other in a comfortable silence.

I don't know what it was but something about her started to draw me in. I had the sudden urge to feel my lips against hers.