72. Kendall
Kendall
Kai and I walk back into the air conditioned hall hand in hand, my face warm from all the memories of where his lips just were.
I get a drink from a waiter while Kai excuses himself to the bathroom.
When I sit back down at the table, Emma locks eyes with me and gives me a devious grin.
Somehow, she already knows about our extracurricular activities in the limo.
“Shame shame, I know your name,” she whispers loud enough only I can hear. “You guys are the worst,” she comments jokingly.
“Look, I can’t help it that he is ridiculously attractive at baseline. In a suit it’s just unfair really. No match for my traitorous vagina,” I respond, taking a much needed gulp of water.
“You’re probably right. There was a better chance of Jonah going home with his date than you two keeping it in your pants all night.
” I shove her arm playfully and we both start cackling.
The night isn’t even over and Jonah is already flirting with one of the male bartenders.
At that moment, the band starts playing Girls Just Wanna Have fun and we whoop and holler all the way to the dance floor.
We sing the words loudly and somewhat off key into pretend microphones made from our hands and dance unabashedly for the next four songs.
We get a few popular Drake songs, followed by classic wedding hits that morph into smooth oldies.
When Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody starts booming bright and upbeat, I look around for Kai.
We used to love to dance to this song together.
As if he could read my mind, two strong arms appear around my waist, his chin on my shoulder.
I worry about people who don’t immediately get up and dance to this song, that don’t feel the need to yell I want to feel the heat with somebody at the top of their lungs with their whole chest. Gen z could never.
At this moment, I’m eternally grateful to be my authentic, nostalgic, unashamed millennial self.
I pity those who can’t feel its yearning in their heart or its ballad in their veins.
Thank god it would never be us.
“Want to dance?” he whispers in my ear. He twirls me, dips me, and gathers me in his arms as we shout the lyrics to each other.
And I realize this song was made for people like us, two people who love each other so deeply, so unapologetically that it’s impossible to deny we are soulmates.
It’s been crafted for moments that feel infinite and nights like this one that we wish would last forever.
Love is finding the one person you could spend the rest of your life dancing to this song with. And that person for me is Kai.