Make Much of Me by Kayla Bashe

Author:Kayla Bashe [Kayla Bashe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kayla Bashe
Published: 2014-11-27T03:00:00+00:00

New York at night had a racy, adventurous feel to it. As they slipped down the fire escape and climbed over the fence, their young bodies alight with possibility, even the quietest of footsteps felt like a dance. They giggled all the way through the taxi ride and squeezed each other’s hands excitedly as they went into the jazz club.

The singer was a tall woman, dark-skinned and glamorous. She clutched the microphone and swayed as she crooned into it.

“If I can’t pray to God, I’m gonna pray to you. Pray that you’ll come back from there, Eliza, Eliza, my prayer…”

Suddenly, heralded by a jazz saxophone, the band flashed into a dizzying, swirling rhythm of rollicking, brassy fun. The backup singers, all equally splendorous, snapped their fingers and leaned into their microphones, flashing shiny white grins. Jo was caught up in the swing of it and had begun to dance in an outmoded way. Tommie couldn’t help but laugh to see poor Jo trying to apply something probably learned in etiquette school to a New York club.

“Jo, Jo, what are you doing? You can’t dance anything but the Charleston to a stile like this. Stand back and let Tommie teach you how to cut a rug!" And, elbowing Laura, “Thank you for bringing us here, Laura. You’re a real gift, you know that?”

Then they were all jumping together, improvising steps, splitting into configurations and little groups and rejoining again. Jo went from hovering by the pianist and marking every innovation of his craft, to squiring Lily to showing off with long-legged Laura to dancing eagerly at Tommie’s side. Lily sat out one dance in three to get her strength back and rest her legs, but Tommie wouldn’t leave the dance floor for anything. For some reason, Laura wouldn’t dance by herself,not even for half a song, but with a partner in her arms she seemed to have fun.

Whenever Lily thought back on that night, there was one slice of it that she remembered especially: Laura twirling her close and holding her for one brief shining moment, so close Lily could feel the other girl’s chest expand with breath, before spinning her back out. The last song of the night was jazzy and slow and went up and down the scales in a comforting melody. Laura held her close, and they swayed to the melody. She was so very warm, and it helped Lily breathe easier. Jo and Tommie were lurching through some absurd parody of a waltz that made them both laugh uproariously, but Lily hardly noticed. Something had changed between her and Laura tonight. She was sure of it. She wanted badly to be sure.

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