Chapter 10 Galactic Stages

Songs for this chapter are:

Gravity Bounce - GGK (Carole and Tuesday)

Milky Way - GGK (Carole and Tuesday)

Love yourself - Pyotr (Carole and Tuesday)

Dreamer Girl - Asa

Three weeks later

I was walking on the corridor that led to my class when I felt something that nearly made me slip. I stopped for a moment and removed a flier that I accidentally stepped on, hence it was stuck beneath my foot.

I looked at the flier after removing the particles of sand on it read its content:

Voila Dance competition coming on the 18th of May, Starring; The TafCass Duo, The Galactic Girls, and the Mojo Suckers!"

Wow. The fliers were out already and the main day is tomorrow. Mustafa and I have spent the previous weeks, practicing during every extra hour we could find and even taking permissions from some classes just so we can go to the dance room to master both the old and the new steps that we have learned.

Mustafa and I are the TafCass Duo. People shipped us a lot and thought we were dating hence they gave us that ship name since they thought we looked very cute together.

Mustafa is from Iran while I am partly Filipino and partly Nigerian. People often said in school that interracial couples are the cutest.

People said all sorts of things about us really, but I did not care very much about it because I knew my relationship with Mustafa was platonic. I did not even mind using the ship name, TafCass as our dance name since we did not even have one before yet we always danced together.

But now that Dan is back into my life and now that I see him every day after school in his dairy milk truck, it was starting to irk me. I felt the strong urge to explain to everyone that Mustafa and I were just friends because I have feelings for someone else for sure.

Now, the name, TafCass was starting to bother me a lot but I decided to let it be since this is my last dance show in this school and everyone would not get to see Mustafa and I dance together again after tomorrow.

"So, let it be TafCass for one more day". I thought.

About Dan. The past few weeks have certainly been the most blissful. I had something to look forward to every day which made me happy. Happy to the point of feeling my body tingle at random moments. I mean, his yogurt was heavenly and I enjoyed our rides to the park and to other places where he took me.

Truly, he earned a lot of money just from selling dairy products to students from my school only, and on some days, he took me to a restaurant he could afford but those restaurants sold the very best meals.

I went to his apartment once just to see how things were for him and he was not lying when he said things were tough because his apartment was far from spacious with only a small mattress and a fairly used stove by the side. We prepared jollof rice together and ate. I assured him that better days were coming, and he told me he knew because he had me.

The mere thought of Dan made me do all the things I did during the week with ethereal joy in my heart. Dancing with Mustafa was easier than normal, all I had to do was imagine myself dancing with Dan instead.

Classes seemed a lot more catchy and exciting and I looked forward to my classes simply because I always imagined Dan being my seat partner. It made me giggle a lot. The best part of my day was usually stepping out of the exit and seeing him standing by his milk truck, waving and smiling at me.

It was like a dream coming to reality because I spent the daydreaming about him so getting to see what I sweetly dreamt about for the whole day was always so blissful.

I mean, it made my heart flutter like flip flops; like pages from a romantic fairytale. To be very honest, Dan made my heart do funny things, and seeing that I have something to look forward to every day that makes me happy, I guess it's the solution; my way of moving on at last; something directly opposite to the fear and expectation of death and captivity that I lived in every day.

**

The multipurpose hall of our school was transformed into something else entirely; like a new part of our school that we never saw or a part that had been hidden for years.

It looked like a galaxy; stars swirling on the walls in a mix of purple elements; some stars looked like they were diminishing, like soluble matter, swirling into the spiral Milky Way, whilst other stars shone around the orbits and the planets lined up rotating in its axis.

This year's theme for the voila dance competition is Gravity Bounce hence why the multipurpose looked like something out of a space or maybe an exact duplicate. It looked very beautiful and our school's event planners did a great job.

Mustafa and I got to school early and we were led to the backstage where the other contestants were as well so we could get dressed and prepare ahead for our performances.

This year's dance theme allowed me to cosplay a character from an anime that I have been dying to cosplay; GGK from Carole and Tuesday hence, I was very grateful.

I am dressed in a jumpsuit consisting of patterns of the milky way in purple, sparkling stars swirling around, imprinted on it. I weaved my wooly hair into sections, like pigtails, and wore my wake up like a shaman; a purple mole on my forehead like it was the key to accessing the next universe as GGK would always say. Mustafa wore something similar as well; only that his costume was a mix of denim and galactic fashion.

Hopefully, our performance today would have people zoning out of this world and onto another realm. I was hoping for the dreamiest dance moves from Mustafa and I. Hopefully, seeing people dance would pierce into people's souls soothingly.

There was light all around the room, mirrors reflecting the sidelights and an air conditioning system with an astronomical volume but Mustafa was wiping the sweat on his face with his handkerchief; he kept inserting his hands into his pockets, tapping his fingers on his hips, things I knew he did when he was nervous.

"Nervous much?" I said to him, his attention was focused on me now.

"I'm nervous as hell, Cassandra." He said huskily, his teeth chattering in fact like they had caught a cold or were simply just tender, like a milky set of dentition.

"Ugh. Funny how I ain't." I said, smiling at him hoping that would call him down at least. "Cheer up man. We are the last set of people to dance so we have a lot of time to chill out." I told him.

When I saw that all I said still was not working its way in calming him down, I heaved a huge sigh and then thought of the next best thing. I opened my arms, urging him to hug me.

He walked into my arms and I embraced him, giving him a friendly pat on the back. I could feel him smiling now so I knew I could let him be now and he would be reasonably fine but a smell wafted into my nostrils and I realized that it was coming from him.

He smelled so much like Dan; intoxicatingly musky scent mixed with earth and alcohol; somewhat minty but breathtaking. He smelled so much like that and it toyed with my senses to the point where I could start to feel my head throb with an inexplicable ache and soon, my vision blurred for a minute and then became hazy and then clear again.

Oh, God. Not today.

Within the moment when my vision blurred, I screwed my eyes firmly shut and then opened them again, desperately hoping that nothing goes wrong and my vision gets back to normal once I open my eyes.

I did open and my eyes. Then I saw Dan, right before me. I did see him this time around. I took his hand in mine and smiled at him, hazily.

He expressed a look of unease that lasted only for a fleeting second but I was quick enough to have noticed it before it vanished. Then he smiled at me, looking very pleased like this was something he always wanted. This is the Dan I know now. My Dan.

He has stopped sweating now and though, my body contact with him did a lot of magic. It made my heart warm up.

"It's going to be alright, baby. We got this for real." I told him again.

"Baby? You just called me baby?!" He asked, with a peal of amused laughter.

"Yes, I just did. Or are you not my baby?" I said, rolling my eyes playfully, as I place my index finger on his lips, in an attempted motion to shush him up.

He looked at me, dazed but elated; I could tell from his eyes that there was so much merry and rejoicing going down there in his mind and soul.

"I have been dying to hear you call me that."

Then his hands are cupping my face, angling it up so he can kiss me properly. I feel the shiver that takes through me as our lips meet, his arms dropping around my waist, tugging me closer to him. His other hand goes behind my head to hold me to his lips. He kisses me feverishly as if trying to convey all that he could not at the moment through his lips.

The room is cold again but the heat between us is impenetrable.

His mouth silently tells me everything he felt; how much he loved me, how much he needs me too, and how much he'd perhaps, always want me. He licked over my lips gently and I parted mine, allowing his tongue to enter my mouth.

We clutch at each other frantically, his hand clutching onto my waist, the other wrapped carefully in my hair. My fingers dig into his skin as I try to clutch him closer, nails pressing into his skin as I try to clutch to him closer, nails pressing into his skin, but it does not matter. We both attempt to imprison one another to ourselves. I need him just as much as he needs me and I need him to know that.

Then loud cheers could be heard around us and we broke from our kiss, the immortal needing to breathe surfacing above our need to morph into one another.

Our fellow competitors, The Mojo Suckers were cooing and screeching at the sight of the both is us, kissing each other, and just before I could wonder why they were so into our business, The master of ceremony's voice bellowed on the microphone from the stage.

Then I realized, that it was now our turn to dance.

Afterward, I did wonder why the girls were cheering at the sight of Dan and I kissing each other until I thought of the fact that Dan is a milk vendor and they saw us spend time a lot after school regularly so they probably found us cute just like they find Mustafa and me cute together.

It made my insides tingle with excitement.

The girls left for the farther part of the room to take off their extravagant costumes since their performances were over.

Now it is our turn to dance. Truthfully, my heart was starting to hammer a bit. This is my last dance show in this school and I'm dancing with the one person I love so much. Gosh.

I took a deep breath in and out and stepped out of my hiding place with my lover unto the outside world; it was our time to win.

***

"...And...The winner for this year's voila dance competition themed; Gravity Bounce is..." The master of the ceremony said on the microphone, dragging his words which placed every single person in the hall in a nail-biting sort of suspense. The air felt hotter than usual. I dig my hands into Dan's fidgeting hands, fingers were interwoven unequally, the friction between our palms causing even more tension than calm. He took a large blow of air in, enlarging his mouth in a robust posture.

Dan and I had done our best. I did my best to show how I truly felt for him by dancing with an ethereal kind of passion. Dancing never felt so blissful till I did it with the one I loved, the one who was truly there for me through everything.

My moves came from a raw state of my heart, As we gyrated and grind our bodies together very gracefully in rhythm to the music, it felt like our bodies were meant to morph together, like the perfect pieces of puzzles made for each other to fit very beautifully.

The MC's voice surfaced again. My heart raced madly against my chest.

"...is...The TAFCASS DUO!!!" He yelled on the microphone and the entire crowd erupted into a spree of loud cheers and congratulatory messages in different tones and voices.

I turned to look at the one person who made this possible. For me. For him. For us both. He is the one who matters the most.

"We did it!!" I cheered and smiled at him and he does the same, wrapping me in a warm hug. Ooh. That tantalizing scent again! The need to kiss him controls my mind before I can even process the thought and I act on impulse, seizing his lips in mine, to start from where we stopped at backstage.

The noise from the crowd got louder. Cheers surprised gasps and bickering of all sorts but I didn't care at all. To me, it was just Dan and me who exist in this place and I am going to kiss him like he is all I have because he is.

***

I was walking out of the gate with the presents I had gotten from winning the dance competition in my hands. Immediately, I decided to pause so I can put the presents in my bag, I spot Dan standing by his dairy milk truck, waving at me and giving off that charming smile of his.

I hurriedly placed the box of presents in my bag, zipping it forcefully as I run out the gate. Wow. He was quick to change his clothes! Little wonder why he did not escort me out of the school premises today.

I thought he was busy receiving congratulatory messages from people around because I got a lot of that too when I got back to class. I barely had the chance to change my costume at all, because people kept rushing in and following after me just so they could congratulate me and tell me how cute I was today with Dan.

But there is, he has been waiting for me all along, Just like he always does.

I run into his open arms for an embrace. His smell again, I was so in love with it. Was so in love with him. Maybe I am intoxicated because then I again, I feel the urge to pour out all of my feelings.

His arms are caressing my hair soothingly and I coo, resting on his chest as I close my eyes, taking in all of the bliss his warmth has to offer.

"I love you so much, Dan," I said, almost sleepily.

"Wow. This is the first time you're telling me that."

Huh?? Then all of a sudden, I open my eyes, jolting a little from the shock coming from the realization of what had just happened. Jeez.

Shit! What on earth have I done?! Oh, God!

********

Psalms 55:12-14 - "For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng."