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She pursed her lips. “My brain tells me no, but my heart tells me yes. Also, it’s not really that I don’t believe you can fall in love in three days. I just don’t think you should get married after three days.”
I bobbed my head. “Okay. Maybe that’s the distinction I’m looking for. Fall all you want, just don’t get legal paperwork involved.”
The band started playing and people moved to the dance floor.
I leaned in. “We’re about to hear ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ more times than you can ever imagine.”
“I like that song,” she said, pulling the marshmallow toothpick between her teeth. “I should find someone to dance with.” She looked around.
“Uh… I will. Dance,” I said quickly. “If you wanted.”
She turned back to me. “You? Dance to Christmas music? Won’t it make you burst into a thousand shattered Christmas ornaments or something?”
“I think I could muscle through it.”
“Okay.” She nodded skeptically. “But if I dance with you, you are not allowed to bail no matter what they play.”
“What if it’s ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’?” I gave her an arched eyebrow. “Very hard to dance to.”
“You can dance to anything if you’re drunk enough,” she said, talking into her glass.
“Ha. As is evidenced by my parents,” I mumbled, watching them gyrate to “Feliz Navidad.” I handed her my drink. “Try mine?”
“Sure.” She tried it. “Yum,” she said, looking at the side of the glass.
“You want to switch?” I asked.
“You don’t like it?”
“I like it. I just want you to have the one you want.”
She smiled and handed me her drink.
I got the weirdest sense of déjà vu when she did it. Like we’d done this before.
“I just got déjà vu,” she said, looking at me oddly.
I blinked at her. “Me too.”
“Strange. Ourselves in another dimension maybe? We’ve already swapped drinks in a parallel universe?” she said.
“Maybe… I wonder if we’ve danced before there too.”
“Only one way to find out.”
She finished her cocktail and set it down.
“Let me know if this feels like something you’ve done before.”
She took me by my tie and we headed for the dance floor.
7
LAUREN
WE SPILLED OUT ONTO the sidewalk into the chilly night air, laughing.
“I forgot how much I liked dancing at these things,” he said, holding the door open for me.