April, 1987
Lindsay sat on the floor of her room and leaned against her bed as she painted her nails neon yellow and listened to music on her Walkman. Late afternoon sunlight came in through the window. She heard a knock on the door.
"Come in," she said. Michael opened the door and came into the room.
"Hi," she said cheerfully, taking off her headphones.
"Hi," he said. He sat on the floor next to her. "Uh, this is kind of embarrassing, but as you know, prom is in a week, and I don't really know how to dance, so I was wondering if you could teach me?"
Lindsay's heart skipped a beat. "Uh, yeah, sure," she said. She blushed, realizing she may have sounded a little too eager. "I just need to wait for my nails to dry," she added.
"Okay, thanks," he said. He leaned against the bed. "What are you listening to?"
"New Depeche Mode song," she said. "Here." She put the headphones on him, careful not to get nail polish in his hair.
"It's good, huh?" she said.
"Yeah, pretty good," he agreed.
"So, do you just want to learn how to slow dance?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice casual as she pictured dancing with him.
"Yeah, that's all," he said.
She laughed. "You really don't know how?"
"No, I said it was embarrassing. I just figured I'd rather make a fool of myself in front of you than Lisa."
Lisa was Michael's date to the prom, a pretty girl who was among the few people in the school taking as many AP classes as he was. It was hard not to feel a little jealous, but she knew Lisa didn't mean anything to him. At least he wasn't going with Sally Sitwell. He had asked her, but she'd turned him down since she was already going with someone else. This was an immense relief to Lindsay, who'd always been annoyed that Michael was so infatuated with her rival. Lindsay was going with Roger Danish, one of the most popular guys in school and a senior, allowing her to go to the senior prom. A few months ago she would have been thrilled to be his date, but now all she wanted was to go with Michael. If anything her feelings for her brother had only gotten stronger since their birthday.
"Well, I'm happy to help," she said, hoping he couldn't tell just how happy she was. "Don't worry, it's really easy."
"Good," Michael said. "Oh, and can you not tell Gob about this? I'll never hear the end of it."
"Sure," she laughed.
Gob had moved back in two weeks earlier after dropping out of college to pursue his dream of becoming a magician. George Sr. was furious with him and had been taking every opportunity to criticize him and praise Michael, seeming to hope it would convince him to go back to college. So far all it had succeeded in doing was driving an even bigger wedge between Michael and Gob. Gob was constantly picking fights with him now. Though Michael claimed to be angry that their father was continuing to pit them against each other, Lindsay suspected he was somewhat pleased that he finally seemed to have won the competition for their father's approval he had fostered between them since they were little kids.
"Okay, I think my nails are dry now," she said. It wasn't true, but they were dry enough that she wouldn't get nail polish on his clothes, and she couldn't wait anymore. She could fix them later if they got messed up. "I'll put on some music," she said, getting to her feet and crossing the room to her tape collection. She looked through her tapes, trying to choose the perfect song. She settled on "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby. It was missing the beginning since she'd recorded it from the radio, but it was so romantic. She put it in and pressed play.
She walked back to where Michael stood. She hesitated, a little nervous, then abruptly draped her arms around his neck. He took a small step back, startled. She blushed. Well, what had he expected?
"Put your hands on my waist," she instructed, struggling to keep her voice steady. She hoped he couldn't tell how nervous she was. He looked pretty nervous himself, probably realizing too late how awkward this would be. He gingerly put his hands on her waist. She shivered at his touch. "Now you just step back and forth, like this," she said, demonstrating.
"Okay," he said, imitating her. She noticed he was determinedly avoiding her eyes.
"And that's pretty much it," she said.
"Oh," he said, surprised. "I thought there was more to it than that."
"I told you it was easy," she laughed.
She realized they could probably stop now that there wasn't anything more to teach him, but she wasn't ready to yet, they'd barely started.
"Lisa will be impressed," she said, hoping that if they started talking it wouldn't be so noticeable that there was no reason to continue.
Michael laughed. "Yeah, let's hope so."
"She's a lucky girl," she said before she could stop herself.
"Thanks," he said, surprised. She thought she saw a flicker of excitement in his eyes. "Roger's a lucky guy," he added. Her heart leapt.
"Thanks," she said, imitating him. He laughed.
They continued to step back and forth to the music. A warm breeze came in through the window. She took his hand from her waist, pulled it into the air, and did a twirl, finishing with their arms extended.
"Wait, this is getting more complicated," Michael said.
She laughed. "Relax, you won't have to do this," she said as she twirled back to him, getting caught up in the music. "This is just for fun."
"Oh, okay," he laughed. They were much closer now. She smiled warmly at him. A little shiver went through her when he smiled back.
Her heart was still pounding madly but she wasn't nervous anymore, just caught up in the closeness between them and the certainty that he was just as electrified as she was. He laughed as she pulled his hand into the air again and turned gracefully on one foot, the skirt of her dress fanning out around her legs. As the room spun around her she was overcome with a breathless excitement, and before she could change her mind she pulled in close to him, so close that their faces were inches apart.
The smile slid from his face. She stood frozen, shocked at her own boldness. They weren't dancing anymore, just standing there with her arms around his neck and his hands on her waist.
"Do you like her?" she said quietly. She knew she shouldn't, but all she could think about was the fact that he wasn't pulling away.
"Uh…I don't know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"She's pretty."
"Yeah, I guess."
She hesitated, her heart pounding madly.
"Prettier than me?"
His mouth opened slightly. She watched the emotions play across his face as she struggled to breathe. A slight smile flickered on his lips.
"No," he whispered.
Her breath caught in her throat. Don't, don't, don't, she told herself, trying desperately to remember all the reasons why she shouldn't, but she could see it in his eyes, she knew that if she leaned in and kissed him he wouldn't pull away.
Suddenly the door opened and Gob came in.
"Hey, Lindsay—whoa."
They sprang apart like they had been scalded.
"Don't you knock?!" she said angrily. Gob's eyes widened. "I was just teaching him how to dance," she said quickly, realizing how that must have sounded. She remembered too late that Michael had asked her not to tell him about this, but she was sure he would rather Gob think that than the alternative. She expected Gob to make fun of him, but instead he looked suspiciously from her to Michael.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked, her heart pounding.
"Uh, Mom wanted me to ask you if you'd seen her elephant brooch."
"Oh, uh, no, I haven't," she said. She didn't dare look at Michael, but judging from his silence he was even more stunned than she was.
"Okay, I'll tell her," Gob said. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but he seemed to think better of it and turned and left the room. They stood in silence for a moment, staring at the floor, then hesitantly looked up at each other.
"I think that's enough," Michael said shakily.
"Yeah," Lindsay agreed.
"Okay," he said awkwardly, and hurried out of the room.
