The Lying Game

5.

She awkwardly coughs. "Then it will be the parents of the groom, the mother of the bride, the officiant, best man, then William." She takes a look at him. "The groomsmen and bridesmaids, the maid of honor, the ring bearer and flower then last but not least the bride escorted by her father." I watch as my Dad beams with joy. "The ceremony should take no longer than an hour and following everyone will proceed to the banquet hall for the reception."

"Oh have you two practiced your first dance together?" Mom chimes in.

I feel William tense alongside me. "First dance?" I choke.

"Yes, your first dance as bride and groom." She says.

William and I look at each other. "We've been pretty busy, we've kind of forgotten," He says and I nod.

"Yeah, I'm not that good of a dancer," I add.

"What about all those dance classes I signed you up for as a child?" Mom asks.

"That was years ago mom. I'm not that good anymore." I give her a pleading look to stop pestering.

The Planner lady coughs. "Any questions?" It's silent. "Okay, let's run through everything."

Everything runs through smoothly aside from the useless comments by William's mother and grandmother. Everyone leaves and the only people left are Phoenix, Sara, William's Parents and I.

"Will, I think you two should practice your first dance." Phoenix says.

William rolls his eyes. "Why?"

"Because every couple does it, and you guys have to make it look believable."

"So how do we make it believable Mr. Know-It-All?"

"Pretend that it's someone you love dancing with you." He says. I'm the only one that notice William make eye contact with Sara.

Just pretend William is-

No don't say it. That was college and I didn't love him.

But you did, you know you did. The voice said. You loved him and he-

Shut up!shut up!shut up!

"What?" Phoenix says. I blink and they're all staring at me. Fuck, I didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Nothing, let's just start the dance." I walk to the center of the ballroom. William is giving me that same look as if he's God and it's Judgement Day.

"Any day now playboy." I say agitated. He strides confidently towards me, grabs my hand and with the other pulls me flush against him in one quick motion. I blink repeatedly to register what just happened. William smirks triumphantly. I stomp on his foot to get back at him. He tries not to make a noise but his face turns red and the veins in his neck look like they're about to pop.

"Oops" I smile innocently.

"Great, we have to train these kids into office." Phoenix palms his face with his hand. "I'm going to need therapy after this campaign." He pushes a button on the remote and the music floods into the room. The dance isn't particularly difficult and after a while, I find my rhythm and so does William. As we waltz around more, we fall into a rhythm. We dance in harmony with the music, it's effortless. He's not too bad at dancing at all, he may be one of the few white men I know that have rhythm.

"Okay great, now that you two have the dancing down, make us believe you are in love. Show us raw chemistry. It's your wedding day, you are supposed to have a certain sparkle in your eye."

William and I look at each other and stand in position as the music begins.

"Who are you picturing me as?" He whispers close to my ear.

"Big Sean," I say, but in all honesty I wasn't pretending he was anyone. He was just a dancing partner - faceless.

William snorts. "Really?"

"Yes, I love me some Big Sean. I'm surprise you actually know who he is."

He rolls his eyes. "I don't live under a rock. I bet Big Sean can't do this." William dips me.

I bite my lip and smile. "Yes, he can do more to me than that." I notice a shift, his eyes turning darker.

"Oh look! my fiance's jealous" I poke his nose. He jerks his face away trying not to smile.

"Emani and William, you are doing great, I'm loving it!" Phoenix shouts. We both snap our heads to him. I see Sarah marching to the exit doors. William saw it too because he moved away from me like I was the plague.

"We should probably stop now, I have to go back home and finish packing anyway," I say before he can say anything.

William nods but his face is still looking at the door. "I'll see you when you get to the house?"

I nod. "Yeah." Watching immediately William taking after Sarah.