Can I have this last dance?

Can I have this last dance?  (13+) Writer's Cramp Entry #2118162 by Chris Breva

589 words

Can I have this last dance?

The worst heart break I ever had was when Anne Murray's song "Could I have this dance" was popular. I had started dating a woman named Sharon who turned out to be a player. She was the most unfaithful woman I have ever known. I know she took me for a ride and it was not a pleasant ride. We began dating at a friend's house. We both sort of moved in on him and didn't leave. In retrospect I can see that he should have tossed us both out on our ears but he was too kind to do so. Perhaps he was afraid of hurting our feelings or whatever but we stayed there for a few months. Sharon happened to be visiting one night and she and I began talking. The next thing you know we were doing much more than talking. Sharon claimed that I was her one and only and I believed her. I later found out that she had several whom she claimed were her one and only, including a few girlfriends. I was always too wasted back then to care anyway. it wasn't until years later that I realized just how much i resented her.

The first night we went out we went to a country-western bar. I ended up getting arrested because the bar tender informed me he didn't serve "homos" referring to me as a homosexual. What ever gave him that idea is beyond me since I was with one of the most beautiful women in the city. However I didn't bother to question or even dignify his statement with a comment. Instead I grabbed him by the shirt, dragged him across the bar, and commenced beating the crap out of him. When the bouncer joined in I whipped the bouncer too. Sharon was yelling and screaming for the fight to stop. It stopped when the police came bursting in and dragged me off of the two of them. All three of us ended up in jail, but not before the two of them went to the ER. Looking back on it I realize how childish it was. So what if the man thought I was gay? I was comfortable in my sexual identity. However those were the years when I would have fought a buzz saw and thought nothing of it. I do remember however that as i was beating the bartender and the bouncer senseless, somebody had begun playing "Could I have this dance?"

I had always been a fan of Anne Murray. I always thought she was the very best thing to ever come out of Canada. I still listen to her music today. So when the bartender interrupted my listening to her, I sort of went crazy. it really didn't take much to push me over the edge anyway. I was usually always looking for an excuse to fight. So cheating me out of hearing Anne was my excuse as well as the perceived "insult" to my masculinity. The night in jail didn't slow me down any though because the next night I was back in the same watering hole tearing the place up again. This time I was banned permanently. Sharon and I dated for a few months, long enough for me to become insanely attached. Then she broke it off stating I was too wild for her. I couldn't imagine what she was talking about! before we broke up though I asked her "Can I have this last dance?