A Funny Thing About Love by Rebecca Farnworth Page A

steady her arm.
    â€˜Are you too drunk to dance?’ he asked. ‘What about dancing cheek to cheek, my lady in red?’
    â€˜I’d like to see Casper’s face if you requested that particular number,’ Carmen replied. She was definitely feeling wobbly.
    At that moment The Cure’s ‘Lovecats’ came on. Molly let out a snort of disgust. ‘What is it with this old timers’ music? I want a bit of Kasabian.’
    â€˜It’s a classic, young lady,’ Will told her. ‘And anyway, it’s your dad’s leaving party, you’ve got to let him have his tunes.’
    Molly gave him the face version of ‘whatever’ before one of her waitress friends joined her and they both did that teenage girl thing of huddling together and giggling.
    Will turned to Carmen and held out his hand. ‘Come on, let’s show these teenagers how it’s done.’
    Now this was a testing moment in any courtship. How did the man dance? Would Will sway from foot to foot as if he had concrete in his shoes, or would he throw some foxy moves that would have her wondering if he was entirely straight? Or would it be a version of Michael Douglas dirty dancing in a V-necked sweater with Sharon Stone in
Basic Instinct
that had the power to give any woman nightmares?
    She took Will’s hand and followed him to the dance area. Once they were in the throng she was all set to let go, but Will kept hold of her hand and they performed a version of an energetic jive to the music, with him spinning her round and performing some smouldering moves with his hips that would have had the judges on
Strictly Come Dancing
combusting withdelight. Will was a good dancer, he had rhythm. He went up further in Carmen’s estimation.
    After ‘Lovecats’ came ‘Wake me Up Before You Go-Go’, where Carmen and Will deliberately camped it up and strutted around the floor, occasionally catching each other’s eye and giggling, then Casper dramatically slowed down the pace with Sinatra’s ‘One for My Baby’. Carmen looked at Will and smiled. ‘Did you pay Casper to put this on?’
    Will shook his head. ‘So will you dance with me?’
    Carmen stepped into his arms. They moved slowly to the music, which was steeped in regret and loss. ‘Funny that we should be dancing to this,’ Will said softly. ‘As this is about the end of something, and I really hope we’re at the beginning.’
    There was a moment at the end of the song when they held each other’s gaze, then Casper segued into ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, which had the consequence of clearing the dance floor as Molly and her posse took over along with Casper and his mates.
    â€˜It’s one a.m.,’ Will said as they watched the teenagers do their thing. ‘D’you want to share a taxi?’
    Here was a dilemma. Was Will just proposing a taxi ride? If he was, would she be offended at his lack of interest? If he wasn’t, was she really in the right frame of mind? Was she too vulnerable for Will? She looked into his blue eyes, ‘I’ll just have one more drink, one more for the road.’ She reached for a glass of red wine from a tray Molly had abandoned on the top of the piano in her haste to get down on it.
    â€˜Champagne, tequila and now red wine. Miller, you are hardcore and you are going to be so hungover. Come to mine and I’ll make you a cup of tea and feed you paracetamol.’
    Carmen glugged back some wine and then pulled a face; she really had drunk too much. She was getting the blurry, spinny-head feeling.
    Will took the glass out of her hand and put it back on the tray. ‘Come on, let’s call that taxi.’ He took her arm and they wove through the partygoers.
    While Will called for a taxi on his mobile, Carmen found that she had to cling to the banisters for support, swaying gently from side to side like some kind of drunk orang-utan.