Creative Writing: "Monochrome Dream"

This was written to Sorrow - Monochrome Dream for Turnfables (LSRfm Thursday 3-4). It's meant to be a slightly tongue-in-cheek dig at old black and white romantic films. Or romantic films in general, because I am a cynical, cynical woman.  Enjoy! 

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A ballroom of a past time in an unspecified place. High heels, high fashion, back when smoking cigarettes spoke of sophistication and class and before wearing fur was taboo. A band plays for the benefit of the couples revolving on the dance floor, all executing the perfect waltz, because it is that era, the era when everyone knew the moves.

He is dressed to the nines. She is dressed to kill. They haven’t seen each other yet.

She drifts through the smoke like a teenage dream, silk pooling at her feet like an ink spill, skin shining like an August moon. What a leading lady… those lips, those eyes; she’s perfection. How are we supposed to believe that she is still yet to be asked to dance? 

He broods in the shadows, tall and rugged, clutching his whiskey and pondering the frivolity of his friends, stereotype of a moody hero. These dances, hah! You won’t catch him on the dance floor, pointlessly twirling some dull blonde around and around, making small talk for little people.

She drifts. He broods. She drifts closer. Their eyes meet.

It’s like his reservations have been swept away with the force of her gaze. He can’t help but reach for her, enclosing her delicately gloved hand inside his strong, masculine paw. She does not resist. Her breath catches.

Now they are dancing, revolving alongside fifty other couples who think this waltz is love. But for them this is love. Neither knows the other’s name, but they know that this is their happily-ever-after. This moment is the one they have both been waiting for all their lives, it’s the moment they’ll never forget. They’ll tell their grandchildren about this moment, the first time they danced, the first time they kissed.

She could swoon in his arms, he could drown in her eyes and I could believe it if it wasn’t in monochrome.