Ever wanted to go Latin dancing but not done it for fear of getting stuck dancing the salsa with a creepy middle-aged Latin who's missing his two front teeth and likes to shimmy? If so, you know exactly where I'm coming from. So since I've been home from Mexico (3 years) I haven't set foot in a Latin dance club . . . until last weekend. I went on a blind date with Juan Saavedra, a friend of my cousin Tonya's. Juan is an amazing dancer and I had lots of fun even though, seriously, one of my first thoughts was, "Can I marry someone named Juan???" You know you'd have done it too. Most of the people I told suggested that I could call him John. Problem solved.:) But in all honesty, I could handle it. It was just funny.
So I had an amazing night with Juan last Saturday and caught the dancing bug, so I decided to invite some friends to go again this weekend (yesterday). I even called up Juan to see if he'd want to go. He said he was already planning on going with his friend Ryan but that he'd see me there. Cool. That made me feel better because I really wanted to dance with him again, and I didn't know what to expect from the other men at the club. My friend Carrie Romney didn't either, even more so than me, so I really had to do some convincing but she came!!
The first hour I danced with Raul (who kept swinging my hands voilently back and forth), Juan (shimmying Juan who looked 45 years old), Carlos (not bad, but too suave, telling me I had pretty eyes), and someone else whose name I don't remember. Then Juan Saavedra texted to say he was there and where was I. So I tried to leave the upstairs salsa room twice to head to the big room downstairs to meet up with Juan. Half an hour later I got downstairs. You'd think I'd know how to say no by now.
Juan was there with Ryan, as expected, but he'd also brought the infamous Larissa. He'd mentioned her quite a few times on our date, telling me what an amazing dancer she was. The second and third times he talked about her, I wanted to say, "Well, then why don't you marry her?" She too served a mission in Venezuela (Maracaibo though). I didn't know she was coming, which was fine, but it definitely created some awkardness when we had to share Juan. Ryan doesn't dance. He just came to scout out a girl he knew always goes to this club. I don't know what Juan told Larissa about me or about inviting her to come, but when I first found them, Juan asked me to dance. Larissa walked by and said she was going upstairs with Ryan, and Juan seemed concerned and said, "No, wait. Just a sec." She said, "No, no. It's okay." I wasn't sure what was going on. If I hadn't danced with Juan last night, I don't think the sum of my other dances would've been enough to make my night worthwhile. So since I danced with Juan to only 3 songs because I had to share him, it was still worth it.
When my cousin Tonya heard what happened, she called Juan a jerk. She thinks that Juan brought Larissa on purpose to show me he's not interested in me. I don't know if I completely believe that because it makes me sad and I thought he was a better guy than that, but we'll see. Too bad Juan is cute and fun and an amazing dancer and funny. I guess if he really is a jerk, or just a guy who doesn't know how to be up front and honest, it's better I find out now. So much for my new passion for Latin dancing!
10 months ago
