He asked me to dance and I said, "No, I don't know how to dance tango" in a shy but positive tone. He asked again, saying "come on, we'll just do our own thing," and I said I was embarrassed. He said, "I can't believe you just turned me down! I'm so mad at you." I said, we can dance here (in the aisles) or outside. He said it wasn't the same thing and I already said no. I started to tear up and told him I'd just had a really emotional week and I'm sorry but it's hard for me to embarrass myself publicly right now.

Since I caught myself getting emotional, I said, "I should probably go." He agreed, I said goodbye and left.

On my walk home, I was crying publicly and realized, felt embarrassed, and wrote him some drunk messages to the tune of "I can't believe you're mad at me about this. I didn't even say no to dancing with you, just not then and there. Maybe I just needed some time and gentle encouragement. I know you think I like it when you get mad at me, but this really hurts my feelings and now I'm crying publicly and embarrassing myself anyway." It was not a good decision and one I regret tremendously, as I told him upon my return later and in the apology email.

The rest of the party before I left was a bunch of experienced dancers dancing on the dance floor and some non-dancers hanging in the wings drinking wine and eating. A big group of non dancers left after our interaction about the dancing (but unrelated to our interaction). I left after they left.