Sway With Me

Rayne.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Anya's Studio of Dance. I am Anya Dubkova and I will be your teacher for the next eight weeks." Her thick Russian accent was beautiful to listen to, and her English was remarkably excellent. Her long flowing dress trailed behind her as she sauntered about the room. "Now, you have all signed up for this class because you want to become closer to one another through dancing. There truly is no better way to do just that. This is clearly a soon-to-be newlyweds' class. Such lovely blossoming young women, such strapping young men... and if that isn't clue enough, the bands on your fingers certainly are."

Everyone chuckled as she picked up a remote. "Alright, now everybody, before we start, let's go around the group and introduce ourselves."

We all sat down and couple after couple introduced themselves.

"Hi, I'm Shelley and this is my fiancé, Dean..."

"Hey everyone, I'm Jane, this is the love of my life, Brad..."

"What's up, I'm Luke, and this is my girl, Kim..."

Endless names, hard to remember, too tired to truly attempt following them all.

Finally, the last couple before us spoke up. At least, the girl did.

"Hi everyone," she squealed. "My name's Lacey and this is my Alex." She giggled and I forced a smile in case she looked my way. She patted his chest and he smiled weakly. I chuckled to myself. He looked as uninterested in being here as I was.

Aaron brought me out of my thoughts as I realized we were the last couple.

"What's up, I'm Aaron. This is my fiancée Rayne, and I love her to death."

Everyone awed and I smiled as he kissed my forehead. I looked at everyone. They seemed so robotic. They all had the same beaming grins on their faces and the same eager eyes.

"Lovely that you're all acquainted. Now we shall begin with posture." She clapped and pressed "play" on the remote, the room filling with a gentle waltz tune.

"Men, left hand extended outwards, at a 180° angle, holding your lady's hand from underneath her palm. Ladies, loosen your grasp on your right hand, lift your elbow like the men and straighten out your backs."

She walked around, inspecting how we were doing so far, adjusting positions, pointing elbows, tilting heads and poking backs. I stifled a giggle and Aaron grinned at me. "Shut up before she beats us with her remote," he whispered.

"Oh calm down, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes," I whispered back.

"Excellent," she marvelled, admiring our composure.

We smiled and chuckled as she turned to observe the other couples. My eyes trailed after her and stopped upon the couple from before; Lacey and Alex.

They whispered frantically at each other, and by Alex's expression, I could tell the mood felt anything but romantic to him. Lacey seemed insistent about something, but he just kept shaking his head.

I focused intently, trying to decipher their mumbling, while still following Anya's instructions.

Easier said than done.

Alex.

"Lacey, this is pointless, you know I can't dance. No amount of dance training is gonna change that."

"Alex, please. We've only been here for 10 minutes. It's not going to kill you to listen to Anya," she whispered.

We kept our voices low as we bickered secretly.

"I didn't say it was going to kill me. I'm just incessantly stressing that I can't, nor do I want to pursue, dance."

"Eight weeks, that's all. And when it's over, you never have to dance again, I promise."

I groaned and looked away, hoping to find something that would take my mind off of the fact I still had another hour and fifty minutes of this torture. My eyes scanned the room and fell upon the last couple who had introduced themselves; Rayne and Aaron.

Aaron was oblivious, staring at everything in the room but the instructor.

I smiled to myself. I sure as hell didn't blame him.

Rayne seemed to be in her own little world, staring aimlessly at the floor. What she was thinking about I wasn't sure, but just the look on her face intrigued me.

Must be something really interesting for the floor to grab her attention for that long...

I watched her for what seemed like hours when her head shot up and she looked at me. I blinked and she just smiled. I returned the gesture and turned my attention back to Lacey, who had been yapping on forever apparently.

"―just think about what you could accomplish."

"What?"

She sighed. "Alex, have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry. I just, I don't know, I said 'what' for some reason."

She smiled and brushed the hair out of my face. "Now you know I love you, but would it kill you to stick that hair somewhere other than in front of your eyes?"

"It never seemed to bother you before," I replied, mildly agitated.

"I just like to see your eyes when I talk to you, Alex."

"Just because you can't actually see my eyes as easily as others' doesn't mean I'm not listening to you, Lace. I figured you'd know that by now."

"Oh, don't take it to heart. I just love looking at your eyes, that's all."

I looked at her and smiled. I knew she wasn't lying, and I couldn't stay mad forever. I kissed her cheek as Anya continued with her steps.

"I can do this," I thought to myself. "Just an hour and forty-five minutes to go..."