Taken and Misused.

“But, Mr. Dellmonte, why the tango?” I asked, walking over to him slightly rushed as he began to walk over to the stereo in the corner of the room. My heels made soft taps on the floor as I waited for my dance instructor to answer.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, turning and raising his eyebrows at me as if there was a sign indicating what he was talking about hanging in front of my face.

“Not really” I replied, very unsure of what he was getting at.

“You and Stephen need to get some passion into your dances, you are both much too emotionless while dancing. I should be able to read your thoughts on the surface of your faces” he answered then turned back to the stereo and searched for a CD in a neat book.

I bit back the comment about if he wanted to see what me and Stephen were thinking while dancing he would see just how far from passion both of them were. Our feelings were more along the lines of annoyance and distaste. If he knew just how much we didn’t like being partners he would probably make us do something much worse than the tango.

“And for the tango I should see passion” he said, pulling a CD from one of the clear pockets, it was labeled “Elisabeth & Stephen”. Well, it was nice to know we had a CD dedicated to us, I thought bitterly. “Now watch them, you will be doing something along the lines of what they will show you except there will be more than a touch of ballet” he said, turning to me and Stephen with a grin on his slightly aged features. He knew he had just gotten out complete attention, we had barely practiced anything that dealt with ballet and here he was dangling this treat in front of us. “So…” he started, turning to Tabytha and the other dancers, they got into two pairs, “begin” Mr. Dellmonte finished, pressing play on the stereo as a upbeat tango song filled the room and both pairs of dancers moved in unison across the floor. Tabytha seemed to have more spunk than the other girl, each turn she whipped through the movements instead of gliding, making each one look brilliant and unique. I pulled my eyes away from them when I felt another set of eyes on me, those eyes belonged to a cold Russian. Stephen was giving me an odd look, as if he were trying to figure me out.

“What?” I asked in a whisper since we weren’t too far apart. He just looked away from me and went back to watching the dancers. I let an exasperated sigh leave my lips. I just could not figure him out.

When the song came to an end all four dancers bowed, Tabytha did a little flourish, twirling her hand before dipping low with a grin. Mr. Dellmonte applauded, patting one of the male dancers on the back before turning to me and Stephen with an expectant look.

“So are you two ready to bring your dancing to yet another level?” he asked, tipping his head to one side in question. Sometimes I had to wonder how he managed not to trample on any wrong toes with that personality of his. In a world with stuffy, strict, and rule bound dance teachers you didn’t find many who were like Mr. Dellmonte.

“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful” Mr. Dellmonte said, grinning even though we hadn't said anything. He turned back to the other dancers again, “I will see you four tomorrow during class, thank you for sparing the time” he said and one of the guys chuckled.

“You kinda forced us Mr. D” he said, chuckling again when Mr. Dellmonte pretended to be oblivious to the comment he had just made. “Good luck you two” he called over to us, mainly looking at me. Did Stephen have that bad of a reputation here?

“There is no need for luck Joshua” Stephen said curtly, walking over to his bag to rummage around inside of it. I looked back at Joshua and smiled, giving him a silent thanks and he nodded before leaving. Why couldn’t I have been in their class?

“Alright the two of you, time to focus” Mr. Dellmonte said, clicking on the stereo and moving through the songs on the CD. “Elisabeth, come here” he said, pushing play on the stereo. A [song began to play, one I didn’t recognize but Stephen seemed to.

“The assassin’s tango Mr. Dellmonte?” he questioned.

“I’m glad you recognize it, I thought it was fitting seeing how you two look at each other with such distaste” he said, giving both of us a look that wasn’t complimentary. “Now, Elisabeth, please” he continued, holding his hand out for mine. I nervously put my hand into his; he had never offered to dance with me when he was showing us a new routine. “Now, Stephen, pay very close attention to the steps I lead her into, these will be the basis for your performance but you two will build from it” he said as he took two quick steps back that I followed as quickly as I registered them. I was getting better at the whole partner thing; it was getting easier to do a routine I didn’t know as long as I was performing with a partner. Mr. Dellmonte was counting the steps as he lead me across the dance floor, he didn’t comment on any of my stumbles and kept his pace slightly slow so I could follow. Each glimpse I caught of Stephen showed me that his eyes seemed to be glued to our steps; one good thing about Stephen was how he remembered steps perfectly. It was as if his mind recorded the steps and played them back for him.

Mr. Dellmonte stopped just half-way through the song, “that is the portion you will be working on today” he said, releasing me to go and stop the song from playing.

“The first day of class you said we would be performing in a recital. Is this tango dance going to be in our recital?” Stephen asked as he came over to me.

“Of course not Stephen, you will be performing a ballet recital at the end of the year, and you’ll be surprised to see how much all of this has shown you” Mr. Dellmonte said in that same cryptic voice he had a tendency to use too much. “Now, get into form you two, we have a lot to learn today” he said, starting the song. He began to count out the steps, sometimes mimicking Stephen as if he were the lead so that stephen could see how each step was to be executed. We moved in a basic tango, nothing fancy or extreme and I figured out why Mr. Dellmonte had decided to leave the rest to us, each time Stephen led me into a twirl I saw millions of possibilities to add ballet into the mix. Or when he would dip me I imagined a few more flourishes to take it from classical to ballet. I could see Stephen was imagining the same things I was.

“Stop” Mr. Dellmonte called, pausing the song and walking over to us. Just as he had done during our first class he shoved Stephen’s feet foreword so we were much closer, almost every inch of our bodies touching. He tipped my chin up and it suddenly got a lot more awkward, I wasn’t used to the lack of personal space the tango called for. He fixed the form of our arms, straightening or bending them to create elegant angles or lines. When he stepped back we were in a perfect tango form. And all I could think about were the army of nerves attacking me. I kept thinking about how close I had been to Vaughn this morning, exactly like I was with Stephen and I kept forgetting it was Stephen’s hand wrapped around my waist and his hand in mine.

“Elisabeth? Are you ready?” Mr. Dellmonte asked and I came back from my thoughts and an expression of embarrassment clouded over my angular features. I had just spaced out while staring at Stephen.

“Oh, yes” I said, looking back up at Stephen who didn’t seem to have noticed my staring or maybe he had girls staring at him often. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t attractive, at least to girls who didn’t know him.

“Alright then, start again” Mr. Dellmonte said and restarted the song and began counting the steps out loud. This time each of our movements made me feel like we were moving as one, I didn’t even have to check if I was following with the right foot, I could feel each movement before he made it.

Mr. Dellmonte stopped the dance after the fifth time and it ended with Stephen dipping me very low, we were both only slightly breathless seeing as we had just repeated those same movements over and over again. Mr. Dellmonte’s mantra seemed to be repetition equals perfection because that was what he said each time he told us to restart.

“That’s enough for today, you’ve got the basics down it seems” Mr. Dellmonte said with a satisfied grin. He came up to us and patted both of us on the backs. “However, remember that next class I’ll only be putting in my opinion here and there, it’ll be up to you two on how you want to morph this dance into something that reflects the grace of ballet as well as the passion of the tango” he said, grinning at both of us. “I’m sure it will be a wonderful lesson for you two so that both passion and grace will be imbedded into your minds like breathing is” he said, clapping his hands together once to finalize his words. “Now, enjoy tomorrow because you won’t be having any practice” he added while taking our CD out of the stereo and slipping it back into its case.

“Au revoir(bye) Mr. Dellmonte” I said, picking up my dance bag quickly and wiping the small amount of sweat off my face with a soft white towel I always brought to practices. I hurried our of the room, giving a slight nod to Stephen who just stared at me. Sometimes I just wished I could read his mind and figure out why he just stared at me all of the time. I was hurrying because I was eager to see where Vaughn was taking me tonight, finally I’d get to see into his secret life.

“Elisabeth, why are you in such a rush?” Stephen asked from behind me and I jumped, I hadn’t known he was following me.

“I’m just going somewhere with a friend, not someone you know” I said, almost laughing at the thought of Stephen and Vaughn in the same room.

“Who?” he asked anyways.

“Vaughn Hart”

“Oh” he replied, but I caught a hint of distaste in his voice. Did Stephen know Vaughn?

“Do you know him?” I asked, slowing slightly to get my answer.

“I wish I did not” he replied in his clipped Russian accent before striding ahead of me and leaving the studio through the front doors. By the time I had caught up with him he was already in a sleek black car that was pulling out into the street. My eyes traveled over to Vaughn who was staring with very obvious annoyance at where Stephen’s car had just been. My curiosity sprang to life.

“How was practice Princess?” he asked, all traces of annoyance leaving his features as his eyes met mine. A smirk replaced his frown and his dark eyes sparked with mischief, typical for him I had deduced in the few days I had known him.

“Do you know Stephen Ivanov?” I asked, pointedly looking at where Stephen’s car had disappeared as if I was pointing.

“No clue” he replied with a wide grin, he knew I knew he was lying.

“You just told me the truth without even doing it” I retorted, flashing my own grin.

“You think I did but do you know it for a fact?” Vaughn said, raising an eyebrow as he opened the passenger door for me. I got in while searching his features in an attempt to figure out his little riddles but I got nothing from his smug grin.

“You are so aggravating to talk to Vaughn” I muttered, looking out the windshield with a frown. He only chuckled loudly and closed my door before going over to his.