It's Only a Dance Step

“What the hell is wrong with you.” Candice exclaimed as she marched straight into my bedroom without knocking.

“There is this thing called knocking you know.”

“I don’t care right now. It’s not like I don’t know what body parts you have anyway. Now tell me what is going on.” She commanded and crossed her arms.

I sighed and turned around to lie on my back on the bed. “Nothing.”

“To hell its nothing. Now tell me, and tell me the truth.” She sat down on the edge of my bed and waited. Sadly, I had no other choice then to comply.

“It’s Damon.”

“Well yeah, I figured that much. I mean, you have been acting weird ever since you came back to our dorm when we went clubbing in celebration of surviving the first day.” She commented.

I kept quiet and bit my lip. Candice took a good long look at me and her eyebrows rose.

“What are you not telling me Desera? Come on! You know better than to keep things from me.” She frowned.

I closed my eyes and cursed myself mentally. If I knew one thing for sure, it was that Candice could read anyone. And believe me; I have a good poker face.

“Um…something happened.”

“Oh shit! And you’re telling me this now! If he hurt you or was too rough, oh I'm going to beat that mother-”

“SHUT UP! No he didn’t do anything Candice. Calm down.” I rolled my eyes and looked at her. Guilt filled me right away and I knew I shouldn’t have yelled at her. She was only looking out for me.

“We didn’t do anything. As a matter of fact, at first I didn’t even know it was him.”

“Okay Dessy, now you got me confused. And that doesn’t happen too often with me.” She replied and lied down next to me.

Here we go, I thought and explained to her everything that happened since that day that I left the club, till an hour ago that I found out about the competition.

“Please say something…” I bit my lip and looked at her silent expression.

“I…I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell me.”

“Well, I had no reason to. I mean, he’s still and will always be a pain in the ass.” I frowned at my own words, not quiet believing them anymore. But why? I had every reason to call him an ass.

“Right…well then the way your acting is definitely not showing that. And NOW that explains why he was acting the way he was on the day you slapped him across the face and the days after that. Damn! Everything makes sense now.” She said to herself. I sighed and put a pillow over my face.

“Relax, everything will be okay. As for the competition thing, you should do it. Who knows, there may be people from across the country looking for new dancers!” She smiled, pulling my pillow off my face. “But I am glad you slapped him for saying your dancing is predictable, because trust me, I have seen the real Desera hit those moves.” She smirked wiggling her eyebrows and I laughed slapping her face with the pillow.

She gasped and her eyes widen. “Oh no you didn’t!”

“Mhm, think I just did…” I laughed and ducked out of the way before she hit me with her pillow.

“Bring it on!” She yelled and we chased each other with our pillows like little two year olds till we dropped down breathless.

I silently sneaked out of our dorm in the middle of the night as Candice slept and made my way to the studio. I couldn’t sleep, like usual and knew nothing else to do but dance. So that’s where I was going.
I picked Studio B and quietly walked in making sure no one was around. I slipped on my pointe shoes and tied them. Normally I danced barefoot, but tonight I felt like I could work on some technique. When I finished a few minutes after, I walked toward the barre in a pair of mini shorts and a tank top. I closed my eyes and let a long breath out relaxing my muscles before beginning a few exercises.

I was so concentrated that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me until a pair of hands touched my waist.

I yelled and opened my eyes only to see Damon’s face through the mirror. Oh great, I thought.

“Relax your back…its way too stiff.” He spoke with such authority I had to double check to make sure it was him.

“What do you want?” I snapped and pulled his hands off me as I searched his face through the mirror.

“To help.” He replied simply.

“I’m sure there are a ton of other dancers willing to except your help. I’m not one of them, so you’re wasting your time with me.”

He sighed and shook his head. “You’re the one that needs it the most Desera.” It was as if he slapped me across the face. Ouch, did he just say that?

“You’re the one that needs it most because you’re so close to becoming the best dancer this academy has ever seen. Please don’t let it go to waste and let your stubbornness win out.” He said staring right at me. Those eyes that were almost raven black. That face that was so handsomely haunting.

I looked down at the barre I was holding and stayed quiet. I felt his hand lift my chin as he stood behind me and forced me to look him in the eye through the mirror.

“You should know better than to look down. Now please, relax your back.”

I gave a small frown but didn’t argue. Or maybe I should. I mean, I came here to get away from him specifically! Come on! It was like three in the morning and I wanted some time alone! Was that too much to freaking ask for? But no, instead I did relax my back and stood up straighter.

“Good. I’m sure that must feel better since you’re standing the right way now.” He nodded and he was right. It did feel better.

“Now continue what you were doing and I’ll go and put some music on to help.” He told me and turned around.

But my hand on his arm stopped him. He froze but didn’t turn around to look at me.

“What are you doing?” I asked softly, looking up at him, waiting for him to turn around.

“My job.” He said plainly.

“Job?” Surprise rose in my voice.

He nodded and added, “Yeah. I was paid to come here and train you all to become the best you could be because you all had the greatest potential.”

“But then why…” I frowned confused. Why the competition? Why did he pick me to begin with? If he really came here to just teach us all, why was I getting special treatment?

“I got carried away. I thought I could help you…help you become literally the best there was. But, I spoke to soon to your instructors. I should have known not to do anything because right away they offered me more money. When really all I wanted to do was help you succeed.” His voice sounded sad and this was the first time I had really seen him act this way. It was a whole different side of Damon that I, or anyone else for that matter, knew about.

I dropped my hand that was on his arm and sighed as I shook my head looking away at the mirrors on the side walls. “You’re looking in the wrong place Damon. I don’t mean to sound like I don’t appreciate what you’re doing, or want you to feel pity for me. But, I’m not the best here. Honestly. Ask any other teacher and they could name a couple dancers before me.”

His hand touched my cheek and I met his black eyes slowly before he said something that left me with even more questions.

“When I first danced with you that night, I knew you were the one.”