Page 23 of The Way We Dance

"Maybe? Or maybe you are not thinking about it so your body is taking the motion without your consent."

"What the fuck?"

"We need to retrain you to push off with your toes." She grabbed the case of the iPad she had at practice the day before and walked toward me. "Let me show you what I mean."

She got close to me, closer than she had been before. Close enough that for the first time, I could smell her and feel her. She smelled floral and her arm against mine felt warm and soft. The top of her bun came to my shoulders and I could see her iPad clearly standing right behind her left shoulder.

She hit play on a video of me setting up on the line, waiting for Cam to say go. She played it once at regular speed and slowed it down the second time. The video zoomed in on my feet and she was not fucking wrong, I was flat footed and didn't even realize it.

If I had thought that video was a fluke, she continued to show me several more with the same problem. Over and over again, I took off slowly and almost from my heel, like she had said. She left the iPad in my hands and walked away, but I kept hitting replay.

"Fuck!" I yelled before throwing her iPad across the room. "What else, Miss Perfect?"

She jumped at my outburst and her eyes started darting side to side. I scared the fuck out of her and didn't mean to, but seeing myself fuck up in the most basic manner was a hard pill to swallow.

"Sorry," I muttered, picking the iPad up from the floor. It wasn’t broken so I closed the case and handed it to her. She gently took it and set it on the table she had by the mirror.

"Um," she said, which caught my attention. She never said words like 'um.' She was too put together for the likes of such a mundane word. "Let’s try to focus a little. In ballet, we learn the classical walk early on. That would have been a few weeks away for us, but since I was able to see it's need first hand, we can head straight to it."

I tamped down my anger and took my spot facing the mirror. She stood a few feet away and encouraged me to follow along. "When a dancer walks, they are rolling through their foot starting with the toe, into the ball of the foot, then finally the heel. Also, the dancer must keep their legs and feet turned right the whole time."

She did a walk and then motioned for me to mimic her. I was too pissed at myself to argue so I followed her instruction and made changes when she told me to. We walked from one side of the studio to the other and after a while, her excitement started shining through.

"Yes!" she clapped once. "You have it."

I felt like an idiot, prancing around the fucking wooden floor and pointing my toes. I had to admit though, her being excited was worth my pain. It was almost infectious and had I not been a little rough around the edges, I would have clapped too.

"Now, let’s go across one more time, but this time, I want you to close your eyes and focus. I want you to tune everything out and see in your mind the way your feet are touching."

"Wouldn't it make more sense if I did this on the field instead of here?" I mean shit, didn't it?

She shrugged, another un-Miss Priss-like move, "It is not uncommon for football players to take ballet, I think they just keep it to themselves. But this is an environment where there are no other missions than to focus on pointed toes. Or focus on whatever we need to. The field is loud for a player, and this is an alternative place to find those steps."

That actually made sense, and I wondered who else on my team had taken ballet and I didn't know about it. Coach is the one that set this up, so I bet he did it in his day. It didn't make this any less awkward but I was curious if I could apply this to the field tomorrow.

"So that’s it? We’re done?"

"You and I both wish, Mr. Black. Thursday we need to talk about twirling your body more fluidly."

I didn't respond, I just closed my eyes and started classical walking across the studio. I got close to the other wall and opened my eyes before I ran into it full force. I turned a little twirl, hoping I could show Giselle that I was a master twirler but I almost fell.

Then a miracle happened.

She laughed. A real and full laugh that showed teeth and tongue and tears. She put a hand on her hip and shook her head at my foul.

"Yep, working on that Thursday," was all she said before gathering her things.

I smirked at her, somehow lighter now that I knew she was capable of laughing, and made my way to the door. I slid my shoes on and she waited by the door to let us out.

Maybe it was the lighter spirit, or maybe it was just my curiosity, but I had to ask. "You walk home in that?"

She looked down at herself and swiped a hand down her skirt. "Only on Tuesdays and Thursdays since I am here late. Saves time not to change."

I thought about how she ran every time I saw her and wondered if there was something she was scared of. The first night I was here, she was scared. Tonight she looked shaken when I first arrived. If I waited on her, would she take the time to change? Maybe she didn't want to be here alone.

"I can wait on you if you want to change," I suggested.

"Another insult?" she asked, tilting her head and looking down where I sat to put my shoes on.

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