Page 27 of Flirting Lessons

Avery’s eyes laughed into hers.

“You already know me so well,” she said. They smiled at each other for a few seconds longer. She really liked that challenging, confident look on Avery’s face. She needed to do more to boost Avery’s confidence in the flirting and dating arena.

Elena started talking again, and they both snapped their attention to the front of the room.

“Now, we will show you the salsa.” Elena moved her body to the beat in a way Taylor both envied and lusted after. “The salsa can be many things, but it’s nothing without this basic step. It’s the building block of everything, you hear me?” Everyone nodded in unison.

“Now. Watch our feet.” She and Alisha faced the audience. They swayed from side to side for a few beats, and at some unseen cue, started dancing at the same time. “One two THREE four, five six SEVEN eight! You got that? No, of course, many of you didn’t get that, but that’s okay, we’ll keep going! One two THREE four, five six SEVEN eight!”

“I would like that woman to do very dirty things to me,” Taylor said in Avery’s ear.

“Taylor!” Avery whispered in a scandalized voice. Taylor just giggled.

“Now, it’s time for you to do it!” Elena said. “I’m going to doanother count of eight, and Alisha and I will dance it again, and then at the second count of eight, you all join in, okay? Some of you will have never done this before; for others, it may have been a while, especially if it’s been since our last class here. If you know it, you can help me demonstrate. Okay! One two three four five six seven eight. One two three four five six seven eight!”

The whole room moved along with her on the second count of eight, some people more successfully than others. Avery was definitely one of the more successful ones.

“And again! One two three four five six seven eight, one two three four five six seven eight. Wonderful job! I can already tell this is going to be an excellent class!”

Taylor nudged Avery when they had all gotten back (sort of) into place.

“What were you talking about, you don’t know how to salsa? You seem like you knew what you were doing there.”

Avery shrugged, a shy smile on her face.

“I just take direction well, that’s all.”

“Oh, do you?” Taylor said. And then she stopped herself. No, she couldn’t go there. Even if she really wanted to.

“Next,” Elena said, rescuing her from Avery’s raised eyebrows. “You’ll all split up into pairs. Once you find your partner, we will demonstrate how to do this together, okay? Beginners! Go find a partner. Don’t be shy, you can do it!”

Who knew that instead of making rules for Avery, all she’d needed to do was rely on Elena.

“Go get ’em,” she said to Avery. At first, Avery didn’t move. But then she took a deep breath and walked across the room, stopping next to a woman with dark brown skin and bright red lipstick. Taylor was too far away to know what Avery said to her, but thewoman smiled back at her and nodded, and then took her arm. Okay, one mission accomplished, at least.

Taylor scanned the room, then walked over to an older woman in a very ruffly floral dress and asked her to dance.

“Of course, my dear!” she said. “I’d be delighted. Won’t this be fun? I love these classes. I’m Val.”

Taylor smiled at her.

“Hi, Val. I’m Taylor. Nice to meet you.”

They faced the front of the room. Taylor positioned them close enough to Avery so that she could see how it was going for her, but not so close that Avery would see her watching. Avery would be at least a little self-conscious no matter what; Taylor didn’t want to make it worse.

She looked at the woman Avery had selected. Was that Avery’s type? It must be. Taylor had told her she had to ask someone to dance that she was attracted to, and as Avery had said, she was definitely a rule follower.

She seemed a little more…femme than she thought Avery would be into. Well, she didn’t actually have any real ideawhatkind of woman Avery would be into. The bookstore event hadn’t helped with that because it was full of bookish femme types—not that there was anything wrong with that; Taylor was a big fan of bookish femme types. But it had meant that Taylor hadn’t been able to figure out what Avery was looking for.

“Attention!” Elena said from the front of the room. “Now we will show you how to dance the salsa with a partner. Intermediates and experts, remember, you will lead! Beginners, that means you will dance backward! I promise, you can do it; watch me and do the steps like this. MUSIC.” Surely, at some point, Taylor would get used to Elena’s voice becoming a megaphone without any warning. “We’ll start by going backward. Again, Alisha and I willshow you, and you’ll join us on the second count of eight. One two three four five six seven eight. ONE two three four five six seven eight.” She stopped and nodded at them. “Excellent job. Now that you have the building blocks, Alisha and I will show you how to dance together.”

She took Alisha’s hand, and they stared into each other’s eyes for a full count, and then, again without any clear signal, they began to dance together, first in place, and then around the stage. When they finished, they both curtsied to the class, who cheered wildly, with plenty of hooting and hollering. Taylor did her share of both; she saw Avery turn and look back at her, a slightly indulgent smile on her face. Taylor winked at her, and she laughed, and then she turned and said something to her dance partner. Was itThat’s my friend, isn’t she great, she’s a delight to be with, and super hot, too? Or was itNo, I don’t know that person, I don’t know what you’re talking about? Probably something in between.

“Thank you, thank you, you’re very kind, though yes, we deserve all of that,” Elena said to much laughter in the room, and even more cheering. “Now it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for: time for you to dance! Turn to face your partner!”

Taylor grinned at Val as she turned to face her. Val smiled back at her.

“Take your partner’s hand,” Elena said. Taylor put her hand in Val’s.

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