Page 62 of Fostering Chemistry
“Do you mind if I make a call?” I asked when we had about fifteen minutes to go.
“Be my guest.”
Lucas was a cutie.
And a moment later, I was talking with another cutie. “Do you know how to dance?” I asked, the moment Aaron answered the phone.
“I can stand on a dance floor and sway back and forth.”
“Are we going to have to dance at this thing on Saturday?”
“I don’t see why. I’ve never had to dance at family functions before.”
I waited a beat, to see if he’d put two and two together. He didn’t. “Isn’t that because you’ve never brought a date before?”
“Oh. Oh, shit.” Aaron sounded shocked. “We’re going to have to dance at this thing on Saturday.”
“Hence the problem.” His cluelessness was both irritating and endearing. “What are we going to do?”
“I have no idea.”
“Why am I here again?”Diego asked.
“You live here,” Aaron told him. We were in the living room of the Baylor House.
Diego rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“You said we could come to you for anything,” I pointed out.
“I meant like roommate problems. Not choreography.” He huffed out an exasperated breath.
“Please, Diego, we need to learn how to dance.” Aaron sounded desperate.
“Good thing I'm majoring in dance and give dance lessons on the side.” Sarcasm wasn’t his usual M.O., but I couldn't exactly blame him.
“Please, we need help,” I wasn’t above aiming sad, puppy dog eyes in his direction.
“I already helped you by running all over campus on Friday,” Diego pointed out.
“And look how well you did with that,” Aaron said. “You guys came in first. Come on, please? You're older than us. You know more things.”
Diego sat on the arm of the couch and raked a hand through his hair. “I'm only two years older than you and three years older than Mia. Trust me when I say I didnotspend those extra years learning ballroom dancing.”
“I've never even been in a ballroom,” I said.
“Did I say I had?” Diego asked.
He was in some kind of mood, but I couldn't really blame him. Aaron had all but ambushed him this afternoon. And the guy who’d talked me into going on a scavenger hunt, wearing a makeshift costume, and going with him to a family event was hard to say no to.
“Please, Diego?” I asked.
Finally he rolled his eyes. “Put on some music. A waltz.”
“Thanks, man.” Aaron pulled out his phone, tapping rapidly at the screen. A minute later, the room was filled with the sound of— “Wait, that’s disco.”
I groaned, and Diego shook his head.
While Aaron kept looking, Diego pushed one of the couches and an armchair out of the way, giving us some space in the center of the room. I started dragging the coffee table to the side, but then Aaron picked up the other end, so we could move it together.
