𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓢𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 (𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓞𝓷𝓮)

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓕𝓲𝓯𝓽𝔂-𝓕𝓲𝓿𝓮

Mistress Harriet has given us another dance that we have to master called the quickstep. According to her, this will be the second to last dance before we have to start preparing for our final.

This makes me excited because while Arty isn't bad at dancing, and in reality I'm not either, it's not very fun for me. I would much rather do something else, or spend time with him doing something else rather than this. But judging by the way his eyes light up when we dance, I wouldn't want to be rude.

She of course has the directions written on the chalkboard.

Step forward with your right foot.

Step to the left with your left foot.

Slide your right foot, and close with your left foot.

Step to the left with your left foot.

Step backward with your right foot.

Step to the left with your left foot.

Slide your right foot, and close with your left foot.

Step to the left with your left foot.

These directions look simple, however, I can't be overly confident about the entire thing.

Arty gets up from where he was sitting beside me, and the cozy warmth immediately leaves the area. I frown and stand up myself. I smooth the front of my green dress, and run my fingers through some stray strands of my hair away from my face.

He looks from my body to my face and smiles, "I do not think this will take very long."

Hopefully not.

I nod and look down at my hands. Usually they're shaking, but they're still. 

That's really odd.

When I look back up, his hand is near mine. I take it, the warmth from before settling in again. Something aches in my chest as my gaze meets his. My eyes clench a little as his gleam with something I can't quite place. Almost like little specks of white are inside of them.

He wraps his other arm around my body, and his hand lands on the small of my back. His fingers rub around the area leaving a warm caress that sends more warmth to my cheeks.

What the-

I raise my eyebrow at him and he smiles, "For this dance, you need to put your hand on my back."

That makes sense.

I nod, and wrap my other arm around his body. My hand lands in an area under his shoulders. I move my fingers up and down through the rough indents. He lets out a shaky breath as his muscles contract under my touch. 

They're the rough muscular indents, but they're also smaller indents that are nearly everywhere on his back. Almost like a second skin. I wonder what those are?

I don't pay attention to that as I meet his gaze again. The sheer weight of his gaze causing my stomach to churn. 

Why am I having such a physical reaction to him?

We both sort of shake our heads at the same time and he laughs, "I suppose we should probably be actually practicing."

I laugh and we begin the movements that are listed on the chalkboard. His soft voice guides us through both the fast and slower movements. The entire time, my eyes are on his face and witnessing the concentration lining his features. 

He doesn't look at me, doesn't even spare a glance at me. His eyes are focused on our feet even though we both clearly have no issue with feet placement... well not anymore.