It Takes Two To Tango

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

I’m waiting for Roo and Alex to arrive after my early morning teaching session when my phone buzzes. I pick it up quickly, and hear Josh speaking on the other end.

‘Hey Kyra,’ he says.

‘Oh, hi Josh,’ I reply, surprised to hear his voice. He’s not really a phone person.

‘How are you?’ he asks, after a slight pause.

‘I’m o-’ Before I can finish, I feel someone tug at my long ponytail, and see Jude behind me, continuing to walk past after having pulled out my hair band, leaving my hair to tumble down my back. ‘Jude, give that back!’ I shout, covering the ear piece so as not to hurt Josh’s ears.

I can hear Josh laugh. ‘Sorry about that,’ I say, apologetically.

‘No problem,’ he says. ‘Uh, is this a bad time? Should I leave you with Jude?’ he adds, slyly.

‘What are you trying to say?!’ I say, indignantly, as I follow Jude into the studio.

‘Nothing,’ Josh teases. ‘Nothing at all.’

‘Whaaat?’ I plead.

‘You two like each other, don’t you?’ Josh says.

‘Oh, no, really Josh, we hate each other.’ Despite the fact we kissed…

‘Well, I can tell Jude likes you, Ky,’ he continues. ‘He’s always teasing you- and that’s always what boys do to the girls they like.’

‘Hence your teasing of Jessie?’ I put in, unable to resist. I know he’ll be blushing at this.

‘Uh, well-’ 

‘I can tell you like each other, Josh, don’t worry,’  I tell him. ‘Is that why you rang?’

‘Um, I guess so. It’s just… well, she’s a bit out of my league, isn’t she?’ I knew it! Alice will be over the moon when I pass on this piece of information.

‘Oh no, she isn’t at all! You’re lovely Josh, and she thinks so too.’ Jude comes over in front of me, and I see that he’s wearing my hair band around his wrist. He raises an eyebrow as I say Josh’s name.

‘Could we talk about this tomorrow, or something?’ he asks. ‘I want to think about it a bit more.’ Bless him, he really is taking this seriously.

‘Of course, that’s fine. I’ll speak to you then, shall I?’

‘Thanks Kyra,’ he says. ‘I’ll leave you to Jude.’

Well lucky me. ‘Who’s Josh?’ asks Jude, as soon as I return the phone to my pocket.

‘My friend.’

‘Oh, that Josh!’ Jude slings his arm around my shoulder as I go to put my bag down, walking along with me.

‘What’re you doing?’ I say, crossly.

‘Just holding you, babe,’ he replies. I pull his arm off.

I was not eager to invite Jude along to the session, as not only does it lower my wage, but it also means I have to spend even more time with him. But I couldn’t face inviting Dan, I haven’t spoken to him since we swapped partners, and so he had to do.

Strangely, Jude wasn’t bothered that he’d have to get up early on a Saturday: he was quite eager to do it. There are so many things I don’t understand about that boy.

‘Did I tell you that we’re tutoring Alex Heart, the actor?’ I ask him.

He looks at me in surprise. ‘No!’ he says. ‘A celebrity, hey?’

‘Yep. And his fiancée, of course.’

‘We’d better do a good job then,’ Jude says, putting his arm back around me, casually. I take advantage of this to try and pull the hair band off of his wrist. He catches onto this far too quickly, and flicks my fingers away.

‘None of that, Foxy.’

‘Can I have it back, Jude?’ I ask, very nicely. ‘Please?’

‘If you go on a date with me,’ he says, predictably.

Thankfully Roo and Alex arrive at that moment, and I’m spared from having to deal with Mr Immaturity by my side.

The session goes well. Jude is well behaved for once, and is as friendly as I hope I’m being. We make quick progress on the dance that the smitten couple are working on, and watching their delight as they master the steps is so lovely that I find myself smiling foolishly at the pair of them.

And then we’re left alone for our own rehearsal.

‘This is a good Saturday morning,’ Jude tells me. ‘I’m spending all my time with you!’

I feel quite touched, but I try not to show it, because I just know that he’ll say something stupid in a minute, to ruin the moment.

‘I would have expected you to have a girlfriend or something,’ I tell him, as we warm up. I have no idea why I say this, it just kind of slips out.

Jude turns to look at me in surprise. ‘Well, I don’t.’

‘I gathered,’ I reply, feeling very stupid.

‘Dancing is my social life, Foxy, like yours is.’ He pauses, a mischievous glint in his eyes. ‘So we should both date dancers.’

Yeah, like I hadn’t thought about that a thousand times when I was with Dan.

‘Maybe we should,’ I answer him. He raises an eyebrow, suggestively.

‘Sounds like we’re meant to be, then!’ he says. ‘When’s the wedding?’

I roll my eyes at him. ‘31st of February.’

‘Oh ha ha, Ky, way to break my heart,’ he responds, sticking out his tongue at me. Well, at least he actually got the joke. I was half expecting him to stand there with a blank expression.

‘Right, lets get going then,’ I tell him.

We start off the dance, and at first it goes well. Jude is actually being almost sensible, and we manage to come up with a few more moves that fit in well with the music.

As we run through it for the third time, Jude carefully moves us into the ending position. The music ends, and I actually relax in his arms, feeling quite comfortable there. That is, until his hands slide up underneath the material of my t-shirt, leaving goose bumps where his fingers travel. I gasp, as he moves along the curve of my body, reaching up and actually unclasping the back of my bra.

‘JUDE!’ I shout, practically roly polying out of his arms. ‘What the HELL do you think you’re doing?!’

I cannot believe him! He stands up, with a bashful, yet still annoyingly cheeky smile. ‘Just getting into the spirit of the dance, Foxy.’

‘What, and declothing me?! That’s out of order Jude, I’m not putting up with that!’ I yell, getting away from him.

‘Oh lighten up, Foxy, most girls would love it if I did that to them.’

‘Well, unless you hadn’t noticed, I’m not actually one of those girls! So don’t treat me like one!’

‘The dance means we HAVE to be passionate, Kyra, I don’t understand why you can’t! Is it because you’re afraid of the chemistry between us?’ Jude asks, stepping closer, his eyes intent on mine.

‘Of course not!’ I shout. ‘You seem to think every freaking girl in the world is attracted to you, but you’re wrong! Here’s your exception right here!’

I’m not quite sure at what point our argument turns into a passionate kiss, but I find myself pulled into his arms, raking my hands through his hair as his tongue explores my mouth.

When we finally surface for air, his eyes look glazed and darker than usual as he gazes at me, and I dazedly wonder if that’s what lust looks like. ‘Damn it, Kyra,’ he murmurs. ‘I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.’

‘It’s only been two days since we last kissed,’ I tell him, slightly bemused by what just happened.

Then, before I can even take a breath, he all but slams me into the nearest wall, his body pressed up to mine, his tongue grazing along my lips and then plunging between them, making me groan into his mouth, my fingers clutching at the hair on the nape of his neck which in turn makes him moan in response, his hands sliding down the sides of my body, coming to a stop at my hips.

He bites down lightly on my lower lip, making me feel as if I could just melt into a puddle right now. When I return the gesture, his arms tighten around my waist and the kiss deepens even more. And my bra is undone.

Realising that my underwear is still not done up makes me draw back from his lips to stare at him with wide eyes, out of breath. He looks back at me with his own intoxicating dark ones, his expression daring me to try and argue my way out of this one.

‘I…’ I can’t form words right now.

‘Foxy, this passion can’t mean nothing,’ he says, huskily.

‘Jude, there are more things in life than passion,’ I reply, equally as hoarsely. ‘There are other factors to consider too.’

‘Like what?’ he asks, trailing tiny fairy kisses down from my jaw to the base of my neck. This makes it very hard to speak.

‘Uh, like the, um, but we don’t like each other,’ I stutter.

‘So you keep telling yourself,’ he tells me, putting his arms back round me so I’m well and truly pinned to the wall. ‘But Ky, don’t you want to date me?’

I’m so confused about my feelings. Yes, I enjoyed the kiss. A lot. But Jude still annoys me beyond belief. There are so many reasons why I don’t want to be with Jude. He’s arrogant, he’s annoying, he’s immature and he‘s lusty… so why do I keep daydreaming about him? I can’t like him, I can’t. But maybe I do.

He presses his lips to mine, and I can’t help but respond feverishly. I think he must have magic lips or something, because I’ve never felt so amazingly enveloped by feelings in the way that I feel now. And as he draws back, I can’t help but whisper, ‘Yes.’

I feel kind of dizzy. Jude looks at me in surprise. ‘Yes? You’re going to date me? Oh my-’ He puts his hand to my forehead. ‘Are you feeling ill?’

I roll my eyes at him, despite being secretly rather flattered at how delighted he looks. ‘Watch it, Callahan.’

‘Well, Foxy,’ he responds, pulling my arms around his neck. ‘I think this deserves a celebratory kiss. What do you say?’

And, shocking myself, I don’t say anything, instead, closing the gap between our lips.