Nothing Without Love: Dance Like This -Book I

Chapter One

Chapter One

I ain't come to fight tonight

Too many ladies up in here tonight

Everybody report to the dance floor please!

Grab a girl!

I never really knew that she could dance like this,

She make a man wanna speak Spanish

Como se llama? Bonita, mi casa, su casa!"

The way you move you got me hypnotized

Especially when I look into his eyes,

Hey Papi, I wanna, see you do the dance to the conga…….

 I could feel the pulsing beat of the Wyclef Jean song I was listening to course through my body and it made me want to move like no one was watching. Except everyone was considering I was riding the subway to Brooklyn from the posh extravagance of the Upper East Side and the upscale dance school I taught at for young girls and women. No matter what kind of mood I was in after teaching contemporary dance (the high society word for "appropriate freestyle" as it is said by some in the academy) to high school teens and preteens, I just plugged my ears full of dance music and went home so no creeps would try talking to me.

 I swear to God preteens are the worst ages ever. They're not only awkward as hell but snotty, rude, and full of attitude. If I was ever that bad I feel sorry for my parents. How can any kid talk to their parent like that? Oh right, these kids were taught since freaking birth that they are above everyone else. How could I forget that? And also, I was one of those kids.

 I'm not talking about being from the Upper East Side, because I wasn't that unfortunate. I was from a small, nondescript town in Michigan and I was just fine with that. I live in New York with my sister Astrid, a criminal justice detective for NYPD and my cousin Toni Morrison (my second cousin on my mother's side actually), an art gallery curator in Brooklyn, which is also where we live. We all lived in a four bedroom house on Avenue J. I liked it because it reminded me of the show RENT, with Avenue A and Avenue B. The three of us grew up apart, but we were always close, like three sisters instead of two sisters and a second cousin. It worked like a charm for us.

 As the subway started to slow, another song began on my old iPod nano, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. If anyone ever looked at the playlist I danced to all the time, they would call me strange. Even my little sister Astrid says that about me. But for me, it's not about it making sense to other people, it's about what songs have the power to move me, physically and metaphysically. I never go anywhere without my iPod. I've had this iPod since I was 12 years old, and it still works like a charm. Sure yeah, 12 year old me loved stuff like the Chipmunks and Hannah Montana, but hey, I couldn't change who I was. I've been dancing since I could walk on two feet. My mother signed me up for ballet when I was 5 to assure that I would not trip over my own two feet for the rest of my life. I haven't stopped dancing since. When I told my parents I had been accepted to Juilliard, they were livid. They wanted me to get a degree with a payable job. But I didn't want to do that. I just wanted to live my life. I took online courses to get a degree in Psychology. English would be next and then a minor in Women's Studies (I have an addiction for knowledge and education, whether formal or informal). I would just go to regular college, but considering my job pays the best and I teach the most classes, I have to bring in what I can for Toni, Astrid and I.

 I stood up to not get trampled as I made my way to the door. From there I made my way out to get away from the crowd. One hour and nine minute subway ride later and I was ready to be home. It wasn't a far distance from where I was, and I felt the relief at being so close to home after a long and tiring day.