Dance with Me [h.s] (Completed)

Chapter 16

Carmen and I walk together to work and it's a lot different than yesterday when the five of us went together. The mood isn't as loud and excited but we still manage to laugh. She tells me about how Louis has been hitting on both Angela and Nicole as if it will double his odds and instead he is just losing his chance with both.

We say hello to everyone as we come in and I know the other girls are already getting ready because I can hear their music. I teasingly enter backing my ass up into the room to Humble By Kendrick Lamar:
"Show me something natural like ass with some stretch marks."

Nicole and Angela cheer for me and then hug me, asking if I'm okay after last night. I tell them briefly what happened and that we'll just have to watch out for each other more.

I go to my locker and open it and I'm met with a single sunflower. I make sure the girls don't see it and smile to myself, knowing who it was from.

We head out for our shot ritual, all the bartenders come over for it now and I feel like we have developed our own little community in here.

"You okay?" Louis asks me quietly, putting his arm around me.

"Yeah," I answer him, giving him a brave smile.

I can't say I'm not anxious when we get up to dance today. I'm constantly searching the eyes of everyone in the crowd as if I'll be able to catch someone giving me too much attention. The searching alone makes me feel paranoid and when Carmen tells me it's time for a break, I'm relieved.

She holds my hand the entire way through the crowded dance floor and when I look behind us I see that Brody follows us too. When we get to Louis, Brody stands to the side but close enough that he can still keep an eye on us. I know this is Harry's doing and I'm not sure if I'm grateful or think it draws even more attention to us.

Carmen goes to use the bathroom leaving me and Louis to talk while he serves customers. It gets really busy so I step behind the bar to help him by popping caps off beer bottles and getting any drink that doesn't require pouring.

"Hi Sunshine," and I turn and look towards the sound. Harry has stepped behind the bar, too, standing behind me. He comes in extra close, his hand on my waist and leaning into my ear to speak over the loud music, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I tell him, and I bend over with him still very close behind me to get into the fridge to grab more bottles, my ass pushing into his front. After, I pull away like nothing happened and I already know he is grinning ear to ear without me needing to look.

"I wanted to ask you about next week," he says.

"What about next week?"

"Well, the competition is coming up. I still want to coach you."

"Yeah?" I ask, acting disinterested but secretly excited.

"Are you free Sunday?"

"Maybe, I'll have to check my schedule," I respond cheekily with a smirk.

Before he has a chance to respond, I see Carmen come back and I grab her hand and continue back to the stage.

I coordinate more with the girls tonight. Since it's supposed to be Salsa Fridays, I teach them a few simple moves that we can all do together, creating a little routine for us. They each have great ideas to make it even better and by the time our next break comes I'm really impressed with what we've created.

Brody helps down the girls and Harry appears out of nowhere to help me, waving off Brody.

"You did that?" he says gesturing to the stage and our routine.