"Hey Ben, some of the guys are going out bowling tonight. Wanna come?" Sky asks as we head out of rehearsal.
Shit, shit. Make up an excuse!
"I can't go out tonight. I um, I-"
"You what?" Josh smirks.
Josh! Fuck you!
"I'm going out with Emma tonight. We're getting dinner." I say quickly.
Josh chuckles to himself, but Sky and DeMarius buy the excuse. I punch Josh in the shoulder as we walk behind the two others, since he knows I'm going out with Rosalina tonight.
I decide to not tell any of my cast members about Rosalina because I know they would tease me about her. Sure, we're not dating, but I'm the youngest in the cast- beside the boy playing Les- so they think of me as some little kid. Sky already did it when we first met, so I want to keep that to a minimum.
I go home to shower and change, though I know I'm going out just to dance again.
I meet Rosalina a few blocks away at my favorite dance studio in New York. I arrive a few minutes before her, so I take that time to stretch again.
She comes in not long after, looking beautiful as ever. Workout pants, a tight tee shirt, sneakers, and her hair in a bun.
"Hi!" She grins, dropping her backpack beside mine. "I've been waiting all day for this!"
"I have too. Rehearsal was long and unexciting." I say as she comes to sit beside me and stretch. "And how was your day, Rosalina? How was your show?"
"My show was great. But you know, you don't have to call me Rosalina. Not many people do."
"What should I call you then?"
"Um, well, there's a lot of different variations to my name. I've gotten Rose- which is the most obvious and most used nickname- also Rosie and Lina. Then there's some of my family that calls me Brie, that's my middle name. There's just a bunch. Pick your favorite." She teases as she easily slides into a middle split.
"I'll think about it. Come on, let's get going. I wanna see what you're made of, girl." I jump up, holding my hands out to her.
I throw on some music and we just start to choreograph something random, adding in whatever pops into our heads at the moment.
Rosalina is quite literally the most perfect girl I've ever met. She's absolutely stunning, and there's never a time where she doesn't look picture perfect. She's an amazing and graceful dancer, and she has the vocal cords of an angel.
But then I find myself wondering. Aren't the most perfect people on the outside, the most broken on the inside?
"Earth to Ben!" Rosalina exclaims, giggling. "You zoned out there for a second."
I smile reassuringly. "Sorry."
The song changes to a song a bit slower, and I go over and grab Rosalina's hand.
We dance together, and I spin her under my arm a few times. Our laughs fill the room as we sloppily dance, throwing all knowledge of technique out the window.
She spins out and then in so her back is against my chest, and our hips sway in sync. I catch a glimpse of her in the mirror, and her smile is so large.
I dip her down and then pop her right back up, making sure to not loosen my grip at all.
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And then just like that, we're kissing.
Kissing.
Like, lips touching lips; kissing.
It wasn't a mistake, clearly not. It couldn't have been because I leaned in slowly, testing the waters. I let our lips brush, and when she doesn't pull away one bit, I lean in further.
Her hand moves up to rest on my cheek as she stands up completely straight.
Is this right?
This is only the second time we've hung out. Sure, I know almost everything about her already, like her family in Texas and her favorite color and her resume and her favorite animal (it's a ladybug, by the way).
But isn't there this unspoken social rule that two people should be friends before they date? Yes? No?
Or did I just make that up?
But before I know it, the kiss is over, and we keep dancing as if nothing happened.
