A Truelove of Turtle Doves

Chpt 18 - Beneath The Sky

I wonder what Francis is doing?

I almost screamed at the intrusive thought. I did not want to think about Francis. The amount I thought about him was, in all honesty, starting to scare me.

Who cares what he's doing? It's probably boring pirate stuff... Except boring pirate stuff wasn't actually boring. I thought it all looked pretty cool, actually. Maybe he could give me some lessons on doing pirate things.

"Josie, throw your book at me," I stated plainly.

She didn't reply, but something hard hit my stomach and I yelped.

"Thanks," I groaned.

"No problem."

"Ouch, that probably hurt. Wasn't that your hardback copy of The Female Quixote?" snickered Lauren.

"Yes, yes it was," Josie responded proudly.

"If you are looking for distractions, I would suggest doing something less detrimental to your health," chided Edward.

"Oh come on, Ed! It's pretty funny seeing him act like a total muppet. Do I get to throw a book at you too?" asked Lauren excitedly.

Ignoring Lauren's overly-enthusiastic question, I sat up and looked over at Ed. "Have you got any suggestions on what I should be doing then?"

He thought for a moment. "How about ballroom dancing?"

A look of confusion crossed my face. "I'm sorry, what?"

"They always have a dance at the town hall during summer, don't they? Maybe you could brush up on your skills in preparation. It will give you something else to think about."

Josie stood up in a flash, a devilish grin plastered onto her face. "Alright lazy bones, get your ass off of the floor."

"I assume I don't have a say in this?"

"Not in the slightest."

With that, we began. I hadn't danced in a while and Josie's insistence at being the lead meant that it didn't start out so well. In fact, I was trampling all over her feet after every few steps.

"Ouch! Stop stepping on my feet!"

"Well slow down then!"

"It's not my fault that you're too slow!"

"You shouldn't even be leading the dance!"

"Are you telling me that because I'm a girl I can't lead the dance?"

"Traditionally, no, you can't."

"Well screw tradition! You can't lead it because you suck!"

"I do not suck! I'm just a bit out of practice."

"Whatever."

Lauren and Edward were both giggling away in the corner of the room at how stupid we looked. I didn't blame them.

"Right, follow my lead okay? One two three, one two three, one two three... Yeah, like that!"

It took quite a while to get into a rhythm, which we both blamed on the lack of music. Besides Lauren and Edward making the occasional snarky comment or sound of laughter, and Josie telling me how awful I was, there was no other noise in the room. When we did eventually find a rhythm, and when I had stopped stepping on Josie's toes every other step, we weren't too bad. She was actually very good at leading the dance. Not that I was going to tell her that. I didn't need to. She knew that she was right, and I wasn't going to boost her ego.