Dance With Me

Chapter 10

So glad I was finally able to come up with another chapter for this! Hope y'all like it!

xx Shel

Chapter 10

“Do it again, Karoline,” Ms. Raine instructed, clapping her hands to the tempo of the music.

I grunted, but nonetheless prepped for my turn and pulled myself up en pointe to do a triple pirouette. I landed what I thought was perfectly but the ballet mistress just shook her head.

“You came to me asking for private lessons, but here you are flailing around and making a fool of yourself. Don’t hop onto your box, hold your core, and don’t let your wrists do that awful breaking thing again.”

I bit my tongue and prepped again, this time so focused on trying to do my best that I ended up falling out of the turn after two and a half rotations.

Ms. Raine shook her head once more. “I’m done here. You clearly need to get your head straight before I help you anymore.”

I stood there in utter disbelief as she walked out, her shoes clicking against the studio’s wooden floor. Sure ballet wasn’t my best style, but did she seriously have to walk out? I asked her for the private lessons for her to help me get better, not to walk out with thirty minutes still left.

With another grunt, I flopped to the floor, lying on my back on the cool wood. My heart rate started to lower from its quickened pace the longer I lied there until I felt somewhat like my normal self. There air conditioner kicked on, cooling the room even more and leaving me even less motivated to get up.

“Ms. Raine ditched you already?”

I looked to my left, the direction of the door, to see Zayn leaning against the frame with a smug look on his face. “Apparently, I’m not focused enough for her to be of any use. I kept falling out of my pirouettes en pointe and she had enough, so she left.”

Zayn slouched into the room and held his hand out to me. “Come on, get up. I’ll help you.”

I let him pull me to my feet. “Good luck with this.”

Zayn counted out for me, not bothering to have any music going. I prepped and did my turns, stumbling at two and a half again. I groaned and stomped my foot, my earlier frustration returning.

“You’re leaning back. Lean forward a little and control your upper body. Like so.” He stepped out into a fourth position, plied, and sprang onto his supporting leg. I counted as he turned; he landed perfectly after seven.

Needless to say, my jaw hit the floor.

“What the-how the-when the-where the-What? How did you do that!”

Zayn chuckled at my bewilderment. “Turns are my favorite things. Each turn is just an extra head spin. Twist your head and your body will follow.”

With new determination, I stepped into my prep and pulled myself to my toes, spotting the dent in the mirror. I kept turning and turning and turning and landed rather gracefully after five pirouettes. It took a minute to register what I had just did, but when I did I started jumping up and down and squealed.

“I just did five turns! Five! I’ve never done that in my life!” I threw my arms around Zayn’s neck. “Thank you!”

He laughed, patting my back. “Just doing my job. Now go get ready for your duet, Niall will be here in two.”

Still giddy from my success with the pirouettes, I ran out of the studio and across the hall to change for practice. After taking my leo and tights off, I threw on a gray muscle tank with the huge arm holes that you could see pretty much my whole pink sports bra through and some fitted black shorts then yanked my hair down and ran back to the studio.

Niall was there now, sprawled on his back on the floor. Josh was also there, learning how to operate the camera from Zayn.

“Karo!” Niall jumped to his feet and grabbed me in a hug.

I patted his back for a second then stepped back. “Okay, okay, don’t get too over enthusiastic with the hugging there.”

“Sorry, I’m just excited you don’t want to kill me anymore.”

I rolled my eyes. “I never-wait I did. Never mind.”

“Someone who actually doesn’t like Niall?” Josh looked shocked with his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. “That’s a first.”

Niall smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Oh, she likes me.”

I elbowed him as hard as I could in the ribs, smiling in satisfaction when he gripped his side and grunted. “Alright! Who’s ready to dance?”

*****

“No, no, no. After you grab her hands and yank her to her feet, you’re supposed to let her shove you back a little so you get the full effect of her pushing you away.” Zayn corrected Niall, his voice remaining steady as ever. If it were me, I would already have lost it with the Irish lad and his tendency to get distracted by thoughts of food. “Try it again.”

I laid on my stomach on the floor then rolled to my back and slowly pulled myself up to a sitting position with my back to Niall, my arms raised above my head. Niall grabbed my hands and spun me around to face him, pulling me too hard to my feet.

“Ouch! He said yank me to my feet, not yank my arm off!” I shouted, causing Niall to stumble back.

“I-I’m sorry…” He looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand.

A sudden pang struck my chest, guilt washing over me as I saw the more sensitive side of Niall. He was trying his hardest, he was just a little slow with choreography, nothing that couldn’t be handled. I sighed and reached out to squeeze his arm. “Hey.” He looked up at me, his blue eyes pained. That made me feel even worse for snapping at him. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I was just frustrated. It’s probably partly my fault I can’t get to my feet on time. How about we try it where I’m sitting closer to my knees so I can actually push myself off the floor for a little more momentum? Sound good?” I looked over to Zayn.

He nodded. “Sounds perfect.”

Niall smiled a little. “Let’s try it.”

I got back on the floor and started the move over. This time when Niall spun me around, I landed closer to my feet and was able to push myself up while Niall was pulling so he didn’t have to yank as hard. I landed perfectly on time and was able to push Niall away and go into my series of turns without any problems.

“Yes!” I cheered when I landed, turning around to give Niall-who had a huge grin on his face-a double high-five.

“Yeah buddie!” Ni yelled, lacing our fingers together as our arms fell down before he pulled me into a quick hug.

“That was perfect!” Josh stated, turning the camera off. “At least, it looked perfect from my point of view.”

“That was excellent,” Zayn agreed. “You two are really working well together now. I think that date did good after all. I think you guys deserve to be let out of rehearsal early.”

“Oh yeah! That deserves another high-five!” I held my hand up and Niall obediently smacked it with his own.

“Great job, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Zayn dismissed us.

Josh and Niall followed me out into the hallway.

“Just ask her!” I heard Josh say to Niall, shoving him forward.

“No! She’ll think it’s lame!”

I rolled my eyes and turned around, crossing my arms over my chest and raising my brow. “What do you want to ask me and what will I think is lame?”

Josh gave Niall and expectant look and gestured to me. Niall sighed. “The lads and I are doing a Disney movie night to celebrate Liam’s birthday and Josh thinks I should invite you, but I think you’ll say it’s lame.”

I grinned. “Actually, I would love to join in.”

Niall’s face lit up. “Really?!”

I nodded, a wider smile tilting my lips up. “On one condition…”