Fixing Her

Chapter XXX

His jaw tightens when I say his name. "I'll ask once more; Do you wanna dance?"

He stays silent. Nothing in his expression gives me any positive sign. I can think of how I must look; my eyes sparkling as I look at him, pleading for him to dance with me. Desperate. In the end the corner of his lip rises.

"Yeah."

I smile back at him and grab his hand again.

I hate to admit that Noah was the one who thaught me. He took dance classes back in middle school, and while our parents were out on dates and I'd be left alone with the Noah I started liking, he'd teach me how to dance the dances of some show. He was good at it too.

"I'm doing this on one condition," he says before we step up on it. "If you're not comfortable with something, you tell me. Right away."

I nod, a smile on my face that's probably giving away I've got feelings for him. He grabs my hand and puts his other hand on my waist, really lightly. With a growing panic and a smile that's trying its best to hide it, I put my other hand on his shoulder.

One and two and three and spin and five and six and seven and fly.

His grip around my waist tightens when he lifts me up, but I hold back my complaints.

You can do this!

He lifts me up less than an inch from the ground, and I know it's not because he can't.

"You can do better," I tell him, a laugh leaving his lips when he spins me around.

He shakes his head, smiling. Next time when he lifts me up, I've got to say I feel a little worse, but when he dares to lift me up higher, when I'm put back on the ground, when we miss the first beat of the music because my eyes lock in his as he's trying to confirm that I'm totally fine, I realize that this is exactly what I need. I need him to push me over my limits, and my role is to help him with that. Both by assuring him and by not refusing his help. I can maybe pull this off.

A smile forms on his face, and he repeats his moves; one and two and three and spin and five and six and seven and fly. For each time his hands press me up in the air, I find it easier to tolerate the touch, and that's what keeps me going. I even laugh a few times.

When the song comes to an ending, I'm laughing as I leave the platform with him.

"What are you laughing at?" he asks me, holding back his own laugh.

"It was fun," I answer. "Really."

"Yeah. It was. Hey."

He stops me in my tracks and I cut my laugh off. "You did a good job."

"You too. I didn't know you could dance."

"Thanks, but that's not what I meant. Hayden you're amazing. You've been through a hell that can't be described, and you're so strong. There are so many people who give up, and I'm so glad that you're not one of them."

"Landon if that's possible, it's only because I've got you. You've done so much for me, and I've been so ungrateful sometimes, b-"