Sparks Fly

Chapter Ten

Natalie

Natalie fell out of her turn (yet again) and swore under her breath.

"Mess up again, Wilson?" Luke asked from the back of the auditorium where he was working with Maya.

She flipped him the bird as she returned to her beginning spot and restarted her music.

"Good luck." He called.

She couldn't even make it past the first fifteen seconds without stumbling this time. She could feel his smug eyes watching her. She spun around to glare at him. "What's your problem?"

"Whoa," he raised his hands defensively. "Just trying to figure out if we have to scratch your solo or not."

"You don't. There, solved. You can go now."

"Prove it."

Maya cleared her throat and looked between them. "Do you want me to leave you two alone to work out... whatever this is?"

"No," Natalie said, too loudly and firmly.

"Well," Luke started at the same time.

"No," she repeated, quieter this time. "I need Luke to leave so that I can actually dance without him waiting for me to screw up."

"Yeah, okay." He replied.

She ignored him and returned to her starting position. She set her music up but waited until she heard the door close before she hit play. She started again, this time ignoring any mistakes that she made. The knowledge that Luke wasn't there watching for every misstep made it so much easier to correct where she could, and move on from what she couldn't. She finished her routine thirty seconds late, mostly due to the corrections, a little due to her not being able to dance at the same pace as she was used to. She sighed and turned to start over when she saw Luke standing by the doors, his smirk apparent, even across the room.

"What are you still doing here?" She snapped.

"Trying to figure out what the hell is going on with your solo." He walked up and hopped onto the stage. "Can you do that beginning part again?"

"No," she answered flatly.

He rolled his eyes. "How did I know? Listen, you're used to dancing in a studio that's meant for dancing, right? Look at this stage- it's never been meant for dancing, and now it's way too old to give you the spring I think you're expecting. Not to mention that it's slippery as hell and you're going to wipe out mid-performance if you don't adjust for that."

"Take a hike." She scowled. He was much more right than she wanted to admit.

"That's a great idea. Grab your shoes and we'll go."

She scoffed. "I'm not going with you. There are only four days to the talent show."

"Sounds like the perfect time to take a break and clear your mind." He replied. "Besides, if you don't go, I won't either. I can stay and help you with your dance all day."

"Fine," she agreed as she stretched. "What do people even wear on hikes?"

To his credit, she could tell that he tried not to laugh, but a snicker escaped. "You have running shoes, right? Those should be fine. We're not taking a hard trail."

She tried to think of a way out of it, but came up empty. She switched out her ballet slippers for socks and shoes. "Lead the way."

Ten minutes later, they were deep enough into the woods that, even with the trail, Natalie wasn't entirely sure that she could make her way back on her own. "You didn't bring me out here to kill me or something, right?"

He laughed. "Guess again, Wilson."

"You brought me out here so I can kill you?" She suggested.

"Not quite." He took a few more steps, then turned around to face her. "Fun fact: I don't play games. I'm upfront and honest with people, and I expect the same courtesy in return. Now I don't know what I did to piss you off this time, but I'm willing to make it right if you just tell me."

She was shocked, not even so much by his blunt honesty as by his willingness to fix whatever he had done. She had kind of figured that, if he even noticed that she didn't want to be around him, he wouldn't care. With only a week and a half left of camp, why would he? "Seriously?"

"Yeah. We're a team. It's pretty damn hard to work as a team when you hate me." He explained. "Just like it's going to be hard to win the talent show if you keep dancing like you're in a studio."

She bristled slightly at his newfound knowledge on studio dancing, but it wasn't like he was wrong. "Okay, fine. I have more than enough people obsessing over when, what, and how much I eat. There's my dad, Emily, Josh, and my mom may be trying to play it cool, but if I lose so much as a pound, she'll be all over me, too. I don't need you to nag me over s'mores or watch every bite I take."

He leaned against a tree and nodded slowly. "Okay, I get that. But I did promise your mom that you'd keep eating."

"Yeah, and Josh promised my dad, and I promised everyone." She had to really work to not show her annoyance at there being one more person who didn't trust her. "I won't force you to break your word."

His eyes bored into hers. "You'll stay healthy?"

"Yes, dad. She teased.

He grimaced. "Duly noted. No more weird food stalking and nagging."

"Thank you."

He grinned and pushed off from the tree. "No problem. And now, for the real point of today's field trip..." He pushed a tree branch aside and gestured for her to go ahead.

She walked past into a small clearing. It was surprisingly beautiful, especially for being out in the middle of the wilderness. Sunlight bounced off of the leaves of the surrounding trees, and the fallen log off to the side almost looked as though the tree had decided to lay down on purpose.

Luke crossed the space and sat down on the log. "Feel like doing another run-through of your dance?"

"Hah!" She started to laugh before she saw his face. "You're not serious? Luke, I'll break my ankle!"

He shrugged. "Probably not. You'll definitely learn how to dance without a perfectly smooth surface, though."

"No," she looked over the clearing again, this time taking in every single pebble and stick on the ground as the potential hazards that they were. "No way."

"Nat," he strode back over to her. "I know it's not what you're used to, and I know that's scary. But I wouldn't even suggest this if I actually thought for a second that you'd get hurt. You can do this. Okay?"

She took a deep breath and studied the space. She'd have to stay aware of where every obstacle was, and the limitations from the trees surrounding them made for a smaller area than she was used to, but it wasn't impossible. She took another breath, then handed him her phone with the music queued up. "Okay."

He grinned at her, and she couldn't resist returning his smile, just for a second. Then she centered herself in the clearing and prepared for the music to start.

Dancing in the wild wasn't quite as dangerous as she had expected, but it was still far from her best performance. Even so, she couldn't deny how triumphant she felt when she finished, not only without breaking a bone, but without even falling once.

From the way Luke cheered, you'd think that she had just completed a masterpiece. "Bravo! Encore!"

She couldn't keep her laugh from escaping as she bent into an elaborate curtsy.

He stopped cheering and stared at her. "I don't think I've actually heard you laugh before."

"Lucky you." She remarked. "I hear that my uncontrollable snort laugh is really attractive."

"I bet it is." He grinned. "I can't wait to hear it."

Luke

It was officially undeniable. Luke realized on the walk back to camp. He was so gone for her it wasn't even funny. He wasn't going to be able to tamp those feelings down, but at least he could keep himself from acting on them.

A part of him was still a little- okay, a lot- bothered by the fact that they were over four weeks into camp, and he had only just heard her laugh- really laugh, beyond a scoff or a giggle. He knew that she hadn't exactly been happy here, but he had thought that dancing fixed that. Clearly, that wasn't quite the case.