"Hey, Clemont! So sorry I missed your call. My phone was in my bag," Serena apologized, her voice going through the other side of the line. As per usual, she was currently waiting on her student for the lessons.
"No worries! How are things?"
"Well, Ash hasn't made it yet to the studio, so I've been going through my own routine as I wait," she told him, leaning against the wall.
She could hear the sigh from Clemont at that. "As a friend of his, my assumption would be he's sleeping, but I surely hope I'm wrong."
Serena laughs, running a hand through her honey-blonde waves. "Say, how did your tutoring session go the other day with him?"
"I decided to make it a 'study hall' for him, although I think there wasn't much work done. Then, right when he managed to get on with it, the substitute lady kicked us out for Ash eating," Clemont explained, sourly.
"Seriously?" Her eyebrows narrow as she purses her lips. "You have to get onto him at times, but I suppose first days aren't always the best. You still have one day left for this week."
Clemont hums in agreement. "That is true."
"Anything else happen?"
There was a short amount silence on the other end until it passed by. "I just suggested for him to put more effort into your lessons and try to get a nice feel for it. I know how much being a great teacher is to you."
"Clemont..." Serena began, her voice toned down to a warning. "I appreciate that very much, but someone can't change another person's mindset on an activity or how they feel about it. Him being told to do this as it is isn't doing well on that end either. If anything, it must feel like an everyday chore for him. I just plan on getting him to learn something, is all. Nothing more."
"I hear you." She heard her friend chuckle, one that understood completely. Serena was someone who liked to do things on her own. "You do make quite a good point, of course."
Before Serena could reply, she heard the doors to the studio open. From the corner of her eye, she couldn't mistake that crazy mess of black hair and greeting with a voice loud enough for everyone around the area to hear.
"I take that as your student finally making his appearance," Clemont points out.
Serena rolls her eyes, a hand going to her hip. "It's about time. I'll talk to you later, yeah?"
The call ended, her heart pounding in her ears. She stared him down in the dance studio, his brow quirked. Once again, he'd made quite the entrance which included the door slamming open— possibly unintentional due to it being a light one, and tossing his shoes on the floor.
"Hey, teach," Ash said brightly, walking over towards Serena. "Lets get this over with already."
"You were almost late," she began, narrowing her eyes slightly. "And I would appreciate if you could treat the studio with more respect. Next week, take your shoes off slowly, and put them neatly against the wall."
He raised his brow. "Keyword, almost. I refuse to come here on an empty stomach." Ash looked back at his shoes that were a bit muddy, one faced up, the other on its side, and both a good feet or two away from each other. He placed his attention back on Serena and sighed. "Alright, alright. Will do."
Clearing her throat, she folded her arms. She didn't want these mistakes to stop her from teaching him what she was supposed to. He was just being a boy— an idiot one at that, the same age as her, a student just like her. Honestly, if she thought of it that way, they weren't all that different. Okay, they were very different, but it was easier to think they had more things in common than she initially thought.
"Look," she continued, already exhausted if that was remotely possible. "This isn't my studio, but I told you the first time the teachers will kill me if it's a mess because of me. I understand you're not interested in dance at all, but you can, at the very least, not mess it up. You already did so with school property and got this punishment, so I'm sure you don't want to deal with another punishment on top of this one if Professor Oak finds out."
Ash was thrown back by her attitude and confused. What was up with her today? He almost closed their distance, brown eyes staring down into her blue ones. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"
She took a step close to him, their faces near enough to have their noses touching. He seemed taken back and she didn't fail to see him stepping back a bit. "I wouldn't necessarily call it a threat..." she replied. "Perhaps, think of it as... motivation?"
Her heart was pounding, and her palms felt clammy, the sweat rolling down her lower back as she held her ground. Ash wasn't a terrible guy, or more so the ones who were annoyingly bad in every aspect. He was tolerable. She hoped he'd take her words into consideration due to his fear of getting in trouble.
Standing in front of Serena like this, Ash didn't know what to expect. When she's serious, she's had that intimidating aura. He ran a hand through his hair, not bothering to fuel the fire he already started. He simply nodded and waited for her instructions.
"Good." Her whole attitude changed as she smiled. He attempted to throw away the very thoughts sprinting in his mind that it was a sight, a beautiful one. Serena ignored his grumbling, clueless with what it was about. "Shall we get started? I believe the last lesson we worked on was a basic waltz. Do you remember anything I taught you or should we consider this a whole new lesson, and start over?"
He turned his face with a pout. "'M not a child, teach. I can remember things. Gotta do the same stuff for basketball plays."
"As I expected." She grinned. "Why don't you come over here and show me?"
She stood in the middle of the floor, watching his face twist into a variety of shapes. His brow furrowed and a deep breath released from his system. He shuffled forward and stood in front of her again.
"That's a start," she teased. "Though, you do have to be closer to me to actually dance with me."
"I know that."
He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into him. He wrapped his palm around hers, squeezing her hand far harder than he had to, and even though she could tell how nervous he was, she silently wondered if he was trying to break her fingers this way.
Serena winced and sighed. "Okay, you don't need to hold my hand so hard. I don't feel like dealing with a broken hand."
Ash quickly apologized and let up on the force of his hold while she placed her hand on his lower wrist, moving his hand from around her waist.
"You don't have to be that tight. You're far too tense," she told him. She placed her free hand around his shoulder, gently resting it there, and explained further. "See how you can barely feel the weight of my touch? That's how your touch should feel to me."
He let out a long huff of air, not giving up so fast on it, but did as he was told, loosening his grip on her hip and hand.
She slid her hand over his shoulder and lightly pressed. "Don't keep these so raised. Your whole body is tense, not just your grip. Are you just stressed constantly?" She asked softly, tilting her head as she waited for an answer.
For a moment, she thought his cheeks grew a bit red as she stared at him, but it quickly disappeared when he spoke. "I'm not stressed."
"Uh-huh," she hummed lightly. "So it must be the case, y'know, with this punishment and no basketball, and all."
"No, I just said-"
"Moving on," she interrupted him, not bothering with their back and forth talk. "You're in the right position. Well, decent enough." She found it enjoyable with teasing him, ignoring the growl in the back of his throat, and the look of about to protest. "Do you remember the count at all?"
"'Course I do!" He thought for a moment and replied, "something about threes?"
"That's correct." Serena bounced on her toes in spot. "You know, you're a lot smarter than you look."
Ash took clear offense to that. "And what the hell is that supposed to-"
She cut him off again. "You're the lead, so it's your job to lead me in this dance. I'll count and you take me in the direction you want to go."
"So can I take you out the door?" He offered with the first smile he had since he walked in, slowly walking them both that way.
"Absolutely not!" She snapped, squeezing his hand hard, forcefully brought him back in position as he admitted defeat. "Don't forget what I said at the beginning, Ash."
"Yes, ma'am..." He said, sarcasm sitting on the tip of his tongue.
Serena began to count and move since he apparently wasn't going to move himself. She pulled his hand in the direction she knew they had to go, leading him backwards. Though as she continued to count and took them around the room, she noticed he started to actually lead, moving his body in time with her counting. The waltz was simple and though Ash's position wasn't fantastic, he wasn't doing a terrible job for someone who had no experience with any sort of dancing.
The interesting thing about him that Serena had noted was he actually wasn't as bad of a dancer. His posture was pretty horrible. The way tensed anytime they switched directions was something she knew she wanted to work on. She would've included it more if he was a student who actually cared about learning to dance, though she did think the tension came from his inability to be calm about it.
Still, all posture aside, Ash had a good sense of rhythm, and his movements were . He had only tripped up a few times, but kept going, and she'd noticed it seemed to only have happened because his damn pants were so baggy. He was able to move with her and though they were going slow, she silently wondered if he could actually be a good dancer if he just got past his feelings and actually put effort in.
Currently, he wasn't looking too pleased as they moved together. His jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were tight, eyes looking a bit focused. He looked so indignant, like a child. Serena actually had to bite her lip to laugh at how he looked. It was actually a little endearing how he was so determined to not give up. If she was being honest, staring at him like this, he even looked a little handsome.
For gods sake, no. She shook the thought from her head as quickly as it entered. The last person she should be thinking such thoughts about was him. There was no way she would ever think he was actually handsome. That was ridiculous.
"Maybe we could try putting music to this?" She suggested and he immediately froze.
"I'm the student here. You're the teacher. Go ahead," he said, lifting a hand out. "But seriously? Isn't this enough?
She rolled her eyes and pulled away from him. "Don't be such a drama queen. It's just a small song. It's going to make the dance a little faster. Most people dance to music. Unless you think you can't... handle it?" She said, raising an eyebrow at him. Ash was the type of guy to never let down a challenge.
"Put on the music. I'm not quitting just yet. We'll just walk faster around the room. I don't see a difference."
It seemed she was right.
She walked over to the speakers and placed her phone next to it, connecting to them. She put on a gentle violin piece, perfect for a waltz. It was mostly slow too, so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for him. She wondered what he would do if she forced him to do something faster, like a latin dance, or a quick step.
"Now, Ash," she said, walking over to him. "Are you ready?" She took his hand and settled his other hand on her hip, prepared for him to start.
He nodded and began to move with the music, far slower than he should've been.
"It's faster," she commented to remind him and did her counts again, moving their bodies quicker. "One-two-three, one-two-three. See?"
"Man, what the hell?" Ash said, following her pace to almost tripping again on his pants.
"I told you it would be a little harder with music. Maybe it was too soon..." She sighed, glancing towards the window with a great dramatic affect as though she were regretting her choice.
His grip on her hip tightened as he began to propel them across the studio floor faster. "It wasn't too soon," he voiced out. "I told you already. Walking around the room isn't that difficult."
She snorted, but followed his lead, until the song slowed to an end and both of them stopped. "Not too bad," she said, a teasing grin on her face.
"Not too bad? What else could I have done? What could I possibly do to make that better?" He questioned, folding his arms.
"Do you really want me to answer that?" She asked, quirking her eyebrow at him. There were many things wrong with his performance. She could've critiqued almost everything about it actually, but it hadn't been a terrible start for a beginner.
"What is it?" Ash leaned into her, waiting for her response, and Serena guessed he wasn't a very patient person either.
"I mean, for starters, you really should do something about your pants," she said, gesturing to the way they bunched around his feet.
"What's the problem with my pants?"
"You would've been more on time with the count if you hadn't almost tripped a few times." She shrugged, her lips curling up into a small smile as she tried not to laugh.
"Serena, I said I don't plan on doing anything more than I have to," he said, making his way to the door to put his shoes back on. "We're doing this to get it over with."
"The least you could do is roll them up. I don't want you tripping and hurting yourself, or me for that matter," she says, watching him by the door. "And remember what I said. I can make a report to Professor Oak if you don't respect my wishes."
"I get it." He huffs out a breath, turning around to face her. "I get it. You'll report me if I don't try. I did your lesson. What more do you want from me before I make my way out?" He asks as he aggressively picked up his backpack.
She smiles. "Just fix the pants and do what you did today, and we'll be good."
Swinging his backpack over his shoulder, he nodded, and said his goodbye as he went out of the dance studio.
"Well..." Serena sighed to the empty room, clasping her hands together. "That went a little bit better."
It was progress and the next lesson wasn't far behind.