Ester felt her heartbeat speed up as she turned around and walked towards the center of the ballroom, with Devon's hand tight intertwined with hers. She was surprised he didn't pull away, but was threading the moment she had to turn around and face him.
But not a second later, he stopped them both, probably realizing she was just stalling, as he pulled on her hand. Ester turned around and came crashing against his chest. For a moment, she found it hard to breathe as his masculine and captivating scent reached her nose.
"Here is good." She pulled away when she realized what she was doing and took half a step away from Devon. Now what? Ester hesitated to place her hand on his shoulder, but figured someone had to take the first step.
Seeing Devon look anywhere except her, made her realize she was going to be that someone. So she placed her hand on his shoulder, admiring his broad shoulders for a second as she felt nothing but muscles under her touch.
With another grunt she felt herself being pulled closer towards him as he placed his own hand a little above her hip. She had yet to look at him, but realized he was a lot taller than she expected. He was at least a head taller and she found it actually convenient as she kept her gaze straight ahead, focusing on a button on his shirt.
Their hands were still entwined and Ester was surprised when she felt him lift their hands high for the typical ballroom pose. And so it started, with Ester avoiding eye contact and Devon making noises to show her just how much he didn't want to be where he was right now.
Ten minutes passed and they were still dancing slowly, not having exchanged one word yet. But that soon changed when Sierra made her way towards them.
"Great form, Ester. But eye contact is almost as important as knowing the steps by heart." She heard the instructor say and felt her cheeks warm up. Why did she have to call her out like that? Nevertheless, Ester lifted her gaze and sure enough met the angry eyes she was avoiding until then.
"And you, Devon. Stop glaring at her, she's not going anywhere until I tell her to." Sierra said, halfway serious but Ester hoped she heard a halfway amused tone in her voice. She really did hope next time she would be able to dance with somebody else, anybody really.
"I'm here, am I not?" He hissed at Sierra, still glaring at Ester. She didn't even take it personal, really. But his tight grip and menacing eyes made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. She wanted nothing more than to stop, turn around and run away from him as fast as possible.
"You're unbelievable." Sierra murmured and then left their sides. As soon as she did that, Ester felt herself let out a breath, she didn't even know she was holding and dropped her gaze again.
"Is it that hard to hold eye contact?" Came Devon's growl. She looked up in surprise and glared back at him when she realized he has not changed anything about his facial expression. How could he blame her?!
"Well, if I held up a mirror right now, you'd break eye contact too." She said, feeling attacked. Who cared if they were holding eye contact? He didn't look like it bothered him before. She thought she saw a muscle in his eyebrow twitch before he opened his mouth again.
"What's that supposed to mean? You're not the hottest girl in here either." His glare seemed even more intense now and Ester found herself blink at his rude reply. Did he really just say that?
"I- what-" She found it hard to find a good comeback and merely opened her mouth and close it a second later again. She knew he wasn't in the best mood, but to let it out on her was utterly unnecessary.
"Stop talking to me." She commanded after three minutes of silence between them. Ester took a deep, shaky breath and looked back at the button on his shirt. She couldn't let people like him get to her. She was having fun until she had to meet him.
"I'm not." Devon snapped back and Ester rolled her eyes. She knew this day was going far too great. But whatever, she only had about one more hour until the first lesson was over. And for the most part, she loved it and knew she was coming back the following day. As long as she ignored him and kept her distance if he ever showed up again, she'd be good.
Ester found herself almost smiling at the thought of coming back, until she felt sharp pain on her left foot. She gasped and stopped dancing in bewilderment. Did he just step on her foot? When she looked up at him, she saw his eyes roam the room, acting indifferent. Oh, this man.
Ester acted out of anger and lifted up her knee. With full force, she stomped on his left foot and watched in satisfaction when he jolted away from her and hissed in pain. He got what he deserved, she thought but then realized everybody else stopped dancing.
Soon the music was turned off and everybody in the room was staring at the scene. Sierra came rushing towards Devon, who by now sat on the ground, holding his foot and grimacing in pain. Maybe she's overdone it, Ester thought.
"Turn the lights on!" Sierra yelled at somebody as she came crouching down in front of Devon, telling him to let her have a look at his foot. But the stubborn man kept shaking his head and closing his eyes as he waited for the pain to subside.
The lights were turned on and Ester found herself crouching down next to Sierra, trying to at least appear helpful. He shouldn't have stepped on her foot first, she thought. She had the strong urge to bite her nails, like she used to do when she was a child. Whenever she got yelled at and Ester had a feeling she was about to get yelled at.
"You!" Sure enough, Devon growled as he stood up, making Sierra and Ester follow his actions. But his eyes were fixed on Ester, who gulped.
"You stepped on my foot on purpose!" He scowled at her.
"No, I didn't." She denied, feeling heat rush up her cheeks. Sierra was trying to calm Devon down by placing her hand on his shoulder, but it had the opposite effect.
"No, she stepped on my foot on purpose. Throw her out!" He demanded.
"Devon, I cannot simply-"
"Throw her out or I'm leaving." He interrupted Sierra, who narrowed her eyes at him. She seemed to catch onto something as she suddenly started smirking.
"You won't leave." She said knowingly and then shook her head and looked at Ester.
"And you're not leaving either." She said loudly before clapping her hands and looking at the crowd.
"I think we're going to end the class on that note, guys. Great work and I hope to see you all tomorrow when we start to practice the cha-cha." Sierra looked at the people around her and watched satisfied as they left the room.
"Oh, no." Ester heard the instructor say as soon as she turned to get out of the ballroom as well. She turned to see Sierra walk towards her and Devon.
"You two stay here." Sierra ordered before walking towards the door and seeing the last people out before closing it and turning towards Ester and Devon. She approached the two with an exhausted sigh.
"So-" The instructor stopped in front of them and looked at the two culprits.
"What in the world just happened?" Ester saw Sierra look at her and figured she had to answer.
"Well-"
"She stomped on my fucking foot, are you blind?" Devon interrupted Ester as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"We've already accomplished that it was an accident, so I think you should simply apologize to each other, so that we don't-"
"Apologize? To her?" Devon was enraged. Ester rolled her eyes again and then tried her best to smile at her dance teacher.
"It's fine, really. I don't need an apology." She insisted.
Sierra's eyes wandered from Devon to Ester and then back towards Devon. She sighed and then shook her head before smiling at Ester.
"Then I have to apologize. My brother seems to have forgotten his manners and instead replaced them with his disgusting behaviour. I should've not introduced you to him and I hope you will still come in tomorrow. He will not bother you anymore and when you need a dance partner, I'm your man- well, woman." She told Ester, who only caught half of what Sierra was saying.
Brother? They are siblings? That would explain their constant bickering, she thought. But it did wake Ester's curiosity as to why he was here in the first place. She had thought if Sierra were his girlfriend or even friend, she'd probably just begged him to support her or something. But now that Ester knew they were siblings, she couldn't help but wonder about the story behind that.
"Ester?" She snapped out of it and looked into Sierra's brown eyes. They didn't have the same eye colour, Ester noticed.
"Yes, I uh. It's fine, really." She shook her head and showed Sierra a genuine smile.
"Uh, I have to go or I'll miss the bus." Ester said when no one talked for a minute and she noticed the siblings glare at each other again. She shook her head and quickly walked towards her purse.
"Oh, don't worry about the bus, dear. Devon will drive you home." She heard her instructor say and stopped in the middle of picking up the purse. Ester turned around just in time to see Sierra let go of her brother's shirt collar. She had no doubt Sierra was whispering some threatening words into Devon's ear, because he clenched his jaw and started walking towards her.
"Oh, I don't-" Ester stopped talking when Devon reached her and ripped the purse out of her hands. He held it tight as he turned to walk outside. Ester's eyes widened.
"But-" What in the world was happening? She thought as she broke out in a jog in order to keep up with the man.
"Bye, I'll see you tomorrow!" She heard Sierra laugh, bemused by the scene. How come Devon was walking so calmly, but still managed to be as fast as if he were running? Ester finally reached him right before he could walk out of the dance studio. She gripped his arm, nails digging into his skin.
"Let go." He turned around to growl at her.
"Then hand me my purse." Ester snapped back at him. She didn't even notice the people around her, half of them were those that were in her dance class not even ten minutes ago.
"Hey, Ester. Is there a problem?" She suddenly heard, making both their heads turn to the direction of the voice. Sure enough Jake was coming their way and Ester found herself letting go of Devon's arm.
"Oh, hey Jake. No, we were just- talking." She lied, not knowing how she would be able to explain their current situation. She didn't even know what was going on, for heaven's sake!
"Oh, well. Looks like he had a lot to say." Jake chuckled and Ester frowned when she glanced back at Devon- or rather the spot Devon was in just a few seconds ago. He was gone and with him, her purse. She panicked.
"Oh God. Jake, I have to go." She merely told him before running out of the door. Where the heck did he go? Ester looked to her left and then to her right. She was lucky enough to see Devon turn around a corner before she lost sight of him. Ester hurried to run after him.
When she finally rounded the same corner, she stopped. He was gone. How the heck did he just vanish like that?
Ester sighed in defeat.