Luke
"Lucky for you Luke, you're just in time for the next dance competition. We've just started discussing solos and duets. I have a tango pas de deux piece, and I think it'll be interesting to see how you do." My dance instructor Miss Chapman announced. Everyone else one the team looked at me, excited expressions on their faces. I stood up, and I smiled.
"I'll try my best." I said. She smiled, and she gave me a nod. It's my third day of ballet here, and I'm loving it. Miss Chapman is really nice, and so are all of the girls on my team. Some of my team members back in Australia were real bitchy. I was glad I came in time for the start of a preparation period for competition.
"Fantastic. I think you will go great with Mei." She said, gesturing to a girl. I turned around, watching a girl with short black hair stand up. She glanced at me, and gave me a small smile. "Mei is one phenomenal dancer. I think you two will get along just fine." She added. We talked about the group performance for a bit, before we started working on the solos and duets. My duet was up first, so Mei and I walked to to front of the room.
"I hope you two get comfortable with each other, because you're going to be very close in this dance." Miss Chapman said, pushing Mei and I closer together. The studio door opened, and a guy walked into the room. All of the girls cheered and stood up to go greet him, but I didn't know who he was. He was tan, he had dark curly hair, and muscles. In other words, he was hot. "Luke, this is an assistant choreographer, and a good friend of mine, Emilio." She explained.
Once Emilio greeted the crowd of girls, he walked over to me, and he stuck his hand out. I shook his hand, and he grinned at me.
"Are you the new student?" Emilio asked me. I nodded my head, unable to speak. "I'm very excited to be working with you. This dance will be fun." He said, placing his hand on my lower back as he walked past me. I almost died at the touch, but I decided I needed to focus. Miss Chapman started the music, and we all sat down to watch. Emilio and Miss Chapman began to dance, and I was already nervous.
They were so close. Literally. The dance was fiery and had energy, yet it was still elegant and poise because it's ballet. They made the dance look great, but I was dreading the way I had to be in the dance. Emilio looked strong and masculine, but I'm nothing like that. Because I'm the male dancer, I have to take on that role. Also the dance was very intimate, and I knew it was going to be awkward considered I didn't even know Mei
When the duet was finished, we all clapped. Mei and I had to stand up, and start working on it. Miss Chapman went into the other studio room with the rest of the girls, to work on the group dance. That left Mei and I with Emilio, and I didn't know whether to be nervous or excited to end up with the hot choreographer.
Mei and I began to go through some of the first moves of the dance, and everything was okay. We were getting the moves right, and we didn't fall on our faces or step on each other.
"Stop." Emilio called, as he paused the music. We stopped, and we let go of each other. "You two looked like you're being forced to dance with each other. Even though you are." He said with a smile. "This dance is about passion, love," He paused, and he looked around even though we were the only ones in the room. "Don't tell your parents—intimacy." He explained.
"No offense," Mei began, glancing at me. "But we literally just met, so it's weird to act intimate." She pointed out. I nodded in agreement. "And we haven't even gotten through the whole thing, shouldn't we add tone and character to it later?" She asked.
"Practice like you perform!" Emilio said dramatically. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that. "If you don't practice with passion, you don't perform with passion. This is not something you can turn on and off, you must feel it." He said sassily. "Again."
And we went over the first section a lot, until we finally moved on. He still wasn't happy with our 'passion', but he wanted us to at least get through the whole piece. My confidence was slowly going down throughout the rehearsal. Emilio stopped the music, and he told Mei to step back for a moment.
"You are not being masculine enough. Here, you're going to be the girl for a second, just play along." Emilio commented, walking up to me. He grabbed my waist and my hand, and I took in a deep breath. We started from the beginning of the dance, and I tried to do my best. I wasn't really doing much, but Emilio was doing the most. His hands moved from my waist to my lower back, pulling me close to him.
My heart was beating rapidly, and my cheeks heated up. We stopped at what we called the first section, and I was left breathing heavily. Emilio stepped away from me, and he smiled.
"That's how you need to perform. I just met you, but I danced with passion." He pointed out. Mei walked back over to me, and we went to our starting position. I wish I could say I immediately danced with passion after that, but I couldn't. It was something I needed to work on. We worked on our duet for about twenty more minutes, before running off to join the group.
Once rehearsal was completely done, I walked over to Mei where she was packing up her dance bag.
"I'm sorry if I let you down today. You're a really good dancer. I'm just a little awkward today." I said apologetically. Mei looked up at me, and she gave me a friendly smile. She zipped up her bag, and she stood up.
"Don't be sorry, Luke. You're a great dancer, this duet is just going to have to take getting used to." Mei said to me. We began to walk out of the studio together, when Emilio called me over to him. Mei said goodbye, and I walked back over to Emilio.
"Before you come to tomorrow's rehearsal, try thinking of what might give you passion. This duet you have with Mei is basically your first impression on the rest of the team, so you want to impress them, right?" Emilio said. I nodded my head quickly. I had no idea how to dance the way he wanted me to.
"I'll practice tomorrow before I show up." I said to him, making him chuckle.
"It's not about practice, it's a feeling. Right now you're giving off nervous energy when you're with Mei. As a dancer, you have to be an actor too. Your moves and attitude tell the audience a story, and what's happening in the scene. Remember, the main ideas are love, passion, intimacy." Emilio explained.
Love, passion, and intimacy. Three things I've never experienced.
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When I got home from dance, Henry and Ann were still at work. Ashton and I were by ourselves. I walked into the kitchen, setting my ballet bag down. Ashton was grabbing himself a bottle of water.
"What's for dinner?" I asked.
"Lucky charms." Ashton answered smartly. I rolled my eyes, and I picked my bag up, and walked out of the room. Ashton followed after me, as I walked to the stairs. "What's the matter, bunny?" He asked me in a teasing voice. I entered my room, and I tossed my back aside. I turned to look at him.
"Why are you calling me bunny?" I asked skeptically. Ashton cracked a smile, and he walked over to my dresser where my favorite stuffed animal was sitting. He picked up my soft ballerina bunny, that had a pink tutu and pointe shoes. My mom gave it to me for my seventh birthday.
"Because when you're mad, you look as threatening at this." Ashton answered, holding up my bunny. I huffed, falling onto my bed. I was exhausted, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with his sass. "What happened at dance? Get a tear in your tutu?" He asked.
"I don't wear a tutu, for your information. And you wouldn't wear one during practice." I pointed out. I sat up on my bed, taking my hair out of my bun. Ashton looked at me in a strange way, but I ignored it. "I've been assigned this tango pas de deux-"
"Paw-day what?" Ashton interrupted.
"It means dance for two." I explained briefly. He nodded his head. "And Emilio says-"
"Who's Emilio?" Ashton interrupted again. I glared at him, and he closed his mouth.
"An assistant choreographer, just listen." I snapped. "Emilio says the dance is supposed to be about love, and intimacy, but I've never experienced those things. How am I supposed to portray that? He says I need to find what makes me dance passionately." I said, chewing on my lower lip. Ashton laughed, and he put his hand up to his mouth. I furrowed my eyebrows at him, wondering what he thought was so funny.
"So basically, he said your virginity is showing." Ashton laughed. This was the first time I saw Ashton genuinely laugh, but he was making fun of me.
"It's not funny! What am I supposed to do? If I don't do this duet well, I'll let my partner down, and the rest of my team." I fretted. Ashton quit laughing, and he put his hands in his pockets.
"Well, I guess the best option is to bang somebody. Or in your case, get banged." Ashton suggested, giving me a wink. I blushed, looking down at my fingers.
"You're right, Ashton." I admitted, causing Ashton to smile proudly. "It's like the episode of Glee where Artie tells Rachel and Blaine they need to loose their virginities for West Side Story!" I said in realization.
"Okay, you lost me." Ashton said with confusion. I stood up, suddenly feeling motivated. I grinned at Ashton, and I patted him on shoulder, making him side step away from me.
"All I have to do, is lose my virginity. Then I'll dance with passion!" I said excitedly. Ashton stifled a laugh, and he held his hands out.
"Woah, you literally just got here. You don't know anyone." Ashton pointed out. Why does he have to be logical right now?
"So? I can totally find someone, your school is huge. I can just make sure I look cute tomorrow, have my hair extra bouncy, those pants that make my butt look good. Maybe I can suggestively lick an icy pole to get a guy's attention." I planned.
"An icy pole? What?" Ashton asked in an exasperated tone. I giggled, earning a look from Ashton.
"Oh I'm sorry, I meant a popsicle." I explained, trying my best to do an American accent. Ashton slapped my shoulder aggressively, and I winced. He walked over to my doorway, and the turned around.
"I mean, I'm sure you can manage it. You're the new hot Australian guy. Talk about crocodiles, kangaroos, Hogwarts." Ashton advised.
"One—Australia is more than crocodiles and kangaroos, and two—Hogwarts is in the UK, obviously." I corrected. Ashton rolled his eyes, and he waved his hand dismissively at me.
"You're such a nerd, bunny." Ashton said with a smirk. He left my room, leaving me with a small smile on my face.
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Chapter three is here!
Thank you guys for all the reads already, I hope you guys are enjoying Blush
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-babybeancalum