"Hey, has anyone seen my keys?"
Luke opened his mouth and Bertrams' keys fell out when he took a bite of his sandwich. I squinted my eyes in confusion when I saw that and glanced at my sandwich, curious of what other ingredients were inside.
"Found them." Luke says, dangling the keys from his fingers.
"Oh. Thanks." Bertram says, taking the keys. "By any chance, has anyone seen my nose-hair trimmers?"
Emma and I quickly retracted from eating our sandwiches and gagged. I think I tasted some hair in it now that I think of it.
"Feel free to take a look." Emma offers.
"Go ahead." I suggest and Bertram seemed downcast and distracted.
"Sorry, guys, I just can't seem to focus these days." Bertram admits as he sits down next to me. "And O feel all woozy inside."
"Maybe you're sick". I reason.
"It's Salma Espinosa." Bertram confesses and I was still confused.
"Is that contagious?" Emma asks us, worriedly.
It's not a disease! It's the name of the most beautiful woman on Earth!" Bertram confesses and I smile sweetly at him. "She's the neighbor's personal Chef, and let's just say she is one hot tamale."
Emma and I shared a smirk before she replies.
"Bertram, we're going to help you get Salma." Emma declares as she stands up and I copied her actions.
"Oh. Absolutely not." Bertram denies, standing up and started to leave.
"But aren't you tired of spending your nights polishing your nesting dolls with your tears?" I reasoned, making him stop.
"Yes!" Bertram cries, turning to us and Emma and I pouted, sadly. "But there's no way I'm letting you three meddle in my personal life."
He leaves after that and I sigh.
"Okay." Emma and I agree and we turn to Luke.
"Just to be clear, we are going to meddle, right?" I asked Luke, who was eating chocolate.
"Just Michael Phelps at the Olympics." He tells us and Emma and I gave him a high five with a grin.
——
Later that day, Emma, Luke, and I comprised a plan to get Bertram and Salma together. I haven't know Bertram for terribly long but I want him to be happy and this woman can definitely help with his happiness.
Emma and I were anxiously waiting in the lobby for Luke to call and give us the cue to call Salma down to the lobby so she and Bertram can talk. Emma called it Beauty and the Butler, which is a pretty clever name.
My phone rang and I put it on speaker for Emma to listen.
"Luke, are you almost here?" I asked him.
He tells me he is and I smile.
"Great. Initiating Operation Beauty and the Butler." Emma declares as we both go up to the phone in the lobby. "I'm calling her right now."
Emma calls Salma on the desk phone and uses a fake, deep voice. "Salma Espinosa? Yo, this is Tony from the lobby. I need to see youse down here real quick. Go jets!"
Emma hangs up and I raise an eyebrow at her. "Really? The voice?"
"Admit it, I sound like Tony." She grins and I roll my eyes, chuckling.
"Sure."
Luke ran in and Bertram walked in behind him. A woman with beautiful, dark brown hair and flawless, tan skin walked out of the elevator. She was tallish and I believe she was Mexican or Spanish, she was insanely gorgeous. I ship her and Bertram.
(I'm unsure of all the cultures. Please inform me what culture Salma is if you know)
Bertram froze when he saw Salma who smiled at his presence. She was blushing, which made me happy to see.
"Hola, Bertram." She smiles, nervously.
Bertram stammers over his own words, nervously; he seemed speechless by her presence.
"You know, you two have a lot in common." I chime in and glanced at Emma for help.
"Like cooking, and...breathing." Emma continues and I nod with a grin.
This isn't awkward at all. Perfectly normal.
"So, have fun with that. Bye!" Luke quickly says before he took Bertram's groceries and we scurried into the elevator.
Emma and I waved to Bertram and Salma with a smile as the doors closed. I saw Luke was pretending to make out with someone and Emma and I slapped his arms with annoyance.
I gave him a glare and Luke winks at me.
——
"She meant the salsa dancing contest!" Bertram exclaims to us, worriedly.
So, Bertram agreed to be in a salsa contest with Salma, but he was unaware it was a dancing contest.
"What do you think she meant?" I asked him.
"A salsa making contest! You know, diced tomatoes, onions, cilantro! Who dances in the park? That's crazy!" Bertram rants, grabbing his groceries.
"And making salsa in the park is sane?" Emma reasons.
"You three got me into this, you're gonna get me out." Bertram tells us, seriously. "You've got three days to teach me how to salsa dance."
He walks into the kitchen and Emma and I look at Luke.
"Is three days going to be enough?" Emma asks and I scoff.
"Only if we can cut down his nap time to less than six hours a day." Luke says.
"This is gonna be a long three days." I sigh, rubbing my temple.
——
The next day, we were trying to teach Bertram how to salsa dance. I could say it's going well, but I would be lying. Three days is a short period of time and with how things are looking, Bertram will fail this contest.
We watched Bertram dance to the music and I cringed.
"I've seen better rotation from the washing machine." Emma informs Bertram who glares at her.
"Like you've ever seen a washing machine." Bertram fires back and Emma gasps.
"Okay, okay, lets try some basic steps." Luke suggests and walks forward to get some room. "Ready?"
Luke began to dance and it got more intense as he continued. My eyes grew slightly at his impression moves and I felt my cheeks heat up.
That was attractive to say the least. I knew he could dance but that was amazing.
Luke finishes in a Spanish pose and Emma and I applauded him.
I gave him a high five as he returned to his spot next to me.
"Now you." Luke tells Bertram who was completely lost.
"Have you met me?" Bertram asked him with disbelief.
——
The next day, we were helping Bertram again and this time he was dancing with Emma. He wasn't doing terrible but not good enough to win or look good next to Salma. I'm being harsh but at least I'm honest.
"Bertram, clean up that footwork." I advise him.
"Straighten your frame." Luke fixed Bertram's frame.
"And tuck in your butt." Luke adds and Bertram seemed to have enough.
"If I could I would." Bertram stops dancing and pauses the music. "I keep hearing this voice in my head saying I can't do this."
"Oh, just ignore it." Luke tells him. "That's what we do when we hear your voice, right?"
Emma and I nod at Luke'a statement.
"Ah! I give up!" Bertram exclaims with defeat and I grab his shoulders to stop him.
"Bertram, do you ever want to get a girlfriend? You've already been alone for like 70 years." I harshly say to him and he sighs with a nod.
"Alright, I'll do it for Salma." Bertram declares and I smile brightly.
"The only thing missing is the perfect outfit." Emma beams and I nod. "And while Jaz and I are at it, we'll try to find something for you, too, Bertram!"
Emma and I grab our purses and I unpause the music.
"Keep dancing." I tell Luke and Bertram before Emma and I head toward the elevator.
I giggle when I saw Bertram and Luke reluctantly dance together as the doors closed.
——
It was the day of the dance contest and Emma woke up with a fever, so she had to stay home unfortunately. She was upset she couldn't go to the contest but she barely could get up from her bed. I just hope I don't have to dance because these heels hurt my toes.
(She's wearing three inch black, stiletto heels)
Luke and I were at the salsa dancing contest and we were watching Bertram and Salma dance. From my perspective, they looked great but Bertram seemed extremely overwhelmed and nervous.
"I'm so proud of Bertram." I smile watching Bertram dance. "I can't believe he's actually doing it."
"The way you dressed him, I can't believe he actually left the house."
I nodded my head in agreement at his Luke's comment.
I watched Bertram dance and I saw him pull Salma in. I gasp, "Here comes the twirl!"
"Spin her like spaghetti Bertram!" Luke calls.
Bertram spun Salma a few times and posed perfectly at the end. Luke and I cheered for them as they posed but I saw Bertram's face fill up with fear.
He froze and became fearful.
Luke and I shared a sad look at the sight.
"Quiet, Bertrams." Bertram grumbles before running passed us and my eyes followed him run.
"Bertram, where are you going? We are doing the salsa, not the running man!" Salma calls out.
"What happened? He was doing so great." I asked Luke with sorrow.
"Oh, I knew I shouldn't have mentioned spaghetti. He's probably hip deep in meatballs by now." Luke sighs with regret.
"We can fix this." I declare and turn the way Bertram ran off to. "One of us should go wrangle Bertram while the other dances with his beautiful partner."
I turn around and Luke was gone. "Luke?"
I saw him dancing with Salma and I rolled my eyes with a grin before running off to fetch Bertram.
I found Bertram sulking in the swing and I sat down in the one next to him.
"Bertram, what's going on?" I asked him.
"I can't believe I thought this would work." Bertram grumbles.
"Well, you usually need someone to push you." I inform him about the swing.
"I'm not talking about the swing, I'm talking about the dance contest. I really thought I could pull this off. But all those people were staring, and the judges were so Judge-y." Bertram explains to me and I gave him a sorrowful expression.
"But you were doing great out there." I reason with him and looks at me with hope.
"Really? Was I?"
"Yes!" I smile and touched his shoulder with a soft grin. "You should've seen how excited Salma was dancing with you. She looked like you the day you got your new pressure cooker."
"That excited?" He asked with a grin.
"Yes, that excited. Bertram, you've worked so hard. You're a great dancer now. Salma thinks you can do it, Luke, Emma, and I think you can do it. The only person saying you can't do it is you." I explained to him with a soft voice.
"Well, there were actually four of me saying it."
"Huh?" I question.
"Long story."
"Which there is no time for. Because the girl of your dreams is waiting for you on that dance floor. And she needs you to win this contest!" I excitedly express as I stand up with a beaming smile.
"You really think I can do this?" He asks and I nod.
"Yes! Now, why aren't you moving?" I asked, noticing Bertram not leaving the swing.
"Because I'm stuck in this swing!" Bertram grunts as he struggles to get up. I grab Bertram's arm and pull him out with all my might. Moments later, he was free and exhales deeply. "Let's go."
We rush back to the contest and began to dance together right next to Luke and Salma.
"Sorry, I cut out. Can I cute back in?" Bertram asks Salma and Luke.
"Sure, we have to make it smooth." Luke says. "Do the Reverse Copa. Five, six, seven, eight..."
We do the Reverse Copa but I ended up being Salma's partner and Luke was Bertram's. Salma and I gave each other a look before giggling.
"Maybe we should try that again." Luke suggest.
"You think?" I heard Bertram say.
"Five, six, seven, eight." Luke says and Salma and Luke quickly swapped places. Luke smiles at me and I smile back as we began to dance together.
Okay, I don't mind dancing with Luke I guess.
"How was dancing with Salma?" I asked him as he twirled me and he dipped me.
"It was okay, but you're a better partner." He winks and I blush as he pulls me up. "Why don't we show these judges what we can do?"
"Let's do it." I smile and he smirks before he twirls me a few times and lifts me in the air for a few seconds. He puts me down and dips me back to finish. The crowd applauds us and Luke pulls back up.
"Wow." I giggle and Luke grins.
"I agree." Luke says and I blush when I understood what he meant.
Luke and I begin to dance again and I notice that it's only the two of us and Bertram and Salma left.
"Luke, we're dancing so well, that all that's left is us and Bertram." I inform him. "We have to stop being so awesome."
"That's like asking me to stop breathing." Luke scoffs as he did a few spins and did a slide.
"Is that an option?" I asked him with annoyance, before I pulled him back to me. We continued to dance and I spotted Bertram and Salma dancing and they were doing very well.
Not to long later, the contest ended and the judges had a trophy in their hands.
At first I thought Bertram and Salma, but the judge came up to Luke and I. I smiled brightly as Luke took the trophy and shook the judges' hand and the crowd cheered for us. I'm not too shocked we won, but I was hoping for Bertram and Salma to win.
"We won." I tell Luke and he smirks.
"Are you surprised?" He asks and I chuckle. "I mean, we are the best dance duo out there."
I grab his wrist and walk up to Bertram and Salma.
Sorry, Bertram. We weren't trying to win but, when you combine me and Jazzy with a dance floor and a crowd..." Luke trails off and smirks. "There's only so many ways it can end."
I nudge Luke before smiling at Bertram. "But we're so proud of you, and we really want you to have this."
"Thanks, guys, but Salma and I already have everything we need." Bertram smiles at Salma and I pull the trophy back.
Salma smiles softly at Bertram with her hand on his cheek. "Si, Guapo."
I smile at the couple as they begin to dance again. Aww, it's nice to see Bertram so happy.
"Ugh! Let's get out of here before she starts running her fingers through his scalp." Luke cringes and I mentally gag at the thought before he pulls me away from dance floor.
"Did I mention that you look stunning?" Luke asks me and I blush.
"Yes, like five times." I grin and he winks.
"Well, that's not enough times." He says and looks at me. "You look stunning, Jasmine."
"Thank you." I tell him and plant a gentle kiss on his cheek. His eyes widen and his cheeks turn bright red, which causes me to giggle.
He's too cute.