Dance of a Lifetime

by Frank Downey

  "No. I'm just, you know, wondering."

  "OK, then. To answer your original question, it depends, and on a lot of things. The first and most important is the guy."

  Kristin blushed bright read. "I, er, heard two girls in my class talking about that."

  "About what, exactly?" Sophia asked.

  "Well, one was saying how great her new boyfriend was, because he was really, you know." She blushed deeper. "Big."

  "Bullshit," Sophia laughed. "That's someone trying to impress a friend. Listen, Warren's not small..."

  Kristin interrupted, dismayed. "Oh, God, I don't know if I want to know these things about my brother>"

  "Hey, Kris, you asked me what sex was like. Who do I have sex with?" Sophia asked bemused. Kristin looked a little sheepish. "Don't worry, I'll try not to go into too much graphic detail. Anyhow, Warren's not small-but he's not huge, either. I've had bigger. I've never had better, and it's not even close. Size means nothing. Attitude means everything."

  "Attitude?"

  "My pleasure is as important to Warren as his own is. If not more so."

  "Oh."

  "That is what I mean when I say the guy makes a difference. A lot of other things make a difference. Your attitude." Kristin looked at her. Sophie smiled. "It's a whole lot better if you are completely sure you really want it."

  "Oh. You mean, like, what happened to you before Warren."

  "That's a lot of it. But it even happens nowadays. Look, Warren and I love each other, we're together, and we take care of each other. There are days that Warren's really in the mood, and I'm not, but I'll give in for his sake." Kristin shot her a look. "Oh, Kris, that goes both ways. In fact, it probably goes the other way more often. I'm generally hornier than Warren is, believe it or not." Kristin giggled at that. "But, what I was saying was, the more I'm in the mood, the better it is. If I can say that about Warren, imagine what it was like going to bed with guys when I was really unsure and hesitating. It's really not worth it."

  "How will I know?" Kris asked her.

  "You will," she smiled. "Trust me."

  "OK. When it's the right guy, the right time, I'm really sure, all that-is it really that good?"

  "Oh, Kris, you won't believe it. Trust me. You won't believe how good it is."

  They talked a little longer, then headed back towards the rest of the crowd. It was cake time. A kid's first birthday isn't complete without watching her attempting to eat chocolate cake and getting it all over herself!

  A week later, and Warren and Sophie were headed back to Wisconsin. Because they'd be living in an apartment and not the dorms, they had a lot of stuff to move. So, they rented a truck. However, they still wanted Warren's van out there with them-and neither of them wanted to drive alone. So, they worked out a plan. Warren would drive the truck, and Crash would accompany him as far as Chicago. Jessie would ride with Sophie and Betsy in the van until Milwaukee. They bought walkie-talkies so they could communicate on the road.

  Sophie was driving along the Mass Pike. Jess was sitting in the passenger's seat, wearing shorts, her sandals off, and her foot was up against the dashboard. She was painting her toenails.

  Sophie looked at her, bemused. "How you can do that in a moving car is completely beyond me."

  "I'm good," Jess grinned.

  "So what do we have today? Pink? Purple? Black?"

  "Fuck-Me Red," Jessie grinned. "My favorite."

  "It would be," Sophia grinned back. "So, what's the deal when we stop tonight? You coming in the hotel room with us, or Crash?"

  "You guys."

  "I thought you and Crash might, you know..."

  "I offered," Jess grinned. "He turned me down. It's Liz."

  "Ah."

  "Hey, Jay really is a monogamous guy. The only time he ever cheated on me was right at the end, when it was all falling apart." Jessie grinned. "I think he's really stuck on Liz. You know that nut flew out to LA last weekend just to see her?"

  "Cool," Sophia giggled. "This really doesn't bother you."

  "Nope. I'm happy for him. And I've liked Liz since you introduced me to her. She's very down-to-earth, considering. If those guys work it out, I'll be happy."

  "And what about you?"

  "I'm fine, Sophie," Jess grinned. "Yeah, I'm looking, I won't deny it. But I've got you and Warren in the meantime, I know you guys love me, and I love both of you. I'm only 21. No rush, you know?" She gave Sophie a wry little grin. "Not everybody finds their soulmate at 14, Miss Romantic."

  "I know," she giggled.

  "Mama!" they heard from the back seat.

  "Ah, someone's awake. Hi, Betsy," Sophia said.

  "Hi, Betsy," Jess echoed.

  "Mama! Ahnshess!" Betsy chirped.

  "Was that 'Aunt Jess'?" Jessie asked.

  "Yeah, I do believe it was!" Sophia said.

  "Ahnshess!" Betsy repeated.

  Sophia cracked up laughing. Jessie just looked at her. "She said Aunt Jess before she said anything even remotely resembling Grammy. Do not tell my mother!"

  Jessie joined in Sophia's laughter. "Wouldn't dream of it."

  "You what?" Warren was asking Crash at just about the same time.

  "Flew to LA last weekend. I was supposed to finish the summer job last Friday, but I decided to end Thursday. Called Liz up and asked her what she'd do if I hopped on a plane to come out and spend the weekend with her. She said she'd do a jig, then fuck my brains out," he grinned. "Now, come on, what would you do?"

  "Fly to LA," Warren laughed.

  "You're a wise man, Warren," Crash intoned with a chuckle.

  "So, what's up with you and Liz?"

  "Long distance romance, pretty much. We talked a lot about it this weekend. We're pretty crazy about each other. We either instant message or talk on the phone for hours every night. It's going to be tough, no doubt, but there's definitely something there."

  "Does Jess know?" Warren asked.

  "Jess knows everything. I even thanked her," Crash laughed. "For two things. One was breaking up with me when she did-it really was one hell of a wake-up call. The other thing was taking me to bed back in February and showing me what I was doing wrong."

  "Not that that would make much of a difference with Liz, unless she's changed."

  "Nope," Crash laughed, "she still cums if you look at her cross-eyed. But it's good for me, you know. I don't want to have to rely on her reactions."

  "And Jess is OK with everything?"

  "Jess is lonely. She's fine with me and Liz, but she's lonely." He looked at Warren. "And I'm probably overstepping my bounds in a big way, here, but I don't think you and Sophie are enough. Not in the long run."

  "Crash, we know that. Both of us."

  "OK. As long as you know that." Crash sighed. "I now agree with Jess and I breaking up, but I will love her until the day I die. I want her to be happy."

  "You know I want the same thing. As does Sophie. I think she is happy now." Crash started to say something, but Warren cut him off. "Not in the long run, yes, I know. But, don't forget how young we all are."

  "True. I just feel older," Crash said ruefully.

  "That, pal, is because you're losing your hair."

  "Oh, thanks a lot. I'm not even 21 yet, asshole."

  "Sorry, but you have a receding hairline."

  "I've always had a high forehead, where the hell have you been?"

  Finally, Warren and Sophia got to Madison.

  There was an apartment complex right on the edge of the campus. It was reserved for Seniors, graduate students-and married students. That's where Sophia and Warren would be living this year. They had a two-bedroom apartment on the third floor.

  Right down the hall were Papa Bear and Cait. They had stayed in Madison all summer, and had done a lot of helping to get Warren and Sophia the apartment. Now they, plus Mike and Alexa-who were up on the fifth floor-were helping the duo get their stuff moved in.

  They took a couple of days to get moved in and get themselves togethe
r. A few days before classes were to start, they had scheduled some ice time. They had called before they got there and had nailed down their ice time for the semester.

  About a half hour before they were supposed to hit the ice, they were getting ready, gathering their stuff up, and also Betsy's so they could drop her off at the day care. The phone rang. It was Kathy, their coach in Wisconsin.

  "Hey, Kath!" Warren answered. "Yeah, we've got ice time in a half hour. We figured we'd see you then. What?"

  Sophia looked on as Warren's face fell. By the time he hung up the phone, he looked like he wanted to strangle someone.

  "What did she say, Warren?" Sophie asked worriedly. He told her.

  Sophie was horrified. "WHAT? Jesus Christ, how could she do that to us?"

  Chapter 128 - Intruders

  Warren and Sophia quickly dropped Betsy off at the day care, and hustled over to the rink. Kathy was waiting for them. She directed them into her office.

  "Look, guys, I had to. I didn't know what was going on with you guys," Kathy started.

  "Bullshit," Warren spat. "You knew we were coming back."

  "Well, I thought that with the baby, plus since you won Worlds..."

  "Worlds isn't the Olympics," Sophia told her.

  "The Olympics?" Kathy laughed. "You guys don't get it, do you? You completely sabotaged your career with that stunt you pulled at Worlds. You'll be lucky if you win another National championship. I thought you'd see that, and get out while you had your World Championship."

  "You don't have much confidence in us," Warren said.

  "This is still a judged sport. And too many judges think you're bad for it," Kathy countered.

  "The only American ice dance team to ever win a World Championship, and we're bad for the sport," Sophia snorted. "Well, Kathy, we're not going away. We're the best ice dancers in the world, and we're just going to be so good we force the judges into acknowledging it."

  "If anyone can pull it off..." Kathy laughed. "But you understand why I don't want all my eggs in one basket."

  "We understand that part of it," Warren said. "What we don't understand is who."

  "They're the up and coming dance team," Kathy shrugged.

  "They're also first-class slimebags. Well, she is, anyway," Sophia pointed out.

  "She's not that bad," Kathy said.

  "She took a run at us on the practice ice at Nationals," Sophia pointed out. "She's said nasty things in the press. And now Courtney Rogers and Ryan Killen are here? Sharing our ice? Our coach?"

  "Look, competitors do share ice and coaches," Kathy pointed out.

  "And if it were anyone else, we wouldn't care," Warren told her. "But we don't trust her. They are never going to beat us fair and square, and I don't put it past her to do something underhanded. And, while we trust you, it's clear that you don't believe in us either, if you think the judges are out to get us."

  "And taking them on as students isn't a ringing vote of confidence, either," Sophia added.

  "I needed to expand," Kathy maintained.

  Warren took a deep breath. "Do you have a copy of our contract?"

  Kathy looked startled. "Yes."

  "Could I see it?"

  "I suppose. Hold on, it's not here." She left the room. Warren and Sophia talked about the situation while she was gone. She came back quickly, and handed the contract to Warren.

  After reading it, he said, "This is what I thought. Our deal for free ice time in exchange for promotional help is for the club."

  "Yes," Kathy said, confused.

  "You signed it in your capacity as president of the club."

  "Right."

  "Not as our coach," Warren said.

  "Well, now we're talking to Kathy the coach, not Kathy the president of the club," Sophia said. "You're fired."

  "WHAT?" Kathy asked.

  "We're still going to train here," Sophia told her, "since we don't have much of a choice. And we'll do the promotional stuff we're supposed to, and we expect the free ice time, like it says in this contract. But we don't want you coaching us anymore. Not if you're going to be coaching them. We won't stand for it. Courtney Rogers is bad news. We're not going to share a coach with her."

  "Who's going to coach you?" Kathy asked incredulously.

  "June is our coach," Warren told her. "We'll send videotapes if we're having a problem. She pretty much helped us work out our programs before the wedding. Other than that, we'll coach ourselves. We've done it before."

  "You guys are making a big mistake," Kathy told them.

  "No, we're not," Warren claimed, and they walked out of her office.

  A few days later, Warren was in the locker room when he was approached by Ryan Killen.

  "Warren? I'm sorry." Warren just looked at him. "I tried to talk Courtney out of this. I even told Kathy I didn't think it was a good idea."

  "Water under the bridge," Warren said. "What are you going to do?"

  "Look," Ryan sighed, "Courtney's going to make your life a living hell."

  "She can try," Warren said with amusement. "Ryan? We're not worried about Courtney, OK?"

  "She's a great skater. We work well together on the ice," Ryan told him. "But, Warren, she's ruthless." His voice dropped to a near-whisper. "You don't know. You don't know the half of it."

  "I'll keep that in mind, Ryan, OK?"

  They had their programs for the coming year.

  This was the first year for the two original dances. For the Bossa Nova, they'd picked the Austin Powers theme, and had worked up a humorous program. The other OD was the Polka, and they were skating to "The Lonely Goatherd" from the Sound of Music. "The Duschesnays did it," Warren had told Sophia, "but they sucked. It was a reach for them. It's right up our alley."

  Their free dance was a bit of a departure. It was the closest they'd ever gotten to skating to classical. They'd picked the music of Aaron Copeland, two selections from his "Rodeo". They started with the slow section, Saturday Night Waltz, and then finished with Roundup-or, as Sophie insisted on calling it, The Steak Commercial Song. She'd giggled when Warren had suggested skating to it. It was, however, fantastic to skate to.

  A few days after Warren's conversation with Ryan, he arrived at the rink, with Caitlin, Papa Bear, and Betsy. Sophie had a meeting with one of her professors and would be a few minutes late.

  When Warren arrived, Courtney was still on the ice. "Your time's over," Warren said brusquely.

  "Where's Sophia?" she asked.

  "Meeting with a professor."

  "You know what, Warren?" Courtney said. "You shouldn't be skating with her, anyway. You should be skating with me. I'm far better than she is."

  "Oh, really," Warren said, bemused. "What about Ryan?"

  "He's good, but not as good as you are," Courtney cooed, laying it on thick. "We'd be a dynamite team."

  "Are you forgetting that she's my wife?" Warren laughed.

  "Oh, who cares? I'm still a better skater than she is."

  "You think?"

  "I know it."

  "Fine, come here." She skated over to him. "How's your memory for dance steps?"

  "Fantastic."

  "Good. This is the transition out of the side-by-side step sequence. It starts with a lift." He showed her. "Then this." He showed her a series of steps. They ran through it a couple of times. What Courtney didn't know-but Warren did-is that he was showing it to her at half-speed.

  Papa Bear and Caitlin were watching all this, trying to figure out just what was going on.

  "OK, pick it up," Warren told Courtney. They did the sequence faster. Courtney was just able to keep up. Warren chuckled to himself-they were still only at about three-quarter speed. Just then, Sophia walked into the rink. She came to a dead stop, and looked out on the ice, dumbfounded at seeing her husband skating with that bitch. She was just about to say something, when Warren shot her a "trust me" look.

  "OK, Courtney, you've got the steps. Let's try it. Caitlin, music please?"

 
Cait started the music. They went into the lift, came out of it, started the steps-and Courtney just could not keep up. She had had problems at three-quarter speed; at full-speed, she was lost.

  "Come on, Courtney, keep up!" Warren hollered at her. They ran through it a couple of more times, and Courtney was getting more lost. The fifth time, desperately trying to keep up, Courtney clicked skate blades and went down in a heap.

  Warren looked at her, chuckling. Then he turned to Sophia, still standing by the entrance to the rink. "Hey, Pookie. You wanna show her how it's done?"

  "Don't mind if I do," Sophia grinned. She skated over to Warren. Cait started the music, and they flew through the sequence flawlessly.

  "She was trying to convince me she's a better skater than you are," Warren grinned at Sophia when they were done. "Hey, Courtney? You're not even close."

  Courtney stormed off in a huff.

  After they had eaten supper that night and put Betsy to bed, they were in the living room of their apartment. They were both studying-classes had started.

  "Pookie, you seem a little out of it tonight," Warren told her.

  She sighed, and smiled at him. "It's stupid." Warren just looked at her. "That's the first time you've ever skated with anyone other than me. I mean, I know about being on the ice with other skaters when you're choreographing them. But we've never choreographed for another dance team, and, besides, that's different. I saw you skating with her, and my heart was in my throat."

  "I only did it to prove a point."

  "I know," she smiled. "It's just that we've always been very possessive about dancing." Warren cracked up laughing. "What?"

  "We've been more possessive about dancing than we ever have about sex," Warren laughed.

  "Too true," Sophia giggled. "Well, I hope Courtney didn't figure out the truth."

  "Huh?"

  "That if you had been trying to help her instead of show her up, she would've been able to keep up with you. You're the best partner in the world. You could skate with anyone, and make them better."

  "Yeah, but why should I have to do that when I already have the best female ice dancer in the world as my partner?"

  "Awwww," Sophie giggled. "Now, that's enough talk. Study."