by Payton Hart
“It’s quite alright. Jenny, is it?”
“Yes, and you’re Luis, right?”
“At your service.” He chuckled, but I was still too exasperated to pay much attention to the odd way he spoke.
“What were you practicing?” I asked, trying to compose myself.
“I was working on my Viennese waltz.”
My jaw dropped. Viennese was one of the most difficult dances to do, mainly because it involved the wide, gliding steps of the waltz, with added quick steps and a much faster tempo. In addition to that, it includes waltz’s particular frame and poise; Nancy was the only dancer I knew who could do it perfectly.
“You can Viennese?!” I was too awestruck to feel self-conscious of my envy. He chuckled softly at my dumbfounded expression.
“Would you like to learn?”
I momentarily imagined the thought of him gracefully waltzing around the room, me in toe, tripping every other step. I was fairly new and nowhere near his level of skill. I shook my head fervently.
“Oh, no, there’s no way I could keep up with you. Not yet.”
“Nonsense.” He displayed an amazing smile. He didn’t have dimples, but the corners of his mouth created gentle creases that flowed handsomely into his cheeks. I found myself staring at them as he spoke. I tried to focus on what he was saying with mild difficulty.
“It’s never too early to learn.”
Before I could protest, he held out his hand in the traditional ballroom courtship. I look at him, feeling uneasy in how comfortable I felt around him already; I was usually wary of men I didn’t know.
“We’ll dance without music, so that you can concentrate on the movements to start off.” I felt drawn to him, and before I could think about it, I placed my hand in his and he led me to the middle of the floor. We got into frame, and I could feel his toned bicep under my hand, which laid gently on his forearm. I prayed that my palms wouldn’t get sweaty. The scent of his breath, which smelled like a warm breeze, intoxicated me. I mentally chastised myself for getting goose bumps as his palm gripped my shoulder blade delicately. He adjusted his frame and counted time in a practiced voice.
“1,2,3. 1,2,3. 1,2,3.”
We began to dance slowly, and I couldn’t believe how he seemed to glide effortlessly across the floor. It felt as if there was no weight to me at all as I followed his adept lead.
“Now, on the 2,3, you’re going to shorten your steps before the next measure.”
I panicked as we dove into the move, and I ended up tripping on myself. If he was frustrated, he showed no sign of it as he caught balance for both of us, still tightly keeping me close. He stopped.
“You don’t like following, do you?”
I became defensive instantly.
“No, it’s not that, I just…”
“....want to predict where you’re going. I know.”
I puffed my cheeks out a little in frustration, and looked up to see him smiling that lopsided smile again. I averted my eyes quickly, blushing.
“You also need to stop looking down when you dance.”
“But what if I trip? I mean, there’s nothing to trip on. And I don’t mean to, I just…” I trailed off. I was over-explaining again.
“Just keep your head up and your balance will improve.”
I pushed the defensiveness out of my head and nodded. He was a coach, after all, and I should be taking his word for it. We practiced like this for about a half an hour. Being so close to him made me breathless, though it didn’t take much time for me to realize just how unpracticed I was.
I heard the door open a few minutes later, and the familiar sound of Nancy’s impossibly high heels began to click down the carpeted hallway. She appeared from around the corner, looking extremely sharp, as usual.
“You two started early.” I hoped that she couldn’t read my face as well as she normally did. I let go of him quickly, and walked over to greet her.
“Not quite, I was just showing her a little Viennese” Luis said.
“You do realize that she’s still very new, don’t you? I appreciate you helping her craft her dancing, but I don’t want to overwhelm her with too much at once, Luis.” I had a feeling that the two had known each other for longer than this week. Luis flashed her that dazzling smile.
“Of course, Nancy. My apologies” Nancy shrugged her shoulders and began to walk into her office.
“Just remember that she’s still under my training, Luis. Try to stick to the syllabus that I’m teaching her, please.” She disappeared behind her door without another word.
I peered up at Luis. His expression hadn’t changed. Nancy had always mildly terrified me on some level. She was extremely smart, driven, and talented, and had a constant mask that never seemed to waver.
“She’s not mad, is she?” I asked.
“Nancy? Oh, no, she just likes to be in control of everything. You shouldn’t be so afraid of her.”
“I’m not afraid of her. She just has such a firm demeanor, and it makes me so nervous when I have to do skill tests while she’s watching me.”
“In this profession, you mustn't be afraid of anything. Not if you want to be serious about it.” He said, and then looked at me sideways.
“And don’t get nervous. She can smell fear.” I looked at him, surprised. He laughed again at my expression.
“Relax, I’m just kidding.”
***
When I arrived home, I was completely exhausted. I plopped down on the couch next to Elliot, who was engrossed in a sketch. He looked up, smiling.
“Babe, how long have you been working on this new comic?”
“Pretty much since you left for the studio. I actually was so focused, I think I forgot to eat lunch.” He chuckled light-heartedly as I sighed.
“I’ll go cook something up for us. I’m starving.” I loved Elliot, but sometimes I wish I could come home to a dinner that I didn’t have to make. I internally shrugged my shoulders. I kissed him on the forehead and grunted as I made my way into the kitchen.
“How was training today?” He yelled from the couch.
“It was great. Exhausting, but great. The new coach really knows his stuff.” I looked into the sink of day-old dishes. I tried to brush off my annoyance.
“Oh, it’s a guy? That’s unexpected.” Elliot wasn’t the jealous type which I had always loved about him, but for some reason today I wished that he was.
“Guys dance, too, Elly. It’s not that uncommon.” He didn’t reply. I peeked out of the kitchen to see him contemplating his next line. I smiled then; I had adored the scrunched-up face he made when he was concentrating. I pushed Luis out of my mind as I expertly stirred vegetable stir fry.
***
It was finally the weekend, and I ached as I opened my eyes. Something felt off. Trying to shake it, I leaned over Elliot’s peacefully sleeping face and kissed his cheek. He stirred without opening his eyes, and kissed my nose.
“I’ll go make us some coffee.”
I rolled out of bed, holding back the groan rising in my throat. The rest of the week’s training had been arduous, and took a toll on every inch of my body. As I hit “start” on the coffee grinder, my mind wandered to earlier in the week, when Luis and I had been practicing my salsa. I had tried so desperately to not ogle the way his hips moved. In Latin-style dance, there is something called “Cuban motion,” and it requires the use of the hips to generate the correct movement. His hips moved flawlessly and erotically. At some point during our time together, he had adopted a habit of running his thumb across my hand while he held it. I’d assumed it wasn’t intentional; he was so very difficult to read, and it made me self-conscious.
Suddenly, I realized what my strange feeling was when I woke up. I stopped pouring the coffee as I struggled to recollect the dream I had. It was about Luis. I bit my lip unconsciously as I resumed fixing our coffee, and raced back into the bedroom.
Elliot had fallen back asleep. I sighed and placed his cup on the nights
tand beside him, and paused. His face was angelic. He always had such an innocent, boyishly handsome look, and it didn’t betray his gentle nature. Except when he drank too heavily. That’s when most of our fighting happened; I resented the way he never seemed interested in talking about our issues when I did. Or ever, for that matter.
He stirred again and opened his eyes to see me staring at him absently.
“Hey, baby. You made coffee. You’re the sweetest.” He groggily gravitated towards the coffee cup and didn’t seem to notice the distant look on my face. He was never very good at noticing these things.
“What do you want to do today, El? Did you still want to take the canoe out to that river we found the other day? I could make mini sandwiches and tea the same way that I did when we hiked the Adirondacks?” Despite my mood, the idea of another one of our adventures delighted me.
“Yes, honey, after I finish that piece.” I looked over at the clock. It was already noon.
“Don’t you want to get there before the sun goes down? It’s going to be really hard to find in the dark.” I frowned.
“Yes, but I really need to finish this before tomorrow, if we want to have any time for our anniversary dinner tomorrow.”
“I thought this was going to be part of our anniversary weekend. Don’t you think it deserves more than one day of celebration? I mean, we already missed the actual day.”
“Yeah, because you had to go into work early, Jen.” He started to get defensive.
“Because that’s my job, Elliot. Unlike you, I have to be there at a strict time or Nancy will have my ass.” I unknowingly had begun to raise my voice in annoyance.
“This is my job though, Jenny. I thought you understood that.”
“I do understand that. But if you spent less time trashing ideas that you half-assed and trying to create new ones halfway through your deadline, you’d have more time!” I stopped. I wasn’t an angry person, I hated yelling. I breathed.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to be creative, Jenny. You have a set of rules that you have to follow and that’s it, no more thinking involved after that.” He realized how offended I now was, and held his hands up. I turned away from him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, Jen.” I huffed in response.
He stood up and put his palms on my shoulders, resting his head between my shoulder blades. I didn’t react.
“I wouldn’t want to deal with Nancy’s face if you had said no, either.” I unsuccessfully fought off laughter at this, and gave in as we both exchanged Nancy impersonations.
“I love you,” I said, still chuckling a little.
“I love you too, Jen.”
***
I went into work on Monday feeling refreshed, my adventurous weekend with Elliot having taken my mind off of the stress at the studio. We had reconciled that night with a long, romantic romp in the sheets, and a movie marathon that followed.
I was putting my hair into a bun when Luis strolled in, looking preoccupied.
“Good morning, Luis.” I said cheerfully. He looked up, seeming worried.
“Heads up, Jenny. Nancy is stressed out, so she’s a little testy today.”
“What else is new?” I laughed. He looked surprised, and smiled. I cursed my heart as it reacted by speeding up its beat.
“Well well, have you lost the fear?” his tailored vest clung to his slender form, and I had to concentrate on his words.
“No, I think I just got a good night sleep for once!”
“You worked hard last week, you deserve it.” He stopped and stared at me for a moment. I felt my cheeks get warm.
“What?” I said, shyly.
“Do you wear blush?”
“Not really, I don’t wear much outside of eye makeup, why?”
“Huh. I guess you have naturally rosy cheeks.” I must’ve looked embarrassed, because he followed up with: “it goes well with your fair skin.”
I was elated for a moment, and before I could stop myself, I blurted out “you too.”
He began to laugh, a little too loudly. Nancy opened her office door and strutted out.
“Jenny, I need you to start your confirmation calls.” The expression on her face was unreadable. My smile faded and I nodded.
“Oh, of course, Nancy, sorry, I was just putting my hair up.” She looked at me for a moment longer and then walked back into her office. I looked at Luis briefly, and we both held back amused laughter.
I sat down at the computer and begin my task. Luis followed, reaching out from behind me to take a pen from the cup in front of me. His voice was low and soft now.
“Jenny, what are you doing tonight?” I thought of Elliot engrossed in his comics.
“Nothing that I know of. Why?” I held my breath.
“You mentioned last week that you’ve been wanting to learn piano. If it’s not too inappropriate, I thought that I could show you a few things.” I paused for a moment. It was true, I had wanted to learn piano for some time, but could never afford a good teacher. I struggled with myself for a moment. It’s just piano lessons. It’s not like he invited you out for a romantic dinner. He patiently waited for my response.
“I could do that.” I strained to keep control of my voice. “I mean, I would really appreciate that.” He smiled and began to write on a piece of paper. “Here’s my address. Stop by if you’re up for it.”
I gave him a controlled smile and folded the piece of paper into my pocket. I turned without looking at him again and began my calls. I tried not to think too much about it for the rest of the day.
***
I unlocked my front door, wondering whether Elliot would be okay with my plans. I walked through the house and called his name.
“In here,” I heard his voice echo from his office. I slowly walked in to see him bent over his desk, furiously shading a piece of work.
“Hey, El. How’s the new piece coming?” I didn’t take my coat off. He didn’t look up from his work.
“It’s going. I can’t decide if I like this idea or not.”
“Well at least sketch it out a little before you decide.” I shifted my weight and he looked up, his glasses moved halfway down his nose.
“Are you going somewhere?” I hadn’t decided whether or not this would upset him. My mind raced.
“Uh yeah, Denise called and wants to get together.” I lied. “Did you want to come?” I knew his answer before I asked. He turned his eyes back on his drawing.
“Nah, I’ve have to keep working at this, babe. Will you be okay by yourself?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I shouldn’t be out too late.” I tried to disguise the shakiness of my voice.
“Alright hun, have fun. Tell her that I said hi.”
“I will.” My heart sank a little. If he had been paying attention, he would have known something was up. I was a terrible liar. I walked over and kissed him on the cheek before changing into a blue summer dress.
When I got into my car, I plugged the address from the paper into my GPS. After a moment of deliberating, I touched up my lipstick and mascara. It’s just piano lessons, I told myself over and over again.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway, and shut my car off. Sitting in the silence for a moment, I tried to determine how I felt, but couldn’t make sense of it. I breathed in and got out, walking hesitantly towards his front door. Tasteful stained glass decorated the storm door, and when I opened it, complimented the oak-colored main door. I knocked gently. After just a few seconds, I heard a click, and the door swung open. I’d never seen Luis out of his normal professional-grade suits and vests, so seeing him now, in nothing more than a v-neck t-shirt and jeans, made my heart flutter.
“You look...different.” I said, without thinking. “N-not that you look bad, I've just never seen you without a suit or anything.”
“And your dress matches your eyes.” He stepped aside to invite me in. I tried to look graceful as I walked past him. His house was modestly elegant,
with the normal messiness that comes with living alone. I heard the door close, and he walked past me and motioned for me to follow.
“Do you want tea or anything?” I almost declined, but felt the sudden fatigue of my emotional roller coaster on the drive over.
“I’d love tea. Black, please.” I saw that he wasn’t wearing shoes, so I quietly took off my heels and set them by the door. When I followed him into the kitchen, I saw an array of cooking utensils and vegetables on the counter.