Nondescript

by Rose, Ashley

  Just as she was rounding for her fifth lap, Nash turned to face her.

  “Hey, Lorna.”

  She was so surprised she tripped over her own feet and squeaked, falling to the hardwood.

  Lorna felt the blush in her cheeks before Nash’s hands were even on her body.

  “Crap. Are you okay?” He helped her to her feet, one hand on her arm, the other on her waist.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She shied away from his touch automatically and he let go. Her knee would have a bruise the next morning, but she’d be fine.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “No, sorry. I don’t know what happened. I swear I’m not that clumsy.”

  “I shouldn’t have—”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Shep cut in, stepping between them. “We’re all sorry, and she’ll be fine. Go stretch, darling, we’ll be ready in sec.” He slapped her ass when she turned. “Holy crap.” He reached for her again. “Miss Buns-of-Steel over here.”

  Her blushed deepened, and she evaded his attempts to grab her again.

  “You are such a pervert,” Nash snapped at him.

  “Shut up, man.” They went back to sorting through the music. “You can only say that because she hasn’t seen the choreography you wanted yet.”

  “That’s different. It’s dancing.”

  “That’s not what it looks like.”

  The comment earned Shep a shove in the shoulder.

  After several move minutes of bantering, Nash left Shep to the music and joined her with stretching.

  “Ready to learn the routine?”

  She wasn’t sure.

  “Don’t worry.” He stretched his hamstring. He was a lot more flexible than he looked. “You’ll be fine. And I figured today was as good as any to introduce you to the group. They can help with the learning process too, especially Gabby.”

  She nodded.

  “Shep said he took you out last night.”

  “Yeah.”

  He laughed and rotated his shoulders. “You sound so enthused.”

  “It was new to me,” she admitted.

  He grinned. “I would have never guessed.”

  Her face lit up again in a blush. She was doing that too much today.

  “Well, I’m glad you had fun at least.” He slid behind her and she looked over her shoulder, only to be startled at his close proximity. “Legs front, touch your toes.”

  She did as he said and his hands wrapped around her waist and pushed her down farther. She felt the stretch in her legs and back. Lorna relaxed into the stretch and he pushed a bit more. She focused on what Shep had said and tried not to let Nash’s proximity affect her. The pressure released and she sat up.

  “I can stretch on my own,” she said quietly, doubting he would listen.

  “I know you can.” He tapped her hip. “Butterfly. But I won’t have you getting injured because I didn’t monitor your stretching.”

  She pressed the bottoms of her feet together so her legs formed the butterfly position.

  “Plus, we are going to dance together today.” He placed one hand on each of her knees and leaned down, pressing them toward the floor to stretch her inner legs. “And I figured this would be a good way for you to be more comfortable with me.”

  He pressed her forward with his chest while pushing her knees down hard.

  She focused on relaxing into the stretch instead of the feel of his chest pressed against her back. His breath tickled behind her ear and she couldn’t help but turn her head in that direction, inadvertently brushing her cheek against his.

  He didn’t seem to notice, though her heart rate jumped up a few notches. She tried to remain calm, but his touch was suddenly overwhelming.

  “You need to relax,” Nash said in her ear.

  “I can’t.” Not with you touching me.

  “Just do the focus thing you did with Shep.”

  She took a deep breath and tried to do as he suggested.

  He added pressure. “There you go.”

  She tensed again, which caused the added pressure to put strain on her muscles. A sound of pain escaped her lips at the same moment that Nash backed off.

  She bit her lip apprehensively, knowing he was probably irritated, while rubbing her inside of her leg where it hurt.

  “Okay, Lorna.” Nash’s hands spun her around to face him. “What is it?”

  “What is what?” She steadied herself on the floor from the sudden spin.

  “What is it about me that makes you so uncomfortable?”

  She glanced back at Sheppard but he was busy with the music. “I don’t know.”

  He leaned forward. “Listen to me, Lorna. I need to find a way for this to work. You are an amazing dancer, and I am ecstatic to have you in the group. But being able to dance with me and makes it look believable is essential. I need to know that you’re committed to this.”

  Her heart sank. She didn’t want to lose this opportunity, but she didn’t know how to make him understand. “I am committed. I want this. But I don’t know how to make myself be okay with people touching me. I’ve always been like this. I’ve never really been touched by a guy before. I can’t help it. Please don’t give up on me,” she pleaded.

  “You’re a lesbian?”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “You said you’ve never been touched by a guy before.”

  She shook her head.

  “Oh. You mean you you’ve never...with anyone? Really?”

  She felt heat in her cheeks and started to stand up, needing to be away from his scrutiny.

  “No! Wait, wait. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” He stood up with her and put a hand out but she moved away. “I’m sorry. I just meant that...you’re really pretty. It surprised me is all.”

  She didn’t reply, just kept her distance.

  “God, Lorna, you have like the perfect body.”

  She almost scoffed at him. “Now you’re just lying.”

  “I’m not! I mean, for a dancer, it’s perfect. Maybe not the same kind of body as a ninety-pound swimsuit model but dancers are beautiful, and I can’t think of anyone who looks more like a dancer than you.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that.

  “Yeah. That’s gonna make her more comfortable around you,” Shep snorted from the sound station. “Genius.”

  “Shut up,” Nash said, dismissing him.

  “You’re just jealous,” Shep laughed.

  “Of what?”

  “That I figured out the secret to making Lorna comfortable with guys before you did.”

  “Oh, yeah? What is it?”

  Shep smirked and pressed the button on the music, loud and pulsing, filling the room. Then he hit the lights, throwing the room into semi-darkness. Combined with the light coming through the windows, it was still light enough to clearly see each pole and both boys’ faces.

  Lorna didn’t feel more relaxed but Shep came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. He swayed her body side to side to the music. “See? All better.”

  Lorna was surprised that she didn’t pull away. The dim lighting and music acted as sort of a buffer between her body and her self-conscious brain.

  She laughed and pulled away from him when he started to nuzzle her neck.

  Nash didn’t seem happy though.

  “Now what is it? Sour puss. I just solved your problem.”

  “No, you solved your problem. And just proved to me that there is something about me, me personally, that makes her uncomfortable.”

  “Oh come on, man, I just showed you—”

  “For you, Shep, it won’t work for me.”

  Lorna looked back and forth between the two boys who were talking like she wasn’t there.

  “How can you say that if you don’t try it?” Shep challenged.

  “She’s already hella uncomfortable around me, idiot. I’m not going to go up and give her a big hug.”

  “The choreography req
uires you to practically dry hump each other, and you guys can’t even hug? We do have an issue.”

  Nash’s frustration was evident even in the darkness.

  “Can you guys maybe not write me off until we try the choreography?” she asked softly.

  They both looked at her for a moment. Then Shep cracked a smile and Nash shook his head.

  “I mean...Nash and I have barely touched, so yeah, I’m going to be jumpy. Maybe I just need a little bit of practice?”

  Shep grinned wider. “You hear that, Nasher? She wants you to touch her some more.”

  Her eyes bugged out. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Nash pointed a finger at the choreographer. “You. Don’t call me that.” He turned his look to Lorna. “You. Get to the pole.”

  “Ohh, I like it when you boss me around.” Shep pranced back to the sound station, ignoring Nash’s glare.

  The song changed and Nash was still shooting the other boy annoyed looks as he approached Lorna. She was ridiculously tense. She had been fine with Shep, last night and today. The lights were low, the music was loud enough to get lost in. She had no reason to be so apprehensive.

  But when she looked at Nash, she couldn’t help it. Maybe it was the fact that she knew he was a real dancer and maybe it was the fact that his body was the epitome of dancer perfection. She mentally cursed the laws of physics that demanded pole dancers to wear extremely skimpy clothes.

  “Okay, we went through the solo choreography yesterday.”

  She opened her mouth but he read her mind.

  “I know you probably don’t have it down yet, but we can work on that with the group. It’ll be easier with Gabby to help out. I want to at least get the basics down for the doubling before we go with the group.”

  She nodded.

  “It’ll be a little weird, because I go back and forth between you, solo, and the group throughout, so we’ll just take each set one at the time and you’ll see where they work into the whole thing later.”

  “All right.”

  “So.” He stepped close. “Start from the third eight-count you learned yesterday, and then I’ll jump in and show you.”

  She counted in time with the beat. Five, six, seven, eight.

  The moves came to her naturally. She had practiced them with an imaginary pole in her room last night.

  “Good,” Nash said, watching her hips move. “You have such a raw form. I love it. It’s so perfect for this.”

  She concentrated on the eight-counts, but was getting to the end of where he had taught her. Nash moved even closer as the end came up, nodding his head to the beat, his lips moving as he counted silently.

  Just as her hips rounded out for the last rotation, Nash wrapped his hands around them and moved them against his.

  “Roll.” He showed her body the movements with his hands. She focused on where his hands wanted her to go and burned the movements into her mind.

  “One, two, three, four. Twist. Five, six, seven, eight. Turn.” She stumbled through the movements but managed to keep on beat.

  “Two more eights, then do the simple pole twirl that you did yesterday.” He spoke while keeping her body in rhythm with the other movements. “Twirl, four count, twirl, eight-count, stunt and hold for four.”

  She repeated it in her head until the twirl came up. His hands guided her smoothly into the twirl and caught her again on the other side. She made a smooth transition between the simple stunt and the dancing.

  He obviously knew this dance backwards and forwards. He’d taught it before. Even though the moves were new to her and she stumbled through them, he always knew exactly how to smooth it over and get her back into the beat.

  After the second twirl, it didn’t quite feel right. Both Shep and Nash felt it too. Shep stopped the music and Nash stopped her movements.

  “I messed up,” she said, but she didn’t know exactly how to fix it.

  “Sort of. You just didn’t do it right. Do the twirl again.”

  Thanks to one of his hands on her hip, she got a little extra velocity, so when he came back around she had to twist awkwardly to keep from plowing into him.

  “There. The ending,” he said.

  “You’re too close and push me too fast. I’m going to run into you if you stand there.”

  He smiled. “You’re supposed to run into me, and that wasn’t as fast as its going to go for real.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m going to do it real speed, ok? Just trust me, and follow through with the twirl.”

  She nodded.

  “I’m going to push you full speed.” He put his hands on her again. “Five, six, seven, eight.”

  He pushed harder this time, and she almost squealed at the sudden feeling of weightlessness. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t see him coming and let the speed carry her through the turn. Instead of being met with the jarring halt like she expected, he caught her and used the momentum to carry them right into the next move, with his arms around her waist and her body flush against his.

  Shep started up the music, and Nash instructed her to do the twirl twice more until they had it down. Each time he caught her perfectly, and by the third time, she trusted him enough to commit completely to the move.

  “Good. That’s was perfect.”

  She smiled at the encouragement, glad to be getting it right. She danced around the pole, following where his hands led her and here his instructions told her. Most of the moves she already knew, but putting them together to flow like he wanted was a challenge.

  Everything he wanted her to do was a mix between contemporary and ballet moves, plus the tricks on the bar.

  One trick required her complete trust in him. She had to flip onto the bar, hold herself up with just her legs, and then dismount from the bar in a flip that landed her in his arms before her feet touched the ground again. They had to try it several times before they managed to synchronize it perfectly.

  Nash turned to Shep as he set her back on the ground. “How’s that look?”

  “Good. Lorna, exaggerate your lines more. Make sure to keep the back arched as far as you can and the toes pointed. Nash, don’t catch her so stiffly. You want her to be able fold in your arms before you set her down.”

  A few more run-throughs and it clicked, automatically making Lorna more comfortable when she knew she was doing it right.

  They moved on, and Sheppard changed the song to something faster paced with a powerful beat, something they would play in the club.

  Nash explained that this was more of a sexy, teasing dance. If anything was going to get her, it was going to be this section. He had her dancing with both arms over her head, holding the pole. The moves, when done with another person, were sexier than anything she’d ever done. But Nash didn’t give her the chance to be nervous or shy. He pushed through the moves like they were shaking hands. Teaching by example, guiding her with his hands and words, and correcting her when she got it wrong. Nothing changed for him, though it certainly did for her.

  As she ground her hips against his, she couldn’t ignore that it made her feel overtly sexual. She did her best to push that to the back of her mind and focus on the movements.

  “Do it right, Nash,” Shep cut in over the music.

  “Shut up, we can work it in later.”

  “Why wait?”

  Lorna frowned. She didn’t know what they were talking about. Nash continued dancing, showing her the next set of moves while he ignored Shep.

  The other boy was persistent. “You might as well do it now, so she can get used to it, instead of adding more pressure on her in front of the group.”

  “What you are guys talking about?” she asked.

  “His hands. And yours, for that matter,” Shep replied.

  Nash’s hands hadn’t moved from her hips, which was slightly odd to her, but at the same time, she was glad. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to focus with his hands touching her.

  “What are you talking ab
out?” she asked warily.

  “This is a sexual dance. You didn’t think he was going to keep his hands to himself, did you?” Shep shook his head.

  She looked at Nash, who was still focusing intently on her footwork. “Nash?”

  He looked up.

  “I’d rather do it the way it’s supposed to be done from the beginning, so I know what to expect.”

  “I didn’t want to make you even more uncomfortable.”

  “I’m all right.”

  “I can tell that you’re tense.”

  “I’m doing okay though.”

  “Yeah, you’re doing great actually.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Okay. In the performance, we have to do more than just go through the motions, right? I want it to be a really dramatic piece. With different emotions flying everywhere and—”

  “You really don’t have to justify anything to me, just tell me what you want me to do.”

  His lips quirked into a smile. “Right. Okay. Well, during the—”

  “Pretty much, he is going to grope you, and you need to grope him,” Shep cut in again.

  Nash flinched at the wording but nodded. “If you want to put it that way. I know that you’re holding the pole the majority of the time, but sometimes you’re not, and you should be touching me instead. If that makes sense.”

  She nodded slowly. “Sort of.”

  “See.” Nash stepped away from her. “My piece tells a story, and in the story, we are really attracted to each other. I really need that to come across in our performance.”

  “Yeah, I understand. I just don’t know. I mean, it might take me some practice to know what to do.”

  “For sure. And I can help, but I want it to be really natural.”

  “I don’t think I’ll get it right away,” she said honestly, “But do what you want to do and I’ll learn.”

  “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

  “I’d rather be uncomfortable now, than in front of a bunch of people I’ve never met.”