Romance on the Dance Floor - Ch. 18

* Thank you all for the introduction. I’m happy to see that there are people from different places, ages and sexes that read my story.

I’m 24 years old, born and raised in Belgium but from Moroccan descent. My native language is Dutch and I also speak French, English and Arabic (I like to brag about my language skills ;-)).
This is my first story (and hopefully not the last) but other then that I like to read, travel, watch television, go to the cinema and of course I loooooovvvve to dance.

* Ciriat: when I write the dance part I don’t really have a song in mind. I try to match with the story and the characters. I also get inspiration from my personal experience (I used to hang out in clubs a lot). But mostly I just try to use my imagination.
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I started to get nervous as soon as I saw how crowdie it was. I had no problem with dancing on stage. In public. I was used to that. I participated in numerous talent shows and dance competitions in the past. This shouldn’t make me nervous.
But it did, because this time was different.

It was different for a lot of reasons.
First of all we rehearsed here yesterday and we sucked. We just didn’t manage to dance naturally, which made the dance look unreal and too technical. I think I was partially to blame for it. Dancing with Sean was different then dancing with any other guy. It felt personal to me as if he’d see right through me and find out how I really feel about him. And I just couldn’t let that happen

Second reason was Kate. She has put so much effort into this show that I just didn’t want to disappoint her. I had two choices, either let myself go and risk the chance she might suspect that I have feelings for her son. Or I could continue to be distant and give her an average performance. Either way it didn’t look good.
The presence of Tanya didn’t make it any easy too.

And off course the outfit. An evening gown and high heels weren’t the things I was used to dance in. But comparing to all other reasons this one was the least of my worries.

Sean and I split up to go change and fix the hair and make-up.
It was very stressful back stage. Models were walking all over the place, some of them wearing nothing but panties as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

It was very clear to me that everything needed to be in a hurry. So I followed the instructions that has been given to me and went straight to take a seat on one of the chairs to get my hair done.

Before I realised it, the hairdresser already took off my hair holder which made my hair fall down on my shoulders. She sighed.
"Something wrong?" I asked. She looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
"Don’t tell me you’re one of those girls that always have there hair up?"
I couldn’t tell if she was really mad at me about it or she was just making conversation.
"Uh yes. It’s really very rare that I let my hair down" I was trying to be nice but I could quickly see that she was irritated.
"You don’t deserve this hair. What a waste" she said arrogantly while spraying some water on my hair.

I was about to reply. Tell her to mind her own business and do her job. If she can be a bitch then I can too. But I thought of Kate and knew that the best thing now was to not make a scene.
When she was done I was relieved that my hair didn’t change much. She only cut the dead ends, it was barely noticeable.
She left without saying anything and was quickly replaced by the makeup artist. He wasn’t arrogant nor was he nice. He just did his job and left.

"You’re up in ten minutes" a guy with a headset on told me.
I felt a wave of anxiety going through me. I wasn’t even dressed yet so I hurried to wear the dress and shoes and took a last glimpse in the mirror.
I forgot how revealing this dress was. At least to what I’m used to.
But I had to admit that I was pleased with the make-over.

On my way to the meeting point with Sean I ran in to Kate.
"Wow. You look amazing Layla." she said.
"Thanks" I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Sean is already behind the curtains. Go join him. You guys are up in…6 minutes" she said while looking at her watch. She tapped me on the shoulder and left.
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Sean looked amazing. Wearing a dark grey suit that made him look like a Hollywood star on his way to receive an Oscar.
I walked towards him while he looked at me from top to toe.
"You look…very…nice" he said while we were standing across from each other.
"You too" I answered.
There was an awkward silence before Sean broke the ice.
"So are you nervous?" he asked
"Well we kind of suck, so I could say I’m a bit worried, yes. But I guess if we keep our focus everything will be alright" I tried to stay positive.

"Maybe that’s the thing. Maybe we’re focusing too much." He took my hands and looked me straight in the eyes.
"Let’s just have fun and forget about everything. The only thing that matters right now is that we’re in love with each other and that we are good at what we do."
My heart stopped but then started to race. What did he mean? Was he just referring to the story of our dance or…
"You ready?" the same guy with the headset asked us. It seemed more like a demand than a question.
Sean took a deep breath and went as first to the catwalk.

Sean’s POV:

I walked past the journalists and guests looking straight before me, trying to sell the outfit like I’ve been taught to.
This was part of our dance routine. First start with the casual catwalk.
I reached the end of the catwalk where I waited for Layla to come along. And there she was. I looked at here while she walked towards me. Her beautiful hair was moving on the rhythm of her steps. She had her head held high, her shoulders straight and her gaze straight in front of her as if she’s done this a million times before. My heart started beating faster as she came closer and finally joined me at the end of the catwalk.

We froze for a few seconds and then the song started.
She started dancing while I was watching her, walking circles around her, observing her. It reminded me of the first time I saw her dance at the Basement. The first time I got to know who she was. Even then I knew she was special.
And there it hit me. Maybe this entire routine was based on our story, on how I feel about her and what she means to me.

She stopped dancing and then it was my turn. I danced while she observed. She had the same gaze as when I catch her looking at me while I’m training in my studio, thinking that I didn’t notice her looking.

When I finished my part I grabbed her hand, pulled her closer to me and lead her through the music. Like when she accepted my helping hand when she was in need.

Our dance gradually began to get more intense, more intimate as she let me lead her to the tango beats. Her body moved graciously to the music. She was totally in it. She was living the story, letting herself go as if we were the only ones in the room. As if all the reasons why we shouldn’t be together disappeared.
I held her by her lower back while she leaned back her upper body till hear hair reached the floor. She slid her upper body from one side to another and slowly stood straight to meet my gaze. Her face was just a few inches from mine. Her eyes were like fire that caused the warmth to spread in my body. The same feeling I had when we kissed by the moonlight in my dance studio.

The dance went on perfectly. The spins and lifts were perfectly done, the feelings were there and the story was clear.
The diversity in the dance was exceptional. From strong - slightly aggressive - moves to slow intimate moves, to team work and trust.
Just like our relationship, slightly aggressive yet sensible, fragile and passionate.

Yet there were differences. Unlike this story I wasn’t sure if she felt the same way and we were far from having a happy ending.
We got to the final part of the dance. She spun around three times while coming closer to me. I grabbed her arm to pull her against my body and lifted her bare leg to wrap it around my waist. The music stopped. Our chest pressed against each other trying to catch our breath while we looked each other in the eyes.

I gently caressed the side of her nose with mine while our lips were just an inch apart. It was all part of the plan though, but we never managed to make it seem so real until now. At least it felt real to me.
Even though the music stopped, the sense of her perfume made it extremely difficult for me to let go of her. I looked at her lips and came closer but before I could reach it she turned around to face the public. I let go of her leg and turned to face the crowd too. It was as if waking from a dream.
We received a standing ovation, so I could only assume that the people liked it.
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Layla’s POV:

I needed a moment to recover from the dance. Not physically, but rather mentally. It was intense, something I’ve never experienced before. At a moment when I thought that my feelings for him couldn’t get any stronger it proofed that it could.
Unfortunately I didn’t get the time to recover as I had to hurry myself to change in another outfit.
Unlike other models I only had 3 outfits to wear. And mine were the least extravagant. I guess they didn’t trust me in extreme high heels and ‘over the top’ big hats.
I was happy when the show was finished. I got dressed in my ordinary clothes and put my hair up again to go face Tanya, Kate and most importantly Sean.

On my way out of the dressing room I ran into Georges.
"Here you are" he said enthusiastic "It has been an amazing show you guys pulled out there. Wow. It was just perfect."
He pulled his business card out of his pocket. "You can be the new face of our next collection" he said while handing the card to me.
"I’m really flattered, but this is not really my thing"
"Too bad, you’re quiet good at it. I hope you’d at least consider it." He replied.
"I will" I answered.
"I have to go meet the journalists. I hope I’ll see you soon" and then he left.

I tried to look for someone I know in the crowd and after a few minutes I finally found Tanya.
"Hey" I said. She looked at me with a big smile on her face.
"Now that was something. You guys were incredible" she said.
"Thanks" I replied hoping she wouldn’t ask more questions about it.
"So, feel like hanging out? We can go grab a drink or something" Tanya suggested.
"Good idea. Let me find Kate first and I’ll meet you outside"
"Okay. I’ll see if I can find Sean, maybe he wants to come a long"

I was relieved when Kate told me she had missed our performance because there was a problem she had to take care of. She seemed very disappointed by that fact but I couldn’t be happier.

When I met Tanya back outside she was waiting for me alone. Sean told her he had some stuff to take care of so he couldn’t join us. I hadn’t seen him since our performance and maybe it was for the best.

We sat at the café that served those delicious chocolate cakes.
"That was quiet a show was it?" Tanya said.
"Yeah, it was"
"Layla? Can I ask you a personal question?" I was afraid she might ask the question I’ve been avoiding.
"Shoot" I said trying to act as normal as I could.
"But I want you to be honest with me" she continued.
"Yeah sure"

"Do you have feelings for Sean?"
"What? Where did you get that idea?"
"Well it was quit obvious, you know."
"Is this about the dance? The designer asked us…"
"Why don’t you just answer my question? It’s just ‘yes’ or ‘no’".
I lost my words. I could’ve just simply lied and said ‘no’. But for some reasons I couldn’t deny it anymore.
"That’s what I thought." She looked at me with an understanding gaze.
"I’m okay with this, you know." She continued.

"You don’t have to give me your approval, nothing will happen between us anyway."
"Why? You guys are perfect for each other"
"Look Tanya, it’s complicated and I really don’t want to talk about it. All I can say is that my birthday is in 2 days and then it’ll be over. I’ll move out of the house and I’m sure that this crush will pass."
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I have to say it was very difficult to write the dance part. I tried to put the dance into words which was not easy to do. I hope I succeeded and hope you can imagine it how I imagined it.
Let me know what you think of it.