Romance on the Dance Floor - Ch. 9

"So, how was your weekend?" Theresa asked while we were walking down the school hallway.
"Boring" I lied. What was I suppose to say? That I was almost killed by my stepfather and that I now live in Sean's house? Who I'm by the way extremely attracted to. No I couldn't tell her that. Although I was in need of a good friend. A friend where I could open up my heart to and that'll give me advice when needed. Theresa wasn't that kind of person to me.
"How was your weekend?" I asked
"Well I met this hot guy at the Clipse..." I quickly regretted asking as I knew she would start telling me every detail of her boy hunting. Theresa was on the verge of easy, she always had something to tell when it came to boys.

That day I felt awful, uncomfortable, sad, and all the negative things you can imagine. But most of all I felt lonely. Regardless of the numerous people I had around me, I've never felt as lonely as I did that day. Because everybody around me was talking to me, telling me about their weekends and their relationship issues, while they didn't realize what I had to endure the last days. I missed the comforting feeling Sean and Kate have been giving to me. And now I was forced to ignore Sean and pretend like last weekend was just a dream.
I had to stop getting used to their help and care, because the day will come where I will have to leave their house and be on my own. So I had to stick to my plan to keep myself busy to avoid every minute with Sean. So after school I had a lot of catching up to do with my crew, so I came home late, took a shower and went straight to bed. And that’s how it has been for weeks.

One Friday evening I was practicing some routines with my crew.
"I have a nice routine in my head. We should try it."
"Maybe some other time, Layla." Ty said. That was always his answer. I was getting tired of hearing that.
"Aren’t you even going to check it out?" I replied.
"I’m kind of starting to get tired. Can’t we just call it a day for now" Theresa said. I gave her a cold look. She knew how hard I tried to get involved with the crew and she always said I shouldn’t give up. And now this?
"Yeah, I think we had enough for today." Every body began to pack there stuff together. I just stood there, looking like a fool.
"So I guess we see each other tonight at the Clipse" Ty said
"I can’t. I promised someone I'll babysit tonight" I came up with an excuse because I really didn't feel like hanging out with them and because I knew that tonight was theme night at the Basement. It has been a while since I went there and at least there my talent was appreciated.

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I was knocking on the bathroom door. Sean has been there for about half an hour and I needed to get ready to go out. He opened the door.
"You have been there for…" he was standing there stripped to the waist, revealing his athletic body. It was completely how I’ve imagined. He looked at me smiling.
"What? Never seen a guy’s chest before?"
"Oh please, get over yourself" I said. "Okay, you can leave now, it’s my turn." I said while entering the bathroom. He looked at me while raising his eyebrows.
"I’m not finished yet." He replied.
"You have been here for hours. What, you still need to put on some make up? You can do that in your room. I need to catch a bus so,…" I held the door open and pointed to the hall.
"I need to shave."
"Too bad." I put my make up back next to the sink and took my tooth brush and tooth paste. I expected him to leave but he didn’t.
"Okay, I guess the bathroom is big enough for the two of us" he stood in front of the sink next to mine and started shaving.
"You got to be kidding me" I said while looking at him.
"You know, I got here first. You should be thankful I let you in, in the first place. Or is my presence making you nervous?"
"Nervous? Don’t make me laugh." I turned again towards the mirror and started brushing my teeth. I rinsed my mouth and turned to look at him again.
"Can you at least put some shirt on? Your mother will be home soon. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea" he smiled while putting his shirt back on.
It was quiet, while I was putting on my make up and he was shaving.
"Who are you trying to impress?" he said with a smile on his face.
"I’m not trying to impress anybody" I replied.
"You got a date?"
"Why do you care?"
"I don’t. I’m just curious, that’s all" he replied. I put my mascara back in the make up bag and turned to face him.
"It’s none of your business." I said while resting one hand on my side. He turned towards me and looked at my face.
"You look nice" his voice was soft and he looked me straight in the eyes. I felt shivers going through my spine.
"What’s the matter? Am I making you nervous? Is that why you have been avoiding me the last days?" I hated it how he could read me.
"Never thought that I might be avoiding you because I find you annoying?" He smiled at my remark. It was obvious he didn’t believe a word I said. I ignored him and left to my room.

I went downstairs to find Kate in the kitchen.
"Well well, someone is going out tonight." She said while looking at me from top to toe.
"Yep. So how do I look?" raised my hands and turned around.
"Nice, very nice." She said.
"Hi mum", Sean went towards his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. It was so sweet how he always greeted his mother when she came home from work.
"I see you’re going out too." She said
"Yes, and I’m kind of hoping you could lend me your car for tonight."
"Ok, but be careful with it, okay" Kate answered. Sean nodded
"I’m a head off now" I said while grabbing my vest and purse.
"Are you by any chance going to the Basement?" Sean asked
"Yeah, why?"
"I can take you if you want".
"That’ll be a very good idea" Kate said.
"There’s no need for that, I can take a bus" I really didn’t want him to drive me there. Being alone with him was too risky.
"You two figure it out. I’m going to take a long bath, because God knows how long that has been. Have fun" She then went upstairs.
"Why don’t you want me to take you? Don’t you think it’s silly to go by bus when I’m driving there?" Sean said, while frowning his eyebrows.
"Why are you going to the Basement in the first place?" I asked
"And why wouldn’t I?" he gave me a teasing smile
"Are you going just to torture me?" I said
"I have better things to do then ‘torture’ you, Layla. Look, you want to go by bus, suit yourself" he then opened the backdoor and walked towards the car. I sighed
"Okay, I’ll go with you" I said
"You’re making it sound like your doing me a favour" he said while we got in the car.
"Just drive" I said.

It was quiet for a while. I broke the ice.
"So, no date tonight? That’s new." I said
"I don’t date. A date is when you go out with someone so that you get to know that person better, with the purpose to start a relationship."
"And what’s wrong with that?"
"There’s nothing wrong with that, I just don’t do relationships" he answered.
"And why is that?"
"What’s up with the curiosity?" he asked while looking at me.
"We have a long way to go, I’m just making conversation" I wasn’t just making conversation. I was really interested to know all those things.
"Well I prefer to have my freedom with no obligations. Besides, in a relationship sooner or later someone gets hurt, so I prefer to save myself from all the trouble and just have some fun".
"Don’t you think you’ll miss out on a lot of things?"
"You mean miss out on being in love? I hate to break it for you but love is just an illusion. You get butterfly in you stomach the first few weeks and the minute you get comfortable and the sparks are gone and you realize that you actually have to be there for the good AND the bad, the trouble starts." he had the same look in his face as when he found me looking at Tanya’s picture. At least I think it was Tanya
"So you believe in love?" he looked at me for a second and turned his gaze to the road again.
"Well let’s say I hope I’ll experience it one time"
"I got to say that I’m surprised" he said.
"And why is that?"
"I don’t know, maybe because you’re kind of a free bird. You don’t seem the kind of person who likes obligations. Besides, you don’t date."
"How do you know I don’t date?"
"When was the last time you had a date?" He was right. I haven’t been dating in a while.
"The opportunity just didn’t occur, that’s all"
"A girl like you that doesn’t get the opportunity? I don’t buy that for a second" was he complimenting my looks? I heard that a lot, but hearing it from him felt different.
"That guy you danced with the other night, the one you lied to about having a ride, he seemed interested."
"You mean Michael. Well some of us don’t jump on any cute guy they run into."
"If I jumped on any cute girl I ran into, we’ll be making out at the backseat of this car right now", he said convincingly. The thought of it made me shiver.
"Maybe, but still you couldn’t help yourself to try" I was referring to the kiss the first time at his house.
He smiled uncomfortably while watching the road. He knew what I was talking about.
"I guess I win this one" I said.
"I surrender" he looked at me and smiled.

When we arrived, there was even a bigger line than usual. Sean sighed "This will take hours".
"Follow me" I said. We walked past the line of people to the entrance.
"Hi Layla, long time no see" the bodyguard said.
"Hi Jamal" he stepped aside to let us in. I could see that Sean was surprised.
"And you brought a date. And I thought I was the only one for you." He smiled.
"Don’t worry, you’ll always be my number one" I joked.
"If he hurts you, you know where to find me" Jamal continued, while we walked towards the Techno hall.
"Guess I’ll have to watch my back" Sean said in jest. "You’re pretty much VIP here" he continued. I nodded.
We arrived at the little door of the Basement where we read ‘Boy vs. Girl’.
"I knew it" I said
"What does that mean" Sean asked.
"That’s tonight’s theme" I saw the look on his face change to a happy one.
"Okay, here’s the deal, we both go our separate ways now. As soon as you want to leave you just send me a text message." I said right before opening the door.
"Sounds good to me" Sean replied

It was again very crowdie that night. I made my way to a group of dancers, greeted them and quickly started dancing.
I started to look secretly here and there to see if Sean was in the neighbourhood. Being here with him again, was not a good idea. He was nowhere to be seen.
"Hold up, Hold up, I hope ya’ll warmed up for the battle!!" the loud voice of the DJ made everybody clear the dance floor.
"Guess ya’ll now the concept of tonight’s theme. Now let the battle begin. Woooohhh." The DJ had the crowd in his control. So, soon a girl stepped to the middle of the circle and started to do here thing while we were cheering for her.
"Seems like the hunnies are taking the lead tonight!!" the DJ said.
After a while I went to the middle and started to do my thing.
"Now, who’s man enough to take the challenge!!" Suddenly Sean appeared in the circle. He stepped towards me, and glided around me while I was standing still, raising my eyebrows. He was popping and locking and the crowd screamed at every difficult move he did. And there were a lot of them.
"C’mon Layla, let’s see what you got" The DJ said
Without holding myself in, I danced like I’ve never danced before. It was a battle I’ve never experienced in my life. It was intense, our moves, the glimpses we gave each other, the entourage, everything. I enjoyed every second of it.
"Man, this is off the hook!!! I think I’ve never seen something like this before!!" the DJ yelled.
The crowd was getting wilder and the cheering was getting louder. The DJ switched the music from time to time, just to make it more difficult for us. Someone needed to win and we have been dancing for long now and he didn’t seem to decide who’ll be the winner yet.
"C’mon Layla, knock ‘em down!!!" some of the girls screamed out. But my moves started to weaken as I started to get tired. Sean did a flip flop which made the deciding move.
"WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!" I was a bit disappointed I must say, but glad it took so long for the DJ to decide.
"NOW THAT’S A BATTLE!!! Lets give it up for them!!" the DJ said. All the dancers were cheering for us. It felt incredible.
"Now this calls for a big hug!!" the DJ said. That was tradition, after a very exciting battle the dancers had to hug each other. So we both took one step closer to each other and looked each other in the eye. He put his arms around me making his chest press against mine while I rested my hand on his back. I felt my stomach flip over. It was the first time I was so close to him. It felt awkward but still very comforting. While he held me he whispered in my ear. "Guess I win this one". We then let go of each other.

I looked myself in the mirror and sighed. I realized that my feelings for Sean started to grow and that maybe it wasn’t only a physical thing anymore. This was seriously getting out of hand. But then again, I’m seventeen and all I do is pondering. I wished for once that I could just loosen up and do whatever I feel like doing, without thinking about the consequences. I had enough of that. So I decided to go back to the dance floor and just go with the flow. Meaning, if Sean was there and we happen to dance with each other I would just let myself go for once and enjoy his presence. I looked at my mirror image and smiled.
When I made my way back to the dance floor I suddenly saw Sean against a wall kissing a girl. My smile disappeared. I felt jealous and silly at the same time. Here I was racking my brains over him while he was having a good time.
I tried to ignore what I saw, and started dancing again. After a while I felt someone grabbing my hand…

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