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“Yeah. You can. And from that look I saw on your face earlier, I think I have to insist that you do.”
“You’re…bossy,” he said eventually, and I smiled.
“Better get used to it, babe. Because you and I are going to be friends.”
Now, Leo was less shy and introverted than he had been when I first met him, at least with me, but it was always difficult to coax him out of his shell. He was so talented, though—not only at dance but with all his computing things that I barely understood. He’d never performed in front of an audience before, only as part of a group with just our instructors watching, and the way he’d been freaking out just having Killian watch a tiny part of our rehearsal had led me to take action.
So, here we were. At my grandma’s retirement complex—where I occasionally ran impromptu casual dance lessons if I had some free time—ready to perform for a small number of residents and staff.
“Leo. You can do this,” I repeated, and eventually, he gave me a jerky nod. With a final squeeze of his hand, I glanced over at Alyssa, and she turned to the sound system, fiddling with the buttons and dials before giving me a thumbs up. From her position in front and centre of the row of chairs that had been set out for our performance, G also gave me a thumbs up. I flashed her a grin as I took my place on the small stage area, which was simply a slightly raised wooden platform at the front of the room.
When the music began, I was instantly in the zone. I usually counted steps in my head—until the point they became so natural to me that I didn’t even need to count—but today, I counted loud enough for Leo to hear, keeping him focused on the steps rather than our spectators. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the minute it clicked for him, and he tuned the audience out, losing himself in the music. His body lost its stiffness, moving effortlessly between steps, and I allowed myself a small smile as we danced our way through the routine we’d choreographed together.
And then it was over. We’d made it all the way to the end of the routine. Taking a bow to the sound of applause from our tiny audience—and a loud whooping sound from my grandma—I grinned at my friends. There had been a few fumbles, but we had plenty of time to work on our issues before our showcase. This had been our first test run in front of an audience, and we’d made it through. I pulled Alyssa and Leo into a tight hug, the three of us breathless and laughing with that euphoric relief that comes from pulling off a complicated dance routine.
“I’m so fucking proud of you both.” I pressed smacking kisses to their cheeks. “Look at how far we’ve come since the beginning of last semester.”
“We did it!” Alyssa bounced on her toes, a blonde ball of energy. “I can’t believe we did it!”
Leo shook his head in disbelief, a wide smile on his face. I didn’t push him for words, knowing that after this, he’d need to retreat, to have some downtime alone to recover from the experience. But I could tell from the look on his face that he was happy, and that was all I wanted for him.
My grandma came over, and I introduced her to my friends. Once the introductions were out of the way, Leo quickly made his excuses and left while G talked Alyssa into joining me for an impromptu dance class with the residents. It mostly consisted of teaching a simple two-step routine and shuffling around the room, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and it made me smile.
When the class was over and Alyssa had left, I pulled on a hoodie and leg warmers to counteract the cooldown chill and grabbed my phone so I could take a quick selfie with G.
“Oh, Josh, that’s a lovely photo.” G studied the picture on my screen, smiling. Her finger flicked out, swiping back through my previous photos. I groaned internally, hoping I’d deleted anything incriminating.
“Is this your dance class?” She tapped on the screen on an image of my youth centre dance students, frozen in the midst of a routine.
“Yes.” Prying my phone from her hands, I exited out of my gallery.
Then, my phone buzzed in my grip, and all thoughts of photos flew from my mind.
There was a text waiting for me.
UNKNOWN:
This is superior coffee. You should try it. Far better for you than your overly-sweetened desserts attempting to pass as coffee
Beneath the message, there was an image of an ordinary, boring coffee. No pretty swirls of cream or sprinkles in sight. I immediately knew who it was. A smile tugged at my lips as I added his name to my contacts.
ME:
It’s my only vice. Everything else I drink is healthy
My mind flew back to what had happened in his office, and without thinking it through, I hit Send on another text.
ME:
Especially when it comes directly from the source
A couple of aubergine and water emojis completed the message, and I grinned, already anticipating his reply.
KILLIAN:
I’m not even going to dignify that with a response
ME:
