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Harvey
Thursday afternoon was a little intense. I met them at the location, and we ran through the dance four times. I struggled the first two times, feeling uncomfortable being out in public and dancing.
Holly had pulled me aside after the second one. “Harvey, since when have you ever cared what people think of you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that you are distracted, and you keep looking around. It’s obvious that you aren’t comfortable doing this in front of others.”
“You are one hundred percent right; I am not.”
“Forget they are there. They mean nothing, Harvey. The only person who means anything is your partner. You can do this, but you need to forget about the audience and get your head on straight.”
“You’re right, Holly.” I was stuck in the fact that people were watching us practice. Had we been doing tactical things, I wouldn’t have cared because I was comfortable with it—but this was dancing. Over the last few days, I’d had a handful of people who had been present during the practices while they recorded everything. I just had to pretend that those other people here now were just like them. They were doing a job, not judging me.
Holy shit, I was going to dance in public with someone I didn’t even know! A panic I hadn’t ever felt before gripped my gut for a second. Get it together, Harv! You got this. You got this.
A few minutes later, I had things back under control, and we ran through the dance two more times. Both of them were flawless, or, well, as flawless as they were going to be with me doing them.
Now I just needed to make it through the next day and do it for real. As I left the park, I wondered if I was more nervous about messing up or having a connection with the woman and never seeing her again.
Friday morning, I woke up feeling even more anxious than the day before. As the day progressed, I began to feel downright nervous. I tried everything to keep from thinking about it, but the closer it got to noon, the twitchier I became.
I realized that I wasn’t as nervous about meeting her, as I was nervous about doing the dance and messing up. I didn’t want to embarrass myself or her, and I knew that if I screwed up during the dance, my guys would never let me live it down. Even five days later, I was still getting texts of funny memes and videos of guys dancing and making total fools of themselves. I knew it was in jest, but I couldn’t afford to add to the fire.
I wasn’t sure how they pulled it off, but Alice and Maggie were going to be there to watch from behind the scenes. I hadn’t wanted anyone there, but Alice told me last night that they would be. I wondered if maybe Maggie had used her newspaper credentials to get her a place.
At noon, I headed down to my staging area and checked in. I was brought to a small trailer and asked to wait there. I could hear people walking by outside, talking about camera angles and sound checks, and I thought I would explode out of my skin if I had to wait any longer in this closet. I was ready to start pacing, and I never paced.
Finally, the door opened, and Holly stepped in. “Hey! Are you ready for this?” She gave me a wide grin as she approached, her arms open wide.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I held her close.
“How are you feeling?”
“Strangely anxious.” I laughed slightly.
“That’s normal. Once you start dancing, that will go away.”
“Yeah, but what if I screw up?”
“Then you screw up, and you move on.”
“What if there is no connection?”
She frowned. “Harvey, I talked you into doing this because I needed a favor. I never expected you to have chemistry with her, and I never for the life of me thought that you might want to have a connection with her.”
I shrugged. “Well, you know that I never do anything halfway.”
“Yes, I know, but don’t be too disappointed if she doesn’t pick you. I’m serious about you not being her type. You’re like a wolf, and she’s a church mouse.”
I snickered at her analogy. “Don’t worry, I won’t be upset, but I guess I was thinking that it might be kind of cool to hit it off with someone while doing this. It’s not all that different than being in a bar and seeing someone from across the room.”
“No, it’s not. The only difference is you don’t talk.” She studied me. “You know if she doesn’t pick you, and you’re still interested in this whole process, I might be able to get you on again with us picking three women for you. Might be better odds for you.”
I laughed loudly. “Hey, let’s not go overboard. Let me get through today before you start trying your matchmaking skills on me, alright?”
“Alright, fine. I came in here to check on you, but also to tell you that you are going to be first today.”
