Teo laughed and clapped as he watched his girl get down. Ariana, however, was physically repulsed. She had never been one for synchronized dancing. All the girls at her small Southern private school had flocked to ballet and cheerleading and jazz classes when she was young, but her one go at tap had ended in disaster. Ariana had been so afraid of missing a step at the recital, she had frozen up and not moved a muscle throughout the entire number. Her mother had been forced to carry her home in tears. Her mom had never brought up dance lessons again.
Feeling the burning humiliation of that day as if it had just happened, Ariana turned and scurried right back down the steps. Hudson
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placed his hands on her stomach, stopping her. The intimacy of the gesture was not lost on Ariana.
"Go on. It looks like fun," Hudson said in her ear.
"I can't." Ariana shook her head. "I don't know it."
"I'll do it with you," Hudson said, taking her hand. "Come on. We can mess it up together."
This guy had no idea who he was talking to. Ariana had never willingly messed up anything in her life.
"Let's go, Emma!" Briana Leigh shouted, gesturing over her head.
Suddenly an unfamiliar sense of calm came over Ariana. Right. She wasn't Ariana Osgood anymore. She was Emma Walsh. For now, at least. And maybe Emma Walsh didn't mind getting a few steps wrong.
"You know what? Fine," Ariana said. "Let's do it."
She and Hudson stepped up onto the stage, to the whoops and happy hollers of the rest of the dancers, and fell in line with Briana Leigh. Staring at Briana Leigh's feet, Ariana did her best to match the steps, but soon found herself crushing Hudson's foot, turning the wrong way, and walking right into Briana Leigh's back.
"Sorry. I'm so sorry," Ariana said, embarrassed.
"It takes a few times through before you get it," Briana Leigh told her. "Here. Watch me. It's right, right, left, left, kick, turn, stomp, stomp."
Right, right, left, left, kick, turn, stomp, stomp.
"You try it," Briana Leigh said, stepping back.
Ariana looked at Hudson and they both went for it. Hudson
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tripped over his own feet and almost fell off the stage. Ariana, however, executed the sequence perfectly.
"See!" Briana Leigh was all smiles. "You're a natural!"
Ariana found herself grinning from ear to ear. The day out had apparently put Briana Leigh in a good mood and she was being unusually nice at the exact perfect moment. The girl spent the next ten minutes making sure Ariana had all the steps down, and soon the two of them were dancing together, hamming it up like old pros and throwing in hip juts and extra kicks for fun. Hudson gave up and jumped off the stage to watch with Teo. Ariana felt his eyes on her and made sure not to look at him, keep him wanting more. But her skin grew warmer and warmer under his gaze, and she found herself loving every minute of it.
When the song finally ended, Briana Leigh cheered and threw her arms around Ariana.
"You sure you're not from the South?" she joked.
Ariana felt a sudden, unexpected twinge of guilt. She had felt so free while she was dancing that she'd once again forgotten her mission and started to enjoy her time with Briana Leigh. Ariana was starting to understand why Kaitlynn had liked her--there was something disarmingly intoxicating about her. But Briana Leigh's rhetorical question brought her right back to reality.
"Nope. Not from the South. But that was fun," she admitted.
"See? You should always listen to me," Briana Leigh said lightly. Then she turned and threw herself off the stage into Teo's waiting arms.
Ariana glanced at Hudson. He seemed willing to catch her, but she
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wasn't quite ready for stage diving and PDA yet. Instead she took the three stairs on her own and joined her friends.
"What next?" Briana Leigh asked.