After a few minutes being spun around the floor by my instructor, Raul, I was less confident.
This was really hard.
I looked over at Cal and his instructor, Maria, and laughed when I saw him woodenly spinning her around.
He looked as stiff as a tin man.
Poor guy.
"At least he's trying," Raul said. "A lot of women have to come to lessons alone, because their men are afraid to look like fools."
I nodded, and looked thoughtfully at Cal. He stepped on Maria's foot and winced, but she patted his arm and kept moving.
I smiled to myself, then tried to focus on what Raul was saying.
After thirty more minutes of "training" Maria and Raul left Cal and me on the dance floor, to try and dance together.
"I'll try not to hurt you," Cal said softly. His face was red, and the sweat was causing his hair to curl up at his neck.
"I'll try not to hurt you too," I replied. "It's really hard."
Cal smiled at my words, and the pleasure on his face caused my stomach to flutter. I suddenly became aware of his hands on my hip and shoulder, skin to skin. It suddenly felt twenty degrees hotter, and when our bodies began to move together, I thought I might spontaneously combust.
I wouldn't say that we danced the Salsa well, but what we lacked in skill, we made up for in pure heat.
By the time our song ended, I saw Maria fanning herself on the sidelines. It could have just been from dancing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was from the way Cal had watched me as we danced.
I dropped my arms and averted my eyes, afraid of the emotion that was running between the two of us. I turned on my heel and walked over to the bar to grab a glass of water.
"You okay?" Cal asked, coming up behind me.
"Yeah," I responded. "I feel like I lost a few gallons in sweat though. You want one?" I asked, indicating the bottle of water in front of me.
"Please."
I watched Maria on Raul on the dance floor as we drank. They looked absolutely amazing together.
"Wow," Cal said.
"I know, right. They're spectacular."
We watched them dance for a while longer, then Cal asked if I was ready to go.
I nodded and said, "Thanks for this, Cal. I had a lot of fun."
"Me too."
When we were on the road back to my place, I turned to him and said, "You did really well. I'm proud of you for getting out there."
Cal chuckled at that.
"It didn't start out so well, but Maria has a gift. I felt pretty good by the time we danced together. I'm glad we did it."
We sat and listened to the radio for the rest of the way. There was no awkward silence, or need to fill space with idle chatter. It felt comfortable, and I knew we were both reflecting on our date.
When he pulled up to my condo, I went to get out, but he said, "I got it," and jumped out of the car.
One of the sweetest qualities in Cal was that he was an utter gentleman. I guess I'd always taken it for granted.