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Jade stood by herself, almost in the corner of the dance studio. She didn’t want to be in the corner. But when she looked at the small tables and clusters of chairs around the floor it seemed like everyone already knew one another and was engaged in conversation. She didn’t see anyone else who seemed to be looking for someone to talk to. Which was somewhat okay since she wasn’t sure what to say if she had to start a conversation anyway.
Finally, she slipped into an empty chair between two other clusters of chairs. It looked like it could be part of either group. The cluster of four chairs to her left were all full of a group that was laughing over a joke someone had just told. The two chairs to her right were still empty.
If someone comes and sits down, I’ll say hello and ask them if they’ve been dancing for long, she thought, running the words she imagined saying through her head several times.
The dance had been advertised throughout Magiford on several posters and flyers she had seen, and it happened to fall on the one evening she had off in a two-week period. She’d been excited to learn there was a dance studio in Magiford, right in the center of downtown. According to the flyer, the dances were monthly events with a cover charge for those who weren’t members of the studio. Each party was preceded by a group lesson, and the flyer explicitly stated you didn’t need a partner or prior dance experience in order to come.
Jade’s excitement about the dance had given her the confidence to knock on three of her neighbors’ doors to ask them if they wanted to accompany her. She had been hopeful that this might be her opportunity to have a conversational breakthrough and finally make some human friends in her new city. Her excitement had dimmed with each polite refusal. It seemed that everyone had other things going on that conflicted with going to the dance.
She decided to go on her own. She’d considered asking Connor because she had enjoyed her afternoon at the festival with him, but ultimately decided that dancing with a vampire was probably not in either of their best interests. Also, she wanted some human friends, and she thought Connor might be an impediment.
So, here she was and everyone around her seemed to be either with friends or on a date. She felt horribly awkward and wondered if she could slip out unnoticed. The all-night bookstore would be open, and she could always go there and claim to have “done something” with her rare night off.
Before she could argue herself into or out of the decision a voice announced, “All right everyone!” and she looked to the center of the dancefloor to see a young woman calling everyone out for the lesson.
“I’m Mandy and I’m an instructor here. We’re going to have a short lesson just to go through some basic steps and get you all comfortable, and then we’ll get the party started!”
Jade got to her feet with everyone else and made her way to the dance floor.
“Don’t be afraid if you’ve never danced before or if you don’t have a partner” Mandy said, and it seemed as if she were speaking directly to Jade since both of those things applied.
Mandy had the group split with the guys on one side and the girls on the other. Jade noticed immediately that the women outnumbered the men by at least 5 people.
Mandy must have realized it too, because she said, “We’re all going to be rotating partners so that everyone gets a chance to dance with everyone else. Don’t worry if you don’t have a partner to start out with.”
Mandy took them through some simple movements, having them all walk toward and away from one another, and then shuffle from side to side, and march in place. Jade smiled a bit as she moved. Compared to what she did in a workout these steps were exceedingly simple, but the act of physically moving made her feel looser and more at ease.
Maybe I should try and make friends while out on runs, she thought bemusedly. Maybe it’s standing still in front of someone’s apartment door that makes things feel so awkward?
Next Mandy had them all pair up and showed them a “proper dance frame.” Jade had no one across from her but put her arms in the positions shown along with the other women who didn’t have partners. They all repeated a simple step combination Mandy had given them. Then Mandy had the men rotate. Now Jade had a partner. It felt a little awkward to stand so close to a stranger, holding his left hand with her right, and resting her left arm on top of his right, but Jade told herself it wasn’t that different from sparring with someone she didn’t know. Once she’d been through a few rotations it stopped feeling quite so awkward.
By the end of the lesson Jade had danced with most of the men who took part in it. Several of them had provided their names, and most of the time she’d managed to say her name back. She was feeling like the evening might be a success after all.
The room had filled some more while the lesson was going on. Apparently, some people hadn’t wanted to attend the lesson. Presumably those were people who already knew how to dance. Jade’s chair, and all the seats around it, were now filled, but people didn’t seem to be super possessive of their seats. She noticed some of the others from the lesson join a group that was sitting and filling in around them. She watched it happen but had no clue how it happened. It looked like a natural thing, like the way a flock of birds moves together. But it was anything but natural to Jade.
Other people remained on their feet. Jade was one of them, and she hoped it looked like it was intentional on her part and not like she was lost and didn’t know where to go. With her seat taken she felt lost and like she didn’t know where to go. She had no idea why the others were standing. Some of them were chatting casually. Once again, Jade felt very out of place.
Music started and one of the instructors shouted above it, “Okay, let’s get this party started with an east coast swing!”
Jade looked around in confusion. The step they had learned in the lesson was something called a “box step” that Mandy had explained was the basic step in rumba and in waltz. Nothing had been said about east coast swing, but people were standing and pairing up all over the room.
Jade shifted back toward the edge of the room, into the shadows before she was even conscious of having moved. It was force of habit for a slayer in an unknown environment, especially a slayer alone. Jade knew this but was still annoyed with herself. This is not an inherently dangerous situation! I don’t need to hide. She forced herself to step back out to the edge of the dance floor.
She watched the couples on the floor, mentally breaking down the movements. These dances weren’t hard, from what she could tell. Just new combinations of movement, most of which were simpler than many of her fighting moves.
“Hey,” said a voice to her left.
Startled, she jerked and glanced up. It was unusual that someone could sneak up on her. The young man standing in front of her looked to be around her age, or maybe a few years younger. He had an open, friendly expression and she realized he hadn’t been sneaking at all, which was probably why she hadn’t registered his presence.
“I see you’re not dancing with anyone. Would you like to give it a try?” He grinned at her, holding out a hand.
She felt her face freeze, even as his words registered. She had no idea what to say back to him. She could feel her heart-rate spike as the silence dragged on to the point where it became obvious to him that something was wrong. She saw his smile falter, and in an act of desperation, put out her own hand.
She’d meant to touch his arm, in a sort of “please don’t go” gesture. But he took it as response to his invitation and his grin came back in full force.
He took her hand and said, “Great!” He tugged her gently toward the dance floor. She felt as if she’d been encased in plaster and was cracking herself free of the molding as she stiffly stepped to keep up with him.
“I’m kind of new at this,” he said once they got to the floor, “so go easy on me, okay?” His grin was so endearing, she couldn’t help but smile back, even though it was a shadow of her usual smile.
He continued, “I haven’t seen you at one of these parties before, so I’m guessing you’re new too?”
He gave her a chance to respond but didn’t seem bothered when she didn’t say anything. “Okay, so for this dance we change the hold they taught you at the lesson – you went to the lesson, right?”
She nodded.
“All right, change it like this.” He showed her where her hands went and talked her through the basic step. She had that down quickly since she’d been analyzing the dancers the way she would a potential fighting opponent.
They danced a few of the basic steps, first a little awkwardly, and then more smoothly as she caught the rhythm of it. She realized he had them turning in a circle as they moved, giving the dance added dimension.
Before she had a chance to sort that out, he was saying, “Hey, you’re pretty good at this. A natural, huh?” and he raised their joined hands, and she was turning underneath them. She wasn’t sure of herself, but she’d seen another couple do this move and so she held onto the basic rhythm he’d shown her with her feet. She let out a breath when she faced him again and found they were still in sync with one another.
He beamed as though they’d pulled off something fabulous. “Cool! I wasn’t sure that would work.”
She smiled tentatively back at him, and the music ended.
“Well, thanks for the dance. I’ll have to catch you later for another one.” He grinned again and disappeared among the people shifting on and off the dance floor.
Jade blinked after him. That had worked! It had actually worked! She’d come out to do something and had a real interaction with another human being. And, okay, she hadn’t actually spoken…she ran the entire encounter back through her mind…a single time. But it hadn’t seemed to matter. Dancing is amazing! I didn’t even have to talk.
With that thought, Jade’s full, natural smile bloomed across her face as she turned to make her way back to the edge of the room. A man she’d danced with during the lesson caught the full force of it and smiled in response. “Would you like to dance to whatever’s next?” he asked her, holding out his hand, just like the younger man had.
Experimenting, Jade smiled a bit more broadly and placed her hand in his. Nothing more seemed to be expected. The music started and one of the instructors yelled out, “It’s a rumba!” And they were off.
The rumba wasn’t quite as much fun as the east coast swing had been. It was a slower dance and Jade’s new partner didn’t appear to have any more experience than she did, so they did the basic box step they’d been taught during the lesson for the entire time the music played. Jade’s partner awkwardly apologized for not knowing more steps two or three times during the dance. Each time she smiled at him in response, hoping to convey reassurance, and each time he hadn’t seemed to expect anything more.
Jade was determined she was going to be polite and thank her partner at the end of this dance. She felt badly she hadn’t thanked her east coast swing partner who had been so nice to her.
She ran it through her head. Just say thank you. Deep breath and thank you. That’s all. When the music stopped, Jade took a deep breath and wheezed, “thaigh heu.” She coughed and gritted her teeth, focusing hard on what she wanted to say.
“Thank. You.” She grated out, then smiled in relief. She’d done it.
He looked a little startled and dropped her hands. “No, thank you!” he said and then speed-walked away.
She wasn’t quite sure what she’d done wrong in that interaction but was pleased overall. She hadn’t had to speak for most of the dance, and then she had managed to say something at the end. That has to count as a win, even if my partner did react strangely, right?
She sat out the next two or three dances but felt less awkward and out of place than she had before. She’d found a chair, for one thing, and the chair was neither in a corner, nor in the shadowy part of the room. She also was starting to feel like she belonged here. Or at least, like she could belong here at some future point. And that was a good feeling. She wasn’t talking with anyone, but she didn’t feel shut out of the conversations going on around her. And it was interesting to watch the dances and analyze the steps she was seeing.
She was asked to dance again by another man from the lesson. He was a better dancer than either of her previous two partners, and was a little arrogant about it, telling her what to do and what she was doing wrong and how to step differently. He was helpful and he was also annoying. Jade was relieved to find that he was so caught up in himself and what he was telling her to do that he never noticed she didn’t say a word to him throughout their dance. He thanked her perfunctorily at the end and turned away before she had a chance to say anything. She stared after him, until laughter coming from over her right shoulder had her turning in that direction.
“Don’t worry about him, honey,” said an older woman standing there. “He thinks he’s heaven’s gift to dancing. He’s like that with everyone. Is this your first time here?”
Jade nodded, mutely, and the woman said, “Oh well, I hope you’re having a good time, Ron aside. That’s who you were just dancing with. I don’t suppose he was polite enough to tell you his name. Of course, knowing him, he probably assumes you already know it. I’m Monica. I’ve been coming to these dances for a couple years now. They put one on every month, open to the public-like. Of course, they’re hoping to get more students out of the deal, but they don’t turn you away if you just show up for the mini lesson and dance party. And they’re a lot of fun.”
Monica chattered on and Jade listened with some bemusement. The information was interesting, and once again, she was relieved of the necessity of keeping up her end of the conversation. Another song ended and the instructors called out that the next dance would be a tango.
“Oh!” said Monica, “I need to find Stan.” She began looking out over the crowd, and Jade found herself looking too, although she had no idea who Stan was or what he looked like.
Monica continued, “We always dance the tango together. Such a dramatic dance! And Stan is just sublime at it.” She giggled, “so hot!”
Jade stopped looking over the dance floor to blink at Monica, who looked to be in her mid-60s with short, dyed curly hair. There was nothing wrong or unusual about her, but life had left its traces on her skin and her figure and nothing about her up until now had made Jade think she would be interested in dancing a “dramatic” dance with a “hot” partner.
As Jade was studying Monica, the missing Stan made his appearance and Jade saw he was tall and balding, with a pot belly. He grinned at Monica and held out a hand, “Madam, I believe this is our dance” he said in exaggeratedly grand tones.
Jade watched in amazement as Monica giggled again, this time tipping her chin toward one shoulder in a coquettish manner as she placed a hand into Stan’s outstretched one. She batted her eyes and said, “why thank you, kind sir” and rose to join him.
“It was nice meeting you, dear,” Monica called back as she and Stan made their way to the floor.
Jade watched them dance. They moved easily together and hit some poses that could be dramatic during accents in the music. They looked nothing like one of the instructors who was slinking gracefully around the floor with his partner, looking very dramatic indeed as they went into a deep dip right in front of Jade’s seat. Still, Jade could see that Monica and Stan were enjoying themselves as they danced. She supposed that everyone had dreams of being the elegant hero or heroine or romantic prince or princess, no matter what they looked like or did in real life. And she supposed those dreams lasted, even as the dreamers grew older. She simply hadn’t ever considered it before.
She was still sitting there when the song ended, and Stan escorted Monica back to the seat next to hers. He said he was going to fetch drinks and offered to bring both Monica and Jade something. Jade was tongue tied when he looked at her, but managed to nod when Monica suggested a bottle of water.
When he’d gone, she turned to Monica and blurted, “Are you two dating?” She felt herself flush deep red immediately after speaking. My first full sentence of the night and I go and ask for personal information. What was I thinking?
But Monica burst into laughter and said, “Oh bless you, no! Stan’s a regular tomcat, and he knows I wouldn’t stand for any of his nonsense! We just like to dance the tango together. It’s our thing.” Jade felt her eyebrows climbing higher and higher as Monica went on. She was relieved when Monica continued talking about another couple on the dance floor so that she didn’t have to say anything.
When Stan brought them each their drinks, he left again immediately, so Jade supposed what Monica had said was true enough. Humans sure are interesting, she thought as she sipped her water, half attuned to what Monica was saying and half watching the current dance. She was starting to feel tired and thought maybe she would leave after finishing her water.
She’d been keeping an eye out for the first young man she’d danced with but so far hadn’t seen him again. She could admit to herself that she was waiting to see if he did appear and ask her to dance as he’d said he would. He had been the most fun of her partners, and the only one she thought she might enjoy talking with if she could just get past her own nerves. She hoped he would find her again, but she didn’t want to wait around forever.
When Jade’s water was mostly gone, Monica got up to dance once more. This time it was a cha cha with a man named Ed, or George, or Jack. Jade had gotten mixed up between the various partners Monica had been telling her about and the actual men who were present tonight. In any case, Jade stood once Monica was gone, deciding this would be a good time to leave.
As she looked around for a trash can, she heard someone approaching her. “Hey! Hey, wait pretty girl with the red hair!” and she knew even before she turned around that it was going to be the man from earlier.
He grinned at her, “You can’t go yet! I need another dance, remember?”
She smiled shyly back and nodded. He held out a hand and she responded, putting her empty water bottle into his hand. Oh no! What did I just do? She felt herself flush a deep red.
He looked a bit nonplussed. “Ah, sure. Let me just take this,” he said, relieving her of the empty bottle and walking to a recycle bin she hadn’t noticed before.
“Sorry,” she whispered. She hadn’t intended to whisper. It’s just that a whisper was all that emerged when she tried to speak.
Somehow, over all the noise of the music and the crowd of people, he still heard her. He laughed. “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
She frowned, but before she could think of anything to say, let alone how to say it, he’d taken her hand and was tugging her to the floor.
“C’mon, it’s going to be a hustle next.” He winked. “I know, because I asked for the song.”
He caught her questioning glance and said, “It’s a K-pop song – don’t judge. It makes me feel like dancing.” She shrugged and half-smiled in response.
When the music started, he said, “Okay now, we’re going to start like we were for the swing,” and then he talked her through the basic step, which was quite simple.
Once they had a good rhythm going, he told her, “Now, you just keep doing that with your feet, no matter what crazy thing I do, okay?”
She nodded and in the next moment found herself facing him rather than next to him. Then they were circling around each other, and then she was going under their joined hands in a turn. One turn led to another, and Jade found he was right. So long as she kept her feet moving in the pattern he’d shown her, she could follow whatever he did. She didn’t realize she was grinning until he grinned back at her just as the music ended.
“Oh, that was fun!”
“Ah, you do speak!”
She felt herself flush.
“No, no, I’m sorry! I was just joking. It’s okay if you’re a little shy. You’re fun to dance with and wow – how can you not be out of breath? I’m practically gasping for air here, and you’re not even winded!”
Jade smiled and shook her head. She had no idea what to say to that. Her intensive training was not something she was going to discuss with humans even if she could find the words.
“Well, no worries, anyway” the young man continued. “I’ve got to get back to work” he jerked his head toward the other side of the dance floor, and Jade frowned in confusion.
He laughed a bit, “Oh, you never made it over to that side of the room, did you? I’m working at the drinks stand over there. Courtesy of the Queen’s Court Café. I can get away once in a while to dance, but I need to get back. Were you leaving?”
Jade nodded.
“Okay, did you drive here? I can walk you out to your car. Or to the door if you walked.” He grinned again.
Jade shook her head. It really wasn’t necessary if he needed to get back to work. It wasn’t as though she would be in danger on the streets of Magiford. Or at least, nothing he would be able to assist with if Ruin were out tonight.
He responded to her head shake, “Oh no! I’m more polite than that. C’mon. Where are your things?” He followed her to the corner she’d started in, where she’d left her jacket and then walked her to the door.
“Can you at least tell me you name?” he asked as they got closer to the door and the noise from the crowd faded somewhat.
She swallowed and took two deep, easy breaths, “Jade” she said.
“Jade,” he repeated, and smiled. “I like it. It suits you. Well, Jade, thank you for the dances. I hope to see you again sometime. My name is Landon.”
“Landon” she repeated, like a parrot.
He smiled, “That’s it. It was fun seeing someone near my age at one of these things. It’s kind of expensive for the lessons and everything, so mostly it’s older people. I don’t mind. I want to be out there cutting up the rug when I get to the age of some of these folks, too. But even still, it would be nice to have a friend here when I’m working, so I hope you come again.”
Jade’s eyes widened, but her throat froze up.
Misinterpreting her reaction, Landon shrugged, “Hey, it’s okay if you can’t come again. I just thought it might be nice. But I get it. Anyway, if you’re ever in want of coffee, stop by the Queen’s Court Café. That’s where I am most of the time.”
His grin was so easy and infectious Jade couldn’t help grinning back, which made her relax a fraction. She opened and closed her mouth once, and the words finally came, “A friend. I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.” She clamped her lips shut. Now that the words were coming, she was a little afraid of what might spill out next.
Landon just laughed, “Okay! To new friends,” and he held the door for her.
Outside, Jade hugged herself, but it wasn’t from the chill in the night air. Friends. He’d said friends. She finally had a human friend in Magiford.