“I’ve never danced before,” I admitted.
“Me neither. My bride-to-be loves it though, so I had the brilliant idea to surprise her at our wedding this month. And here I am.”
“You are learning to dance for her?” I asked, confused by the notion. He was doing something to please the female in the relationship, regardless of how nervous or uncomfortable it made him. He was doing somethingfor her.
His smile became brilliant. “I can’t wait to see Lucy’s face… I’m Hassan, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
My gaze lowered to his offered hand, the sight causing my pulse to race with the possibility of touching a human. I placed my hand in his, letting him shake it. “I’m Natasha. I’m so happy to meet you.”
My words seemed to make him relax a little. “Oh. Here we go.”
I followed his gaze to the front, to find Vanessa coming out from a door there, wearing a gorgeous pink and gold dress with layers of shiny threads on her skirt that moved with each step. The outfit molded to her body effortlessly, showing her beautiful curves. The special heels some of the women wore were on her feet too. She smiled at everyone, her gaze focusing on me for a moment before returning to the front.
“Let’s take our jackets off, and place anything we don’t want during the class on the benches.”
Glancing behind me, I noticed the bench she mentioned filled with purses, sweaters, scarves, and even pants. Shrugging off my coat I placed it there, and turned around, seeing her press the button on the music player next to her.
Vibrant music filled the space within seconds. “Let’s go! You know where to start.”
Everyone before me began to move in unison. Some were more coordinated than others, but they all followed the same steps.
“Side to side, side to side,” Vanessa called in a singing voice that mimicked the melody.
I glanced at Hassan beside me, he was hitting each step with a good rhythm.
“This one is not that hard. Try it,” he encouraged, and I nodded, low-key nervous.
“One, two, move your hips. Three, four, shake those hips,” Vanessa chanted, twisting her body with each step to the front and each step to the back. Honestly, her hips seemed to have dislocated from her body with how fiercely she swung them.
She didn’t expect me to do that too, right?
Even the men contorted their bodies in a way that should not be natural, but if they could do it, surely, I could give it a try.
“One, two,” I repeated, stepping forward and middle like everyone else. “Three, four.” Back middle. “One, two… Three, four.”
After a few rounds of that, I was smiling from ear to ear, fairly confident I could do it. My hips were not dislocated from my body yet, but a least I wasn’t bumping into anyone else—that was saying something.
“Okay. Warm up over. Partner up!”
Everyone turned to the person on their right, and Hassan glanced at me. “You are a miracle today. My usual partner is sick, and I still need to make sure I don’t stomp my bride to death. Want to partner?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
Glancing at the others, I noticed them holding their partner, one of their arms stretched to keep a good distance between them. So, I held him too when he reached for me.
“Just focus on keeping the rhythm and it will get easier. One, left foot to the front, two left foot returns to the middle.”
“Three, right foot to the back, four, right foot to the middle,” I finished, and he grinned.
“Exactly.”
The man hadn’t finished sayingonewhen I bumped into him. “Sorry. I might be the one stomping you to death today.”
He chuckled.
“Again!” Vanessa called, and urgency filled me as I saw everyone else fluently dancing.
“One, two,” Hassan mouthed, pointedly making the movements and I followed. “Three, four, there you go!”
