The reporter laughed, scribbled. Cameras clicked like gunfire. Nate didn’t move. He was so proud of her, so proud to standwith her.She caught the flicker of a smile tugging at his mouth, and her lips sent back an echo of it.
“Some fans are calling it the sexiest performance in the show’s entire history,” another journalist offered. “How do you two… work to maintain that connection?”
Nate glanced at Holly before lifting the back of her hand to his lips as though she was his only reason for breathing. And then his attention turned back to the reporter, almost as if he’d forgotten she was there. That shit-eating grin, familiar to NHL fans across the country, carved itself across his face.
“Practice,” he smirked.
The reporter looked shocked. Holly turned her face away from the camera as she laughed at his audacity, one hand covering her mouth. But her hand? It didn’t leave his for asecond.
The scoreboard loomed overhead, all cold numbers and judgment, while the judges perched like bored royalty. The studio thrummed with leftover tension, but Nate barely registered it anymore. Indie’s overly-bubbly voice rang out, something about sizzling Szechuan steak and their Paso, but the crowd’s buzz sank into his bones.
Holly stood tall beside him, matador jacket slung over one shoulder like she’d conquered the floor and claimed the spoils. They weren’t even touching, but the space between them crackled, alive and dangerous. Indie fucking knew it too, dragging the moment out slow and teasing, like foreplay.
Indie clutched the cue cards to her chest like she was about to announce a royal scandal. Lips pursed, eyes glittering with wicked delight, she dragged the pause out just long enough to make someone at home scream at their TV.
“America,” she purred, voice bright and merciless, “the couple leavingTake the Floortonight is…” another beat, another grin, chaos incarnate, “Austin and Annika.”
The studio detonated into gasps and applause as the blood drained from the faces of the couple. Indie swept in for hugs and air-kisses like a benevolent executioner, murmuring condolences while steering them swiftly toward the exit. They disappeared into the wings, swallowed by shadow and stagehands… just another dramatic casualty of the glitter-soaked war they’d all signed up for.
Indie’s grin was feral by the time she got back to her mark. She lifted the last cue card in her hand as if it might burst into flames if she held it any longer.
“And now it’s the moment America’s been waiting for,” she said, voice dropping just enough to make the room lean in, “based onboththe judges’ scores and the highest number of viewer votes tonight…”
She paused, basking in the collective inhale.
“The winners of the week are… Holly and Nate!”
Cheers slammed into them from every direction, Indie clapping like she’d personally manifested it. Nate’s breath hitched, eyes flying to Holly as she stared back at him, stunned and blazing and very much alive. Indie swept them into the spotlight, crowning them with the undeniable truth that they hadn’t just survived the night, they’d owned it.
Together.
@dancefloor_drama on Threads:
We regret to inform you that Holly Martinez and Nate Eriksson have committed a hate crime against the Paso Doble.
It was filthy. It was furious. It was fan-your-face levels of fkn feral. An indecent amount of eye contact. I loved it.
#pasomg #takethefloor #pasoforthepeople #nateandhollyforever
The Hollywood Reporter:
Nate and Holly Set Take The Floor Ablaze
What began as a pairing doomed for a Week One elimination has become the most compelling storyline onTake The Floor. With their emotionally charged PasoDoble, pro dancer Holly Martinez and her unlikely partner, NHL enforcer Nate Eriksson, shattered every preconceived notion about athlete-dancer chemistry. Martinez’s precision and fire met Eriksson’s brute control in a performance that crackled with tension and left viewers wondering if we were witnessing choreography or a very public…READ MORE →
Mamá
Mija… that was not the paso doble I taught you as a child your hips were doing things no hips should do unless you are married also it was the best you have ever danced mi amor tell your viking he moves like a bull with manners and if he ever stops having manners he will be answering to me I’m so proud I cried but that song was very inappropriate!!!!
Holly
LOL thanks Mamá, love you x
36
GET IN, LOSER
Nate
