12
JACK & JILL
The final dayof the swing festival includes Jack & Jill events that have the potential to pair up me and Ollie, or Eliana and Ollie, or Connor and any one of his ex-partners. From Helen’s perspective, this is poised to be a very good day.
From my perspective, it is the day when—in my dream version of this weekend—I was supposed to prove myself to Ollie, getting paired up with him in the Novice/Champion Jack & Jill and showing him everything that he’s been missing.
But I’m not excited about it anymore. There’s no guarantee of which partner I’ll get, for one thing. It could be Hugo. It could be Dion again. (Please, let it be Dion!) It could be Connor, destined to outshine me. It probably won’t be Ollie, and even if it is, I am too frustrated with him to want to prove anything to him, and I’m pretty sure that Eliana won’t see us and immediately realize how much we belong together and move back to California in shame.
I am here for my friends, at this point.
In the morning, Helen and I go get coffee and listen to other conference attendees theorizing about which couples might be the viral hits after the competition.
“If Connor gets to dance with Paula in the final Jack & Jill,” one woman suggests at a table nearby, “that is my dream pair. They always seem like the perfect couple that never was.”
“I would like to see Dion with Marianne,” another person adds, referencing a Belgian woman who’s been a hit in European festivals. “They have similar smooth styles, like they’re floating.”
Nobody is speculating about us Novices getting a turn around the floor with the big shots. The Novice/Champion event is no stakes and no drama, at least to outside observers. To my surprise, I notice Katy from Murano Accounting in the crowd when I get ready for the event; she must be here to watch Ollie. I have a brief, horrified thought that maybe his ex-wife will be here, too, but I don’t see her anywhere.
Helen and Ben find seats as they watch me and Jody lining up in front of the room, and then our announcer, a young man I recognize from the Newcomers event, announces the rules: Novice Leaders and Novice Followers will each be matched up with an equivalent number of expert Champion dancers, and we will each take turns to show our stuff in front of the entire room of observers. So, you know, no pressure at all.
I look across at the leaders to see if I can spot Ollie, but he’s nowhere near me. I do catch Jody’s eye at the end of the leaders’ line. She gives me a dryly amused smirk; too bad that she’ll be matched up with an expert follower and we have no chance to dance together.
The first novice follower gets picked—a petite, nervous young woman—and her partner is revealed to be Dion. So that hope is dashed. He is, of course, smooth and delightful, and manages to make her look good despite her visible nerves.
The first novice leader gets picked…and it is Jody. She ends up dancing with the Finnish woman named Jaana, Connor Yung’s new partner. To my delight, the two of them look incredible together. They click like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle—smooth, romantic, light on their feet. Jaana responds perfectly to every one of Jody’s signals, and Jody is finally getting the attention she deserves as a terrific new leader. I am happy for Jody’s chance to shine, but I am getting more nervous as my competition gets drawn out.
Then Ollie gets picked to dance with…another follower, a bouncy, eager young woman who seems like a recent transplant from East Coast Swing, with her crisp flourishes and little kicks. So my dream to dance with Ollie is dead. We may never dance again, I realize. As they finish their dance, Ollie shoots me a meaningful look, and I feel it again—that stupid invisible rope between our chests. Why does he have to be handsome, and act so mature and thoughtful, and then not know what he wants?
More dancers. More pairings. I manage to blow right past nervous into not caring anymore. Then I am up, and my partner ends up being…Connor, the heartbreaker. I am briefly terrified. I walk up and smile, and he gives me a half-friendly, half-smoldering look as the song begins, and he puts one hand into mine.
Oh, he’s good. I can see why women keep agreeing to be his partner, in spite of his reputation for drama. Even in a small event like this, he is ready to dance like it’s a seduction. When the music begins, I decide that the one thing I want, more than anything, is to enjoy this.
It feels like every lesson that I’ve learned comes back to me. Every move I’ve tried to master is there in my brain. There are little moments when we pause, exactly in sync, and then jump back into the dance. He starts smiling like he’s proud of me even though we’ve never met before. I remember that Connor runs his own dance studio. He probably did a really accurate assessment of my capability during our first ten seconds and made sure not to throw me any curveballs, but it works. I landevery suggestion he gives me, and he doesn’t give me anything I can’t land. Dancing with him is fantastic.
And if some tiny part of my brain is thinking,Take that, Ollie, then so much the better. The applause afterwards seems authentic, and Connor steps back to let me take my own little bow, which surprises me. In this event, he seems ready to share the limelight, like a gracious host giving the wobbly newcomer her flowers. My heart feels lighter when I finally sit down.
I am still in a state of confused delight when I hear that Connor and I have won the Novice/Champion Jack & Jill competition. We look at each other, amused, and he gestures again to give me credit. I laugh and shake my head and point back to him.
At the end, Helen runs up to give me a hug. “You were a star!”
Ben is steps behind her. “Are you kidding!” Ben puts an arm around me. “You were incredible!” He pulls me into a huge hug and spins me around twice. “You looked amazing, Laura!”
“That was entirely Connor,” I say, waving one hand.
“No,” Helen says. “A bunch of people were videotaping the whole thing. You are going to look back at yourself and be shocked.”
“Oh no, there’s video evidence?”
“Where’s Jody?” Helen asks, looking around. “I think she was taping it.”
We turn to see Jody chatting with Jaana. They are both smiling as they talk to each other, leaning in just a little bit. I make eye contact with Dion, who waves and gives a thumbs up. I wave back.
Jody approaches us after another few moments. “I got Jaana’s number.” She says it like this is a major event.
“That’s great!”
Jody looks almost giddy, and her voice sounds younger than usual. “She’s only here for like, three more days, and thenshe flies back to L.A. because she’s at Connor’s studio until September, but she may come back to New York in the fall. She’s not sure if she wants to go back to Helsinki, so I’m going to show her around. I’ll convince her to stay.”
