You’ve got mail, rang her speakers as the bold words flashed across the screen of her silver Apple laptop. She read the message at the top of her Hotmail email account which told her she had one new email. This was nothing out of the ordinary for her. She expected to see the usual forward from a friend or cheesy advertisement from a company just trying to scam money out of innocent people. She opened the email anyway in hopes of getting a bit of a laugh out of it. But what she got was much worse and it only made her feel bad about her current situation as a common bachlorette. She viewed the screen which read:
Find True Love Fast!!
Visit www.hookmeup.com and let us search for your soul mate for you. Just enter a few details about yourself to create a simple profile which will connect you to hundreds of possible matches searching for a love like you. It’s a fast and affordable way to meet the person of your dreams. Your fantasy relationship is just a click away!
That was all she needed to start off her morning, an email reminding her of just how single she was and how impossible it was for her to find love, ever. She quickly clicked the delete button and shut down her computer. She wasn’t really in the mood to search the web anymore, for fear of running into any more advertisements lying about how easy love is to find. But it wasn’t for her. She had never been in love and her desire for it had only grown deeper the longer she had been without it. She thought by now she would be married to a wonderful man or at least in an exciting relationship with someone special. But she realized that it wasn’t going to happen for her. She had been single for too long and it seemed impossible that she was going to find love now. She had been hopeful for years that she would meet Mr. Right but just recently she had given up hope. She felt forced to live a single life without a companion at her side. Sometimes it seemed that finding the right man was the most important thing and that without one she would not be complete. But she was perfectly happy being a single woman, or at least she pretended to be.
“Hello,” she answered as she ran to answer the phone in her living room.
“Hey Abby, how’s it going hun?”
“Umm… okay. Why are you calling me so early in the morning? It’s only 8:00am and you’re usually not up for another hour at the earliest, especially since it’s a Saturday.”
“What, I can’t call my best friend on a Saturday morning to see how she is?”
“Come on Laney, I know you wouldn’t be calling me this early just to see how I am. What is it that you want?”
“Who says I want something?” laughed Laney.
“Because you would never call me this early just to talk. You either want my help, want me to give you something, or you could be up to something. Now which of the three is it?”
“God, Abby, you know me too well. Okay so I woke up early for some strange reason this morning and I just couldn’t get back to sleep. So I turned on the radio to wake me up a bit and the radio DJ was announcing some sort of contest.”
“What kind of contest?” asked Abby a little hesitant.
“I wasn’t really sure at the time because I just caught the tail end of what he was saying. All I heard was that you had to call in and be caller number seven to win the prize. Being my spur of the moment self I picked up the phone and dialed the station’s number and I surprisingly got through, and guess what, I was lucky caller number seven!” exclaimed Laney with much excitement.
“So what did you win?”
“I won the two of us a pair of passes for a free dance lesson over at that new dance studio downtown!” she screamed.
“We aren’t seriously going are we?” asked Abby with the sound of disappointment and annoyance in her voice.
“What? You love to dance and I thought you’d be at least a little bit excited. A thank you would be nice too!”
“Well that’s true. I do love to dance but dancing in a club and taking a dance lesson are two different things. Being surrounded by all those huge mirrors being forced to watch myself screw up the moves doesn’t sound that fun to me, and I’m not too partial to learning choreography either.”
“It could be fun though. It’s a salsa dancing lesson. Who knows, there could be some cute guys there. Maybe you’ll get paired up with one,” Laney said with a giggle.
“What guy would take salsa dancing lessons?”
“I don’t know, a smart one I guess. It would be a good way to pick up a girl because the class would obviously be full of them.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right but I’m still not convinced.”
“Aww come on Abby. Do it for me. Even if it’s not your thing I’m sure we’ll get some good laughs out of it later. Plus I know you don’t have any plans for tonight.”
She was right. Abby didn’t have any plans for tonight and she could use sometime away from her small apartment. So she decided to give her best friend the benefit of the doubt and take a risk, which was not something she did very often.
“Oh okay. But can we go out for a drink after because I think I’m going to need it after all the dancing. In fact maybe we should make it two drinks,” laughed Abby.
“Sounds like a plan and for agreeing to do this the drinks are on me hun.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said as the two laughed hysterically.
“Okay, I’ll call you later Lane. Bye bye.”
“Bye.”
As Abby hung of the phone she felt the feeling of regret begin to simmer in her emotions. Why did she agree to go to the dance lesson? She knew she was a pretty good dancer but only when it came to casual dancing with her friends or the occasional guy at a club. There was no way she was going to succeed at the salsa. She had two left feet when it came to any kind of choreography and she certainly did not want to be paired up with some strange and potentially creepy guy for such an intimate dance. But she couldn’t back down now. She had promised her best friend and she was not one to go back on her word. Her morals were too strong for that. She believed the greatest attribute anyone could have were their good morals. She treasured hers and never thought she would give them up for anything, or anyone.
She got up off her lazy boy chair and headed for her bedroom down the hall to get dressed and ready for her morning run on the beach. This was her favourite part of the day as she felt free and that she could rid herself from her stress, at least for an hour that is.

The beach was vacant and she loved it. It allowed her all the space she needed to be free to do whatever she wanted, even though she just planned on running. As she pressed the button to change songs on her MP3 player a smile came to her face as the music filled her ears.

Lately I’m alright
And lately I’m not scared
I’ve figured out,
That what you do to me feels like
I’m floating on air.

The upbeat sound of Mae’s Suspension only pushed her to run harder. She adored the soft sounds of their lighter melodies but the harmony of some of their faster hits motivated her to reach her last limit. As she took off sprinting as hard as she could,her surroundings transformed into a blur. No longer was she fixated on the clear waves crashing onto the shore, but she found herself focusing on the sand beneath her blue and white Nike runners. The tan coloured grains squished into the crevices of her wore out shoes. She focused on the line which separated the hot, dry sand from the newly moistened mud caused by the water splashing on top of it. Her feet were getting soaked and seemed to weigh her down the wetter they got. But she didn’t care. She was in too much of a daze and on too much of a role to stop now. Once she began running she hated to take breaks unless it was absolutely necessary. Her morning jog was the only time she felt could be in her own little world and clear her head of anything that was bothering her for the time being. Once she zoned into a peaceful frame of mind, she was not to come out until her run was over. Only then did she allow herself the time to take in the naturally dazzling scenery surrounding her. As the music changed from one Mae song to the next she found herself beginning to fall deeper and deeper into a trance, just trying to clear her head and let the outside world slip away. It seemed to be working as her body felt the relaxation it craved from the endurance she was experiencing. The endorphins were flowing like sparkling wine on a romantic evening and her problems just seemed to melt away with the beat of the music blasting into her delicate ears. As she neared the end of the beach she closed her eyes. This seemed safe as it was unoccupied and she needed just a moment to finalize her complete bliss. She knew the direction well and she turned the corner with her eyes still closed. With her body in the highest possible state of relaxation she slowly began to pull herself out her daze with her eyelids still tightly held together, only moments later to find her self being violently thrown onto the sand after crashing into a complete stranger.

Her eyes opened face down on the beach staring directly at a pool of blood which stained the sand. She could taste it trailing down from her nose onto her lips. She tried to pick herself up but collapsed from the searing pain jolting through her head, and then she felt it. Two hands grabbing her arms and lifting her up off the ground.
“Oh my god, are you okay?”
As she wiped off her eyes holding one hand over her nose, she put the man into focus. Lifting her head to look at him, she found herself surprisingly struck by his mesmerizing features. His light blond hair wisped in front of his forehead from the light breeze. He was tall and sported a pair of khaki coloured shorts and a bright red t-shirt. His tattoos were still visible as they peaked out from underneath the short sleeves. And his eyes, oh those eyes, how they sparkled in the sunlight which captured the perfect shade of aqua blue. Suddenly, with much embarrassment, Abby realized that she had been staring at him totally disregarding his concern for her.
“Oh yeah, yeah I’m alright, I think,” she said hesitantly as she began to feel herself become slightly dizzy.
“Well you’ve got yourself one heck of a bleeding nose there,” he said with a laugh.
“Oh my god, would you excuse me a second? I’m going to go clean myself up.”
“Sure, no problem, ummm, what’s your name?” he asked eagerly.
“Abby, Abby Kellerman.”
“Nice to meet you Abby, I’m Nick Carter,” he said as he put out his hand to shake hers. She reached out to take his hand. He shook it with just the right amount of care. He too found himself lost in her hazel eyes as she gazed at him and smiled with a sense a flirtation. He let go and watched her walk away, stumbling down to the edge of the water. As he looked at her struggling to clean herself off he concentrated on how beautiful she was. Her long dark blonde hair was being swept away with the warm breeze, her black spandex shorts and yellow t-shirt hugged her curves in all the right places, and her glowing light coloured skin stood out against the sun’s rays. Even with a face covered in blood she was alluring to him and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He watched her splash the water onto her delicate skin and then suddenly noticed her fall over and into the water. She wasn’t moving. In an instant the butterflies in his stomach turned from delight into shear worry. He sprinted as fast as he could down to where she lay and frantically pulled her out of the water, recognizing that she had fallen unconscious. Nick moved her onto the dry sand and put his ear to her mouth the see if she was breathing. She was breathing, thank god. But he still didn’t know what to do. He began to panic as he had never been in a situation like this before. Then he heard a slight moan and she slowly opened once again.
“What happened,” she sighed.
“You collapsed trying to wash the blood off of your face. I guess that hit you took was harder then you thought,” he chuckled, again lifting her up.
“Oh yeah, what happened then anyway?” she asked a little angry.
“Well I was just sitting on the beach reading when all of a sudden you turned the corner and crashed right into me. You knocked me right over and you flipped yourself into the air landing face down. Didn’t you see me sitting there?” Nick asked a little annoyed.
“Umm actually I had my eyes closed. I know this beach backwards and forwards and it seemed safe to close my eyes because there is usually nobody here this early. What were you doing here so early in the morning?”
“Actually I just moved into town and I thought it would be a nice place to find some peace in the morning you know? I moved in with my buddy and he snores so loud that it forces me to get up early so I thought why not get out and find some comfort?”
“Yeah that makes sense. I was trying to find a little peace too. That’s why I had my eyes closed. It allows me to shutdown the outside world and to forget about all my problems, while running off some of my stress. I guess I owe you a thank you.” She hated to admit it but she was gracious for his concern for her well being.
“No problem, but next time you decide to run into me lets make it over some coffee or something,” he cautiously implied.
She stood there not knowing what to say. Had she actually just been asked out? She could feel her guarded feelings begin to take over as she responded,
“I don’t think so. Thank you very much for your concern but it’s just not the right time for me.” And that was it. He didn’t try to stop her or catch up to her after she walked away. I guess he could sense her shyness and he didn’t want to seem intimidating. What had she just done? Why was it that every time she had a chance at getting to know someone she turned it down? All she ever wanted was to find love and every opportunity she was handed she turned it down. As she quickly walked away she turned her head around to get a last look at the man who had quite possibly saved her life and then regret started to kick in.

Stepping out of the shower Abby reached for the soft towel hanging from the rack. She wrapped it around her hair and grabbed another one to wrap around her dripping body. She felt refreshed and definitely cleaned off after her bleeding nose incident. She left the steaming bathroom and entered her room to get dried off and into some comfy clothes. She decided to spend the rest of the afternoon getting some much needed rest and relaxation before her big dancing debut that evening. She took two Advil when she had gotten home so her headache had disappeared but she was still a little unstable and she didn’t want to disappoint Laney by backing out at the last minute. After drying herself off, she slipped into a pair of grey jogging pants and her favourite forest green t-shirt. She crawled into her queen size bed covered in pillows and wrapped herself in her giant white duvet. Opening the drawer to her wood end table, she rummaged around attempting to find something buried deep beneath in contents. When she finally found it, she pulled it out revealing an old friend. She grabbed a pencil from on top of the table and began writing

Dear Diary,
It’s been about two months since I have last written in you. I don’t know why I have neglected you for so long, but I guess I have a habit of neglecting things don’t I? I am just so confused right now and I don’t know what to do. You of all people know me best and just how much I desire love. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of finding. How many endless nights did I used to spend writing to you about all my hopes for the perfect marriage or my dream of finding my soul mate? Too many I suppose, but what was I supposed to do to fill my nights spent alone. All I had were my dreams. But those are gone now. I have given up all hope of ever finding love in this world. Now, I know that sounds very pessimistic but unfortunately that is all I know. I have been telling myself for months now that love is not going to be a part of my life so I better learn to accept it. I’ve been having a very hard time because I don’t want to accept it. But love is just not a reality for me. I’ve been turning down every date I am offered and I don’t know why. If I want love so bad then why do I refuse every guy that can possibly give it to me? I met the sweetest guy on the beach today who basically saved my life and when he offer’s to take me out for coffee, what do I do? I say no and walk away. Why the hell do I do this? I think I must be cursed or something. I could see that he was totally interested in me and for some strange reason I turned him away. This guy, Nick, could have been the love of my life and I didn’t even give him a chance. I’ll probably never see him again either. I’m so confused. Maybe I’m not ready for love. Maybe I shouldn’t give up on it and continue to search for it. No, I can’t do that. That is exactly the train of thought that has led me to this problem in the first place. Why couldn’t I have been offered dates before I gave up. It seemed that nobody was remotely interested when I was hopeful. I would have said yes to anyone in an instant. Ever since I have given up my hope, I have had many offers, but I didn’t take them. Maybe I didn’t want to get hurt, but not having love has hurt me even more. I don’t know what to do about this. These contrasting emotions are going to drive me crazy, not that they haven’t already. I’m just getting to the point now it seems that I have nowhere to go and nothing to live for. I need someone, anyone to rescue me before I do something I’ll regret.

She stopped writing as the tears began to flow heavily from her hazel eyes. She had washed all her makeup off so she didn’t have to worry about it smudging, not that she’d really be concerned with her looks at this moment. All she could think about was her life and how sad it really was. She was reaching her breaking point. On the verge of a complete breakdown she closed her eyes and continued to sob, slowly drifting into a light sleep.

“Aww do I have to come with you Taylor?” whined Nick as the two of them stepped out the rusty black jeep and onto the busy sidewalk in front of the old brick building in front of them.
“Yes you do Nick. Remember, you promised earlier that you would and you are not gonna back done now man.”
“Yeah I know I promised you but that was before I actually thought that you were gonna make me do this. I don’t wanna do this.”
“Come on man, its not gonna be so bad. Well actually it might be but who cares. We’ll be outta here in an hour and then we can hit the beach or something.”
“Yeah I don’t know about that Tay, I had enough of the beach already today,” Nick revealed a little hesitant as he knew he would have to confess all the details to his best friend after giving a little bit of a teaser.
“What! You love the beach. Why don’t you wanna go there?” asked a very surprised Taylor.
“God man, do you have to know everything? You’re starting to get on my nerves!”
“Come on, you know you wanna tell me. Was it a girl? It was a girl wasn’t it.” He gazed upon his friend’s shy expression and could see Nick’s face start to blush uncontrollably as he tried to turn the other way. “I knew it! So what happened?” he asked eagerly awaiting the juicy details.
“Umm well it wasn’t what you think it was and I know how your sick mind works,” he chuckled. “Actually I kind of saved her life, I think.”
“What? Was she drowning?”
“Not exactly. See she was running down the beach and she ran into me and passed out because of the hard impact. She ended up with a bleeding nose so I helped her up and she went to wash herself off in the water and then she just collapsed again, face down into the waves. I had to pull her out and wake her up again. It was kind of scary you know?” Nick was getting himself worked up into aggravation just thinking about it.
“Whoa man it’s okay,” said Taylor as he brought his friend out of his daze and back to the current situation. “So what did she look like?”
“She was gorgeous man. Long blonde hair and big bright hazel eyes. Not to mention a body to die for,” he sighed.
“Wow that’s deep man. You were basically like her knight in shining armor,” Taylor laughed.
“I would hardly call a bleeding nose and a near run in with death a fairy tale buddy,” he argued, picturing their encounter in his mind.
“Very true, but she sounds awesome. So are you guys gonna see each other again?
“Ummm, not exactly. We introduced ourselves and then I offered to take her out for some coffee but she just sort of took off.” The disappointment was welling up in Nick’s throat.
“And you didn’t go after her because…?”
“I dunno man, she just seemed so guarded and I didn’t want to make a bad impression as some demanding guy in case we ever do run into each other again, you know?”
“Yeah I guess so. Come on Nick, lets go get this lesson over with before I start to back out too,” urged Taylor as the two friends opened the door to Fort Lauderdale Downtown Dance Studio and headed up the stairs to the studio upstairs.

The streets were still busy. The vehicles traveling down the road were crammed together and very close to the edges of the sidewalk. As Abby pulled around the corner she noticed on parking spot left close to the curb as she inched her way very cautiously into the space. Laney stepped out of the car with Abby following her, slamming the door behind her.
“Abby you don’t have to come anymore if you don’t want to”
“No, I have to come because if I don’t then I’ll have to listen to you bitch for not coming even though you told me not to come. You’ll end up regretting letting me go home and I’m not really in the mood to listen to your complaints okay?” She eyed her best friend up and down as she noticed a look of total confusion and shock on her face.
“God Abby, I’m sorry. You don’t have to give me the death stare. I just thought that maybe you weren’t feeling to well after that nasty fall you took today. I was just trying to look out for you. That’s what friends do remember?” Abby could see that she had hurt Laney’s feelings and she regretted ever being so harsh to her.
“Oh I’m so sorry hun. I don’t know what came over me just then. It’s not your fault. I’m just in kind of a bad mood because of that incident today. But I’m feeling 100% better physically. I guess that nap I took earlier really paid off. You understand right? I didn’t mean to snap at you.” She was painfully sorry and hoped her best friend would forgive her rudeness.
“Yeah you’re forgiven,” she accepted as they embraced each other in a tight hug. “Now tell me again about this guy you met!” she giggled.
“God, not again!”
“Yes again. You barely gave me any details. I wanna know everything about him. What did he look like?” She could plainly see how much her teasing would risk putting Abby into a bad mood again but she was the curious one, always getting into other people’s business when she shouldn’t be. She was the one to go looking for if you needed a fix in the latest gossip. She was the dangerous one, a risk taker, something completely opposite to her best friend. But Abby loved her for it. She admired her courage and secretly hoped that one day she might be half as brave as this woman to pursue her dreams and passions.
“Okay fine,” she said a little annoyed. “He had blonde hair, kinda wispy cut just the right length. It brushed onto his forehead a bit and swept in front of his eyes. He had the bluest eyes I have ever seen and the most unique colour. When the sun hit them just right they could be considered green. He was tall and had a great body, not rock solid but just enough muscle.” Abby found herself surprisingly getting lost in the thought of Nick standing before her on that beach and she could easily see herself getting pulled into a day dream.
“Wow Ab, for someone who says they are not interested in this guy as you told me, you sure can recall his features like the back of your own hand. You sure there isn’t anything going on between you two. I mean, you did say he asked you out. How come you didn’t agree? It seems to me that you might have a thing for him from the way you described him.”
“What? That’s crazy!” She tried to hide the lie behind her reply. She seemed to have gotten better at it over the years. She could usually fool Laney now into believing what she said and she could see she was doing it now by the reassured look in her friend’s face. “Just so you know, I didn’t agree to go out with him because it’s not the right time for me. I feel kind of troubled right now and I don’t want to get involved with someone for a while,” she said almost fighting back tears as she knew just how much she did want a boyfriend but also because she knew that it was impossible for her to able to get close to anyone.
“Okay Abby, I believe you hun. I know how you’ve been through a lot of rough times and I understand why it would be hard for you to get involved with anyone. I just worry about you sometimes, you know?” Laney was also fighting back tears too thinking about the horror her best friend had encountered years before. It has scared her and it was something that was next to impossible to recover from.
“I know you do and I appreciate the concern. I really do, and I would be more screwed up if I didn’t have you, you know that right?”
“Of course. I would never leave you and I am always here for you no matter what. That is something you can count on for life.” The two friends found themselves hugging once again but this time letting go of the tears that had welled up the past few minutes.
“Okay, now that we got that out of our systems, why don’t you say we get this show on the road eh?” Laney laughed.
“Sure, why not. The sooner the we get outta here the sooner I can have those drinks you owe me!”
“Aww I was hoping that crash you took might have made you forget about the drinks part,” teased Laney. Abby proceeded to playfully punch Laney on the shoulder as the two of them headed into the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Dance Studio.

The hollow stairwell in the dance studio was silent, except for one noise. A noise that seemed all to familiar to Abby. As she slowly treaded up the white cement stair case she stopped dead in her tracks. Oh no, it couldn’t be, she thought to herself in a panic. Her heart jumped and she began to sweat a little but not because of the steep stairs she had been forced to climb. She recognized the sound coming from inside the studio only steps away. The door was closed so she couldn’t see inside, but that didn’t matter. She knew all to well who was beyond the door by the sound of his laughter booming from the other side. She couldn’t move. Her hands began to shake and her eyes were fixated on the door marked “Welcome.” The uncontrollable butterflies in her stomach were making her feel like she had to puke. She wanted to turn around and run straight out the door and forget everything.
“God, Abby what’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. Why aren’t you moving?” Laney’s voice was shaky with concern as she knew her friend had spells like this sometimes. They were caused by the abuse and she couldn’t stop them from coming. She hated to see her dearest friend in an unstable mental state but she could not do anything about it. Abby snapped out of her daze only to respond sharply to Laney.
“What?” she gasped as she quickly flung her head around to look at her best friend.
“I said are you all right? Are you having another one of your spells?”
“Oh no, not at all,” she fluttered. She could still hear the laughter which distracted her from Laney’s concern. Laney could see that Abby was becoming more and more stressed and did not know what to do.
“Abby, are you listening to me? Look at me!” she demanded, grabbing her friend by the arm forcing her to turn around and focus on what she was saying.
“What!” she shouted.
“Have you heard anything I’ve just said? I’m concerned for you. You just stopped suddenly and we’ve been standing on these stairs for a few minutes now with you starring off into space. That really scares me because I know that you have your bad spells sometimes. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need to sit down or anything?” she choked out, holding back tears. She had let go of her strong grip on Abby’s arm and was now stroking it tenderly.
“Don’t worry I’m not having a spell. I just heard something that made me a little hesitant but I’m alright now,” she lied, trying to conceal her fear.
“Well what was it?”
“Umm…,” her voice trailed off as she quickly tried to come up with a good excuse. “I just thought I heard someone’s voice I knew.” She knew that it wasn’t a good lie but it was the best she could think of at the moment.
“Well who on earth would cause you to stop dead in your tracks and star at the door with horror?”
“Umm...,” she couldn’t think of anyone. Then she found herself blaring out the one name, and person, who she feared most. “I thought I heard Troy talking.” Oh God, where did that come from? Why did I think of him at a moment like this? Laney now displayed the same look of fear as Abby had seconds before.
“Oh my god, really?” said asked. She obviously hadn’t heard the laughter coming from the room before them. She couldn’t hear it now either because it had stopped.
“I don’t know. I thought I heard him talking. I was probably just imagining it you know? It just scared me a little because he is the last person I want to run into.” Abby felt even more fearful now because she was thinking about this horrible man from her past. She knew it wasn’t him she heard behind the door but it still scared her to death to recall his memory. He wasn’t in the studio but someone else was who she also did not want to face.
“Yeah, you would not want to run into him if your life depended on it. God hun, you scared me. I thought you were having one of your spells and I hate when that happens because I feel so helpless. I can’t do anything to pull you out of it. I hate having to see you go through that.” Tears were flowing from her eyes smugging her black eyeliner a little.
“You know I hate having to put you through them too. I’m sorry for scaring you,” she said as she reached out to grab Laney’s hand. “Do you realize this is the second time today we’ve had a crying moment in a public place,” she chuckled.
“We are such saps aren’t we?” she laughed back, feeling her heart ease once again.
“Yeah I guess we are.”
“Well we better get going before they start the lesson with out us. We can’t spend all evening on these steps can we?” Laney joked.
“Nope I guess not,” she fibbed, wishing with all her might that she could just turn around and walk out of the same door from which they had entered, never having to face what she knew would happen as soon as she walked into that dance studio. Her heart began to race once more as Laney walked in front of her. Oh god, only a few more steps of freedom, she thought. As Laney turned the brass doorknob, Abby swallowed a huge lump that had been building up in her throat. She felt it being painfully stretched. What am I doing here? I can’t face this. I can’t do this, she thought. It felt like a bad dream, a nightmare, and all she wanted to do was wakeup and find herself in the comfort of her own apartment away from the disaster that awaited her. But it wasn’t a dream and she suddenly found herself taking her first step into the bright studio, unaware that after this moment her life would never be the same again.

The door opened and there he was, just as Abby had suspected. She knew it was him, even though they had just met and it would be next to impossible to recognize someone from their laugh. They had met for a few minutes that day and yet somehow she was able to sense his presence, but why? She supposedly did not care about ever seeing him again, but deep down she knew that it wasn’t true. She felt a connection with him. A strange and terrifying, yet wonderful, connection that she knew had sparked the minute she gazed into his almost translucent blue eyes. She wanted to get to know him better, but couldn’t. She was full of fear and it overruled her lust for him. She knew a connection like this, one she had never experienced before, must be special. It had to be right, but for Abby, taking action felt wrong. Naturally two people, who experience this sort of connection, would take it to the next level, like a date to see where it might lead. She knew he felt the same way from the way he spoke and looked at her. It was impossible for him to hide his interest in her. She crushed his hope though. She denied him with a great sorrow because she wanted him. She wanted to see where things might lead. She knew exactly where it could lead, the one thing she desired. She would give anything if only to experience love with someone. She, unfortunately, was timid of the unfamiliar. The pain of her past haunted her and it was hopeless to expect a time where she would be free from the burden of recalling the horror.
He was facing the other way, his back turned to her, so he did not see her come in. He was wearing the same t-shirt from before only black this time and the exact same pair of khaki shorts with runners. His hair was still wind blown and intertwined every way imaginable. She found herself once again examining his tattoos on his arms and legs, overlapping his sun kissed skin. He was irresistible, even better looking then she remembered. Her heart was racing like mad. She was incredibly nervous because she knew it was impossible to avoid him. Her confusion about her own feelings raised a level. She wanted to avoid seeing him to not make it harder on herself, but she also wanted to see him, to talk to him, to hear him speak to her. She wanted to be the tease, but she couldn’t act upon it. She decided the best thing to do was make her way over to the wooden bench by the window in the wall opposite to where he was standing. At least she might be able to buy some time before he would notice her. But she knew that time would be short lived. Abby didn’t tell Laney that Nick was there. It would be too uncomfortable because she knew her best friend would encourage her to strike up a conversation with him. That was the last thing she wanted right now. She was uncomfortable as it was, she didn’t need to make things worse. The two friends quickly walked over to the bench in silence. Abby was glad because she was afraid Nick might recognize her voice. Abby never took her eyes off Nick as they sat down and waited for the class to start. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet and so there was still time for Abby and Nick converse. She watched as he joked around with his friend, never turning his back to see what was behind him. Abby had suddenly noticed his friend recognize that she was staring at Nick and her heart jumped. He seemed to be looking at Abby while telling Nick something in secret. He brought his face closer and was slightly whispering something in Nick’s ear. Abby was soon to tear her eyes off of Nick and onto the ground as she realized he was turning around. She began to shake as she knew avoiding him would be impossible now. Laney remained clueless as she was fixated on a cute Latin guy who was stretching on the far corner of the room. Abby felt her heart jump into her throat and her hands began to perspire as she fidgeted with them, quickly rocking back and forth. He was coming closer and closer, slowly inching his was over the say hello. She finally looked up to see the two men standing before her.
“Hi Abby. Fancy Meeting you here,” Nick chuckled. He was sluggishly eyeing her up and down, googling over her feminine figure.
“Yeah, I never though I would run into you at a dance class,” Abby cracked, as she cleared her throat. “What are you doing here?”
“Umm..well.” Nick eyeballed the ground showing embarrassment.
“Oh come on Carter, spit it out. Sorry, my friend here forgot to introduce me. I’m Taylor McGill,” he said holing out his hand for a handshake.
“Nice to meet you Taylor. I’m Laney White.” She reciprocated reaching for Taylor’s hand. “This is Abby Kellerman.”
“Hi Taylor,” she said, shaking his hand as well. “Lane, this is Nick Carter, the guy I met on the beach today,” she said a little timidly, once again finding herself gazing at the ground.
“Oh, hi Nick. It’s very nice to meet you,” Laney exclaimed flirtatiously, winking at Abby. Abby felt even more embarrassed. She could see Nick had caught the wink and was probably wondering just how much her friend already knew about him. What had she told her from their afternoon’s event?
“So Nick, you didn’t answer the question. Just what are you doing here? Why are you taking Salsa dance lessons?” she asked a little annoyed. He hesitated and finally answered.
“My friend Taylor here is getting married and his lovely fiancé couldn’t make it to their dance lesson.” His sarcasm was evident and Taylor displayed a playful look on his face as he listened to Nick tell his story. “She still forced him to come because the lesson was already paid for and naturally he dragged me along because he didn’t want to go alone.” Taylor tried to hide his giggles as he heard just how pathetic this actually was.
“Wow, what a good friend you are,” joked Laney. “We’re kind of in the same situation. I won tickets for this lesson today on the radio and I dragged my best friend along too. But I’m sure you didn’t whine as much as she did,” laughed Laney tugging on Abby’s arm. Abby just rolled her eyes and went along with the joke. She didn’t want to be the party pooper.
“Well I don’t know about that one. Nick can get pretty annoying at times.” Taylor gave Nick a friendly slap on the back as he could see his friend rolling his eyes as well. Just as it seemed to be the perfect timing to break the awkwardness for Nick and Abby, the dance instructor burst through the door. He was a radiant, obviously gay man. He was tall and extremely skinny. He strutted across the floor with all eyes on him in his florescent green spandex shorts, tie dyed tight t-shirt and the black sweatband stretching across his forehead. He had a dark tan and his curly black locks bounced every which way. The room quickly became silent as he motioned for the class the spread out across the floor in a line. Naturally Abby was in between Nick and Laney and Taylor stood beside Nick.
“Hello class. I am Richardo, your fabulous dance teacher,” she said in an exotic Mexican accent with a gay flare. “Who’s ready to dance?” he shouted with enthusiasm. The class seemed to be quite enthusiastic as most of it was made up of middle aged couples. Nick, Abby, Laney, and Taylor seemed to be the only apprehensive youngsters. Richardo seemed to sense that and glided over to them.
“Ah, young love I see. How nice,” he sighed, brushing Abby’s shoulder with his finger.
“Oh no, it’s not like that,” she quickly responded.
“Oh, shy I see. Well I know how to fix that. You two will be paired up for sure,” he exclaimed with much delight. “Everyone find a partner,” he shouted grabbing Abby and Nick by their hands and placing them together. “You two will be just marvelous,” he whispered to them. Abby was quick to let go of Nick but he was just as quick to put his arm around her shoulder. She nudged him away feeling apprehensive.
“Aww come on Abby, it’s just dancing and like Richardo says we’ll be just marvelous!” he laughed imitating Richardo’s thick accent. Abby felt unsure but as her eyes made contact with his baby blue’s she couldn’t resist any longer. His puppy dog look broke her down and she decided to take the leap. After all, he said it was just dancing. They walked a couple feet until they found a comfortable spot only to see Laney and Taylor doing the same thing with each other.
“Okay class, now I’m going to see what you have first. I’m going to put on some flashy salsa music and I just want you to get a feel for it. So just do your best and free dance. After all, the most important rule is to have fun right?” He girlishly jogged over the stereo in the corner of the room and pressed play. Abby recognized the song as she loved it. Michael Buble’s “Save the Last Dance for Me” began to blare on the speaker and she felt her worries starting to melt away. She could feel Nick putting his arms around her and for once she didn’t care. She suddenly felt a serge of endorphins and a playful feeling was replacing her anxiety. She wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck and let him sway her to the music. At first they danced slowly, getting a feel for the music, but then the pace picked up. Surprisingly Nick was already a great dancer and he showed it in his superb moves. Abby was surprised at how much fun she was having. She loved having Nick swing her around to the beat. She felt carefree and they seemed to be the best couple in the class, or so she though. He knew just the right way to move to the music and he guided her to feel the same. They were all over each other as the fast flare of music sounded throughout the room. Nick wanted to do something to really catch her attention so he lifted her up into the air to spin her around. As her feet left the ground she found herself no longer comfortable in Nick’s arms. Her surroundings warped from the dance studio into her childhood room. The music transformed from an up beat melody into the terrifying shrieks of her own voice, and Nick’s warm embrace turned into a deadly grip from a beastly man almost three times her size.