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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.