It Takes Two To Tango

Chapter Twenty One

Jude slips his hand into mine, as we wait, hearts drumming in our chests. I would have just pulled my hand away, still pissed off with him to a major degree, but the comfort of the gesture is too nice for me to ruin it.

The first judge gives a smile, and holds up a score of… 90. My jaw drops, I feel all shaky as it hits me. That’s insanely good! Jude squeezes my hand tightly and grins at me as the audience applaud.

The next judge raises their score: 88. This is amazing! The next one follows with another score of 90, the fourth going for 75. I try adding this all up in my mind, but I’m so excited my mental maths is even worse than usual. The last judge pauses, before holding up her score. 99.

Our score of 442 pops up on the leader board, in second place. I stare delightedly at Jude, who immediately pulls me into a tight hug.

‘I can’t believe it,’ I say, my voice muffled by his chest, and the noise around us. The warmth of his arms around me is rather disconcerting, but I try not to let that show; we all know that his ego doesn‘t need pumping up anymore.

‘I can.’ He pulls away from me slightly, looks down at me. My eyes meet his own gorgeous ones, and he smiles, his dazzling, easy smile. ‘I knew my trick would work.’

‘Your trick?’ I ask, puzzled.

‘My trick,’ he replies. ‘Pissing you off just before we went on stage. It was bound to work.’

I frown. ‘Why… what?’

‘You and I were getting along too well- you needed to hate me a bit for the dance, didn’t you? If we looked like friends, it would be much less passionate,’ Jude tells me, looking proud of himself.

‘So you were being annoying on purpose?’ I say, in disbelief.

‘Of course I was.’

‘But what about the tutu girl?’ I ask, gesturing to them, still feeling unconvinced, and, to be frank, rather annoyed with him.

‘How could I ever look at the tutu girl when you’re around, looking all smouldering and sexy?’ he demands.

I roll my eyes at him. ‘You’re silly.’

‘But a genius, you have to admit,’ he adds. ’Look, I’m sorry, it was probably a bit too far, wasn’t it?’

‘No,’ I say, reluctant to admit that he was right to do it. Being too friendly would have lead to a far less passionate dance. ’It’s fine. You’re right, but I’m still cross with you for ignoring me for the whole time.’

‘Mm, yeah, it wasn’t exactly fun for me either,’ he tells me, with an adorable grin that makes my every argument fade away into insignificance. ‘But we can be friends now, can’t we, Foxy, my girl?’

I nod. ‘Indeed we can.’

*

After going to get changed out of our things, we head back to the car, ready to go home after a long day.

I pull the seatbelt across, plugging it in, and then reach into my bag and pulling out my bottle of water, sipping it. Pulling it away from my mouth, a little water is left behind, and runs across my lips slowly. I lick it away, noticing suddenly that Jude’s eyes appear to be fixated on my lips, watching them intently.

I wave my hand in front of his seemingly vacant eyes to distract myself from the meaning of this staring. ‘You alright?’

He shakes his head. ‘Oh, yeah. Fine. Just… thinking.’

I don’t dare to ask him what about, feeling my cheeks warm a little.

Jude straps himself in, then pulls out his mobile, speed dialling Sarah’s number and putting her on loud speaker.