It Takes Two To Tango

Chapter Twenty Five

The realisation that I’ve fallen for Jude doesn’t make any more sense when I wake up the next morning. I was hoping it might sort it self into some sort of semblance of a concept I could consider properly overnight, but it still seems as daunting as it did when I realised it properly.

Part of me feels as if I want to skip around everywhere, all happy and romantical like, but part of me feels as if all the air is being squished out of me. Jude and I can never be. I know that well enough. So why do I keep finding my mind wandering from dating, to marriage, to babies, to grandchildren, all involving him there, smiling that adorably gorgeous grin at me, watching me.

Yeah, so, I’m quite smitten.

Jude is ready and waiting for me when I arrive for our coaching session with Alex and Roo and as he sees me his face lights up with a smile, and he pulls me into a hug.

‘Are you okay?’ he asks, pulling away from me to look into my eyes. I’m still too dazed from the warmth of his arms around me to form sentences, so go for a nod instead.

‘Good,’ he says. ‘I was worried about you.’

Bless him. The idea of him being worried about me makes me feel like throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him.

But I don’t. Of course.

Scrap that. I do.

I move forward, closer to him, wanting to capture his lips with mine, wanting to taste him, wanting to…

‘Hello!’ Roo says, waving excitedly at us from the other side of the room, Alex clasping her other hand. Thank goodness. I think I actually might have kissed him had they not interrupted.

‘Hello!’ I reply, turning quickly away from Jude and waving back at them, going straight into the studio.

When I glance back, Jude has quite a surprised expression on his face, and I bite my lip, hoping he didn’t read what I was thinking. That would be a horrendous embarrassment.

Roo and Alex begin dancing their piece for us, both really getting into it and executing each move perfectly. We start helping them choreograph an ending, Jude pulling me to him to demonstrate a lift he has in mind.

Roo applauds as he thrusts me into the air, my arms flung out to keep balance.

‘Aren’t they good?’ she says to Alex, who nods his curly head.

As Jude lets me slide back down, I end up slipping slowly until my arms are locked around his neck, his arms around me to make sure I don’t fall pressing my body to his. You can almost hear the sizzling in the air.

He looks into my eyes and for a moment, I want him to kiss me more than I want anything else, I want that strange expression in his eyes- could it be passion?- to be directed at me entirely.

But then I remember we have guests, and I turn around, his arms dropping to let me free. Roo raises an eyebrow at me, turning to look at Alex with a knowing smile. He beams back at her, adorably.

‘So, uh, you want to try that move?’ I ask, trying to break up the silence that has fallen.

Roo nods enthusiastically. ‘You daredevil,’ Alex tells her, looking rather worried about having to balance her in the air.

We split up to show both of them what to do, and as I teach Alex how to do it, he suddenly pauses and turns to look at me.

‘So, what’s going on with Jude and you, then?’ he asks, with a rather mischievous smile.

‘Nothing!’ I say, far too quickly, and Alex’s smile widens at that.

‘Nothing?’

‘Well, not much, anyway,’ I answer, and glancing over to where Roo and Jude are, I notice Roo seems to be listening to something he’s saying very intently, nodding her head and smiling. Probably dance instructions, I tell myself.

‘You two sure do have a lot of chemistry, though, don’t you?’ Alex adds, and I wonder just how much these two have picked up on.

‘Yes,’ I say, shortly. ‘Now, let’s practise that move, shall we?’

Alex laughs at my rapid changing of the subject. ‘Okay, okay, we’ll stop the heart to heart.’

I decide against making that into a dreadful  pun using his surname. For starters, I can’t make jokes to save my life.

*
At our dance session afterwards, Jude and I are working hard on some moves for our competition piece. It’s quite a romantic piece when all’s said and done, with quite a lot of complex lifts and moving completely in sync with each other. This is taking a lot of effort to pull off, but both Jude and I are loving the challenge, and trying to make it as complex as we can manage.

Jude is an amazing choreographer. The ideas he comes up with always work perfectly within the piece, and fit the music incredibly well, I often feel slightly in awe of him.

In one move we’re both extremely proud of, Jude and I dance along the length of the hall, moving at exactly the same time, never letting go of each other, and then, suddenly, I leap into the air, and he catches my outstretched arms, my legs hunched up, head turned to the side.

It looks very dramatic, and was very hard to pull off, but we’re both very enthusiastic about it and have practised it very hard.

At the end of the session, I’m just leaving when Jude reaches out, touching my arm and pulls me back to him. (Is it wrong that I want him to end that with a make out session?)

But sadly, there’s no making out.

‘Are you going to do anything about your parents?’ Jude asks me, holding the door open so I can go through. Rather gentlemanly, it has to be said.

I gulp. I’ve been thinking about that quite a lot, and I’ve decided to chat to them after the session today. Deciding that hasn’t made me feel any less nervous about the approaching discussion at all.

I tell him this, and he nods supportively, walking along beside me. ‘Well, that’s the best way to do it, Ky,’ he says, his hand suddenly resting on my lower back to guide me out of the way as a cleaner comes bustling along. I was too lost in looking at him to notice.

‘Mm?’

‘Definitely. Get Molly to come along too.’

‘I’ve tried,’ I tell him, wearily. ‘She doesn’t want to, she says it’s a silly idea because it will just make them shout at each other.’

Jude looks at me, concernedly. ‘I can come, if you want someone there for back up?’

I smile at him gratefully. ‘Thanks, but I think I should do this with just my family. I don’t want anything to annoy them unnecessarily.’

‘Are you saying I’d annoy your parents?!’ Jude asks, pretending to take offence. ‘Foxy, you wound me!’

I roll my eyes at him. ‘Spare me the theatrics, Callahan. You know exactly what I mean.’

‘Did I ever tell you it sends shivers down my spine when you call me Callahan?’ Jude adds, teasingly.

‘Don’t be silly,’ I warn him, pretending to be cross. ‘I have to gather my wits about me for the upcoming battle against my parents.’

Jude laughs at that, and proceeds to walk me home, despite it being out of his way, and despite the fact that I’m pretty sure he had a car with him. When I reach the door, he smiles at me.

‘Want me to wait outside for you?’

Jude has really calmed my nerves all the way home with his laid back attitude and sense of humour, and I wonder if having him there for back up would be a good idea after all.

‘I can’t ask you to stay out here!’ I tell him, although I want him to stay there. ‘It would be boring for you.’

He puts a finger to my lips. ‘I don’t mind that,’ he tells me. ‘I just want to check you’re alright, okay? In fact, you don’t have a choice. I’m going to sit here and wait for you.’

I raise an eyebrow at him, and he raises one back, looking so gorgeous that I give up and let myself into the house. I rang up my dad this morning and asked him to come round a few minutes before I was due back. My mum will be in, as will Molly, but I doubt Molly will be there to provide moral support.

And there he is. Sat on the edge of the sofa, looking hopelessly awkward, my dad is sipping some tea. Mum is stood at the entrance to the kitchen, arms folded, looking at me expectantly.

‘Your father informs me that you invited him here, Kyra?’ she says, but her tone isn’t harsh. She just looks confused.

Taking a deep breath, I nod. ‘I… well, I wanted to talk to you both together. I understand that you both don’t want to be together anymore, and that you don’t want to speak to each other ever again.’ I look up for verification, and Mum nods shortly. I feel terrified, but then I think of Jude, waiting outside for me, and I realise I can do it. Of course I can; he said I could, and he seems to be right about pretty much everything.

‘But, you see, the thing is, these arguments aren’t helping that. All they’re doing is putting strain on Molly and I, and they aren’t sorting anything out between you both. You need to both have a talk to each other, and be mature adults about it; I understand that it’s hard for you, but it will be better in the long run.’

I don’t know how I’m getting these words out, but I carry on. ‘I’m not asking you to get back together, or to suddenly come up with the perfect solution. I just want you to discuss it, and try to work something out for the best in an amicable way. Would you mind having a chat about it?’

I decide to stop while I’m winning, and look expectantly at first Mum, then Dad.

Mum sits down heavily, nodding and rubbing her forehead. ‘You’re right, Kyra, you’re right, we’ve been so immature about this.’

Dad puts down his tea. ‘Yes. We need to discuss this properly, without arguing, don’t we? We owe it to Molly and Ky to do that.’

‘I’ll leave you to talk about it,’ I tell them, feeling proud of myself for having gotten it all off of my chest.

‘Thank you,’ Mum says, and stands up and hugs me, stroking my hair, dropping a kiss on the top of my head. It’s all a bit emotional as I pull back, seeing her eyes brim with tears.

Slipping out of the living room, gently closing the door behind me, I see that Jude is still sat outside the front door, and so I go out to join him.

‘You could have come in and waited in my room or something,’ I tell him.

‘Your room?’ Jude repeats, cheekily. ‘That does sound like something I would have preferred.’

I roll my eyes at him.

‘But how did it go?’ he asks, standing up quickly and taking both my hands to look at me properly. ‘Did it go well? Did they argue? What are they doing now? It didn’t take very long, did it?’

Laughing at the torrent of questions, I relay what happened to him, and he listens carefully, nodding at the right parts.

As I finish, he smiles gorgeously at me. ‘You did amazingly, Foxy! Seriously, I’m so proud of you for that.’

This makes me blush. Having him proud of me makes me want to melt with happiness.

‘Thanks,’ I murmur, looking up into those beautiful eyes of his.

‘I mean it. You’ve stopped being so uptight and serious about everything, Ky. You’ve let go, but in all the right ways.’

His serious tone, coupled with his expression, makes me bite my lip in a vague attempt to stop myself from throwing myself at him and kissing him in the bright sunlight.

‘Well,’ I say, feeling a bit lost for words. ‘Thank you. I would never have done it if you hadn’t been there, supporting me.’

He beams at this, and pulls me into a hug. ‘You’re completely welcome, Foxy. Anytime.’

Feeling his strong, warm arms around me, nestling my head into his chest, hearing his heartbeat thud rhythmically, I’m filled with such a sense of contentedness that I feel as if I don’t want to ever leave this hug, as if I could stay here in his arms forever.

My fingers trace delicate patterns into his back, and I could swear that his heart rate increases as I do so. His hold certainly tightens and one of his hands reaches up and strokes my hair gently, holding me more closely to him, and I feel the warmth of his concern included in the hug, the hug which should really be defined as a cuddle now. Cuddling Jude? I like this a lot.

Then we break apart, both suddenly realising that the hug has gone on for about two minutes longer than it should have. Mumbling something incoherent and inaudible, I back into the house, and he shades his eyes against the sun to look at me.

‘See you soon, Ky,’ he says, his voice sounding husky.

I nod. ‘Bye. Bye, Callahan.’

His face lights up with a smile, and he heads off, turning back to wave once, before leaving. Oh, I’m smitten alright. Completely and utterly smitten with the boy I’d sworn to never let have my heart.