dancer - tom holland

5

'I was thinking that we should add a lift here. What do you think?' Tom asked Olivia. They were going through what they had of their duet so far, discussing and contemplating ideas.

'Ooh yes that's good.' Olivia replied, eyes widening with excitement.

'So we do the synchronised bit and then go into a lift?' Tom slowly said, moving into position.

Olivia moved also to practice this new lift, '3,2,1..'

'Wait,'  Tom interjected.

'Hmm?' Olivia looked at him, confused, as he lightly jogged towards her.

'Can I lift you up now? I want to prepare for your weight...' Tom said, nervously.

'Are you saying you think I'll be heavy?' Olivia questioned.

'Oh my god, no no of course not Livvy. I just don't want to drop you or anything. It's like testing a trampoline before you vault. I think your body is perfect. Not that I look at your body a lot. Oh wow I'm rambling, please stop me.' The words tumbled out of Tom's mouth before he really knew what he was saying. His brain was in overdrive thinking that he'd hurt Olivia.

Olivia blushed profusely and smiled, 'I get it, it's fine.' She was really trying to stay calm but he'd literally just said her body was perfect, how could she not be freaking out internally?

Silence filled the room for a moment, the two avoiding eye contact. Olivia swallowed and stepped forward.

'Go on then.' She said, trying to be confident.

'What?' Tom replied, staring at her.

'Lift me up.' Olivia said.

'Oh right,' Tom said, frazzled. In all the fuss he had completely forgotten about that.

Olivia laughed as he awkwardly took a large step towards her, fumbling his hands. Tom's discomfort faded away at the sound of Olivia's laugh. He loved her laugh when it was like that, when it was genuine and she didn't hold back. He smiled down at her warmly as he placed his hands on her waist. She returned with a smile as he paused for a second.

'Ready?' He questioned, to which she nodded.

He hastily lifted her. Olivia was impressed at how strong he was, and how high he lifted her. He held her for a few seconds before letting her down gently.

Olivia let out an involuntary, 'holy shit.' before clasping her hand over her mouth.

'Did I hurt you? Are you ok?' Tom asked worriedly, having picked up her murmur.

'No, I'm fine. I was holy shitting your strength...' Olivia hesitantly admitted, blushing.

Tom let out a laugh, 'Wow my strength received a holy shitting by Olivia Bailey, I'm floored. What an honour.'

Olivia laughed, 'I'm serious! You're so strong, we should do more lifts.'

'If you insist,' Tom smirked, winking, before laughing again.

'If we keep this up, we'll never finish the dance.' Olivia said in between laughs.

'Sorry, sorry, let's do some work.' Tom said, hands held up in surrender, warranting a further laugh from Olivia.

They continued choreographing for a while, laughing most of the time.

'What's your middle name?' Tom asked, as they sat down on a bench in the corner of the studio for a break.

'It's Elise. Why?' Olivia replied.

'Well, when I called you Olivia Bailey earlier, I realised I don't know your middle name and I was curious.' Tom shrugged, taking a drink of water.