Reliving Yesterday ✔

Chapter 17.

"Hey," Blake said, coming over and kissing my cheek, "How's it going?"

I looked away from Parker, who was looking away and brooding as usual. I smiled at him. Blake usually put me in a good mood. "Hey," I smiled back at him wearily.

His smile faltered. "You're tired, aren't you?" he asked, sadly, "It's been a long day, hasn't it?"

I hated seeing him look like that because of me. It was his sister's wedding. "No," I assured, "OK, maybe I'm a little tired, but it's been fun. We've done a bunch of great things today."

His smile was back. "That's good. And don't worry. We just have a dance lesson to get through," he joked, winking at me and I laughed, but inside I was dreading this entire dancing fiasco. Sure. I'd taken ballet when I was small, but that didn't mean that I wasn't a klutz. Once I'd knocked over the entire dancing troupe because I tripped. I'd gotten better, but then there was Parker and his looks, which didn't help things at all.

"Yeah," I replied, vaguely and nodded at him. Blake smiled again, kissed the top of my head and walked off towards his sister. I turned to see Parker glaring at me. I sighed and looked down at my phone. Hanna was being her usual self, coaching me through the entire dance with Parker. One step - Parker, why aren't we friends anymore? - Step - Did I ever do anything to you? She was unrelenting.

While I stood there, alone, wishing to find a way to get out of this, Adrienne walked in with another lady dressed in stretch pants and a baggy top with her hair thrown into a tight bun at the top of her head, essentially what I was wearing, except I also had a skirt on. "Everybody," Adrienne announced to the hall, "This is your dance trainer, Judy. Do everything Judy says and you'll be ready for the wedding dance in no time." She smiled to everyone in turn. "Now, I'll be off, but you all train good, OK?" And with that she walked away tossing her shawl over her shoulder.

We all turned to Judy. She smiled, too. Somehow, I'd had enough of fake smiling to people today. "OK, people, let's get down to business. First we'll do some stretches and then we'll come to the dancing."

By that time, I had already tuned her out.

*

"Pair up," Judy said, voicing my fears. All this time, she'd been making sure that everyone could actually dance without pulling a leg muscle or breaking a hip or something. I was sitting on the floor, watching everyone. Judy deemed me ready to dance almost as soon as I finished my first plié. I looked around the room, searching for Parker. He was sitting in the other corner of the room looking entirely bored. He didn't need stretches; he was a varsity athlete. He stood up and walked on to the dance floor and waited. Judy looked at him. "Sweetheart," she told him. You could see that even she wanted an excuse to talk to him. "You can't dance with that." She motioned to the shirt he was wearing over his tank top. "That needs to go."

He nodded to her, took it off and threw it on to the floor where he had been sitting. I swallowed. There was no denying that puberty had been very, very kind to Parker. He flexed his shoulder muscles and I heard May sigh from beside me. "I completely hate you," she said, her eyes twinkling.

"Oh, you can have him if you want," I muttered.

She threw her head back and laughed, shaking her blonde hair. "Oh, no, sweetie, I couldn't do that to you," she told me like I was a five-year-old. I sighed. I wished she could. I walked on to the dance floor and stood next to Parker, without making eye contact. He was breathing heavily.

"We'll be trying the waltz today," Judy told us and I could hear all the boys groaning already. Except Parker. He knew how to waltz.

Eight Years Ago

"Why don't you want to go?" I asked Parker, widening my eyes. I badly wanted him to come. I didn't want to be alone and friendless.

"Because I don't like dancing," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. I knew that his dad and my dad were watching us. They were letting us sort out our problems alone, as usual.

"Have you ever danced before?" I asked him.

He opened his mouth, but stopped short. "No," he said, bitterly.

"Then you've got to go," I told him, pulling his hand. He was contemplating. "Please," I coerced, widening my eyes at him, "For me?"

He didn't even hesitate. He relented. "OK," he said, following me, "For you."

I happily dragged him inside the dance studio and we both learnt the waltz together. And Parker, being Parker, was good at it.

~

"Face each other and hold your right hands up," Judy coached. I turned to Parker, who huffed a breath and grabbed my right hand and held it up. A silent gasp escaped me when I realized how much bigger his hand was than mine. When we took that lesson eight years ago, his hand had been pretty much my size and now his hand could probably, you know, swallow my hand whole. I don't even know why he did what he did next, I mean, true, Judy was going to make us do it, but she hadn't told us yet. Parker put his hand around my waist and took a step closer to me, but he didn't look at me. He just looked past me, over my head, because you know, his eye level was way above my head. Slowly I reached up and placed my hand on his shoulder. His muscles tensed for a moment before he relaxed.

Judy, who was going round around the floor stopped near us and beamed at Parker. "You two won't be an ounce of trouble, will you?" she asked, giddily and I looked around the room. Everyone else seemed pretty flustered about this entire thing. "OK," she clapped her hands to get our attention, "Now, let's start. Small steps first."

She coached the entire room, probably except for us because Parker had taken matter into his own hands and started gliding me across the room effortlessly before Judy had finished saying whatever she did. I couldn't even hear her. I was staring at Parker's focused face, not wavering for a moment. Every time he turned a different light caught his eyes and the bright green in them changed from emerald to the colour of fresh grass to candy apple green. It was mesmerizing. A groan from somewhere close by brought me to my senses. I took a big leap of faith, remembering Hanna and opened my mouth. "Parker?" I said, softly.

He twirled me and then looked down at me, emotionless.

"Um, how do you know the groom?" I croaked out. He studied my face for a second and looked back up.

"He's one of my cousins," he said, curtly, moving me easily across the floor. We'd never really needed to bother about what steps the other one was taking. We always seemed to know.

"Oh," I commented, stupidly, "I don't remember him."

Parker shot me a look and I took two steps back, scared of his look and stumbled, but he caught me with an outstretched arm and made it look as if it was a part of the dance.

"Watch it, klutz," he told me, a smirk crossing his face, "He's a distant cousin."

"Oh," I said again, my heart racing and my face flushing.

I let everything around us fall back into silence. After a while I opened my mouth again, but I didn't know what to say.

"You don't have to talk," Parker told me, coldly.

I closed my mouth again, blushing, wishing I hadn't done anything. The music stopped and I could tell that everyone else was relieved. Well, so was I. But the others were for a different reason than me. Most of them were limping off the dance floor because their partners had been a little clumsy. I was too, but Parker wasn't so he had managed. In fact, Parker and I were the only ones standing up.

Judy looked around. "We'll try again on Wednesday," she told everyone, and then turned to us, "But you two seem to be quite the pros."

Parker nodded at her and I smiled sheepishly. Everyone was looking at us and I just couldn't wait for this wedding to be over.