Dance the night away }} (754 views)

Todd smiled at Max, although it was a little empty.

“Oh yeah! I’m fine, I… just saw a… er, for lack of a better word… friend leave. It’s fine, I mean I think I’ll be able to breathe better! Well... if… if this smell stays maybe I won’t…” He let out a half laugh, shifting a little in his seat. The music increased, playing a more poppy song that Todd had heard on the radio before but didn’t quite recognize the name of. He moved his head to the beat slightly, trying to cheer himself up a little.

Amy gasped.

“Oh! It totally is!” She returned Ace’s smirk with a grin as the song changed. “Speaking of, right now! You, me, the dance floor! You wanna try dancing now? This dancing is so easy, you literally only have to flail around to the beat!”

There were one or two people swaying to the beat, but other than that, the dance floor was empty. The cleaners had left, and now the floor was spotless, as though no accident had happened. Amy was rocking in her seat to the beat.

--

Susan listened to Chardonnay’s complaint, her lips pulling down into a slight frown. She felt so bad that she had to go through all that! And she seemed very upset about this… claiming that she wouldn’t stay here. What a shame! And she had just arrived, as well…

“I’m so sorry to hear that… and are they ruined that badly?” Susan inquired. “Do you need a new pair of shoes? If you’d like, I could get you something to walk back to your house in! I’d really hate to see you just leave though, you just arrived…!”

At Max’s suggestion Todd blinked, a little unsure if he should agree to dance with her. Well it wasn’t that he didn’t want to but he knew she was more experienced at dancing than he was. What if he made a fool of himself?

But this wasn’t a competition… it was for fun. So even if he was bad… they could always just stop and sit down. Right? Her hopeful look really got to Todd as well. She really looked like she wanted to dance, and he was her impromptu date, after all.

“Oh, dance? Sure…” Todd said, glancing at Ace and Amy. The last thing he had been expecting to do tonight was dance with a girl, but he couldn’t consider it a problem. He stood up from his seat, noticing that Ace seemed to offer is hand to Amy. Should he do that too? He assumed so, and offered Max his hand as the music suddenly seemed louder in his ears. The smell of vomit had dissipated and now other people were migrating to the dance floor to have fun. “Dancing sounds fun, actually. I’m not very good so you’ll have to be patient... sorry…”

Amy beamed at Ace’s hand and took it in her own, literally dragging him onto the dance floor as she did so. She eventually stopped in the center of the floor and began to flail around, looking a little odd as she did so but like she was having fun, keeping their hands connected as the only real indication that they were dancing together.

“Just move around to the beat, Ace! It gets a lot less awkward the more you do it, trust me!” She assured, the lights from the ceiling flashing all along the dance floor and giving it a really cool club-like look.

-x-

Susan frowned slightly at Chardonnay’s declaration that her outfit was unacceptable now. It was so nice, too! But she could understand… getting vomit on clothes would likely bring bad memories about tonight to her mind. Still… such a shame.

At her acceptance for new shoes, however, Susan smiled and quickly stepped away from the door, eyes scanning the crowd. Eventually she saw Arthur and waved at him, gesturing for him to come closer. Arthur did so skeptically and Susan stepped a bit further away from the door so the music was quieter.

“What?” Arthur asked. Susan pulled her keys out of her bra and threw them at Arthur, him making a particularly disgusted face as he caught them. “Ew. Susan, why didn’t you bring your fucking purse—“

“Go and get a pair of my slippers from my apartment, Arthur. Miss. Nicholas needs a new pair of shoes to wear!” Susan informed him. Arthur rolled his eyes.

“She’s wearing shoes, isn’t she?”

“That poor girl had her entire night ruined and is covered in vomit right now and you’ve the nerve to be giving me lip right now? Arthur, go and get my slippers. Please.”

Susan wasn’t normally very stern, but she was right now even though she didn't look it. Arthur, though he wasn’t happy to do this, knew better than to backtalk Susan and gave up, leaving the building. He bypassed a few dancers on his way out to head to Susan’s apartment. Susan smiled and moved closer to the door, knocking on it again to get Chardonnay’s attention.

“Okay! I sent someone to go and get something for you to walk to your dorm in. He’ll be back in 3 minutes, tops. If you want, I can call in the cleaners and they can give you a bottle of febreeze if it stinks in there?”

"Really? Todd asked, shocked that anyone could really handle a lot of spinning. He sure couldn't! Even thinking about it gave him a headache. "Well... Now i really want to see your preformance. It sounds really impressive." Todd admitted, hoping the flush rising to his cheeks passed as one from exerting energy rather than as one from saying something embarassing.

Todd followed the same steps he'd used to dance before. He knew these moves and thus wasn't as worried about messing them up. When the chorus of the song came back, Todd was glad he recodnized it.

Amy shook her head.

"Basically they're dance numbers that have a set dance! Like, everyone'll stand in lines and rows and do the same motions! And i'm not sure if it'll be next but all dances have line dances! Next'll be one of those, another pop song, or a slow jam!"

Amy grinned at Ace. He seemed pretty embarassed, or at least to her he looked it.

"Hey! It's cool you don't know! This makes me a great teacher. I'll fill your head with all kinds of fun stuff, like line dances!"

-x-

Susan watched as Chardonnay pulled down some toilet paper to shield her feet, not blaming her for wanting to avoid touching the public restroom's floor. At Chardonnay's gag Susan was a bit worried she herself would get sick, but thankfully Chardonnay seemed in good shape.

"Oh, i'm sure you'd have no problem getting there. I just want to make sure you get home safe. I am a teacher, after all! And a chaperone. I'll leave you alone after i make sure you're at you home, don't worry about me being a bother."

Susan wasn't so sure Chardonnay seemed comfortable in the slippers she'd lent her, but she was sure Chardonnay just wasn't used to that style of slipper.

“There’s techniques for spinning without getting dizzy? Wow… I should’ve figured, I mean if you dance you’re probably used to spinning a lot.” Todd said, feeling heat rise to his cheeks at asking a slightly ridiculous question so enthusiastically. He really was so awkward, wasn’t he? It was almost laughable to think a professional dancer would get dizzy easily. Todd continued swaying to the beat, the re in his cheeks meaning something entirely different when Max instead complimented his dancing.

Todd wasn’t sure he was any good but if Max said he was he must be… right?He spared a smile at her, laughing a little nervously, his fingers connecting as he fiddled with them as a nervous reflex.

“Oh, uhm, t-thanks, I just sort of, uh, copied that guy… I think he deserves some credit…” He pointed out, still happy he hadn’t made a complete idiot of himself. The song was reaching its climax and the chorus repeated a second time, this time in a slightly different key. “This song is, uhm, catchy…” He said, noticing her lipsinging but not wanting to bring it up and make this awkward.


“Yeah there is! Well, aside from the food and the line dancing…” Amy said, waving their arms again in the ‘wave’ motion, which she actually really liked doing. It was pretty fun to do the wave and take up as much space as possible! “There’s also sometimes dance contests though I don’t think there’ll be any tonight. Oh! And sometimes if someone’s really good at dancing, like breakdancing or something, people get in a circle around them and cheer and stuff. Don’t worry too much about it though; just follow my lead! Besides, this totally isn’t the only dance they’ll have! You’ll get plenty of time to learn!”

-x-

Susan smiled and nodded her agreement, not seeming to notice her grumble. Or if she did notice she didn’t mention it. Susan opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom, leaving the door open for Chardonnay. She noticed only a few people looking at them, but when they spotted the teacher they quickly averted their eyes, all except for Arthur who was still sitting at the table Susan and Kasper had been at, though now it was empty and he was alone with a drink. When Arthur caught the eye of his sister, who looked at him expectantly (like she wanted him to apologize) Arthur quickly looked away, hiding his sneer with the palm of his hand.

Susan put her hands on her hips and resisted the urge to force it or at least call him out. But no, she had a job to do, and that was make sure Chardonnay got back safely.

“Okay! I really do hope that the rest of your night goes better... this is honestly such a shame. I suggest soaking your feet in something strong-scented to get rid of the smell. I know for skunk spray they use vinegar; that may work.”

Susan lead the way towards the main door, making sure not to walk too fast since she wasn’t sure how fast Chardonnay would be walking with her still healing ankle.