Wherever the Dandelion Falls (51 page)

I gave Faye a curious smile, asking her what she was doing here. She gave me the same sneaky, shy smile back. I wanted to rush over to talk to her, but the girl to my right clattered to the floor with an
oof
and I felt obligated to help her. After gripping her pole, I told her it was too buttery and she needed to wipe it down. I told her to swing wide and keep her lower hand firm at belly-button height, pushing away from the pole. Then I walked to the next girl, praising her form and reminding her to point her toes. I made a final round before leading the girls in stretches and discussing what we'd be going over next week.

Two girls came up to ask me questions about purchasing shoes, and another cornered me about a private lesson. I tried not to be impatient with them, but I wanted to talk to Faye and find out why she had come here instead of meeting at the restaurant. By the time I had answered all the questions and turned to Faye, we were alone, save for one girl fiddling with her shoes in the lobby.

"Hey," I said, lowering my voice with a hushed smile as I walked over to the couch where Faye was sitting.

Faye's smile widened. "I hope it's okay I came here," she said, as though she was uncertain I'd want to see her.

"Yeah, of course," I chirped.

"I wanted to see you dance, and I figured here would be better..." She trailed off, not needing to say that she didn't want to see me dance at Jez.

I blushed and swept the sweaty wisps of hair that always came loose from my ponytail out of my face. "Aw," I said, trying not to look too embarrassed. "I'm all gross. It's so hot in here," I said, fanning myself.

Faye stood, taking a few hesitant steps to my left towards a pole. "So... you give private lessons?" she asked. She reached out and touched the pole timidly, as though it might shock her. After a moment she gripped it and turned back to me.

This was an entirely new girl from the one I'd met months ago, who had been almost too shy to take off her coat when she came to tour Jez. I loved her bravery so much, and her subtle flirtation was getting me flustered and flushed in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature in the room.

"I do," I said, taking a step toward her. "Are you interested?"

"What's your rate?"

I took another step. "Dinner with me."

Faye scrunched her nose affectionately. "I was gonna do that anyway."

I shrugged. "Then we'll have to make it twice."

"Deal."

I realized that Faye was actually curious about spins, and decided to cater to her curiosity. It felt good to be treated like an expert in something, especially by her.

"What do you want to learn?"

"What's the easiest?" she asked.

"Probably Fireman," I said, putting my hands on my hips. I studied her street clothes, trying not to make my ogling obvious. She wore a pair of dark skinny jeans and a fitting scoop-neck t-shirt. I could see all her curves, and she was excruciatingly beautiful to me.

"Can I be a firewoman?"

"You can be whatever you want to be," I smiled. "Just grip the pole like that..."

I watched as she placed her hands in the brace position grips and stood the perfect distance out from the pole. "Good. Now just take your outside leg and swing around... Then bring your right ankle to the front of the pole and tuck your left behind."

Faye swung her leg out and tried to wrap it around the pole, but she stumbled and slipped, tipping to the side and catching herself awkwardly with her left foot.

"Is there something easier than that one?" she asked, looking guilty.

"Try a swoop. Kick your right leg out around the pole, but keep your left down and let the momentum bring you around the pole once. But stay grounded."

Faye took another courageous swing and executed a beautiful swoop. She even added a flourish at the end.

"Look at you, you're a natural!" I said. And I meant it. Her body just knew what to do when she let go.

"I was stumbling around a second ago, I'm such a natural," she mocked.

I brushed her comment aside, wanting to watch her body move more. Watching her dip and swoop, graceful as a ballerina, loose like jazz, I was overwhelmed to the point where I couldn't even move.

"Like that?" Faye asked, doing another swoop.

"Yeah..." I murmured, captivated by her.

"And you're supposed to do it on both sides, right?" she asked, frowning at her feet, as though she didn't quite trust them to execute the motions in mirror image.

"Yeah..."

She reversed her position. Gripping with her non-dominant hand, she took a hesitant step, then stopped and shook her head before trying again. Then she swooped, and while it wasn't perfect, she didn't falter, and she again spun out, arm placed perfectly, raised foot pointed.

"Perfect," I said, looking nowhere but her face.

She gave me a sheepish smile and tucked her hair behind her ears.

And then we were frozen. There was no scuffing of shoes or rumbling of engines outside. It was a shining, peaceful moment.

I felt my whole body crescendo toward her, my heart and mind amplified as she stared at me. Her face was beautiful and happy and shy, like I was so used to seeing with her. But the most stunning thing about her was that, aside from a flicker of pulse I could see in her neck that indicated she was just as excited as I was, there was no trace of fear around her. There was no shame or guilt or angst. She was just open. She wasn't trying to fix or cover up or mould into anything. I wanted to preserve that moment with her forever.

But then our hearts grew too rapid and our bodies ached too much, and we had to be closer. Although everything inside me was racing, my footsteps were slow and cautious, giving her time to back away.

But she didn't. She stayed rooted with one hand on the pole, the other loose and graceful by her side.

I took another step. Nothing flickered across her face. Not a single doubt or fear. I felt her reaching for me, in her way, as though her free hand extended toward me.

I took another step, and another, until I was inches from her face. I saw her chest quiver with an unsteady breath and wondered if she was about to move. But she didn't. She stayed perfectly still. Her feet, her hands, her eyes fixed on me. The only thing that moved was her throat at she swallowed. I was ratcheted up so high, I thought I would break.

But before I broke, she darted up onto her toes and fixed her lips with mine. She put her hand on my shoulder, steadying herself as we started kissing. It started slow, allowing the buzz to stream through our bodies as we relished the relief of
finally
kissing as we were meant to kiss.

Because we were
meant
to kiss. We were meant to do so many things, but kissing was the thing we'd both known we needed to do tonight. We'd known to the extent it was painful. We'd been leading up to this kiss for months. Maybe even years, before we'd known each other. We'd been meant to kiss since we'd been born, and we were finally kissing. I never wanted it to end.

We both wrapped our arms tighter around each other, feeling the little wrinkles in our clothes mesh into our skin as we tried to get closer. Our tongues and lips grew so sloppy and ravenous, we started to giggle, only to have our giggles drowned out as we sank back into the passion and relief that came with finally kissing each other. We kissed, and kissed, and kissed, until the studio grew dark and I knew we'd missed our dinner reservations. We swayed, gripping the pole for balance from time to time, smiling into the crooks of each other's necks and jaws when we needed to breathe, panting with relief, humming with satisfaction. We were so relieved at finally kissing, nothing else mattered.

Finally, our legs grew tired of standing. Faye sighed and leaned farther forward. Releasing the tightly strung tension between us had proved more exhausting than we thought.

"You," she breathed, "are a
really
good kisser."

I grinned, pleased that she was so satisfied by my lips alone. "You're not so bad yourself," I offered, helping her settle into my shoulder.

She hummed and said, "I'm kind of tired now..."

I patted her back and said, "And you're not the one who taught pole this evening."

She drew back and her eyes widened. "Oh my god, you must be exhausted." She scanned up and down my body, checking to make sure I was okay.

I shrugged. "I'm okay."

"You should at least sit down," she said, gesturing toward the leopard print couch.

I drew her back into me and hummed, "Will you keep kissing me if I do?"

She nuzzled back into my neck and said, "Definitely."

"Good."

We stood there for another long moment before she extracted herself and led me over to the couch, fluffing the two shabby pillows.

We kissed until my stomach growled loud enough for Faye to hear and curse herself for starving me. Before she got up to drag me out the door, she looked at me, studying me for a moment before she said, "I never imagined kissing a girl would feel so... normal."

I smiled at her, loving every layer she shed in front of me. Watching her blossom was the most beautiful gift I could imagine.

"And at the same time," Faye continued, "Extraordinary."

Her candor left me speechless, so I just smiled and hoped I wasn't blushing.

"Sorry we missed our dinner reservations," Faye said, tucking her hair behind her ears with a sheepish grin.

"I would miss a hundred dinners for that."

Faye tucked her chin further to hide her smile. "Do you still want to eat?"

"Yeah," I said, feeling my stomach pang with hunger. I was starting to wilt, but kissing Faye propped me up. "I wanted to take you somewhere nice though."

"We have time," Faye said. "From what I've seen of this date so far, I'm pretty sure I want another one."

I beamed back at her. "What do you want to eat?"

"Pizza," Faye said, looking embarrassed, like it was a silly suggestion.

"Shall I find a good Italian place?" I asked, looking around for my phone to figure out a restaurant.

"There's a place down the street, right?" Faye asked.

I knew the place Faye was referring to. It was a little hole in the wall with only two or three tables to sit at. They mostly served takeout. It wasn't a place I'd ever take someone on a date. But Faye was asking, and I wanted to do whatever she felt like.

"Yeah. It's not very fancy though," I said. "Just slices on paper plates."

"That sounds perfect," Faye said. She smiled at me for a moment before reaching for my hand, clasping it in her own. "I don't need anything fancy."

"Okay," I said. "Let me change."

She nodded and I couldn't resist leaning forward to peck her on the cheek before getting up, hurrying away so I wouldn't be dragged back toward her lips and spend another hour making out on the couch.

As I picked up my bag, I felt overwhelmingly modest. Had it been Justine or any of the regular studio girls, I would have just whipped off my shirt and stood there in my sports bra for a second while I found a clean shirt. But with Faye, I didn't want to do that. I picked up my bag and changed in the bathroom for the first time.

When I emerged, dressed in jeans and a purple t-shirt, Faye was looking at the framed pictures on the walls of the studio's most accomplished dancers.

She turned her head to me and smiled. "These are amazing," she said. "I can't believe how strong these women are."

I tried not to puff up my chest too much with pride. "We are pretty strong.”

Faye turned back to a picture of a woman doing an Inverted Archer and pointed before looking back at me. "Can you do that?"

Biting down a proud smile, I walked closer to her and pointed higher up to a framed picture of me doing a variation of the pose she was asking about,

"That's
insane
," Faye said. "You're, like, a professional athlete."

"If that's what you want to call it, I'll take it," I giggled. Then my laughter died down, and I said quietly, "The girls here don't know I'm a stripper."

Faye turned to me and her smile fell too. "Why not?" she whispered.

I shrugged. "Anya warned me not to tell them."

Faye's face shifted into a look of uncertain compassion. "It's not up to her, is it?"

I shrugged again. "It's probably for the best."

Faye bit her lip and nodded, but she didn't look convinced.

Wanting to change the subject, I put my hand on Faye's arm and jerked my head toward the door. "Shall we go?"

Her face relaxed and she followed me out into the night air.

We made a quick stop by my car to stash my dance bag before heading down the street. As we walked, I felt a creeping uneasiness. I didn't like being so far away from Faye. Twenty minutes before, our bodies had been smashed together on the couch as our lips and tongues twisted together, trying to get closer. Now I felt like there was a canyon between us.

But I knew better than to take her hand, so I stuffed my hands in my pockets and said, "If things were different, I'd hold your hand."