Wild Dances

I wanted to leave Stephanie's room as quickly as possible. As soon as she was done reprimanding me, I left. After the events of the previous evening, I thought my schedule would be less chaotic, but it turns out the Gala was only the beginning. It was go, go, go for the Solstice Song Contest. Our staging was arriving today, and it was also the first day of our dance rehearsal.

We taxied over to the dance studio, which was being rented for Solstice practice. Four studios were rented, and each act would have an hour of practice daily. It wasn't much, but it was more than enough with everything else going on.

We arrived early to pick up our staging equipment, which was scheduled to arrive at the dance hall. Just in time, a small truck rolled up.

"Are you here for our staging?" I asked.

"I heard it was going to a bunch of cute girls."

"Nope, just us," I responded.

He eyed us over.

"You sure you ain't girls?"

"Pretty sure last I checked.

He eyed us over again.

"Well, I guess you'll do. Come on and have a look."

We followed him to the back of his truck, and when we did, we saw our deconstructed staircase and throne.

"What do you think?"

"It's perfect," I commented.

"Great, you've paid already, so it's your problem now." He shrugged as he began unloading it.

With one thing down, we now had our dance practice. As we entered, I saw Marco walking towards a person carrying a cardboard box like a camera and singing the final lines of his song. It looked like he was wrapping up. His performance wasn't as intensive as ours. It was a ballad, so he just had to nail the camera angles and the occasional bit of movement.

That said, while it wasn't as wild as our performance, it didn't make it any less tiring. Marco was dripping with sweat. His white singlet clung to his body, and his dark brown hair had small droplets of sweat in it. He had obviously run through the performance countless times before we got there, and his sweat glistened under the spotlights.

It was awfully warm in this room. Sure, it was the room's fault that my face was warming up. I totally wasn't blushing at Marco.

He caught sight of me and waved. I waved back, feeling the warmth even more. They should totally turn down the lights. It's way too hot in here. He lifted his singlet to wipe the sweat from his brow, revealing his perfectly chiselled body, like a Roman god; no, scratch that; he was even more perfect.

I quickly found an empty corner where I could put my things. I had to do something to distract me from Marco's sexy body. I think I would develop a nosebleed if I stared any longer.

As I began to rummage through my bag, I felt someone embrace me from behind.

"Good afternoon, Blake. Are you feeling better than last night?" Marco asked.

"I still feel a little sore," I admitted. My ankle still wasn't fully healed. I would have to tell the instructor when it was time for our practice. I've got some cream to help with the swelling."

"Then let me help you put that on."

I turned around to face Marco. He had brushed his hair out of his face and over his ear, which made him look even sexier and showed off his masculine face.

"um, um, um..." I blabbed, my brain completely fried by Marco's body.

He sat on the ground next to me. He reached forward and gently lifted the cream. He unscrewed the lid and, using two fingers, scooped some up.

I removed my shoe and sock from the swollen foot. It didn't look too bad, and with only a slight bruise, it was evident that it would heal within a few days at most. Perhaps even by the end of the day, it would be good.

I lifted my foot, resting it on his lap.

Slowly, he began to massage the cream onto my skin. The initial sensation was cold from the cream, but Marco's warm hands quickly warmed it up.

As he massaged it in, I decided to make small talk about his performance.

"Did you have a good workout?" I asked.

"Yes, it was quite tiring."

"Do you have much choreo?"

"A bit, though I hear there are worse," he paused, massaging my foot before commenting, "How's it feel?"

"It feels better," I admitted, although I could not tell whether it was the work of the cream or because Marco had applied it.

He smiled, though he also looked tired.

"Do you need a drink?" I offered him my water bottle.

"Yes thanks," he took a gulp.

I shifted my gaze to the ground.

"What's wrong?"

"Sorry, you just look so hot."

"Oh, well, I think you're pretty good yourself."

I pulled back, not because I wanted to, but because I was scared.

"I got scolded by Stephanie, my head of delegation, about last night."

"So did I" he replied.

"It seems like they don't like us dating. We will have to be more careful going forward."

"Alright."

He leaned in and kissed me.

"M-Marco! That's not being careful," I said, flustered.

"I can't help it when you are so cute," he commented. "Besides, it's fine when it's only Solstice people, right?"

"I don't know" I answered honestly. "I think, even then, they aren't too thrilled about us."

"Well then, we will just have to show everyone how serious we are."

"I don't think that'll put our delegations at ease."

"Then it'll be our little secret" he winked at me, and I could feel my face turn red again. "Good luck with your practice."

And with that, Marco got up and left.

"Blake, if you're done flirting, you should warm up," Noah commented.

I couldn't put off the practice any longer. Squares were marked out with tape. We would use that as a marker to indicate where we stood. The instructor showed us some movements to replicate, and although they looked great, I could see a significant issue with them.

"So, how will they do that while playing? Won't they mess up if it's too complex?" I asked.

"Instruments can't be live." The instructor responded.

"What? Why not?"

"I guess it is because those are the rules," Noah commented.

"Then what's the point of bands? Part of their charm is the live music."

"Yeah, well, only vocals can be live on stage," the instructor responded.

"That's shit."

"Yeah," Luca added,

"I mean, that's really shit."

"Yeah, but those are the rules," Noah tried to de-escalate my frustration.

Putting aside the crappy rules, we got back into the rehearsal, and I could begin to see the performance coming together. Most notable was Pete's dancing. I didn't even know Pete could move that way. He was an enigma, a puzzle I hadn't figured out, but I couldn't help but be impressed by everything he did. He was the polar opposite of Jet. Every day, I wished more and more that I had picked Pete instead of Jet.

Though as much as I had to remember in the rehearsal, I couldn't help but think of Marco.

After an hour of practice, our time was up, and I walked over to get a drink. My water bottle was still mostly filled. But it was the bottle that Marco had drunk from. If I drank from it, it would be an indirect kiss.

Although we had written a song together, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous about an indirect kiss. Still, I was thirsty for water and for Marco. I took a sip and savoured every moment of it.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

End of Chapter 16