A/N: Ok, so this is my latest project. I don't own House or Avenue Q. The characters in this story that are not from House are based on actual people in my own classes. And Crash? That's me. I've put myself into stories before, but not like this. This is completely me. Nothing held out, nothing added in, just me. If you don't like it, sorry, can't change who I am. Yes, some of the incidents that happen during class are real. I love reviews so please leave them!
It was Tuesday night and Lisa Cuddy couldn't have been happier. In fact, it was the first Tuesday night in September. She had had a very hard and stressful summer and was looking forward to this release more than she even knew. After changing out of her work attire, Cuddy inspected her appearance in the mirror. Her hair was refusing to stay straight any longer, the frizz always found its way in. No bother. There wasn't anyone to impress where she was going. She packed her bag and made her way to her car. She was leaving the hospital later than she had hoped to, but was confident that she would make it in time. She couldn't wait to catch up and just forget about everything that has been going on.
While stuck in traffic, she began to think back on her day. Her mind was wandering down to the ER, well, more specifically to one ER attending. Curious as to why her mind would go there, she realised she was spending an increasing amount of time down there and away from her clinic lately. That was certainly odd. She sighed and listened to the music coming from one of her favourite albums and began to sing along as she drove towards Trenton.
PPTHPPTHPPTH
Allison Cameron had to admit that she was a little nervous pulling into her parking space. It had been years since she had actually taken a dance class, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to pick up where she had left off. This would be good though, she needed something to take her mind away from the hospital. Not just the hospital, no. She was fixated on a specific person at the hospital. Cuddy had been spending a lot of time in the ER lately and Cameron was having trouble with that. It wasn't that she didn't like the woman there, in fact, it was quite the opposite. For years she had been intrigued by the older woman. She wanted to know her, and there was no denying that she was definitely attracted to her. It was also no secret that Tuesday nights bugged Cameron. Once a week the entire hospital knew that Cuddy was off limits no matter what, but nobody knew why. Cameron needed to take her mind of wondering what could possibly have Cuddy so distracted on a weekly basis, and thankfully, she found a great dance studio that just happened to have an adult tap and adult jazz class on said night. Now she could focus on something else instead of indulging her unfulfilled fantasies.
Cameron got out of her car and made her way in the lower door and up the narrow staircase to the studio upstairs. She had been here two weeks before to register for classes. It was a nice place. There were two spacious rooms with one wall of each covered in floor to ceiling mirrors while the other three walls were lined with barres. Along with that, there was an office desk and a changing room and a waiting area up front.
In the waiting area there were four women talking animatedly with a familiar looking man. When she walked in, all five of them looked up and smiled. "Hi! Are you here for tap and jazz? My name is Michele." The woman looked to be in her late thirties. She had black wavy hair except for an unruly whisp of electric blue in her bangs. "This here is Toni." Michele gestured to a woman in her mid forties with short hair that she wore spiked a bit. "That's Gina, and that's Kate, but everyone calls her Crash." I looked at the slight woman sitting next to Gina. She had really long hair that, when the light shined on it just right, was actually a purplish red. She also had a pair of stylish tortoise shell glasses that just rounded off her look.
"Crash?" Inquired Cameron.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll get the picture soon. What's your name?"
"Oh, it's Allison. You can call me Al if you want to."
"Hey, you didn't introduce me! I'm Josh." The man stuck out his hand. "I think I recognize you, but I'm not sure why-"
Just then, like a tornado, another woman came bursting through the door from behind Allison. "Ugh! Traffic was a mess! I didn't think I would get here in time!"
Allison's head whipped around so fast she thought it would fly off. She knew that voice. She felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach immediately tied itself into knots. While she was trying to process this new information, a chorus of "Lisa!" could be heard echoing through the room.
Finally finding her voice, she stood up. "D-D-Doctor Cuddy?"
She was met with a look of initial shock, which very quickly turned into a warm smile. Cuddy warmly grabbed Allison's hands. "Dr. Cameron. Here? It's Lisa. There's no Dr. Cuddy in this studio. Got it?" She was still smiling broadly.
Allison nodded her head and smiled back. "In that case, it's Allison, or Al for me." Allison took in the woman before her. She was dressed simply in a white tank top and black dance pants. She was much more relaxed and was genuinely happy. Her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, and she was wearing glasses? They were almost identical to the ones the Crash was wearing. But there was something else, too. Instead of looking slightly up at the woman's eyes, she was looking down. She looked down and saw that Cuddy, no, not Cuddy, she reminded herself, Lisa had traded her 6-inch heels for a pair of sneakers. "Wow. I didn't realize you were short." Shit. Did she really just say that? Everyone in the room erupted in fits of laughter. Even Lisa.
Lisa took a chair across the room and everyone started up the conversation again. They discussed Emma's honeymoon and inquired when pictures of the wedding were going to be brought in. Josh talked about Aaron, who Allison presumed was his partner. Allison saw Lisa getting a little uncomfortable at the direction that this conversation was going. "So, Lisa. You haven't mentioned your wife yet…"
Whoa. Back up. Wife? Cuddy was with a woman? A woman she had been with long enough to be considered a wife? Allison's mind was spinning from this new information. How could she have never noticed? An image of last winter's charity event came to mind. Cuddy in her long navy dress with, wow, Josh hanging off her arm? So that's where she recognized him from! She was brought out of her deep thoughts by Lisa's answer.
Her voice shook a little and she was rubbing her hand across her forehead. "Tess left. End of June. Ran off with some woman to California. Can we please change the subject?" She was visibly upset. It was then that Allison decided that if she ever met this Tess person she would rip her heart to shreds.
Thankfully, at that point everyone started reaching into their bags for tap shoes and Michele made an interesting discovery. "OMG! I have three left feet!"
"Come on, Michele. We all know you took last year off, but surely you couldn't have gotten that bad!" Toni was laughing as she choked out the last sentence.
"No. You don't get it. For some reason I have three tap shoes. And they're all left feet!" At this the entire room erupted in another round of laughter.
Lisa was laughing for the first time in months. It felt great. "Wow. I've really missed this."
Just then the door to one of the studios was flung open and out walked a mass of teenage girls wearing burgundy leotards, pink tights, black skirts, and pointe shoes. The teacher walked out grinning. "Ok, ladies! Ready?" Everyone followed into the studio, feet clicking on the floor. Except, of course, for Michele, who was wearing sneakers.
The teacher introduced herself and began to describe the warm ups. The first one was a flap warm up which was easy enough to grasp. The music started and everyone began to tap. At the end of the exercise, Michele again spoke. "What the hell was that, Beth? You made us do the fast one on the first night?" Again, everyone started laughing. Allison could tell that woman, and probably Toni, were going to make the class extremely interesting.
The next warm up was a shuffle combination. It was also easy enough to follow. After that, the class did several rhythm patterns. After the fourth rhythm pattern, Gina plopped herself down on the floor. "I can't stand it anymore! There is something in my shoe and it's making me nuts!" She took the shoe off and sure enough, out popped a hearing aid battery. Again, more laughter. More exercises down the floor, and they were finally learning a combination. It was a bit challenging, and it was difficult for Allison seeing as she was spending the entire time staring at Lisa in the mirror. Lisa was definitely a good dancer. No, she was a great dancer. She was easily the best in the class.
After an hour, everyone was drenched in sweat. They had a few minutes of break time before jazz class started. If Allison was already having trouble comprehending this new side of Lisa Cuddy, what happened next shocked her out of her mind. Crash pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. "Does everyone remember the promise that Lisa made at last year's recital?" She unfolded the paper and began to read. "If Crash can make it through one class without tripping, slipping, or otherwise doing anything that causes her to land on the floor, I, Lisa Cuddy, will perform musical theatre. Well, I don't think any of those things happened, so… pay up woman!"
Lisa had known this was going to happen. In fact, she had planned on doing it either way. The only person who knew what she had been planning was Josh, and that was because he was the one who had gotten her the music. He was a choreographer for the musical Avenue Q on Broadway. She had asked him if he could get her a recording of a specific song with just the instrumentals, no vocals, and he had come through for her with the entire soundtrack. Slowly, she reached into her bag and pulled out a CD.
"Lise, which one?" Josh asked.
"Track 9." That was all she had to say.
Josh made one last comment. "Ladies? Blink now because this is going to be too good to waste time blinking during it."
Lisa slid the disk into the player and took a pose facing the back of the room in the center. The music began and she started to move provocatively in place. She slowly turned around and landed in yet another provocative pose. Then she started to sing.
I can make you feel special
When it sucks to be you
Let me make you feel special
For an hour or two
Allison had never known that the other woman could sing. Then again, an hour ago, she swore that the other woman never danced a day in her life. She continued to sing and dance in a very suggestive manner.
Your life's a routine that repeats each day
No one cares who you are or what you say
And sometimes you feel like you're nobody
But you can feel like somebody with me
It was one of the most amazing displays Allison had ever seen. She could not peel her eyes away even if she had any desire to. Lisa Cuddy was dripping with sweat and her face was very red, but it was quite possibly the single most erotic thing that Allison had ever seen. There was now music that had no vocals and the dancing got more intense, if that were even possible. During this entire time, Lisa was staring directly into Allison's eyes. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that she was being teased.
Yeah, they're real
During that line, she brought her hands up and pressed her breasts together and Allison thought she might just die right on the spot.
When we're together the earth will shake
And the stars fall into the sea
So come on baby let down your guard
When your date's in the bathroom I'll slip you my card
I can tell just by looking that you've got it hard
For me
For me
For me
For me
For me
For me
I can tell just by looking that you are incredibly hard
For me
The room erupted in applauds and laughter but all Allison could do was stand there and stare with her mouth hanging slightly open. She was brought back to reality when Beth announced it was time to do warm ups for jazz.
They began with a series of stretches and lunges followed by sit ups and push ups. The next order of business was battements. Allison hadn't done them in a while, but they weren't hard. She watched as Lisa's were practically up to her head and she was impressed. That was when she finally understood the nick name Crash. Kate had somehow managed to kick her own leg out from underneath her with the other one and landed on the floor. Everyone chuckled and somebody groaned "Kate…" She got up though, and continued on. Next they did a few turning combinations, including one down the floor. It was hard enough for Allison to do double pirouettes, but she noticed that Lisa was pulling triples, and sometimes quads, without much effort at all. After that were leaps. She noticed that Lisa's were incredibly high and long. The moved on to finish the class off with a combination to a song called Sexy Chicks. It was a little more like hip-hop, but it was fun. Allison was thoroughly exhausted by the time the class was over.
Lisa came up to her drinking from a water bottle. "Hey, did you have fun?"
"Wow, yeah. It was awesome. I'm exhausted, but I feel great."
"Good. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late." Lisa smirked and walked out into the parking lot towards her car.
It was Tuesday night and Allison Cameron couldn't have been happier.
Please R&R and let me know how you like it! I basically have pretty much a good idea of how this story will progress so I shouldn't take way too long to write more!
