12-10-11

1:44am

Summary–Bodie's suffering from this foreign and sometimes fatal affliction: being attracted to your best friend and crew member. Emilia, meanwhile, is too busy rolling all over the place to notice.

Disclaimer–I do not own Dance Central, which belongs to its respective owner(s) and is only being used in a fan-made, fictional story.

xoxo

Title–Rollin' Along

By–Moon Prynces

xoxo

"Yo! B, where you at?" she called out loudly as soon as she walked in the space.

The blonde came ducking around a doorway at the far end of the room with his usual easy-going smile. "It might've helped to actually try and look for me before disrupting the quiet."

Emilia just waved a hand carelessly. "I didn't think you'd actually be in this morning. It was a half-hearted attempt." She threw her bag to the side and started stretching.

"True. I did plan on catching some waves, but someone needs to make sure this place runs smoothly." He walked a few steps closer before stopping, putting fists on his hips in a wide stance and looking around the gym.

For a moment it seemed like she hadn't heard but then she responded in a joking manner with, "Are you saying I don't do my share?"

Bodie tactfully avoided the question by asking instead, "Why're you here so early anyway?"

The girl suddenly jumped up from her warm-up squats with a grin. "I had a brilliant idea for our next song. Got a bunch of moves in mind too. Thinkin' we could work 'em out. We could be ready for the next dance battle within the week."

He smiled at her excitement, though the timeline was still a bit naïve. But then the phone rang. "Ah, I forgot. There's a few things I gotta take care of. Just work out what you can on your own and I'll be back later."

She nodded briefly, back to her warm-up.

xoxo

It wasn't good to put so much stress on someone so laidback. But it was a good thing Bodie knew how to take care of things with an optimism that most admired.

Anyway, he was looking forward to a day filled with waves after his last "challenge" with the bank, before remembering his crew member was waiting.

So he grabbed some snacks to restock the office refrigerator and headed back.

"Wh-what are you doing?" was his response upon opening the door with his key and dropping everything in his arms.

Was it because his crew member had moved some of the workout equipment in an attempt to get more room instead of just walking into one of the other, more spacious rooms? Or because she had opened the gym without him there and so there were a handful of guys around? Maybe it was because she had her back to him, facing one of the mirrored walls and...and she was practicing a move that he could not wrap his head around and the handful of guys were standing around watching her with slightly perverse smiles?

Whatever it was, Bodie stood there in stunned silence as the guys cheered at her the way a crowd did when someone was dancing.

Somewhere through her routine she spotted his reflection in the mirror and paused, turning in his direction and looking out of breath.

"Hey. Finally. I let some of the guys in for their usual workout but they've been giving me some tips. What do you think?"

The blonde surfer slowly re-gathered the bags and said tightly with a strained smile, "Looks...good."

So he walked to the office and carried on in his task while the image was burned into his brain.

Emilia stared after him as some of the guys tried to cajole her into continuing.

…Bodie didn't do strained smiles.

xoxo

She was wrong, of course. They didn't have her new routine ready in time for the next battle (in fact, he hadn't seen any more of it for the past three days).

"She's the queen and I'm the ace. And you're about to get straight flushed."

Emilia spit out some line he normally would have heard but his eyes were a bit glazed over with a half smile stamped on his face.

And whoever chose the song they would be dancing to was on his hit list because suddenly the four of them were listening to the opening of Kevin Lyttle's "Turn Me On" and he was sweating just a bit while trying not to glance at his suddenly too attractive crew member and friend.

He was truly over-thinking everything. Especially with all the hip winding going on, and it was too much to hope that no one noticed his mistakes, small though they were.

The song ended with Lu$h Crew dominating their favorite song and Aubrey and Emilia gathering to talk casually in the way girls did.

Meanwhile he could feel someone staring at him and looked up to smile effortlessly at Angel, who had his arms folded and head tilted back slightly to regard him from beneath his visor in the arrogant way he did with everyone.

"Hey. Good battle," he said shortly with his friendly smile.

Angel muttered something in his native tongue with a grin that Bodie didn't get. "Haven't seen you dance that bad since...well." He stopped short and just stared him down.

Bodie just shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."

The latino didn't respond except with a raised brow and smirk that unnerved him.

xoxo

"Hey. Get up."

He felt someone kicking him, which was a feat considering he was still in bed and he could tell it was still dark. He wasn't a light sleeper and he was used to getting up pretty early for a lot of reasons but this was just cruel.

"Did you even get to bed yet?" he mumbled with lids still shut and rolled over, taking the blanket with him.

This caused his BFF to almost topple to the floor from where she stood atop his comforter.

"Of course. You know my internal clock is wired for a good six hours each night."

He peaked open an eye to notice it was four a.m.

"Are you insane?" His normally cheerful voice asked with a scratchy throat from lack of use.

"Look," she hopped down from his bed and turned to him. "I've been working on the moves and– Did I tell you what song it was? Nevermind, it'll be a surprise. But anyway, I thought we could start working on it early and then maybe head to the beach by the time its sunrise and you're gonna love it, I swear!" She was telling him excitedly.

There was a pause of silence as she stood there with her hands on her hips, waiting.

Bodie sighed to himself and turned to her while opening his eyes and sitting up, allowing the blanket to fall away to reveal his ribbed white tank and muscled arms and chest.

He blinked in surprise to see Emilia not wearing one of her usual outfits.

Somehow, her standing there in a pair of baggy sweatpants and slightly loose tee made him stare intently, something he never did when she was jumping around in her minimal sports attire or more form-fitting outfits.

"Why's your hair wet?" he questioned in a funny voice.

She shrugged, one hand still on her hip. "I went for an early run and then took a quick shower."

"You've been awake?" He looked amazed and shattered at the same time.

"Small sacrifices," she barely blinked.

"Alright," he told her. "Just give me like two hours and I'll be–"

The brunette hit play on the small stereo he had in the corner and loud music suddenly filled the tiny room.

Bodie stumbled out of the bed and stretched a hand out to snap at the volume dial while Emilia stood a few inches away, watching this.

xoxo

He had succumbed to this because his best friend and crew member was one persistent little– Ahem, determined and dedicated dancer.

He let go of his duffel bag after the first two steps inside the gym and stood still. Or at least he thought he was still but he couldn't be sure he wasn't swaying slightly with fatigue. Either way, Emilia dragged him into one of the smaller rooms they used regularly for practice.

Then she easily hopped over to the P.A. system in the office that usually played random radio hits during the day for patrons before he noticed her walking back out with a small boombox instead.

He watched with a brow raised apathetically as she bent down, rummaged through her own bag, stuck a CD in and jumped up to a starting position.

Then he watched carefully as a song he'd never heard started and she began moving with focus, staring through him.

It started out tame, following the beat and holy sh–

He must've had a seizure because she abruptly stopped, seeming self-conscious and asked, "What? What?"

"What was that?" he asked back.

"Oh. Hadn't named the move yet," she looked up thoughtfully. "I guess it could be...'How I Roll'. It goes..." And then she moved back to demonstrate. "Roll forward, one, two, roll left, three, four, forward, five, six, roll right, seven, eight."

And he was forced to watch her. Even in her baggy pants he knew what she was doing, and part of him wondered what it looked like in her usual outfits. It was something, considering the move he'd seen her practicing earlier in the week was a variation of this and not as vulgar looking.

Vulgar? he asked himself. He'd seen everything and done all of it! He was a dancer! He knew virtually every style and nothing was a shock.

The shock was seeing his all too attractive best friend, ahem, roll it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. (Which on some level it was, because it was basically grinding and everyone kn–)

Bodie shook his head in disgust at himself.

"Just start from the beginning," he said to her, walking to the boombox to restart the song.

Every time she started to roll her hips, he could feel the back of his neck get warm. A minute into the song he was sure there was sweat on his forehead.

He was also a bit surprised at some of the simple moves she used. Not her usual style, though they did fit the song well.

"Alright, one more run through and I'll join you." He stood up and they both faced the mirrored wall to get their bearings.

Emilia eyed him briefly before looking back to her reflection and going through the moves, even closing her eyes a few times to get into it.

Bodie, meanwhile, was forced to look at her reflection to make sure he was getting this right. Luckily, he was great dancer for a number of reasons and one of them was that he picked things up pretty quickly.

He was just wishing he could go back to a simpler time. Back when watching his female friend perform didn't attempt to put images of some other kind of performance in his head.

xoxo

"That was pretty hot," she heard come from beside her. Emilia turned and smiled with him as they bumped fists while taking in the response from the crowd.

She could tell he wasn't too excited about this song when she'd first introduced it but he'd warmed up to it quickly enough. Bodie was quick to learn anything.

"I told you it'd be amazing," she said assuredly, nodding to herself and glancing at people nearby.

"Bodie, show us that move again!" some random person from the crowd called out.

She looked to him with her easy smile and raised a brow, though a bit unsure as to which move was being mentioned. He looked bashful for a moment.

"Why don't we just do the song again?" he asked back, to which people responded by cheering loudly and enthusiastically.

"You lead this time," Emilia told him and stepped back as the song started up.

Which might have been the unluckiest move she'd ever pulled (though she was grateful she wasn't watching from the sidelines) because when Bodie got moving on what she'd already decided was one of her favorite moves, despite it not being all that athletic, it caused her to falter terribly (more than once).

By the end of the song her face was a little red, and everyone probably thought it was from exertion but...

Her thoughts were stuck on seeing her friend roll his hips in a way that–

Oh god, she thought to herself. That's what I've been doing in front of him?

Why had she not realized how sexual that move really was?

Oh no. No, no, no, n–

Why was she suddenly admiring her partner's good form with that particular move?

She turned away to pull herself together, still breathing heavily from the workout of performing this song twice in less than ten minutes.

Then her mouth fell open into an 'O' as she realized why he was so uncomfortable watching her practice and teach him the moves.

xoxo

Bodie glanced back out the corner of his eye to see his crew member looking troubled. He chuckled to himself when she refused to make eye contact.

She wasn't the only one who knew how to roll, and he wasn't the only one suffering for it.

xo end xo

Inspired by watching the many youtube vids of Riptide's Crew Challenge for Massive Attack. When I saw it, I couldn't wait to go downstairs and play this song. Slowly making my way through Crew Challenges myself and I hadn't checked out this song on the game because I watch the vids and then try to pick up the moves by jumping into it.

Anyway, Bodie sure does this move well. XD I'm thinking there should be another chapter or two for this because the ending here isn't good enough to me. Way too open-ended (even though that is basically my style).

If I do continue I'll take out that end you see a bit up there and post another installment in a few days.

Thanks for reading and tell me what you think.

12-11-11

4:44pm