The building was old. That was the first thing Rey noticed when she arrived at the address her kendo instructor gave her. She looked up and took in the pristine signboard.
Organa Dance Studio
This was the place. Rey shook her head.
She had no idea what ballroom dancing had to do with kendo. It wasn't like wushu which was good when supplemented with ballet. Sensei Skywalker had insisted that she take classes though.
"To help with your stance," he told her as he handed her the business card.
"I don't have the money for this," she replied, trying to decline the card.
She really didn't. She was on scholarship at her college. It paid for all of her school fees and expenses while at school. It also provided her with a generous enough allowance which allowed her to take kendo lessons. Anything more than that would strain her resources.
"Don't worry about it," Sensei had smiled mysteriously. "I've paid for the first ten classes."
"I don't know what to say," she had replied, blinking in wonder. Dance classes weren't cheap, she knew that much.
"Just attend those classes and we'll call it even," he said.
Which was why she was standing in front of the building. She knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe she should buy something to drink at the Millennium Falcon which was on the ground level of the building. The studio itself was on the second floor.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself. If she didn't go up there now, she probably never would.
Rey climbed the stairs slowly. Just because she resigned herself to her fate didn't mean that she would do anything to make it come quicker.
She was an awful dancer, she knew that. Kendo was the closest thing to organised body movement that she could do. She was sure to get laughed at.
Rey paused at the landing of the second floor and took in the dance studio which was visible from the doorway past the counter. It looked like the average studio with wooden floor and a wall of mirrors with bars close to them for people to stretch on.
"May I help you?" the man at the counter asked with a polite smile. He was wearing a jacket over what appeared to be a tight fitting grey shirt, the usual kind Rey assumed dancers wore.
"Uh yeah," Rey replied walking up to the counter. "My sensei sent me. He said that he booked me lessons?"
"Name?" the man inquired, opening a log book.
"Rey-" she began, but was cut off.
"Your sensei's name?" he said, lifting an eyebrow as if referrals from kendo masters happened often.
"Skywalker," Rey replied.
The man's eyes scrutinized her after that. Rey swore that one of his eyebrows raised a microfraction. His polite expression didn't slip of course.
"Ah Sensei Luke, of course," he nodded. "I remember his referral. He did warn that you might never show up, but here you are! If you'll follow me."
He didn't wait to see if she would follow.
From the inside, the studio was bigger than she initially thought it was. The big room had a divider right down the middle. On the far side, an older lady was teaching a group of children ballet. Seeing the direction of her gaze, the receptionist decided to explain a few things.
"That is Madame Organa," he said. "She owns the studio and teaches ballet. She teaches ballroom from time to time, but as often as she used to."
"Oh," Rey said, feeling like the man was waiting for her to reply.
"I am Pio," he continued. "I also teach ballet. And this is Ben."
Rey stopped and noticed that Pio was standing beside a younger man. His black hair was pulled into a bun and he was wearing a loose black sweater and a pair of jazz pants. His feet were in black socks instead of dancing shoes, as she would have expected.
"Nice to meet you," Ben smiled, holding his hand out for her. "Miss?"
"Rey," she supplied, shaking his hand in greeting.
"Well," Pio said. "I'll leave the two of you alone."
When the man left, Ben gave Rey a quick once-over. She didn't usually care about how she dressed, but she couldn't help but fell like she could have put more effort into fixing her hair that morning.
"Do you have dance clothes?" he asked, raising a brow at her outfit. "And shoes?"
Rey blushed. It wasn't her fault that she dressed up in jeans and sneakers. They were comfortable. The commute and walk over warranted the use of practical clothing.
"I have sweat pants and an extra shirt," she supplied, not letting his critique of her clothing bother her. "I don't own dance shoes."
"Good," he nodded. "Dancing shoes are expensive, and they vary from style to style. We can deal with that later, for now you can wear your sneakers. You can change over there."
He gestured to the dressing room behind them. Rey nodded and went inside. As she changed, she wondered, not for the first time, what on earth she was doing there. She sighed.
It was a gift from her sensei. He said that it would help with her kendo, and she believed him. He had never steered her wrong thus far.
While Rey was in the other room, Ben looked over the CDs that he had, deciding which one they should use for their lesson. He figured that they could start with the box step and move on from there. The next goal could be decided when she tells him what style she wanted to learn.
He heard someone clear their throat and looked up. His student looked adorable in her loose tee and baggy sweatpants. Ben suppressed the urge to pat her on the head.
"This is okay, right?" she asked, self-conscious because of how she looked next to him. He just smiled at her.
"You're comfortable?" he asked. At her nod, his smile widened. "You can move?"
She demonstrated a few stretches and nodded again. She knew that it looked like her clothes would hamper her movement, but they didn't.
"Good," he stood. She had no idea that he was that tall. "Shall we begin?"
He led her towards the mirror and positioned himself beside her. They started with basic stretches, not needing to use the bars near the mirrors.
"To loosen up," he explained. "People think that ballroom doesn't require stretching beforehand. That usually leads to cramps in the middle of a routine."
Rey nodded, going through the motions. It wasn't that much different from the warm-up in her kendo classes. When they were done, he instructed her to drink some water.
"It's best if you keep hydrated, like with any other physical activity."
Rey gulped down some water, noticing that he did the same. Ben seemed to be quite adamant about preventing cramps. He must have had some bad experiences with them.
"We're going to start with your posture," Ben said after they put down their water containers. "Then we move on to basic footwork. At the end of this session, I expect that we could do a simple waltz."
"A waltz?" she clarified. "Isn't that-"
"A basic step for modern standard, yes," he nodded. "But it can be used in latin dances as well. It's a perfectly good step to learn."
"Not that," Rey shook her head. "I thought that the waltz is a paired dance?"
"You're right that the Waltz is a dance," Ben smiled. "But the step itself can be done alone."
"Right," she nodded. "But if ballroom is a paired dance, do I need to bring in a partner?"
She shuddered at the thought. Finn would probably come with her, but he was as clumsy as she was, maybe even more so. Besides, she had no idea if her Sensei paid for lessons to cover a partner.
"Ah that," he gave her a wry smile. "I hope you don't mind, but I'll be playing the part of your teacher and your partner. We're a bit understaffed, you see."
Rey nodded. She was relieved that she didn't have to find a partner. She could imagine the look on Finn's face if she asked him.
"Let's get on with the lesson, yes?"
They began with her stance, posture Rey mentally corrected. He told her that while her it was good, it also needed a bit of correction. Apparently, she was unconsciously slouching a bit.
"You should remind yourself about your posture throughout the day," Ben told her.
They moved on to the basic box-step. Ben stood to the side as soon as he saw that Rey had picked up the step. She stumbled a bit at first, he immediately stepped up behind her and helped her find her rhythm.
"Thank you," Rey mumbled, blushing at his proximity.
"Continue," Ben said, pulling away from her. "You're doing well."
He stepped back and watched her go through the paces a few more times. She was graceful, he gave her that. Ungainly, but only due to her inexperience. Given time she would become more of a marvel to watch.
"Stop," he said, and she immediately did. "Let's move on to the waltz."
He taught her the basic step, guiding her movement. She caught on quickly enough that he could stop demonstrating and start correcting. He let her practice a bit more before he told her to stop.
"Shall we try it with a partner?" he asked, not waiting for her to reply before her swept her in his arms.
"One arm on my shoulder like this," he guided her left arm into position. "And the other one extended like so."
He stretched her right hand, smiling at her reflection. He didn't know if she was uncomfortable with their proximity or with him. She would have to get over it if she wanted to continue with lessons.
"Back straight, head tilted," he instructed.
She followed without a hitch. He guided her through a box step and then moved them into a waltz.
"Just follow my lead," he told her. "I won't let you trip, so stop looking at your feet."
"Right," she said, shifting her gaze from her feet to his face. "Better?"
"Gaze away from your partner," he said.
"Why though?" she asked. "Does it make you disconcerted?"
"Not at all," he denied, leading her into a dip. "It might make you uncomfortable though."
The sudden dip took the air from her lungs. Rey had always thought that ballroom dancing was boring, but this proved her wrong.
Ben smiled down at her, keeping her in the dip longer than normal. Oh he would enjoy teaching her if she decided to continue the lessons. He hoped that she would. He let her up and quickly released her.
"This was a good session," he smiled at her.
"It was," she agreed, catching her breath. Her pulse was still beating fast from the dip. The butterflies in her stomach weren't as quickly rationalised however. She chalked it up to not eating anything before the lesson.
Ben led her through a cool down routine, making sure that she did each exercise properly. He was hovering worse than her sensei after a particularly grueling lesson.
When they were done, he grabbed his water bottled and indicated that she should do the same. After a few mouthfuls, he then motioned that they sit near the changing room.
"Will you be coming back?" he asked as she wiped the sweat from her face.
"I think so," she smiled at him. "I really do."
Madame Organa looked over from the other side of the room. She smiled as she saw the interest that her son had in the girl sent their way. Luke was right about her.
Still she shook her head. Ben would not like it if he ever found out that his own Uncle set him up.
I don't know anything about ballroom. Everything was a shot in the dark, so... I'm sorry for the things, I'm pretty sure I got wrong.
Thank you to the anon over at tumblr who asked for this.
Comments and prompts are welcome! But getting the prompts filled might take me a while since school is resuming on Monday.