"It's the brick studio right on the corner," Mona explained as she scribbled the address onto a small scrap of paper. "Don't worry, you can't miss it."

Angela sighed as she took the folded paper square from her mother. She still wasn't convinced that dance lessons were a good idea, but she had let herself get caught up in Tony's excitement when Mona had announced that she had signed the two of them up for a class without so much as mentioning it to either of them beforehand.

"Ready to go?" Tony asked as he nearly bounded into the room.

He looked comfortable in his black t-shirt and gray sweatpants, his eyes sparkling like a child's at a theme park.

"Ready," Angela answered, aware that her voice lacked the enthusiasm that Tony's had.

"You kids have fun," Mona said brightly.

She winked mischievously at them, and Angela could barely hold back a groan. What had she gotten them into?

Angela shifted her weight awkwardly from one foot to the other as she waited for Tony to finish signing the registration papers. Taking in her surroundings, she realized, not without a certain degree of apprehension, that she was the most conservatively dressed female in the room. With her leggings and loose asymmetrical blouse, Angela stuck out like a sore thumb from the pretty young girls in their crop tops and skin-tight pants. She imagined that Tony would much prefer to be paired with one of those girls, but it was some consolation to Angela that everyone in the studio was already partnered off.

"Don't be nervous," Tony spoke warmly to her, noting the anxious way she chewed on her bottom lip. "It's just dancing, and we've done that hundreds of times."

Angela drew a deep, shaky breath.

"Yeah... hundreds..."

Tony's hand was gentle and comforting on her lower back as he led her to an empty place on the dance floor.

"Everything's gonna be okay," he continued to reassure her "It'll be fun."

Angela's sudden sharp intake of breath made Tony jolt as he looked around to see what could have possibly startled her.

"I'll kill her!" she hissed, her wide eyes fixed on the dry erase board just behind where the dance instructors stood.

His jaw slackened as he too read the words scrawled there in brightly colored marker: "Welcome to Dirty Dancing!"

To be continued