Shut up and dance with me!

Mac stood out the front of the dance studio, a coffee in her hand and a scowl on her face, other than a Zumba class here and there, Mac didn't do instructional dance – ballet when she was five had lasted the grand total of a week, when she was disciplined for crumping and refused to go back. Then there was the all time personal best of one ballroom dancing class where a total of four toes were broken and only one of them was hers. Her style was more interpretive dance, letting the music take over her body and thrashing around, but her best friend was getting married and had asked her to be her maid of honour – and part of that duty was taking dancing lessons. She had stepped on Wallace's toes so hard after she told Veronica that she could already dance and Veronica asked her to prove it. Now she was waiting, anxiously waiting for whoever was going to be Logan's best man – she had a pretty clear idea of who it would be, accompanied by a sickening feeling, not only did she have to dance but she was probably going to have to dance with him. And like clockwork a car door shut and Dick Casablancas appeared. He walked down the street with a smirk and top gun sunglasses on, it was as though he was thought he was in a commercial or walking down a runway. Mac scoffed as she watched his gaze follow the ass of a passing by female.

"Mac" he approached her with a smile and ran a hand through his hair

"Dick" she said with significantly less enthusiasm, as she heaved her body off of the bonnet of her car and walked towards the studio "Lets just get this over and done with"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Dick smirked as he followed, she could feel his eyes burrowing into the back of her

"Sorry" she turned around with a smile "How is Neptune's not so favourite Hussy?"

"No complaints at camp Casablanca" they stepped into the studio "How is the world of ghost world?" she despised that nickname, he was saying to with a smile, as though it was out of nostalgia, and it was nostalgic but not of a time that she was rushing back to remember and by the look on his face, she thinks he realises it too "Still working with Ronnie?"

"All day, Everyday" Mac gently smiled, as a spandex clad woman made her way up to them, adjusting her top as she saw Dick "Incoming" she whispered under her breath

"You two must be my ten o'clock" they both nodded, Dick a little more seductively, leaving Mac to wonder how long it would take for them to make a move. Mac was so captivated by her own thought that she didn't notice that the conversation had turned to her until Dick nudged her arm

"Sorry, What?" trying to compose herself and reject the embarrassment that threatened to spill up out of her

"First of all we are going to see what you've got on the dance floor – see what I have to work with"

"What's her name?" Mac whispered to Dick as the lady who Mac assumed had introduced herself while she was tuned out, went to turn the music on, Dick shrugged his shoulders at her and Mac let out a singular laugh – how vain could this boy get

"EMBRACE" the pretty blonde yelled from across the room as she headed back towards them "No. No. No" she fussed as Mac and Dick awkwardly held each other – his hand at the top of her back as they reluctantly held each other's hands "Your arm should be on the small of her back" she dragged his hand down into an area that Mac had promised herself - after watching Dick get handsy with many a girl in high school – that he would never ever touch "Perfect, now feel the beat" it was the weirdest experience having someone watch you so intensely as you attempted to slow dance – it was worse when you were struggling, which she was ready to admit to herself

"One, two, three" somehow he had read the look on her face, that made her even more uncomfortable – this was Dick Casablancas, she had way too many morals to be that easily read by the self-proclaimed – on more than one occasion – man-whore "Left foot" he grunted "One, two, Ow that's my toe, two, three, toe again" she hated that he was actually making her feel good about this whole situation "One, two, three, one, two, three, One, two, three, one, two, your getting the hang of it" he smiled "Let's try something different"

"I don't think that's a good idea" Mac looked bug-eyed up at him, but it was pointless, he was already trying to spin her and she was already falling like a sack of potatoes onto the hard-wood floor boards of the dance studio, she fell with a large thump "WUHP" the breath escaped her

"Shit, Mac you okay?" he was bent down over her, a hand behind her neck as she looked up at him – still a little shocked "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Five" it was true, he hadn't put any effort in, she attempted to stand up

"Whoa, give it a minute. Who was the fifth president of the United States?"

"James Monroe" she asked and stated at the same time, she watched Dick turn to the perky dance instructor who had made her way over to her flattened body – and she shrugged, a sudden wave of panic hit her, why weren't they responding to her answer "Am I right?"

"Hell, I don't know! I skipped every single history lesson, but I'll Google it" Dick reached for his back pocket as Mac sat up and slapped his arm away

"Forget it" Mac accepted the hand he extended to help her stand up

"Maybe you should sit this one out" Perky suggested "watching might help you grasp the dance a bit better" Mac begrudgingly sat down on the bench seat that sat across the base of the mirror – letting out an exasperated grunt as they perfectly formed into the correct stance and began dancing without Dick's periodic counting.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Ugh" Mac exclaimed as she placed an icepack on the back of her head as she sat down in her office chair

"Mac is that you?" Veronica yelled from the other room, Mac could hear her walking out to check and therefore did not respond, she figured that her facial expression would be enough of an answer "You okay?" Mac nodded as Veronica's concerned face lightened "How was Mindy?"

"Who?"

"Your dance instructor Mindy? You did go to your dance lesson didn't you?"

"Oh that's her name, I was caught up in Dick undressing her with his eyes, that I missed her introduce herself" Veronica laughed "Thanks for warning me that the best man was going to be Dick"

"He's Logan's best friend, I thought you would assume that it was him. How did it go?"

"Great!" she sarcastically responded "Dick's hand was practically on my ass, I stepped on his toes, we tried to do a spin and I fell onto my head, and then I had to sit in the corner while Mindy and Dick span around the dance floor"

"No body puts baby in a corner" Veronica quipped

"And the cherry on top, Mindy had a cancellation tonight and she has so nicely offered it to us because 'I' – not 'us' – need all the practice I can get if I don't want to wreck your wedding and effectively end our friendship forever"

Veronica scoffed as she stood up from the chair "If you fuck this up Mac, I will disown you"

X-x-x-x-x-x

Mac had arrived at the dance studio early, or earlier than Dick anyway – not that that really surprised her, and now she was standing in front of the wall-to-wall full length mirror dancing with herself. Mindy had decided that perhaps if Mac warmed up and could see what she was doing wrong before Dick got there, that when he did get there the class would be way more productive. She could hear him, well before she could see him. Mac watched him enter the room through the mirror, he winked at Mindy, discarded his jacket – somehow he managed to look better than he did that morning, and she wasn't sure how it was possible, she had lived a day and was barely holding it together – Dick walked over "How are we doing ladies?" he asked as Mac continued to dance "You're so tense Mackenzie" it surprised her that he knew that that was her full last name, he put his hands on her shoulders and she tensed more "Weird, I usually have the touch" he winked at her again

"Guess I'm immune to your charm" Mac quipped back; she wasn't quite sure why she was going along with this

"Do you mind, Minds?" he asked as he pulled an I-pod out of his pocket and passed it to their dance instructor, while Mac was left wondering when he had worked out what her name was. Dick turned his attention back to her "I know you can dance" her eyebrows perked "Don't think I didn't see you moving your body at the reunion" she didn't know if he was purposely trying to make it sound seductive, or if he had been flirting for so long now that it literally just slipped off the tongue

"That involved a lot of liquid courage and very different music" as she said it the music changed and he smiled – god damn he was charming

"There is one element covered, and here…" he reached for something in his back pocket – he pulled out a flask and passed it to her "here is your liquid courage" she reluctantly took it out of his hands and looked down at it

"Am I going to get some form of sexually transmitted disease if I drink out of this?" his laugh made her laugh – what was going on with her? Was she actually enjoying a moment with him? She took a sip and the liquid turned her body warm, blood rushing to her cheeks – making them instantly go light red "What is this point of this again?" she asked as Dick took a sip of whatever was in the flask and began jump/skipping around in a circle – so that's how Dick Casablancas danced.

"We need to get you to loosen up, just let your hair down, get your dance on"

"This is ridiculous" she said as he threw himself down on his knees and slid, no words were deterring him, even Mindy was grooving away – if there was one thing that Mac hoped she hid well when it came to her own traits was her competitive streak – she couldn't count the amount of times she had forcefully pushed her brother onto the ground to beat him to the kitchen – in fact she had done it two weeks ago. And it was this competitive nature that threw her into the worm – she wasn't sure why but it happened and Dick was wetting his pants laughing. He helped her up and after some body rolls and hip circles – courtesy of Dick – he took her hand and they started to twist. Her stomach was killing her from laughing and her mouth hurt from smiling. It hurt more when she was aware of her smiling and tried to hold it in so that he didn't get ideas about how much fun she was actually having. Song after song passed, and while she wasn't making any progress on her ballroom dance skills, she certainly was letting loose and so was he – he knelt down at her knees and before she knew it she was over his shoulder and he was spinning her around.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Milady" Dick did a bow in front of her, no lie he looked good in a tux – this was the first thought that popped into her head when she walked down the aisle before Veronica. After two more dance lessons, Mindy had been satisfied that it was safe to allow Mac on a dance floor, and Dick and Mac hadn't seen each other. There were no other wedding duties that overlapped and life went back to normal.

"I'm not your lady" she put down her champagne flute

"Would you care to dance?" she was sitting next to her parents, who were both a little unsettled by his presence "Only if you two don't mind me stealing her away?" and the charm was back on, her mother warily smiled as Mac took his hand. Dick led her to the dance floor and span her towards him "Do you need me to count?" he asked with a smirk

"I think I've got it" she said with a smile, she was counting on the inside but he didn't need to know that

"You look beautiful Mac" so she hadn't been imagining it when she thought that his eyes had been undressing her all night, and for some reason she wasn't disgusted but instead had butterflies

"You look pretty handsome yourself" he looked down and then back up at her

"I guess it's nearly time for us to have sex"

"What?" how forward could a guy be "It didn't take you long for your true colours to come out" there was no hiding the hint of distain in her tone, but she kept dancing, it wasn't that she was succumbing to his charm, she just didn't want to make a scene and really there wasn't a scene to make – you couldn't be surprised when Dick stepped over the line, his key personality trait was his name. He was looking at her puzzled and she was puzzled that he was puzzled

"Oh wait, that wasn't me coming onto you, You're the maid of honour and I'm the best man – you know they always say that if they are single – and sometimes if they aren't – that they are going to get caught up in the wedding vibes and bang in a supply cupboard. Contrary to popular belief I'm not that forward, I put in a little leg work, if I wanted to sleep with you I would've tried to butter you up a bit better"

"Oh" Mac didn't know why she was disappointed, but it was there in the pit of her stomach

"Not that I don't want to sleep with you" he was flustered, she had never seen him flustered before and it was quite endearing "I wouldn't exactly kick you out of bed"

"Just shut up and dance with me" she looked at him sternly and then pushed her body into his, the one thing these heels were good for was allowing her to reach a height where she was able to put her chin on his shoulders – and then she blushed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

It was just Veronica and Logan left on the dance floor now, Wallace had picked up a girl and headed home and so had every other guest. It was just Mac and Dick lingering on. "Hey Mac" he said as he pulled the label off of a beer bottle

"Mmmm" she responded as she watched the newlywed's slow dance and kiss – if it got any steamier she was going to have to look away

"I know that I was horrible to you in high school, and I know I probably made it worse by trying to apologize and kiss you when I was drunk on the beach that day – and there is nothing in the world that I could do to make it better. But it's been really fun getting to know you outside of that"

"What have you learnt?" was she flirting, she didn't even know anymore

"That your go to move is the worm" he laughed and placed a hand on her leg, she looked at him curiously and he quickly lifted it "Shit, sorry. I shouldn't have done that" instead of responding she took his hand and walked him towards the doors to the house "Wait are we?.." she looked at him and winked "I get it, now that you know I can dance you want to see if I can horizontal dance"

"Please shut up," she said as she dragged him in the door

"Should we stop that?" Veronica asked, anxiousness appearing momentarily in her blissful state, before Logan dragged her back into it.

The end