A/N: I'm trying something a little new this time! Tell me how you like it! XOXO!


Style

The space felt older. Of course, in comparison to the Magical Dimension, everything on Earth was practically an ancient artifact, but even Flora could tell that the place had a long history behind it.

The floors were wooden parquet that shone even in the dimmed lighting coming from the chandeliers vaulted in the ceilings. Tables covered in creamy satin were scattered around the space, littered with vases of flowers and champagne flutes left behind by the guests who were all currently making use of the dance floor. The bar in the corner was busy, men in sharp suits eyeing the women in colorful dancing attire that ranged from evening gowns to professional costumes. Music floated out across the room from the band in the corner, brassy heavy sounds that should've been abrasive making her sway where she stood. She looked over to Musa, not surprised that her friend was thoroughly enjoying this new sound.

Bloom had warned them that this place could be a little fancy, but Flora felt intimidated. When the girls said that they wanted to go out dancing on one night of the trip, she thought that they had meant dancing in a club. Instead, Bloom had suggested they try something different, and that's what led them to this particular venue. Bloom had said that her mother used to take her here for dancing lessons when she was little, but that she hadn't been back in years. By the way she was currently dancing with Sky, Flora figured that she must've kept up practicing somehow. She made the complicated steps and twirls look almost effortless. Swing dancing, Bloom had called it, and Flora now understood why. Women were flipping and swinging their bodies across the dance floor like it was nothing.

Flora tugged at the hem of her pink skirt, hoping that Helia would show up soon before she was asked to dance by anyone else. At least with Helia she wouldn't completely die of embarrassment. She idled around the border of the room as she watched her friends dance, some with their boyfriends – the ones that had shown up so far – and others with mystery suitors who managed to whisk them away as soon as they set foot into the space. She was the only one left without a dance partner, if only because she was actively avoiding the dance floor.

Musa was a natural and picked up the moves with ease, as did Layla. Both girls were currently having the time of their lives while Tecna and Stella were trying their best to not step on their partners' toes. It was easy to lose herself in the floods of swirling people and colors, so easy that she barely noticed that she had missed the entrance of her own date. It wasn't until she heard him laugh that she finally snapped out of her trance.

Across the room, Helia stood with his hands shoved in the pockets of his trousers. He looked so different he nearly took Flora's breath away, with his hair slicked back, a piece curling up and falling across his forehead. He wore a white button down and fitted jacket to match the trousers, and it was all so perfectly cut to him that in her eyes he looked as if he just stepped off a runway. He caught sight of her and smiled his wide smile, and her heart melted a little. She felt so underdressed compared to him in just her pink pleated skirt and sheer billowy blouse. But to him, she looked like a princess.

He kissed her on the cheek as he met her, and she couldn't help but to giggle at the romantic gesture. Without words, he offered her his arm, his expression asking her to dance with childlike enthusiasm. She shyly nodded and took his arm, her heels clacking against the parquet as they found a spot on the dance floor.

Perhaps it was the smoky air or the barely-there lighting that made the mood on the dance floor so much more sensual. They were in a room full of people, but there in the beat of the music, they might as well have been in their own private universe. Helia only had eyes for Flora, and she could barely focus on anything other than the way that he stared at her made her stomach do flips and knots. As soon as they found their own rhythm, all of Flora's worries faded away until her world was a singular point, and that point was Helia.

Helia held on close to Flora as they moved across the dance floor, his hands tight on her hips, fingers brushing down the small of her back, guiding her. She let herself be directed, trusting that Helia would turn her into him at all the right moments. There was barely an inch of space between the two, but yet it was like they weren't close enough.

Flora had never before considered the romance of dancing until this moment. She used to think that counting steps and watching feet would take up all of her focus, but it wasn't. Instead, she could barely tear her eyes away from Helia. Her body was moving on autopilot while her mind was wrapped up in him and the way he was moving against her, with her, the push and pull of the dance pulling them in like a tide.

Suddenly, his hands shifted and she felt his large hand splay across her back, guiding her down into a low dip. She was practically horizontal, kept upright from falling only by her trust that he would not drop her. Their faces were inches apart, noses brushing, a few strands of his hair falling into her face. The air was charged with a new kind of energy as he slowly lifted her back up and spun her out. It was as if the space was electric, on fire with pure energy and a desire that she had never felt so strongly before. She snapped back into him, her back pressed closely to his chest. She could feel his heart rate increasing, and he leaned down to press his face into her neck, inhaling deeply before spinning her back out into the starting formation.

Her red lips curled up into a smile as she caught on to the game Helia was playing, and fixed her with a mischievous look that was so different from the daydreamy ones that he usually wore. It took her breath away, and before she knew it she was being dipped back down again, her skirt flaring up dramatically as she made her descent. This time when he brought her back up, she placed both hands on his chest and pushed herself away, keeping with the tempo as she spun backwards. He looked affronted, shocked, and she gave him her most innocent expression. His eyes darkened, and she let herself be pulled back in. She would always give into this.

Hands were on her lower back, lower than they should've been, and her own hands were creeping up to the back of Helia's neck instead of where they should've been placed at his shoulder. She combed at the hairs at the nape of his neck until she felt the skin break out into goose bumps, and hers followed suit as his fingers slowly stroked her sides. He was whispering something into her ear as they stepped to the music, but she couldn't make her brain make sense of the words. Everything was hazy, diluted with desire and passion. She never wanted it to end.

It was hard for her to tell when one song ended and the other started, all of the moves bleeding into one long dance. If her feet were in pain and her body exhausted, then she didn't feel it. If people were starting to clear the dance floor and leave, then so be it; that just gave her more of an excuse to be more elaborate with her spins. She should've been tired and dizzy and dozen other things, but she just wasn't.

She was overwhelmingly glad that Bloom had talked her into this. For something as old as swing dancing, Flora had expected an uneventful night of stumbling and bumbling. But this…this was something new, something delightfully risqué and sexual and a million other things that set her skin on fire and sent shivers down her spine. It was no wonder that this kind of seduction never went out of style.