I was watching Step-Up..just go with it. Warning-if you haven't seen the Step-Up movies or you're not too familiar with dancing then you'll probably have no idea what i'm talking about when I say pop, break etc. If you read on anyway, you're the best! Hope you enjoy!
All human.
Derek-23, Ashlee-21, Scott and Stiles-18, Lydia-20.
Enjoy :)
Ashlee's p.o.v
I've been watching him for awhile. He floats through here every now and then, more often in the last couple weeks. This place, this club, belongs to my best friend Lydia Martin. She makes alot off this place and it's understandable why. Anyone and everyone comes here, weither it's to show off what they've got or just to watch. Jungle, this is the place to be if you want to do or see dancing. And this guy, this tall, dark-haired guy, he can dance. Weither he's working the floor or not, he's good, he's better than good. He just finished wiping the floor with this guy called Aiden who comes in here alot, he has a crush on Lydia. Lydia's not interested though, she likes our other friend Stiles Stilinski. She's too scared to ask him out though. I can't talk, this guy's been coming here for months and i've never talked to him, not even once. I haven't even had the courage to say hello. If you asked any regular in here, they'd tell you that i'm sort of a lone wolf, apart from my close clique of Lydia, Stiles and my brother Scott. Everyone knows i'm a definate hot-head. Rebelious when need be, that one's mostly Stiles' fault. Because I always take up the opportunity to battle anyone that challenges me, people find me quite..how should I say this? Let's call it 'honest'. I say what's on my mind, I don't want people to like the fake me, either accept me the way I am or don't, I don't really care. I've got my best girl friend, Lydia, my best guy friend, Stiles and my brother. I'm not exactly looking to make more friends. And god, Lydia loves to push me to try find another guy friend..to date. But then I push her right back, tell her to ask out Stiles. And then the conversation is over, both of us blushing. So when said best girl friend purposely pushes me into the tall, dark-haired guy, I freak. She smirks at me, disappearing into the crowd again. He turns around and jesus christ.
"Sorry, I didn't see you" he says, voice deep but not too deep. It's husky. He studies me with green eyes.
"It's..it's fine" I say. Honestly, i'm shy unless you've pissed me off and I have something to say.
"You're Ashlee, right?" he asks.
"How did you know that?" I ask him.
"I've seen you dance here before" I find myself fighting off a blush. "You're really good. I saw you take down that blonde guy the other night" he smiles. It's so distracting I almost forget to respond.
"Thanks. I saw you before, you killed it out there" I smile back at him as his gets bigger at the compliment. I decide to grow some balls and actually talk to him. "I see you here alot" wow. What a great conversatin starter, good work Ashlee.
"I see you here alot too" he says. I chuckle.
"This is practically home to me though. The owner, Lydia, she's my best friend"
"This sort of feels like home to me as well.." he says quietly. "I don't really have family..these people..they're family" he tells me.
"It's okay" I say, I can tell he feels uncomfortable with the confession. "It's the same with me, i've got my brother..that's it. Then a couple close friends" the guy nods in understanding. "I never caught your name" I say. He grins at me.
"Maybe that's because I didn't tell you it" he says, amusement in his voice.
"I thought it was fair I knew your's since you know mine" I tease back.
"It's Derek" he tells me. I smile.
"Well Derek, it's nice to meet you" I say, holding my hand out. He takes it and we shake.
"Ashlee!" I hear a girl, Malia, call out. I'd consider her a friend, not like Lydia though. She doesn't dance, she finds people who want to battle though. Looks like she's found me a battle.
"I have to go" I say reluctantly. I expect my hand to slip from Derek's as I walk away but it doesn't. He pulls me back to him. "What are you doing?" I ask.
"Dance with me" he says, suprising me.
"But Malia's got someone who wants to battle" I say. He looks over at the person with Malia.
"Do you really want to battle, and probably win, againist that blonde guy again?" he asks. I look over and sure enough, it's the same guy from the other night. "Tell me you want to and i'll leave you alone" he says. I turn back to him with a smirk.
"Come on" I say. He lets me lead him to the dancefloor. "Show me what you got" I challenge. He raises an eyebrow. "You said you wanted to dance"
"With you" he says.
"You're going to have to work for that" I smirk. We both look over at the DJ as Talk Dirty To Me starts to blear over the speakers. It's a remix, really easy to dance to. Lydia smirks at me from beside the DJ, winking my way. I look back to Derek expectantly. He nods, looking down at his feet. I step back in suprise when he starts to do this playful white boy dance, like grooving from side to side, getting the hands involved and everything. I giggle, he looks adorable. The bass drops and the real dancing shines through, he starts to pop and lock. He's crazy good. I nod in acceptance, a huge grin on my face. He motions to me. I step up to him and start to pop myself. We have similiar popping styles but not the same. His is actual popping, mine's more girly, more hips and waist involved. He walks around me, grinning. I motion back to him. He drops to the floor, spinning on his back, flipping back to his feet. Floor and breaking, little bit of popping, I like his style. He starts to break, sliding along the floor and standing back up to face me. "Impressive" I say.
"Does that mean I can dance with you now?" he asks, coming back over to me. Good Thing by J Cole starts to play over the speakers. Everyone moves to find someone to dance with, this song's slow but it's got a good beat. You usually dance with someone else to songs like this. I nod. He grins and his arms come to my waist. We move to the beat. We're pretty close to each other, swaying from one side to the other. "What else can you do?" Derek asks, leaning into my ear. I let him go, waving for him to get back. He steps back, eyes watching me. I lean back into a bridge until my hands touch the ground. I flick my legs up to get back to my feet. I pop and then drop into the splits. Derek's hands find mine, pulling me back up to him. I start to groove and shake, this is my favourite type of dancing. It's definately on the girly side and it makes me feel feminine. I can't help but laugh when Derek starts shaking his butt, trying to immitate me.
"Don't do that" I say, smacking his arm playfully. He stops and laughs.
"If you can shake your ass, why can't I shake mine?" he teases.
"Because I can't see it properly when you do" I say, pulling him back to me. His eyes widen a little in suprise but he's still smirking. His hands come to my waist again, keeping me close. I've got mine around his neck, keeping him close.
"Ash!" uh-oh. I turn and see an angry Scott getting past Lydia and coming towards us.
"Boyfriend?" Derek asks, hands slipping from my waist.
"Worse" I say.
"What's worse?"
"Protective brother" I sigh.
"Come on" Derek says, grabbing my hand.
"What are you doing?" I ask as he starts to drag me out of the club.
"We're getting out of here" he smirks. For some crazy reason that I don't understand, I run out with him.
"Where are we going?" I ask him, the cold wind ripping around us as we run into the night. He stops and turns around to make sure noone's behind us..my brother specifically.
"I don't know" he says. "Where do you want to go?" he asks. I narrow my eyes a little at him.
"You barely know me. You drag me out of a club and now you want me to take you somewhere?" I ask him.
"Sounds right" he nods.
"And you're not worried that I could be dangerous?"
"Are you worried I could be dangerous?" he answers my question with a question.
"Dude. You're holding my hand and you literally just shoke your ass in front of a clubful of people" I say with a chuckle. "I don't think you're dangerous" he joins in with my chuckling.
"You did the same thing" he points out.
"Well how else do you think I keep winning those battles?" I tease, nudging him.
"I think you're more than just a pretty face" he says. I scoff but with a smile.
"Smooth guy" I laugh. "Maybe I should be worried about being out here with you" I joke.
"Really, where do you wanna go? I can take you home, my car's around the corner" he offers. Home..
"Home was back there.." I say. "I wasn't kidding before" I chuckle nervously. Mine and Scott's Mum passed a year ago..our father isn't around, he walked out a long time ago. So now Scott and I live at the club, there's rooms above it. It's just me, Scott and Lydia, we all have seperate rooms. Stiles spends 80% of his time over at our 'house', his Dad works alot but he's home when his Dad is, he lost his Mum back when he was young.
"Do you want to go back inside?" he asks. I shake my head.
"Scott's back there..my brother" I tell him.
"I know where we can go" he says with a smile.
"Where?"
"Come on" he says. And once again i'm letting him lead me away.
"This is your's?" I ask with wide, amazed eyes as I stare at a 2010 black Chevorlet camaro.
"It was my sister's..she left it to me" he says.
"Oh" I say, realising what he meant. "I'm sorry"
"She's fine..just moved away after a..family crisis. She wanted me to have it to remind me she's always with me even if we aren't togther" he clears up. I smile softly, that's amazing. His sister sounds amazing. He opens the door up for me, motioning for me to get in.
"The ass shaker is a gentleman?" I say in mock suprise.
"Just get in" he says with an eyeroll and a smile. I get in and he shuts the door behind me. He comes around and gets into the driver's seat. My phone starts ringing. I look at the caller ID. Scott. Uh..I hang up.
I'm fine Scott, I promise. I'll be home later I send him a text.
"Maybe I should just take you home" he says.
"Drive" I say.
"What?"
"Derek, drive. You said you knew where we can go"
"I don't think your brother likes this" he says.
"Oh no, he doesn't" I confirm. Derek stares at me blankly. "It took me months to finally get the courage to talk to you so drive" I admit, not meeting his eyes. I can practically hear the smile break out on his face. "Start driving before I get out" I say, looking over at him with amused eyes.
"I guess I don't have a choice then" he smiles, pulling out of the alleyway. "We couldn't have a pretty girl like yourself walking the streets this late, could we?" he smirks.
"Do you use these lines on all the girls that dance with you at the club?" I ask with a cocked eyebrow.
You're the only one i've danced with" he says. I'm about to scoff, I mean look at the guy! He's gorgeous! But when he shows no signs of lying, I don't. "I go to Jungle to battle, to be..myself, not dance with girls"
"Then why dance with me?" I ask.
"Remember, you're the one that talked to me first" he smiles.
"Lydia pushed me into you actually" I correct him.
"But here you are" he says, smile getting bigger.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask again.
"Not very patient either, are you?"
"Stop teasing me, just tell me where we're going" I chuckle.
"You'll see" he says. Damn. I hate waiting.
..
"What is this place? How'd you find it?" I ask, as we step out of the car. We're on the waterfront but above the pathway, there's a shack/shed up here. How'd he even know about this place? I've lived in Beacon Hills all my life and i've never known about this place.
"This is where I train" he tells me, the two of us leaning againist the railing over-looking the water.
"You dance here? This is beautiful" I say.
"My Mum used to bring me and my sisters here. My sisters loved to dance, it's a huge part of why I got so into it. Laura, my oldest sister, started taking me to her crew trainings. The dancing..it grew on me. She got me into it and that's why I do it"
"Battle?" I ask. He nods. "Dance has always been kind of like an escape for me" I say. "The music, the people, it's like you can escape everything with a few moves" we both fall silent. "Sorry" I chuckle awkwardly, that was deep, especially for me.
"No, it's fine" he chuckles too. "I get it"
"Now I just love it. Lydia owns the club so it's perfect, I can dance whenever I want too"
"So you really do live there?" Derek asks.
"Yeah, with Lydia and Scott and practically Stiles too, he's like my surrogant brother" I tell him. He nods.
"Can I ask what happened to..your family?" he asks cautiously.
"If I can ask what happened to your's" I say, not missing a beat.
"That's fair" he says, looking down at his hands. "There was a fire at my house..they were all trapped inside. Laura and I were at school. My..my Uncle Peter managed to get out. Laura's moved away now and Peter's in hospital" he tells me.
"I'm so sorry" I say, realising I shouldn't have made him tell me.
"It's okay" he says sadly. I watch as his face changes from sad to neutral. I've seen that before..I do that, to hide what i'm really feeling. Probably why everybody finds me so..'honest'. "Your turn" he says.
"My Mum passed a year ago..cancer. Scott and I were devastated. Not only did we just lose the most important person in our lives but we lost the house too..we lost everything. Then Lydia had this crazy idea, she saw that the warehouse was up for sale. The club was already underneth but she's had alot of work done to it. Obviously, she brought it and we live off the money it makes..we live as a family as none of us have alot of that anymore. It's been a year and we're still as close as ever" I say, giving Derek a small smile.
"What about your Dad?" Derek asks.
"He..he walked out when I was 3 and Scott was a few months old" I sigh, looking down again.
"I'm sorry" he says.
"It's okay, I barely knew him, he was never around. Mum had no siblings and my Dad..Scott and I just have each other"
"And your friends" Derek smiles.
"Yeah, them too" I say, returning the smile. "What about you?"
"I don't have anyone really..I mean I dance at Jungle and we're all sort of a family there but that doesn't make us actual close friends" he says, face falling at his words.
"No, you're right, it doesn't" I agree and he smiles a little. We're quiet for awhile, the only sound heard is the water below us. "Where do you live then?" I ask. He raises an eyebrow at me. "Come on, you know my life story and you've been in my house"
"I live close-by" he says, not giving much away.
"Close?"
"Very close" he confirms. I notice his eyes drift to the shack type cottage by his car.
"Wait..you live here?" I ask.
"Uh.."
"You do!" I say, calling out his not so poker face. "Can I look inside?" I ask him.
"Sure.."
"Only if you're okay with it, I mean..you barey know me" Derek smiles at me.
"I know your name's Ashlee, you have an overprotective brother, your only family is Lydia, Scott and Stiles and I have been in and know where your house is" he says in one breath. I smile back at him. "Come on" he says, holding his hand out. I take it a little cautiously. I know he's not going to hurt me but I still don't really know him even though I now know his life story too. He fishes into his pocket for his keys before unlocking the door. "Just warning you now, I live alone so the house isn't that tidy" he says. We step in and my eyes widen.
"This is..perfect" I say, smiling. Derek looks over at me a little confused. I walk over to where there's a bed and a tv. "Look, perfect angle to play xbox and dangle upside down on the bed" I say, pointing to it. Derek looks even more confused now. "Fridge is like 10 steps away..why do you even leave the house?" I ask.
"But it's a little small, don't you think?" he asks. It's practically just one room, a bathroom added in. The walls are brick, looks similiar to a loft.
"No, I like it" I say, nodding in approval. "So you can just wake up and go outside and dance?"
"Yeah. You can do that to though"
"But heaps of people are always at Jungle, I need my own private place to dance as well. I wouldn't even know where to look"
"Why don't you train here?" he asks, suprising me.
"But this is private to you..personal, this is your home" I say.
"Think of it as me..scoping out the competition" he smiles. His smile is infectious..and extremely attractive. "Want me to take you home now? Will your brother be asleep?" I check the time..just after midnight.
"No, he'll still be downstairs with Lydia"
"Well..you're welcome to stay until he's gone to bed"
"Thanks" I smile softly.
"Want something to drink? Eat?" he asks, moving towards the kitchen area.
"Sure, if you don't mind" I say.
"I don't mind" I follow him over to the kitchen area. "What do you feel like?"
"Anything..I don't want to be a hassle" I say shyly.
"Don't worry, you're not" he says, pulling things out of his small fridge freezer. In no time, beef stirfry is placed in front of me. I raise an eyebrow.
"I see dancing not the only thing you're good at" I say.
"It's nothing.." he says shyly. I taste it.
"Dude" I say. "This is really good" I praise. He smiles and sits down across from me at the small table. "Want some?" I ask.
"No, you eat" he says.
"Derek" I say, holding the fork out to him. He rolls his eyes with a smirk and takes the fork from my hand. He takes a forkful into his mouth and nods in acceptance. "I told you it was good" I say, taking the fork back from him.
"You know..I have an xbox" he says. My eyes light up and he smiles.
"Could we play?" I ask excitedly.
"I can't say no to that face" he says, getting up. It takes all of 5 minutes for me to scoff down the rest of my food and jump next to him on his bed. "Here" he says, holding out a controller.
"I get to be player 1?" I ask. He nods. "Aw, thanks" I tease, nudging him.
..
Derek's p.o.v
I look down beside me at the girl i've been watching at Jungle for weeks. I've seen her at the club, she's an amazing little dancer. And I finally got to talk to her tonight. I've tried before but someone or something always got in the way. She's breathing evenly, she's asleep. I take the controller from her hands. She's already laying on my pillows so I find another blanket and drape it over her. I know I should wake her and drive her home but I don't have the heart to do it. She looks so relaxed, alot more so than she was earlier. I move onto the floor with another spare blanket, using my arm as a pillow. It doesn't take long for me to fall asleep, my battle from today having tired me out..and maybe dancing with Ashlee as well.
..
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Okay, this will probably turn into a 5-10 chapters ficlet. I like the dance theme, hope you do too :) Favourite, follow and review!