A/N: Thank you so much for all of your support, the reviews, the story alerts and the favourites. I appreciate it so much. And now here's the next chapter. Read, enjoy and review! Happy holidays my lovelies. xoxoxo
"Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There's too much fraternizing with the enemy."
"Okay, stop stomping, you're dancing, not invading the You-Know-Who's Headquarters," Josie commented at Sirius.
He let out a frustrated sigh and dropped Lea's hands. It was Wednesday night and they were going through the Paso Doble that they had learned the day before. The only change was that they had been introduced to wearing dancing shoes and Sirius was unaccustomed to wearing a heeled shoe.
"Well then how am I supposed to move?" He asked irritated. He was in a bad mood today having a pile of homework he needed to catch up and a beginning of a headache building in his head.
"Like this," Josie took Lea's hands and then demonstrated sharp, deliberate, but light steps. "Focus on being lighter on your feet," The pair whirled around for a bit, Lea concentrating on following the instructor's footwork.
"And you need to focus on keeping your shoulders down a little bit more Lea, we both know you know it's important to keep the holding position tight, but the shoulders need to remain level with the rest of you, if it's higher then it ruin the rest of the line you form." Josie said critically. Lea nodded and rolled her shoulders as if giving them a pep talk.
"Okay. Let's try it again. Focus more on the technique." She said before turning her attention to another couple.
Sirius and Lea looked at each other with the same flat look of mutual annoyance.
"Are you feeling as shitty as I am now?" Sirius asked running his hand over his face.
"Pretty much yeah," she agreed as she approached him again. Even though it was only Wednesday she felt exhausted. She hadn't been sleeping well which is something since she was an insomniac and her eyes felt tired and itchy.
They started to dance again, trying their hardest to perform the steps correctly, and keeping their shoulders down, Sirius accidentally lunged too far and then slipped on the floor thanks to his shoe, bringing Lea down with him in a heap.
For a moment, they just laid there, stunned by aftermath of the fall.
"Crap, I'm sorry, Lea, I didn't mean—"
She waved a hand. "Don't' worry about it. After four weeks of this is just standard procedure. " Sitting up, she looked up at the ceiling and to the starry night. "Why don't you take off your dance shoes? Let's practice on our technique without the shoes and see if that makes a difference."
Sirius gladly complied and wrenched the bloody things off his feet, resisting the urge to chuck the shoes at Tomas and Josie's head. Wincing slightly, he got to his feet.
"Are you hurt?" Lea frowned seeing his face. At this Sirius bit back a smile. Hearing the faint voice of concern in his voice was definitely an improvement in their non existent, barely there relationship. Friend ship. Or some ship.
"Nah. Just got a headache coming on," he wrapped an arm around her waist drawing her closer to him.
"Oh that sucks. I'm sorry,"
Sirius did smile this time and Lea found it attractive. It was a different smile, different from his usual confident grin, smirk, leer or whatever else he sported on his face. Then she mentally slapped herself. Since when did she find herself thinking that Sirius' smile was attractive?
She was tired and a little out of it. That's why her analysis buttons weren't working. But then she rationalised from a purely anthropological point of view, that aesthetically speaking, Sirius was good looking, he knew, she knew it, the people in the paintings knew it. So it was perfectly reasonable to find him attractive, as long as she wasn't attracted to him.
She gripped his hands as he stepped back stretching the length of her body nearly parallel to the floor. It was a new move they had learned and it was a little difficult to master and more than one girl had ended falling on the floor from being off balance.
Lea could feel her body shaking underneath the strain of being in that particular position. Uh oh.
"Sirius, get me back up, get me back up or drop me down!" she panted as she struggled to maintain her balance.
"Wat?"
"I can't hold this stance Sirius, I'm going down, so either get me back up or let me go!" she hissed.
Sirius abruptly dropped her hands and she collapsed face down on the floor. For a moment she just laid there and Sirius bit back a grin as he tapped her behind with his foot.
"Get your foot off my arse!" a muffled voice came from the ground.
"C'mon partner, get up, let's try this again."
"I'd like to see you bloody well try this pose! You'll love how it feels!"
"Oh come on. It can't be that hard," Sirius sniggered. Lea stood up and slapped her hands on her hips.
"Ok Mr. I'm So Awesome, you try the pose and tell me how it feels,"
Sirius rolled his eyes and clasped her hands again. This time she stepped back dragging him out lengthwise along the floor. And then Sirius suddenly realized what she meant by the feeling of it. It wasn't pleasant.
"Ok ok ok! You win, now bring me back up!" he gasped as he felt his hands slipping from her grasp.
"Not a chance Sirius! You really need to feel the full experience of this stupid pose!" and with that she let go of his hands and he hit the ground with a thud.
"Oof!" he exclaimed.
"See? I told you." Her voice came up from above.
"Yeah yeah yeah I know. I'll keep be more considerate of you if we ever do that pose again." Sirius agreed. She stuck out her hand to pull him up and he gratefully accepted.
"Okay let's try this stupid Paso Doble from the top again." She instructed. Sirius sighed and threw his arms around her neck from behind and swung them around. "No more. Sirius can't function."
"Get off me!" she swatted at him. He just tightened his hold around her. She stomped on his foot. Yelping he let go of her.
"Remember the rule of NO UNECESSARY TOUCHING?" she yelled at him.
"No, but thanks for reminding me you bloody madwoman," he retorted.
A/N: Make my morning (or afternoon, evening) by reviewing? Thank you!
