"I can't believe that you let him bring Just Dance." Ash grumbled as she watched Gunther happily insert the game disc into Johnny's game system.
"Wot was I supposed ter do? Tell 'im nah? It's just a game." Ash crossed her arms over her chest and sunk back into the couch cushions, all the while pinning Johnny with a glare, "Besides… it might be fun."
"How?" Ash growled out and Johnny looked around the room as if the answer was hiding among their friends.
"Well it could be pretty funny to watch everyone make a fool of themselves." He shrugged and Ash perked up slightly.
"You know what Pretty Boy? I think you're on to something." She smirked and got out her phone with the intention of taking videos of their little get together. Once they had completely unpacked and decorated their new apartment the two new roommates had decided to invite their theatre family over for a little get together, something to christen the apartment. What had resulted was Meena and Rosita bringing way too much food, Buster and Eddie devouring most of the food, Ms. Crawley falling asleep, and Gunther insisting that they play his favorite game, Just Dance.
The game system powered up and the remote was handed over to Buster who began scrolling through the song selections to find their first dance. Eventually he landed on a four-person dance routine to the song "I Was Made for Loving You" by HISS. Buster then turned around and began selecting his victims; otherwise know as the three other people that would be dancing with him in the first round.
To Ash's frustration she was the first one that he chose. But her annoyance was tempered by his next choice: Johnny. If she was going to be forced to humiliate herself by playing this game her roommate would have to suffer too. The final victim was Eddie who just shrugged and launched himself off of the couch.
The characters that they were supposed to be following appeared on screen and they quickly switched positions so that everyone could be in front of the character that they chose. Ash was the guitarist, Johnny was bassist, and Buster and Eddie were squabbling over who had to be the female drummer. Buster won out but Eddie's excitement about playing had definitely gone down a few notches. Grudgingly he started off their son by imitating the female character as she pretended to clack drumsticks over her head.
Johnny was immediately thrown into the mix as the deep bass rhythm pounded out of the speaker system. He even threw his head a little bit, his spiky hair flying all over the place. While he was jamming the screen prompted Ash to join the mix. Offbeat, and unenthusiastically she moved one hand in the same way as her character on screen.
" 'Ey Ash." Johnny called over to her when he saw her low level of enthusiasm, "Lowest score 'as ter do aw of the dishes for a monf."
Suddenly Ash's energy level changed and instead of just getting average points she joined Johnny at the 'Excellent' level. Johnny smirked and went back to watching the screen, content that he had influenced his friend to at least try and have a good time.
The vocals began and Buster jumped in as the lead singer. At that point they were all getting into the groove of the move that their particular character was doing, just in time for the game to change it up on them. They all stumbled slightly as they jumped from various moves to one simultaneous motion, which resembled some odd form of skipping. Behind them Meena, Rosita, and Gunther were trying desperately to conceal their laughter as they watched their friends fumble around in some attempt to find synchronicity. Just when they got close enough to look less like flailing fish the moves changed again and they were thrown out of their groove.
This trend continued throughout the beginning of the song as they cycled between their individual moves and their group moves. At one point Johnny's character and Eddie's character switched places while still dancing, which caused Eddie to fall flat on his face and Johnny to miss a couple of moves as he helped him up. Of course they switched back to their original positions just as quickly. This time Johnny squatted down as he moved in front so that Eddie could see better. Meena thought he looked a lot like a large crab playing guitar, and that thought sent her into another round of giggles.
Buster was actually doing pretty well as the lead singer, dramatically following every single move that appeared on screen. They went through another round of group moves in a jumbled kind of synchronicity, with Johnny and Eddie switching multiple times before things got interesting again. This time Buster and Ash had to switch along with them but Ash refused to move from her spot so Buster was forced to rotate around her like a moon rotating around a planet.
When that was over Buster jumped out in front for the vocal solo. He even slid to his knees as he dramatically waved his arms around and they all did the golden move. Only Buster and Eddie got the points for doing the move, much to the hosts' annoyance. Johnny pouted but kept dancing and Ash began yelling at the TV in frustration.
Eddie got a drum solo but has was a full second behind his character so he got no points and ended up spinning right into Johnny as he tried to start his bass solo in time with the song. The two ended up in a tangled mess of limbs on the ground as they struggled to right themselves. Johnny got up just in time to complete some of his guitar solo before it was over. He stood and watched Ash do her solo, still pouring, but now he was rubbing his aching arm as well.
Ash nailed her quick little solo, even going far enough to slide onto her knees and throw her head around. She stuck her tongue out at Johnny when her point values went way up as a result. As they moved on to group moves Johnny danced and glared at Ash while she danced and smirked at him.
They did a few new moves which involved them clapping but by now they were so off as a group it was useless. The last part of the song was freestyle and Rosita ended up bright red as she tried to hold back the loud laughter that wanted so desperately to escape. "Free styling" apparently meant flailing helplessly and head banging. Meena had her face buried in a pillow, laughing hysterically into its surface as she watched her boyfriend flail helplessly on their impromptu dance floor.
Once the song had faded out and the scores were displayed on the screen they stopped dancing to see who had won the round. Johnny took one look at the scores and hung his head in despair. Ash's score had been pushed over the top by her solo move, just barely giving her enough points to beat Johnny's. Ash cheered and strutted back to her spot on the couch with a smug grin plastered in on her face while Johnny trudged back over to Meena and cuddled up to her. She put the pillow she had been laughing into down on her lap and Johnny immediately laid his head down on it. Meena giggled and began gently stroking his soft hair.
"Aw man. Na I 'ave ter do the dishes for a whole monf." He groaned into the pillow and Meena smirked playfully.
"Maybe it'll do you some good. Most of those dishes are yours after all." Johnny just groaned in response and kept pouting as Gunther stepped up to choose his song. Next to Rosita Ash was bragging loudly about her victory and all of the free time that she suddenly had on her hands because Johnny was going to be doing all of the dishes. This just made Johnny groan once more and bury his head further in the pillow. Meena rolled her eyes at the childish antics of her friends and ran her hands through Johnny's hair gently. She puzzled over some way to cheer Johnny up as Gunther looked through the expansive library of songs. She was struck with an idea and despite the anxiety that rose up in her chest at thought; she decided to try it out.
"Howabout you and I dance in the next round?" She leaned down and whispered in his ear. She felt Johnny perk up slightly and he quickly sat up so that he could look her in the eye.
"Yeah?" His eyes were shining with such excitement that Meena was able to muster up the courage to nod her assent. Johnny immediately grinned and sat up, not even registering Ash's taunting insults anymore. In the same moment Gunther chose his song and struck his starting position. Johnny arched one eyebrow and smirked. He now knew from experience that this game was harder than it looked, and even though Gunther was a great dancer Johnny was pretty sure that he would mess up at least once. After all, "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Geese was one of the hardest songs on the game.
But as the music started their portly friend moved perfectly along with the figure onscreen, matching every move with unbelievable precision. The entire theatre family sat there staring at Gunther in amazement, their mouths open in amazement. As the song continued on the moves got more complicated and involved, but Gunther didn't even make a sense.
About halfway through the song they all snapped out of their daze and began cheering their friend on as he landed a perfect on every move that scrolled across the screen. At times Johnny was convinced that Gunther was dancing better than the model that he was supposed to follow. He looked like he was born to dance to this song.
Gunther sped up along with the beat of the music as he reached the climax of the song, still hitting every move with absolute perfection. The point meter was moving up so quickly that they could barely keep track of his score, but he had definitely passed Ash's high score.
Then suddenly the song was over and Gunther had gotten a perfect score. Unfortunately he didn't even seem to register that the music had stopped and continued to dance vigorously, humming his own beat to himself. Confused, Johnny looked at the others but only saw his confusion reflected in their expressions. After a few minutes Gunther was still dancing with the same level of energy as before and Johnny was getting a bit impatient to have his dance with Meena. It was rare that she decided to make a fool of herself like this game required, especially in front of people. He could tell that with every moment that they waited Meena was growing continuously nervous and unwilling. He gestured for Rosita to fetch Gunther and she sighed in response but got up anyway to stop her partner.
All she had to do was place a gentle hand on his bouncing shoulder and Gunther was pulled from his daze as if he had been woken with a bucket of cold water.
"Oh Rozita!" He seemed surprised to see her but smiled nonetheless, "Did I sone out?" Rosita giggled and led him back to the couch, siting him down next to Buster.
"We just thought that someone else might want to go. You did wonderfully though." She quickly reassured him but Gunther's smile didn't fade for even a millisecond.
Meanwhile Johnny stood up and began selecting a song for him and Meena to do together while she nervously fiddled with her jacket. Eventually she decided to shed it just in case the song was as involved as the previous ones. She took it off to reveal her Roaring Stones shirt underneath and went back to nervously glancing at the screen, praying that her boyfriend would choose something easy.
The beginning of the song came onscreen and Meena stumbled over herself as she got into the same position as her model with her hand on dramatically resting on her forehead and her hip popped out sassily. Since Meena had never been overly sassy she looked kind of awkward in her position the first time. She glanced at Johnny as he got into his position reaching towards her. Johnny smiled charmingly up at her and winked encouragingly. The name of the song was Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Preen.
Then the music began and her model smoothly slid into the movements unlike Meena who was trying desperately to emulate her every move. Johnny was dancing along beside her as their hands and bodies swung simultaneously, or not so simultaneously because Meena kept faltering and losing her rhythm.
When their first golden move came around Meena was still trying to catch up with the previous movements and missed it completely. Johnny, who had by now found his groove and was doing fairly well looked over at her and encouraged her in a voice that was only loud enough for her to hear.
"Relax love. Ya daan't 'ave ter be perfect. Let the music move ya." He said and Meena nodded nervously, her worried look slowly smoothing out as she focused her attention back on the screen and took a couple of deep breaths. Their next move was the same one they started out with so she was familiar with it, and found herself starting to score better. This boosted her confidence and her smile slowly replaced the worried frown that had previously dominated her pretty features.
By the time their next golden move came along she was grinning and scoring really well on the dance moves. This time she fell into the dramatic position easily, almost stopping Johnny in his tracks when he saw the pure joy on her face. He missed the next move as he recovered from his surprise but he was unfazed and quickly got back into the swing of things, inconspicuously watching Meena in amazement from the side of his gaze.
She kicked her feet happily and waved her arms in great time for her first time playing the game, all the while the smile never feel from her face, on occasion it even turned into a laugh.
When their characters bounced together and bumped into each other she even managed to do that rather gently instead of bumping Johnny onto his butt as he was expecting.
It was at that moment that Johnny's attention turned completely towards her as he half-heartedly danced along with his model. She was having so much fun that the mood was infectious and their theatre family began clapping along to the beat. When Meena's attention turned to him he quickly followed his model's example and vigorously played guitar, getting down on his knees as she blew kisses at him. Even though they were just imaginary, every one hit his heart with an extra hard beat.
When their characters began clapping along to the beat as well, Meena glanced back at their clapping audience and nailed them with her sparkling grin. Johnny was immediately struck breathless and as a result fell out of time with the clapping. Everyone noticed the dreamy look he was giving her, except Meena of course, but no one made a comment.
As the song came to an end their characters kept dancing and even switched places which threw Johnny for a loop but Meena seemed unaffected, moving in front of him and dancing just as well as when she was standing still. They switched one more time and then stood back to back as the music faded out, still moving to the beat.
When the song was completely over their family cheered loudly for them and they waited for their scores to appear. When they showed up on the screen Meena frowned and looked over at Johnny with concern.
"Why is yours so low?" She asked and Johnny immediately turned bright pink in embarrassment. Obviously she hadn't noticed him staring at her as she danced.
"He was distracted by you Fancy Feet!" Ash called out and everyone broke out into laughter that only made Johnny turn redder. Meena blushed as well and leaned forward to bestow a sweet kiss on his cheek. As they returned to their seat Johnny mused to himself.
Maybe Just Dance wasn't so bad after all.