A/N: Sorry about the long wait, school's been really hectic so I haven't had much time to write. But I've got some days off coming up so hopefully I can get some stuff out soon. This chapter, as pointless as it is, is dedicated to Angel of the First Degree, who wrote an amazing story but is so busy that she can't continue it.

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Chapter 11: It Takes Two to Tango

Mark took a deep breath before knocking on the door. He had not seen Nanette for a long time, since before he had moved to the city. The door creaked open slowly, revealing a pretty redhead with shining blue eyes. Mark gave a slight gasp; she had matured so much since grade school, where she had been an awkward bookworm, very much like himself.

"Mark!" she squealed, moving forward to hug him and tripping on the welcome mat. She fell into him, knocking them both to the floor.

Some things never change, Mark thought, feeling his hip collide with the hard ground.

"Oops, sorry," she said breathlessly, "I'm just so excited to see you! You look wonderful, are you taller? I could have sworn you were much shorter before. Is that the same camera you had in school? Aren't you ever going to get a new one? How's life in the city? Do you have a good job? Are you still living with that Roger person? You know he was pretty cute, and he was great at the guitar. Does he still play the guitar? I heard he was in a band, is that true? How have you been?" All this was said in about three seconds with no pause for a breath; Nanette always had a tendency to get ahead of herself.

Mark just smiled and helped the girl to her feet. He was far too used to her rambling to bother replying; after all, they'd been friends since kindergarten. Nanette's family used to live next door to the Cohens, so Mark and Nanette had grown up together. They'd never been extremely close, after all she was the rabbi's daughter, but they were friendly.

"I've been fine," Mark said, making sure his camera wasn't broken, "How about you?"

A moment after the words escaped his mouth, Mark wished he could pull them back since Nanette decided to tell him every little thing that happened in the past 3 years. He used the cover of inspecting his camera to keep from looking at her so she wouldn't be able to see he wasn't paying attention. Still, she may be slightly ditzy, but she wasn't stupid.

"Mark Cohen! I haven't seen you in a long time, the least you could do is look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Mark gave a slight sigh, "Sorry."

"That's okay. Hey, I have a surprise for you." Nanette said, changing subjects abruptly.

"What?"

"Come on," she checked her watch then grabbed his arm and led him down the driveway, "We'd better hurry or we'll miss it."

"Nanette where are we going?" Mark asked, slightly in shock.

"You'll see, just keep your camera with you."

"Where are you taking me?"

"I told you, it's a surprise. But I think you'll like it."

The two walked down the streets together, Nanette constantly checking her watch and looking at the sky. Mark just stared at her in confusion; he was used to her doing crazy things like this but she seemed really excited about this one.

"Okay we need to hurry," she stated after about 10 minutes of walking. She grabbed Mark's hand and hurried down the street; Mark had no choice but to follow her. She led him off the sidewalk and into a small park that they had played in when they were children.

"Nanette?" he asked once again, "Will you please tell me what's going on?"

"Okay, remember when we were kids and I was playing on the jungle gym and that kid hit the garbage can with a stick and a bunch of bees flew out and then one got stuck in my shorts and kept stinging me and I got stuck on the bars?"

"Of course I remember," Mark replied quietly.

"Well you came and got me down. And then when I was afraid to go on the jungle gym again, you offered to guard the garbage can so no one could hit it. I mean, I know it sounds stupid, but that really meant a lot to me, you were always there for me, no matter how annoying I was."

"Well, you were my friend. I could talk to you, and you didn't make fun of me for liking cameras and everything like most people did. You were my best friend."

"And then you met Roger."

And I haven't exactly been a best friend to him, Mark thought bitterly. He had been afraid when he went to help Nanette off the jungle gym, but that didn't matter, that was just what friends do; help each other when they need it. So why wasn't he helping Roger through his time of need? Sure his problem was bigger than a few bees and a jungle gym, but when a friend needs you, you're supposed to be there for them.

"Anyway," Nanette said, breaking into his thoughts, "This wasn't the only reason I brought you here. Come here."

She led him up a hill to the top of the park where the playground was, and as they walked over the top they were greeted by a bright orange-red sunset.

"Oh wow, this is amazing," Mark said breathlessly, instinctively reaching for his camera.

As he filmed, he noticed that a stream of sunlight gleamed through the jungle gym. He trained his camera on it.

"Nanette go stand by the jungle gym," he said without taking his eyes off his camera.

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it."

Sighing, she walked over and stood in front of the sunbeam. Quietly, Mark began to narrate.

"Enter Nanette Himbelfarb, the rabbi's daughter and a wonderful person. I owe so much to her, she gave me a lesson in what it's like to be a true friend, even though she doesn't know it."

He switched off the camera and went over to sit on the jungle gym.

"Hey Mark, how long are you here for?"

"I'll probably go back home tomorrow afternoon or so, why?"

"Well tonight there's this dance contest at the Jewish community center and-"

"Oh no Nanette, I am not dancing."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know how!"

"Well I could teach you!" she looked at him with wide eyes, the eyes Mark loved to refer to as the 'puppy dog eyes'.

"Oh man, why do you do this to me?"

She smiled mischievously.

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"Okay maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Nanette admitted three hours later. She and Mark had been practicing for an hour and a half and all they had to show for it was several bruises.

"Well I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly good at the Tango!" Mark said angrily.

 "I noticed," Nanette said, rubbing her feet, which were constantly being stepped on.

Mark took a swig from his bottle of water.

"Why the tango? Why can't we do swing dancing or something?" he asked.

"Because there is no way I'm letting you throw me in the air."

"Hey you're not exactly graceful yourself." Mark replied, remembering their last attempt in which she had tripped over his foot and fell on top of him, her knee hitting him in a very sensitive area.

"Okay so we both suck. But we could still win."

Mark gave a little snort.

"Well, we could at least not embarrass ourselves."

"I have a better way of accomplishing that. We don't dance."

"Oh, but Mark I already signed us up, we have to dance. Come on, let's try it again."

Sighing, Mark resigned himself to another hour or so of pain as they kept practicing. They were getting better, but it was a slow and difficult process.

"Okay, 1, 2 and Ow! No don't stop keep going, 4 and 1, 2, 3"

"This is ridiculous, we're not getting anywhere."

"Shh, I'm concentrating."

By the time the actual dance rolled around, both were exhausted. They had taken a quick break to eat and get changed but soon Mark found himself back at the dreaded community center.

"Mark!" Nanette called from across the room. She was wearing a dark purple dress that fit snug on her body but flared out at the hips, which accentuated her leg movements.

"You look nice," he said as he walked up.

"Thanks. Are you nervous?"

"Let me think, I'm in a dance contest in front of all these people I grew up with about to do the tango which I've never even heard of until today and oh might I mention that it was extremely hard to go to the bathroom!"

Nanette put her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughs, "Oh I'm sorry Mark. But this is going to be fun, you'll see."

"Sure."

As if on some incredible cue, the announcement, "Next up are Mark Cohen and Nanette Himbelfarb who will be doing the tango," came booming through the speakers.

Mark smoothed out his shirt and followed Nanette into the center of the room. His stomach gave a lurch; he had just remembered how much he hated standing in front of crowds. Nanette smiled and squeezed his hand for support as the music began. They started to dance, Nanette moving backwards and Mark leading, This isn't so hard, Mark thought as he concentrated on Nanette's shoulder. He was too nervous to look at the crowd and he couldn't look at her face because he was afraid she'd see him panic. They changed directions swiftly and in time with the music.

Score! Mark applauded himself as he heard the spectators start to whisper. Gaining confidence, he dipped Nanette, who threw her head back dramatically, causing her hair to fly. There was a collective 'oooh' from the crowd.

Sure, milk it for all it's worth. You and Maureen should get together sometime.

They continued to dance and before he knew what was happening, the music was fading and the crowd began to applaud. Nanette beamed at him as they took a small bow and hurried off to the side. Once they had reached the refreshment table she threw her arms around him and let out a squeal of happiness.

"I can't believe it! We did it, and no one got hurt or anything. Mark that was so great!"

He smiled awkwardly and waited for her to let go and let him breathe.

"Yeah, we did good," he said after finally feeling his Adam's apple return to the front of his throat.

"You know Mark, this really meant a lot to me. Thanks for sticking through it."

He smiled and hugged her, "No problem."

That night when he got back to his parents' house he called Roger. No one answered so he left a quick message.

"Hey Rog? You there? Pick up, it's Mark. Okay fine, just wanted to let you know I'm on my way home tomorrow morning. And um, just wanted to tell you, I've been doing some thinking and… well I'll tell you when I get back. Bye."

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Yes, pointless I know but I needed something pointless plus my mom dragged me to this place where she takes ballroom dancing lessons and I learned to tango so I was very excited. Oh and by the way, that whole bees and the jungle gym incident, that really happened to me. It is not cool being trapped on a jungle gym with a bee stuck in your shorts, and no one actually came to get me down, I just kinda fell on my head. Oh well, it made for a nice plot point so who knew? Review please!