I'm posting! Yay! This is just a little story in which nothing really happens, but it could be seen as a sequel to Linguistics (Which, btw,I've come to understandwasn't a drabble. Since I posted that one, I read somewhere a drabble is just a very short story, of like a hundred words, and I thought it just was a story without much thought behind. I guess I'm not yet fluent in fanfictionese..:) I'm learning, though.) since they mention studying Ryan. At least for now, maybe I'll take that back when/if lesson two is written..

And THANK YOU for all the reviews on that one, I know this is probably the wrong place to say this, but I don't care; they made me happy. As I said, I hadn't put much thought into the story itself and I know several things could be improved (I will, some day), and frankly I didn't think anybody would be interested in the linguistic part. Butsome of youliked it and took the time to tell me and it just made me so happy!

I don't own the OC.

/ LN

Dancer

Seth had told her that studying Ryan was the best way to get to understand him better. So Kirsten watched Ryan. She watched as he walked into the kitchen to leave his empty plate and grab something to drink.

For the first time she noticed how precise his movements were, controlled. Unlike Seth, who was everywhere at once, Ryan seemed to waste no energy on unnecessary movements. Fascinated, she watched him open the fridge, take out a bottle of water, and close the door again; all in one fluid movement. It was like he was floating. Almost dancing.

"Ryan, you'd be a great dancer." she blurted out, before she could stop herself.

Ryan froze, and gave her an uncertain look. Like he thought she might be making fun of him, joking at his expense.

"No, I mean it. Did you ever dance?"

Again, Ryan only stared at her. He stood completely motionless, his face was guarded, but Kirsten saw both confusion and maybe a little hurt in it. She felt terrible, she didn't know what to say to make him understand she was serious, that she wasn't making fun of him.

"I mean, you did musicals. Did you ever dance in them?"

Thankfully, Sandy chose this moment to walk into the kitchen. His careless "What's up?" broke the tension, and Kirsten saw Ryan resume to normal, to step out of his guarded immobility.

"Kirsten is joking." he said dryly.

"No!" she protested.

Ryan just smiled at her, as if to say it was okay. Then he turned and walked out of the room. Sandy watched him depart, and then turned to his wife.

"What was that all about?" he said, voice serious.

"Sandy, I don't know what to do. I think I hurt his feelings."

"What did you say to him?"

"I wasn't making fun of him, I just said he'd be a great dancer."

To her utter surprise, Sandy chuckled at this revelation. Frustrated, she continued.

"Have you seen the way he moves?"

"Did you see him at Cotillion?" Sandy shot back, still chuckling. "Honey, you can't blame him for thinking that was a joke."

He spread his arms, and Kirsten walked into his embrace. With his arms around him, she sighed.

"But seriously, have you seen the way he moves?" she said, finally.

Sandy held her at arm's length, looking deep into her eyes. A wide grin spread across his face suddenly.

"Oh honey, you've started studying Ryan."

He pulled her close again and hugged her tightly. She nodded against his shoulder.

"His movements are so.. he's so smooth, like he's always in control."

She felt his arms tighten around her, and his voice was soft and serious when he spoke.

"You know, that's probably not a good thing."

She nodded. She hadn't thought about that, but knew he was right. And now she thought about it, she realized she didn't want to think about it; about what caused a teenage boy to move with such.. care. She remembered how his face had looked, how he automatically thought she was making fun of him when all she'd intended was a compliment. Suddenly she felt like crying.

"Do you think I hurt his feelings?" she asked quietly.

"Nah, I just.. I think he didn't understand. I'll talk to him."

She nodded.

"But you know," she added, "if he could just move like that to music.. And if he enjoyed it.."

She sighed again.

"He'd be heaven to dance with."

"I'll make sure to tell him that." Sandy smiled into her hair before leaning forward to kiss her.