"She's not here," Haley remarked as she let Tommy into the apartment that she shared with Nikki.
"What are you talking about?" Tommy asked.
"Oh come off it, we don't have any projects due so I know you not here to see me and now that you learned your mystery girl is also my roommate I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd start showing up here at random," Haley told him.
"Ok, your right I did come here hoping to see Nikki, you wouldn't happen to know where she is would you," Tommy replied.
"She's at the dance studio downtown," Haley informed him.
"Dance studio, what's she doing there?" Tommy inquired.
"Why don't you go down there and find out for yourself, I don't have time for this right now, if you didn't notice I'm trying to get ready for a date," Haley answered.
"Who's the lucky guy?" Tommy asked.
"His name is Tim and I met him at the computer lab, now will you please go so I can finish getting ready," Haley replied.
"Well excuse me for breathing," Tommy teased.
"Sorry but this is my first date with Tim and I just want everything to be perfect and you making me late isn't helping matters any," Haley told him.
"Don't worry so much, isn't that what you're always telling me, I'm sure your date with Tim is going to be fine," Tommy told her.
"Goodbye, Tommy," Haley said getting up to open the door.
"Goodbye, Haley," he said laughing as he left. He got in his car and headed downtown to the only dance studio he knew of.
"Excuse, I'm looking for someone and I was wondering if you could tell if she's here," Tommy said to the receptionist once he arrived inside.
"Ok, just tell me her name and I'll see if I can help you out," she said.
"Her name is Nicole Hunter or you may know her as Nikki," Tommy replied.
"Oh yes, Nikki arrived just a little while ago, you can find her upstairs, just go through those doors and go all the way up and take a left," she informed him.
"Thanks," Tommy said and headed for the door leading to the stairs.
Once he was at the top of the stairs he could hear what sounded like Latin music coming down the hallways. He approached the door on the left and slowly turned the knob. As he entered the room, he saw that there were numerous couples out on the dance floor. He spotted Nikki in the corner of the room dancing with a guy.
"You here to take the class?" a woman who Tommy assumed was the teacher asked him as he sat down on a nearby bench.
"Actually I'm just waiting for a friend of mine," Tommy told her.
"Sorry but anyone who comes through that door must dance," She told him.
"But I don't have a partner," Tommy replied.
"You can dance with me, come on don't be shy," she said grabbing his hand and forcing him to get up.
"This dance is called the rumba, just follow me and you'll catch on in no time," she said as she started demonstrating the moves for him.
Tommy couldn't believe what he had gotten himself into and all for the sake of a girl he was developing a crush for.
"Alright everyone, take a five minute break," the teacher suddenly yelled and Tommy was relieved.
"You've got some pretty nice moves there Thomas," Nikki said as she approached him.
"Haley told me you were here, I didn't know what to expect but I definitely didn't plan on joining in," Tommy told her.
"I admit, I was surprised to see you but now that you're here, why don't we switch partners," she said turning around and motioning to the guy that she was dancing with earlier.
"Alex, this is my friend Thomas, do you mind finishing the class with Madame Gabrielle," she asked him.
"No I don't mind at all," Alex replied.
"I'll bet you never saw yourself attending a ballroom dancing class," Nikki said smiling.
"No this is about the last place I would probably be, but you were really good out there," Tommy told her.
"I should be I've been taking classes since I was ten," Nikki informed him.
"Wait, you've been doing this since you were little?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah, it was my mom's idea, see when I was little girl all I ever wanted to do was play sports and my mother hated the idea that she was going to be stuck with a tomboy as a daughter so she insisted that I do something more suited for little girls," Nikki explained.
"So she entered you in ballroom dancing classes, I thought most mothers would have chosen something like ballet," Tommy replied.
"Oh she chose that too, actually her first choice for me was gymnastics and I was pretty good at it but I had a growth spurt and my mother realized that I was going to be a little bit too tall to really succeed in it so then she started me in ballet classes and my teacher taught ballroom dancing and needed a partner for this little boy that she was training and she asked me if I would consider being his partner," Nikki explained.
"So what happened to sports did you just give all that up?" Tommy asked.
"No, I played softball and volleyball in high school and I also kept taking dance classes," Nikki replied.
"I wasn't that into sports when I was younger, most of my time was spent on perfecting my martial arts, though I did play football in high school for a semester," Tommy told her.
"Yeah, Haley told me that you're quite the accomplished martial artist, in fact she seemed to think that you should open your own dojo one day," Nikki replied.
"I thought about that once before but my two friends Rocky and Jason ended up opening one together and I didn't want to it to seem like I was copying what they'd already done," Tommy told her.
"So instead you're getting your doctorate in paleontology," Nikki remarked.
"Yeah but my martial arts training is still a big part of my life, I try to workout as much as I can when I'm not busy with research projects," Tommy told her.
"Hmm, maybe you and I could spar together sometime," Nikki replied.
"You've taking martial arts?" Tommy questioned.
"Yes, it started with my dad just wanting me to know how to defend myself but I became really good at it, actually I was planning on going to the gym after this to work out, would you care to join me," Nikki said.
"Yeah, I'd love to see you in action, maybe I could show you a thing or two," Tommy replied.
"Or maybe there's a thing or two that I could show you," Nikki replied back.
"Is that at challenge I hear?" he asked.
"I guess you could call it that," she said smiling.
"I think I underestimated you," Tommy said a few hours later when he and Nikki were at the gym. They had just finished sparring and Nikki had definitely taken him off guard with how good of a martial artist she really was. It was like fighting the female version of him.
"Don't tell me your one of those guys who's going to get all huffy just because he got his butt kicked by a girl," Nikki said handing him a bottle of water.
"Maybe I just let you win," Tommy joked.
"Oh really would you care to go again, I promise to be much easier on you," Nikki replied.
"As much as I would really love to go another round with you I've got a better idea," Tommy told her.
"Oh yeah what's that?" Nikki asked.
"This," Tommy said as he drew her into a kiss.
"What was that for?" Nikki asked once they parted.
"I've been wondering what that was going to be like from the moment I met you," Tommy answered.
"And did it meet with your expectations," she asked.
"I'm not sure, maybe we ought to try it again," Tommy said with a grin before kissing her again.
