I do not own Dirty Dancing.
Chapter Fourteen
POV Johnny
Masks
"Have I mentioned how boring this is?" I sigh from where I leant against the wall at the back of the room.
"Yes, about five other times tonight," Penny rebutted harshly. "Now shut up." Penny and I had been here for about three hours now, and I'd had just about as much of the guests that I could take. Thankfully, I'd managed to avoid Vivian for most of the evening. "Time?" Penny questioned, gazing mundanely at the floor of couples attempting a clumsy Nightclub Two-Step.
Covertly, I glance at my watch. 10:30. "Half an hour left," I mutter, tapping an upbeat rhythm on the back of my hand. All of a sudden, I felt Penny elbow me in the side. "What?"
The blonde smiled and pointed at the door, to a girl who had just entered. She wore a red and black mask to match her dress, and fishnet tights. The dress was cut so low it was scandalous, and her hair was piled on top of her head. "So?" I inquire, despite my finding something oddly familiar about her.
"That's Baby," Penny hissed in my ear.
"No," I shake my head. "Her Parents are over there," I argue, gesturing across the floor at the couple. "And she'd never wear something like that to a place like this. Not with her Parents here."
"I'm telling you that's her!" She insisted. Penny pointed more insistently at the girl. "The shoes!" She cried, "Look at the shoes!"
With an eye roll, I humor my friend, and glance at the woman's feet. My jaw dropped in shock. It was a pair of silver dancing shoes identical to the pair Penny had given Baby. "No," I shake my head.
Penny snickered. "I showed her how to do her hair like that, and those tights she's wearing are borrowed from me,"
"Her Parents would never let her come here in that," I insist.
"What if they don't know she's here?" Penny asked. I quirk my eyebrows in confusion. "It's a masquerade," She said, gesturing to her silver mask, and my black one. "They were here before her. With the way she looks tonight, they'd probably have to hear her voice to know it was her."
I swallowed. I couldn't believe it. Baby. Dressed up like that. She was barely recognizable as herself anymore. This wasn't her. And yet it was. It was the sensual side of her. The inner vixen I'd seen come out to play that day she practiced on the bridge.
"Ask her to dance," Penny smirked.
"What?"
"You heard me," My friend grinned. "Ask her to dance. Show her some new moves," I swallowed nervously, suddenly unable to call on the nerve I'd had in every situation previously that had required it. I adjusted my jacket, and felt Penny push me out to the floor. Annoyed, I glance back at her smiling face. "Go on," She laughed.
What the hell am I doing? I ask myself on the way across the floor, or more accurately known as the longest walk of my life. You're gonna make a fool of yourself,
Baby jumped about a foot into the air when I tapped her shoulder from behind. That was the Baby I had known. Skittish. Skittish and the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Deep down, she really was still the same. "Johnny, you scared the living daylights out of me," Baby exclaimed.
"The same to you," I respond, hastily dragging her over to the side of the room, where she'll hopefully have less attention, even though it wouldn't be possible for me to give her less of mine. Especially in that dress. "Do your Parents know you're here?" I ask. Baby looked down to her feet. "Wearing that? Christ, Baby, I barely even recognized you until Penny pointed out your shoes! What if someone here got the wrong idea about you? Who would you go to for help, because I can't believe you'd go running up to Daddy dressed like you are!"
Some part of my subconscious knew that I was only being this protective of her because of my feelings for her, and that I would never do this for a normal student. Lord knows what I would do to anyone who made a lewd comment about her. But at this point, the rest of me didn't know, and didn't care. The rest of me wants Baby in clothes that didn't have two dozen men old enough to be her Father staring at her like a piece of meat. The rest of me wanted her back in my room, on my bed, not even a sheet between us.
"I'm just tired of lying to people," She says, "I just wanted one night when I didn't have to lie about where I'm going, what I'm doing, who I'm with."
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Max circling the floor like a hawk, looking for me. "Come on," I insist, dragging her out to the floor. I told Penny I would dance with her, didn't I?
"But Johnny-"
"Shh." I cut her off. "Max is watching,"
"But, Johnny, I don't know this one!" Baby cried under her breath.
My eyebrows pinched together. "It's a Rumba,"
Baby scowled and put her hands on her hips. "It's-"
"Alright, alright," I agree, tugging her into the frame. Sometimes I forgot that she hadn't even been able to Merengue before I started teaching her. Baby had so much natural talent, it was ridiculous. She just needed the right teacher to show her how to use it. Apparently that was me.
"You know Waltz?" Baby shook her head helplessly, throwing away my comparison window. "Alright. The count is slow, quick, quick. You take one step backwards with your right foot, then two to the left. Then repeat, except forwards and to the right. You make a box, going clockwise. Understand?" I ask. Baby gave a curt nod, but I know that right now, all she really wants to do is talk. "Good,"
"Ready to talk now?" Baby asked dryly.
I nod, wanting to continue the line of discussion from earlier. "First off- your Parents, secondly, the dress."
Baby looked briefly to her feet, either in hesitation, or to make sure she was counting right. "They don't know. They're under the belief that I'm back in my room. Mom gave me a pass out of this tonight, seen as how I've been very tired lately and could be coming down with something." I rolled my eyes. The tiredness was because of me, I knew. There'd been a lot of days where I didn't have time to get her in, so I was forced to teach her late at night, a thing that Baby wasn't used to.
"As to the dress," Baby continued, "It was one I wore to my Homecoming a few years ago. I only grabbed it last second on account of needing formal wear, and it isn't something they'd recognize without a lot of studying."
"But why?" I question. "Why tonight? Here?"
"I'm sick of lying to everyone," Baby told me, loosening her frame in defeat. For once, though, I didn't mind. In fact I welcomed it. And then, all of a sudden, Baby was right up against me, arms around the neck, frame completely abandoned. My breath hitched, fighting to control my baser instincts, beating back every nerve that was telling me I wanted her.
"Baby," I strain nervously against her, "What are you doing?" A voice in my head said to welcome it. It was the side of me that wanted her, and wanted to die every time it was reminded that she was hopelessly out of my league and always would be. The part of me that was very encouraging about acting on how I felt, especially in moments like these.
"My Parents," She hissed into my ear, next burying her face into my chest. The feathers on her mask tickle my face. "They're almost right behind us,"
"Well, that's a very comforting thought," I hiss darkly. "Why don't don't you just say that my worst fears have just come to life?"
"I can't," She muttered. "That's my fear. Get your own," I roll my eyes exhasperatedly.
"Okay, Look," I began in her ear, knowing that this would have to be fast. "I get being sick of the lying. You're not used to it. But just think. In less than a week, this is all over. No more lying. You can go back to being naive little Baby Houseman, and go up to Mt. Holyoke. You never have to see me again," I say, even though that was my real greatest fear. The fear of not having her in my life. I needed Baby more than she knew. But instead of showing it, I continue, "In fact, you can forget all about me,"
"I don't want to forget," She whispered, and then more quietly, so quiet that I know it wasn't intended for anyone's ears but hers, "And I can't go back."
I know, I want to respond. I couldn't go back either.
What was there beyond Baby Houseman?