Ramona shivered as Justine's fingers traveled the length of her arm. Standing behind her, Justine used soft touch to guide her arm up, then swept around to her front, fingers trailing along her waist. Ramona's eyes followed the other girl in the dark, the full moon's pale light making the jewels in her dark hair glimmer. She was the picture of grace, as always, which was more than Ramona could say for herself because she took one step and Justine had to step out of rhythm to avoid being stepped on.
Ramona let her arms drop to her sides with a grunt. "I can't."
"You can," Justine assured.
"I feel foolish," she admitted grudgingly.
Ramona turned away from Justine's hopeful eyes and stared into the Enchanted Forest around them. Fairies flitted between the trees, their blue light washing over the thick undergrowth, and Ramona fixed her eyes on one in particular. She knew she never should have let Justine convince her to dance with her. As a girl, she'd admired the dances she-wolves back home performed to celebrate the full moon, but she also knew she wasn't one of them. She never possessed the natural grace that sent their bodies twirling. Instead, she was an admirer of those girls, and she could recall secretly watching them from the branches of the thick evergreens at a young age. It was, incidentally, the very thing that drew her to Justine in the beginning, when she first found the dancer performing in her sleep, beneath the moonlight. Justine reminded her a lot of those girls.
Justine grasped Ramona's hands and brought both forward. The action drew Ramona's attention back to Justine's face, patient and unusually serious.
"Your problem is that you're overthinking things. I can see it on your face," Justine said. Ramona only returned a confused look, her forehead scrunching together and lips pulling in a way that made Justine giggle. "Okay, for now, think of it like this. Dance is about expression. It's a continuous stream of emotion, not an equation. So don't think about what your feet are doing. Focus on the natural rhythm, the energy around you instead."
Ramona avoided Justine's light eyes. "But I'll… step on your feet again," she confessed despite her pride.
"Don't worry about me. I'll follow," Justine encouraged, voice soft. Her fingers fanned over the backs of Ramona's hands, sending Ramona's heart into her throat with a jolt. Ramona suddenly wanted to take the feeling and press it into the other girl's mouth. "Remember," Justine added, oblivious to the reason Ramona's gaze became heavy. "Rhythm around you."
Ramona lifted her brows. Dance is about expression. Emotion. Energy. Right. She could do that. Eyes drifting down Justine's full lips to her waist cinched with a bow and back up again, Ramona knew exactly what energy to channel.
Ramona carried a step forward and Justine reflected her, taking a step back. Experimentally, she took a few more steps. Forward. Back. Sidestep. No matter where she stepped, Justine mirrored her. And when she fitted her hand in the dip of Justine's waist, the dancer looked pleased.
"Good!" She beamed.
Taken with the encouragement, Ramona continued moving until the pair had established a pattern and their feet were gliding along the forest floor. Justine's smile grew brighter the more confidently Ramona's steps fell while Ramona kept her eyes fixed on the other's face, flushed with excitement.
"Wonderful, Ramona! You're really getting the hang of it."
Justine giggled when Ramona circled around her and twirled her once, sheer skirt floating up to her thighs. Before she knew it, Ramona's hand had slipped from hers and joined the other at her waist. Suddenly, Ramona lifted her from the ground and began to spin. Justine squealed Ramona's name in delight, scrambling to wrap her arms around Ramona's neck. The spin was far from graceful, and ended with Ramona smoothing her hands down Justine's backside and guiding the princess's legs around her waist, but really it didn't have to be graceful. At least, that was how Ramona felt when Justine threw her head back, hands still clasped behind Ramona's neck, and laughed breathlessly.
When Justine rolled forward again, Ramona met her eyes, lips parted. She watched Justine's smile give way to heavy eyes as the earlier sensation of her heart rising to her throat returned. Only, this time, it was a slow, pleasant feeling that made her head swim, hazy with awareness of how Justine's lips felt working against hers and of how closely their bodies were pressed together, there under the full moon.