Title: Dance with Me
Rating: M
Summary: A major league baseball player with a bad rep needs to clean his image. He signs on to do a reality dance show. Will he clean his image and have the right kind of chemistry with his partner?
Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer I own nothing.
Comments: Based loosely on the reality t.v. show Dancing with the Stars and because Bella/Edward are my new favorite ship.

The text in italics are flashbacks.

Happy reading!

Thank you, RuthPerk, for beta'ing.

April 2nd, 2008

Bella POV

Tonight, we were third to dance. Our dance was the fun and energetic Jive. I liked the Jive; it was a favorite dance of mine. It had a lot of fast footwork-kicks, flicks, jumps-but it was also very technical. A lot of people have a hard time with it. In dancing, you always have to be on time with the beat but the Jive is seriously the fastest Latin dance.

Our routine was pretty fun a lot of basic flicks and steps. Our song was very modern, it was "Shake It" by Metro Station. I like to choreograph to the music and tells a story with each dance, so based on our song, I added some hip swinging and subtle gyration. It is what it is, but I cover it up and call it dancing.

Teaching Edward the Jive proved to be a test. For me as a teacher, but for me as a person. Edward was just not getting it. He wasn't as fast as I needed him to be. He was off beat and there were times when both us wanted to scream a bunch of profanities to each other. I pushed and pushed him to his limit. I worked hard to get the best out of him.

"Triple step!" I screamed once again.

Edward stopped mid-step. He glared at me, and then groaned. "I am!"

I shook my head. "Not fast enough. The song is way faster, keep on the beat." I clapped my hands again. "From the top!"

He clenched his jaw then blinked. Edward took his position and waited for my count.

"5, 6, 7, 8! Triple step. No!" I groaned. Gosh, I would just have to show him again. I stepped in front of him so he could see me performing the steps. "Look at me or look at the mirror," I rocked back on my left foot, and performed the triple step. "Your turn."

Edward did as I said. He had the step down, he knew what to do. The only problem was his timing, he couldn't stay on beat. It wasn't his fault though. This dance is hard as is, but he really needed to get this right.

"Okay. Let's try something else," I hit the play button again and put our song on repeat. "Come here, I'm going to show you something"

He walked over to me. "Yes?" he sighed.

I stood in front of him. "Listen to the beat. Count for the triple step." We waited, and then I clapped my hands in tune with the beat. "Tri-ple-step," I said, while clapping my hands. "You try finding the beat."

Edward paused. He looked at me like I was crazy, yet he knew better than to question my teaching methods. He found the beat and clapped his hands like me.

"Good. But this time, say it, like I did. It gets easier when you count. Say it, out loud," I instructed him.

He waited again then did exactly what I told him to do. I, then, informed him to keep counting always. In his head, not out loud because the audience will know he's counting and we couldn't have that.

When we're in the red room, all of us cast members snack on candy. We've got tons of variety, sour patch kids, m&m's, peanut butter cups, snickers, gummi worms, (a personal favorite of mine) and red vines. We've all learned it helps to keep the nerves at bay if we pig out a little bit.

I inserted a gummi worm into my mouth and Edward tapped me on the arm. I turned around, with a gummi worm hanging from my mouth.

SNAP! A flash of light made me blink.

I glared at him. The dork took my picture with his digital. A candid of sorts.

"Edward!" I complained.

He just laughed and showed the picture to me. "Awww, come on, Bella. You look absolutely delectable," he chided.

I snorted. "Yeah, right. More like that gummi worm looks delectable," I scoffed.

He smiled. "Are you ready to shake it?" he said suggestively, while wagging his eye-brows.

I gulped. I knew he was kidding, teasing, whatever. But it so wasn't funny! He looked almost serious. The way he looked when he teasingly propositioned me was too much to handle. Gosh, he looked so good in his black pants and white tee shirt with suspenders.

Edward waved a hand at my face, "Bella? Bella?"

I shook my head. "What?"

He grinned. "I think you may have spaced out. We're next!" he said, with excitement.

Great. I'm off to shake it with Edward.

Edward POV

The announcer called our names. Bella and I made our way to the dance floor and we both looked up to watch our rehearsal package from the previous week. Huh. Last week was stimulating to say the least.

"Bella, I cannot do that!" I said with conviction.

She looked at me surprised, "Why?"

Oh, geez," I grimaced. "I just can't."

"Oh, come on, Edward. People do this all the time in clubs. It's not a big deal," she pleaded with me.

No fucking way would I gyrate against Bella in our routine. This is supposed to be the Jive, for fucking sakes! I saw YouTube videos of Jive routines. You do not gyrate.
"Bella, I just don't feel comfortable."

She bit her lip. "Is it because you think it'll be weird doing it with me?"

Holy hell. She had no idea of the double meaning in her words. And the fucking camera guy is getting all of this. Swell.

"Come here," she motioned to me with her fingers. I came to stand with her.

"Yes?"

"Let's just try it and see how it feels, okay?" she asked, smiling.

Oh, my god. And there go the double meaning words. Fuuuuck, she doesn't know what she's doing to me. Somebody was out to get me, I was convinced. This dancing shit is way more enjoyable than I thought. In good ways and bad ways. We were Jive (ing) to "Shake It" by Metro Station and it's pretty upbeat, but if you listen to the lyrics then you'll understand my reluctance to dance to it.

She brought her arms around my neck and I placed my hands on her hips. We were facing each other and she nodded her head. That was a "go" sign.

"Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, it.
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, it.
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, it.
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, it.
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, it."

Bella was very subtly swaying her hips and pressing against me. Her body met mine for only the briefest second. I barely felt it. OK. I could do this. She's a dancer, so of course we wouldn't be full on sleazy club dancing. She had more class than that, and I was eternally grateful.

"There, that's not so bad, huh?" Bella said cheerfully.

Uhh yeah not bad at all. She is a genius. I smiled back. "It was fine."

She nodded her head enthusiastically. "Told ya."

"I see you were too busy watching our package, but go to your starting position!" she scolded.

"Right."

Before I knew it, we were sitting down in the red room. We had already gotten our scores. It wasn't so bad,it wasn't so good. We were in the middle and Bella did not like this.

"Bella, I'm really sorry. I had it, I don't know what to say."

She looked at me with sadness. "No, Edward. It's okay. You did fine. I told you everyone struggles with the Jive."

I sank back in the couch. The unthinkable happened tonight, I almost slipped. Everyone could tell. And yes, I had a hard time learning this dance and it showed tonight. But there was nothing Bella and I could do now. We did our best and that's all that could be done.

Bella could tell I was disappointed in myself. She kept trying to reassure me that I did good. She told me she was proud of me and that's all that counts.

We were walking back to the trailers. The taping was done, we did press, now all we needed to do was get out of our costumes. Jasper and Alice were at the taping, but left shortly afterward. I was thinking of getting a bite to eat and wondered what Bella would be doing. Usually the cast goes out with their families, but then later on they all meet at some club. Bella and I did that once but I soon found out that clubbing wasn't Bella's forte.

So here I was, walking next to Bella wondering how I'm going to ask her to dinner.

Bella POV

I looked at Edward from the corner of my eye. He seemed to be deep in thought. Huh. I wonder what he's thinking about. I knew he was a little bummed out about our routine. Well, not our routine, but our performance. I'll admit the Jive and Edward wasn't the best suited match. Edward is tall and the Jive is best performed by smaller, shorter guys. The bad thing about tall guys and the Jive is that it looks weird when they do the flicks and kicks-it tends to look sloppy. Edward had trouble in rehearsal but to me he definitely improved. I was happy enough.

I glanced at him again. He looked quite handsome in his costume. For our Jive, I put Edward in plain black pants and a white t-shirt with suspenders. I wore a small black skirt and white bedazzled bustier.

We were almost at our trailers. I was really getting hungry and I desperately wanted a burger. But I also didn't want to leave Edward's side. It scared me, but I was attracted to Edward and I wanted to spend time with him. Normally, I would pass this off as just a crush, but I've had these feelings almost the very first time I laid eyes on him.

Right now, I was hoping that he would have enough balls to ask me out. Okay. Maybe not ask me out, but invite me to go eat like he did the last two times. I know he only did per his family's request, but maybe he wanted to ask me. Maybe, he feels it, too.

"You want to get something to eat?" The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. I slapped a hand over my mouth. Damn it. I wasn't supposed to say that!

I felt Edward's hand remove my own and I took a chance and met his eyes.

"I'll meet you out here in ten minutes," he replied.

I nodded my head. "K," I said in a small voice.

And that's when it hit me: I just asked Edward Cullen out. Err. Maybe not ask out "ask out," but we would be going out to eat. Together. I don't know whether to scream for joy or go into shock, and then another thought entered my mind, I was still wearing my costume.

I raced through my trailer door and quickly changed out off my costume and into my regular street clothes. I was wearing a pair of low rise jeans and a t-shirt. Yeah, not date material, but it'll have to do. I looked in the mirror; my hair was curly and set in a ponytail. I would keep my hair style. My makeup wasn't too heavy. I blotted my lips and applied chapstick and a clear pink gloss.

Time to go.

By the time I went outside to meet Edward, he was already out there waiting. I saw him casually standing there clad in his dark jeans and gray t shirt. Good. He was in casual clothing, too. My plan for burgers and fries was coming together nicely.

It didn't take a lot to convince Edward to drive to a diner I frequent while I work on the show. The food is nothing short of awesome, home cooked-esque goodness. The burgers are mouthwatering and I totally pig out on the fries. By the time we were seated I was craving a milkshake, too.

After Edward and I ordered cheeseburgers, an order of fires, and a strawberry and chocolate shake, I decided it would be best if he and I got to talking.

He beat me to it.

"Thank you for inviting me, Bella."

"You're welcome, Edward. But thank you for coming with me," I smiled.

"You come here often." It was a statement not a question.

"Yeah. When I'm on the show, I really need to pig out sometimes. Especially with the amount of hours we dance," I explained to him.

His face fell. "I'm really sorry for messing up tonight. If I had just..."

"Stop," I said. "Edward, don't beat yourself up. It's a difficult dance and tonight wasn't our best, but that's okay," I said gently. "Please, forget about it. I'm cool with it."

"Are you sure?" he nervously asked.

I lifted my brow. "Stop."

He waved his hands. "Okay. Okay."

"What's your favorite color?"

Our milkshakes came and he took a sip of his before answering. "Blue. Yours?"

"Green," I said without thinking. Oh crap. That is the color of his eyes!

"Favorite television show?" he asked.

"Entourage," I said simply.

"For real?" he breathed.

"Yup."

He smiled. "Excellent."

Our meals came and I immediately asked the waitress for ranch dressing. I could not eat French fries without ranch dressing. I used to eat them plain, but then one time I saw this kid dipping his fries in ranch, so I decided to try it. Now, it's the only way I eat them.

Edward and I ate in comfortable silence. For a guy, he ate pretty neatly. I wondered how I looked like wolfing down my cheeseburger...

He finished before me, but that was expected. I'm a naturally slow eater. I was chewing my some fries when all of a sudden, Edward reached out and wiped the corner of my mouth.

"Ranch," he said teasingly.

I blushed. Gosh, I was such a messy eater! How embarrassing!

He laughed. "You eat in a really adorable way."

One step at a time and they will come together. :) Next chapter is the Waltz and that's all I'm saying.

Till next time.

Tina