Choreography
Chapter 3
The next week flew by. Trina felt exhausted between teaching the back up dancers, the constant meetings with the rest of the team to hash out the video, and practicing alone with Andre, but she also felt happy and fulfilled. For the first time she felt like she'd really found her thing. Sure, she'd always been good at dancing, but she'd never considered it as a career path. Maybe it was due to her admittedly diva attitude, but no one besides her dance teacher had ever complimented her on her moves before. At least not until recently.
"Trina," Tori said, approaching her at her locker. She had that familiar worried look on her face, instantly putting Trina on edge.
She closed the decorated door and leaned against it. "Yeah?" she asked uneasily, already sensing that this wasn't going to be good.
Her little sister grimaced. "I need to talk to you."
A sharp pang thumped through her chest. 'I need to talk' was never a good thing to hear from anyone ever, and it all but confirmed that it was something she didn't want to hear. "Can it wait? I have to hurry up and meet Andre for practice."
"That's what we need to talk about." Her panic rose tenfold, and afraid of making a scene, she grabbed Tori's arm and dragged her into the janitor's closet.
Once she'd checked it to make sure that Sinjin wasn't hiding in there as he tended to do, she turned back to her sister. "What about it?"
Well, I was talking to Beck in Sikowitz's class, and he sort of implied that Andre was starting to like you. Funny, right?" she half laughed, eyes boring into hers as if searching for something.
Trina barely noticed as Tori's words had just registered with her. Andre? Like her? She lightly shook her head, finding the thought to be ridiculous at best. Besides the fact that they wouldn't even be friends after the video was over, they had nothing in common. What would they even talk about? Music? Dancing? Movies? Their lives?
She blinked as she realized that was exactly what they talked about, and more. He was just so easy to talk to since he never ridiculed her for her opinions (though he'd give her strange looks sometimes), and he actually listened to her. Most guys couldn't repeat the last two words she'd said, but he could come back the next day and pick up the conversation right where they'd left it. It was then that she realized she was smiling.
Tori poked the older Vega in the shoulder. "Trina?"
"I've gotta go practice," she suddenly said, only vaguely aware that her sister had been speaking the entire time.
"Trina-hey! Wait! I'm not done talking to you!" Tori tried to stop her, but Trina was already striding towards the dance studio. She always had been more fit and much faster than herself, and since she wasn't wearing heels, the chances of her catching her older sister were slim to none.
Trina slipped through the doors of the dance studio and looked through the small window, breathing a sigh of relief when there was no sight of her sister. She'd had to do a whole loop around the school to lose Tori, though after thinking more rationally, she realized that if Tori really wanted to find her she could. She knew she was going to practice today, after all.
She turned on her heel to see Andre going through his usual warm up routine. She watched him stretch for a good minute, wiry muscles easily visible through the thin t-shirt he wore. He glanced up after hearing her approaching footsteps and smiled widely. "There you are. You ready to get started?" he asked, standing to feet.
"Sure, I stretched before I got here." She set up the stereo with practiced ease and pulled off her jacket, tossing it on an empty chair. She got into position next to him, and after confirming that he was ready, pushed the button on the stereo remote and tossed it onto the chair with her jacket.
The music started a couple of seconds later, and she was unsurprised to see that after hours of practice, they were in absolute perfect sync. He moved as an extension of her and vice versa. He matched her move for move in front of the mirror, and realizing that she didn't even need to watch him anymore, she threw herself fully into performing.
Andre couldn't help but feel as though something was different. There was an intensity to her movements that hadn't existed before. Whereas before she'd try not to rub against him too much (for his sake more than her own), it now felt like she was deliberately trying to brush against him every chance she got. He fully realized how crazy that sounded and tried to brush it off as his overactive imagination, but the more they danced, the less convinced he became.
They ended the same way they usually did–faces six inches apart as they stared at each other. Usually she'd back away and begin to point out the places where he'd messed up–only this time she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, standing on her toes since he was a good five inches taller than her.
The first thing she noticed was that his lips were remarkably soft, and she suddenly understood why his ex-girlfriend Sherry hadn't been able to let him go. The second was that he was a really, really good kisser.
She felt his hands roughly grip her hips and pull her closer against him, deepening their kiss. She'd always liked being manhandled a bit, so the simple action only increased her pleasure. She slid her arms up and wrapped them around his neck, and to her, it was the most perfect feeling in the world.
At least until he gently pushed himself away from her and laughed. She stared up at him confused, smiling slightly at the amused expression on his face.
"What?" She asked, wanting to be let in on the joke.
Andre shook his head and chuckled. "Look, Trina, I already told you you got the role. You didn't have to kiss me to prove that you could pretend to be in love with me."
All hints of her smile immediately vanished. An angry, vicious scowl replaced it a second later, and she stepped away from him as if he'd just slapped her. "You think I kissed you for that stupid role?"
His eyes widened slightly, and for the first time, he realized that he may have made a huge mistake. "Well...yeah. Didn't you?"
She glared fiercely at him for another second before snatching up her gym bag and stalking to the studio doors.
"Where are you going?!" Andre called after her. When she didn't answer, he jogged towards her in an attempt to catch up. "Trina!"
Trina wheeled around to look at him, eyes blazing. "Leave me alone," she seethed.
Andre blinked in confusion. "Wait, what just happened?"
Rather than answer him, she simply turned back around and exited the room, too pissed off to even think about slamming the door behind her.
The teen stared at the open door with his jaw agape. He couldn't understand what had set her off. One minute they were kissing, and the next she wanted to kill him. So that's why he did what he always did when he had a problem that he couldn't figure out; called his best friend. He grabbed his new cell phone–his grandmother had thrown the last one against the wall because it'd talked to her–and quickly found Beck's number. He waited impatiently for him to pick up, and it took a full five rings for the familiar click of someone picking up the phone reached his ears.
"Yeah?" Beck asked, sounding distinctly out of breath.
Andre rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time he'd answered this way, and after hearing an irritated voice ask 'who the hell is it?', he instantly knew what his friend had been doing. "I need your help, man. I'm comin' over."
"Hold on a second." He heard Beck say something to whom he hoped was Jade, and it was immediately followed by a loud, angry no. Beck picked up the phone again a second later. "Sure, I'll be here." An even angrier scream followed this proclamation and Andre winced. If he weren't so desperate he'd call the whole thing off.
"Thanks, see you in a bit."
After turning off the stereo and turning off the lights, he ran out the door and hopped in his car. He reached Beck's trailer five minutes later, and slightly dreading the confrontation that would undoubtedly happen when he knocked, he braced himself and lightly rapped his knuckles against the door. It opened shortly afterwards to reveal an extremely pissed off looking Jade, and she crossed her arms over her chest to regard him with a cantankerous glare.
"What do you want?"
Andre shrunk a little under her icy blue gaze. He was mostly used to her rude personality and was fairly confident that she'd never seriously hurt him, but she still scared the ever living shit out of him sometimes. "I gotta talk to Beck about something important."
"Oh, yeah? What?"
"Babe, let him in," her boyfriend called from inside the trailer.
Jade glared down at him for another few seconds, but she eventually sighed deeply and stepped aside, giving him just enough room to squeeze past her.
"Sorry to interrupt your, uh, private time," he mumbled awkwardly, trying not to stare at or rub against the cleavage revealed by Jade's undone shirt buttons. "I just really need your advice."
Beck motioned for him to take a seat, his own shirt half undone. "I'm all ears."
Andre opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes slid over to Jade once again. After closing and locking the door behind him, she'd curled up next to Beck and laid her head on his shoulder, staring at him with barely hidden curiosity. She had her legs curled beneath her, and for the first time he noticed that she was wearing a pair of black rather short shorts; a rarity for her since she was usually in a pair of tight pants or leggings. "Uh, do you mind?"
"No, do you?" Jade snapped back.
He looked to Beck for help, but his friend just gave him an apologetic look and motioned for him to continue. "Fine. It's about Trina," he relented after a couple of seconds.
Jade choked on her spit. "Trina? Trina Vega?"
"Let him finish," Beck said, sitting up a little straighter. He suddenly seemed interested, apparently knowing something Jade didn't.
"Yeah, well, she's kinda mad at me and I don't know what I did."
"Just start from the beginning."
Andre sighed through his nose. He preferred not to do this in front of Jade, but at the current moment, he felt like he didn't have much of a choice. "Okay, we were practicing our scenes again, and you know how we kinda stop really close together in the last number? Well, she kissed me."
Both Beck and Jade's eyes widened.
"Did you break out in hives?" Beck asked, slack jawed.
Jade's expression mirrored her boyfriend's. "How are you even still alive?"
"No, it was good. I liked it."
The two of them stared at him as if they'd never seen him before.
"That's weird. Go on," Beck mumbled.
"After that I laughed a little and asked why she kissed me since she was already the lead and all and had nothing else to prove, but then she just flipped out on me for no reason. I don't get it, man."
Unable to stop herself, Jade sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "Gee, maybe she's mad because she actually likes you?"
Andre balked. As strange as it sounded, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. "Trina?"
"I know it's weird, but that's the only thing I can think of. It's not like you said her kiss sucked, right?" she reasoned.
"No, I told you, it was good. Amazing."
"We're still talking about Trina, right?" Beck asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Andre shot him a frown, so he shrugged and continued. "Look, she kissed you and you laughed in her face. She sorta has a reason to be mad."
Andre's face fell into his hands. It was so glaringly obvious now that they'd said it. He didn't have low self-esteem or anything, but Trina had always felt a bit out of his league. She was just so flamboyant and full of energy and he, well...wasn't. He'd also assumed that she was more superficial–that she relied solely on looks to decide on how much she liked a guy. He was no slouch, but he was no Beck, either. "I'm an idiot, huh?"
"Yep," Jade said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Sorry, dude."
"So...what should I do?" the dark-skinned teen nearly begged, looking at the both of them for answers.
Jade snorted. "Get your head checked."
"Jade!" Beck snapped, giving her an admonishing glare. She sucked her teeth and looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. Rolling his eyes, he turned his attention back to Andre. "You gotta make it right. You know Trina better than anyone right now-do something you know the real her would like."
"The only thing real about Trina is how annoying she is," Jade mumbled under her breath. She avoided Beck's disapproving gaze and continued. "But Beck's right. Since you seem to see something magical in her and all, it shouldn't be too hard to think up a good idea."
Andre slowly nodded his head, liking the idea the more he thought about it. Unfortunately he didn't have much longer to think as the pale brunette hopped up and opened the only exit of the trailer. "Well, bye."
Shaking his head, Andre stood to his feet and held his fist out for Beck to pound with his own before leaving, once again having to squeeze around Jade's body to get outside.
That night, Andre couldn't sleep. Over and over he thought of what he could do to make things right –to make her smile at him again like she'd been doing for the past few weeks.
But what could he do? Buy her shoes? Jewelry? Trina loved both equally, but it didn't feel like the right gift. It didn't feel like something she'd truly appreciate for long, and frankly, he couldn't afford it. Besides, material things could make anyone happy for a short time, but what could really touch a person? What could stay with them for the rest of their lives?
His eyes lit up as he remembered how much she loved his music, and suddenly, he had it. It was perfect, and it amazed him that it'd taken so long to think of it. Hell, he was amazed it'd taken him so long to realize what the song he'd been working on in his downtime was really about. With a clear plan of action in mind, he jumped out of bed and immediately got to work. It wasn't like he was getting much sleep anyway.
Andre stumbled down the hallway towards his first class, ignoring and just plain not noticing the concerned stares and whispers of the other students. To put it mildly, he was exhausted. He'd spent all night working on finishing the lyrics for the song, and it was just an hour ago that he'd officially finished.
He slept through most of his classes that day in preparation of his impromptu performance. Luckily his teachers were giving him a bit of a break since the entire school knew about the Kojeezy shoot and even they were excited. A big time record producer showing up at the school was great for publicity and getting more students' money, and more money meant more raises and better job security.
When he wasn't sleeping, he was quietly singing the words to himself or trying to imagine how she'd react. He got more than a few funny looks from other students, but he didn't care. The only person who mattered to him at that moment was Trina.
After school he waited anxiously in the dance studio for Trina to show. She might have been pissed off at him, but if there was one thing he'd learned about her in their short time together it was that she always kept to her commitments. If she actually cared, that is.
She frowned at him as she walked in, and then scowled when she noticed the slight grin on his face. "What's the keyboard for?"
Andre nervously licked his lips, already feeling nervous under her venomous glare."I finished that song I was working on a couple of weeks ago and thought you might want to hear it. You know, since you said you liked it."
She was angry beyond belief with him, but she couldn't deny that she was curious. With a heavy sigh, she plopped down on the large beanbag he'd set out in front of the keyboard and tucked her legs underneath her, staring up at him expectantly.
He didn't quite know why her gaze made him so nervous, but it did. He'd sung in front of hundreds of people, but never in his life had he been so unsure of himself. He awkwardly fumbled around with a few settings on the keyboard before gently resting his fingers on the keyboard, and after taking a deep, calming breath, he cleared his throat and began to sing.
"I don't wear designer clothes
I don't go to the finest schools
But, I know...I ain't no fool baby
I may not be a star
I'm not driving the sickest car
But, I know...I can make you happy baby
I don't know what you been used to
Never been with a girl like you
But, I can give you a love that's true to...
your heart, not material things.
I'll give you my song
These words to you
Sing you what I feel
My soul is true,
I don't have the world
Can't give it to you girl
But all that I can do
Is give the song to you,
Yeah I know that you are blessed
But, there's something that you're missing yeah
Your own melody,
Oh baby
I don't know what you been used to
Never been with a girl like you
But, I can give you a love that's true to
your heart, not material things.
I'll give you my heart, my song, my words baby
What I can say, I'll sing it.
Oh, oooh, oooooh
I'll give my song and the rest to you baby
Sing you what I feel, my soul is true."
When he finished, he noticed that she didn't look angry anymore. Her expression was just...unreadable. He stepped out from behind the instrument and walked to stand in front of her.
"Trina, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh."
She shook her head and smiled dryly. "No, I guess I'd laugh too if I kissed me."
"It's not that, I swear it's not. I just..." he sighed and scratched at his dreads as he struggled to come up with the correct thing to say to her. For a guy who could write such amazing words, he sure had a lot of trouble just saying them.
"Don't worry, I already forgot about it," she mumbled, looking away.
"No!" he exclaimed a little too loudly. "I don't want to forget about it."
She looked confusedly up at him. "What?"
He knelt down on the bean bag, cupped her cheek, and leaned his lips down to hers, giving her a gentle kiss. She didn't kiss him back for a full five seconds, and just as he was getting worried that he'd made a mistake, she timidly began to return it, moving herself a little bit closer to his body.
Encouraged by her response, he leaned over her a little more and deepened the kiss. He felt her fingers intertwine with his, and that's when he sat back enough to stare straight into her eyes. He saw a flicker of something–what, he couldn't say–but just as soon as it'd appeared it was gone, leaving him wondering if he'd seen anything at all.
"We should...start practicing," she breathed after a few more seconds, eyes not quite meeting his.
"Okay." He tried not to show his disappointment at her lack of reaction, because to be fair, he had blindsided her with this whole thing.
He stood up first and held out his hand for her take, frowning when she ignored him in favor of getting up on her own. She walked over to the stereo and flipped it
The practice was awkward as neither had their minds on dancing at the present moment. After an hour of distant stumbling, Trina had called it quits for the day and he certainly wasn't complaining. Besides, he pretty much knew the choreography by heart to the point that he was doing it in his dreams. They quickly packed up their stuff and headed out to his car to go home, barely exchanging a word between them the entire time.
As he drove her home, he glanced over at her from the driver's seat to see her staring out of the window. He took in her slightly messy hair, the smooth, thin contours of her neck, and then his eyes flickered down to her chest-one that could even rival Jade's. Realizing what he was doing, he snapped his head back to the road lest he kill them both. It was dangerous to look away while driving in L.A., after all.
He pulled into her driveway and parked, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Trina, about earlier-"
"Night, thanks for the ride," she said, nearly flying out of his car. He watched her jog up the front steps, open the door, and slip inside without so much as a second glance.
Andre groaned and allowed his head to hit the steering wheel. Well, that hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped.
Shortly after Andre had dropped her off, Trina ran up the stairs, shed her clothing, and hopped into the bathtub for a long soak. She greatly preferred showers since she didn't have time to do nothing but sit in a tub of her own dirt for an hour, but as far as she was concerned, a situation like this demanded it. She lie in the tub and stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out the mystery that was her and Andre's relationship.
He'd written her a beautiful song, and then kissed her. What was she supposed to say to that? It was, quite literally, the nicest thing a guy had ever done for her. She hoped he hadn't noticed, but she'd been shaking the entire time they were together. If she hadn't called it quits when she did, she might have broken down right there in the studio.
It was just all so confusing. What did he want, exactly? Did he think she was just a desperate, easy lay? He certainly wouldn't be the first guy. Most seemed to think that just because a lot of boys avoided her meant that she'd throw herself at any penis within a five mile radius. Seconds after the thought passed her mind she dismissed it.
Andre wasn't most guys. Besides the fact that one of his best friends was her sister and it would cause an unbelievable amount of drama, he just didn't have it in him to purposefully screw someone over. So did that mean that he actually liked her? She closed her eyes and groaned, sinking into the bathtub.
When he'd first approached her about doing the choreography for his video she figured that at most she'd get a juicy credit on her resume, and if she played her cards right, a chance to play her demo tape for Kojeezy himself. She hadn't expected to get a friend let alone a boyfriend out of it.
Trina laughed humorlessly at her train of thought. A couple of kisses and she was already claiming him as her boyfriend. She had to wonder if it was even a good idea to pursue a relationship with her little sister's best friend. The moment Tori decided she wasn't okay with them dating–or worse, decided that she wanted Andre for herself–they'd be through. Tori had more or less always gotten her way, so why would now be any different?
The brunette sunk as low as she could into the bathtub, submerging her entire body beneath the quickly cooling water. So much for getting a good night's sleep.
AN: Yeah, I switched the song. After really listening to Song2You, I realized it was pretty much perfect for Trina and their relationship.