27. Learning to Dance

I am not the most romantic person out there, and seeing the way a lot of people were losing their heads over the Summer Ball was just making me less of a romantic.

I mean, it happens every year, we'll have one next year too. I don't really see the reason to be so over the top about it.

Over the course of the week, I've been seeing some of the weirdest proposals. Although there were some sweet ones, some just seemed like they missed the plot.

I did think it was nice of our school to sort of on this ball every year, not everyone gets that and it's different from the usual prom.

The one thing that I was hoping for was good food and good music.

Throughout this week, my friends had all pretty much been asked to go to the ball already too, which I admit was sort of cute to watch.

Danny had essentially used food to persuade Sara, which was cute. She agreed instantly, but I'm pretty sure she didn't even know what she was saying yes to, her only focus was the food.

I guess the most difficult person was Flo. She's very into her romance movies and all, so she already had so many about what she wanted. Unfortunately, Max was more than clueless about it. He was hoping, that Flo would just tell him.

When he thought about a plan himself, we were all kind of worried, assuming it would backfire as usual. But this time he didn't. He chose a very cheesy romantic route to ask her and of course Flo agreed, tearing up a little too, since any romantic gesture, would have her welling up.

Within our now larger group of friends, Chris was still pretty much the quiet one. Not a lot of people knew that Chris was gay, not that it was anyone else's business, but Derek, his boyfriend, wasn't one to hide this about himself. But as a sweet gesture to his boyfriend, he essentially announced their relationship to everyone, kissing him in public. That was basically the proposal and it was simple and cute.

With Andre and Mel, they still bickered a lot, with her deciding he wasn't a serious guy and she didn't want to take that risk. However, when he finally showed her can be serious and really liked her, Mel not only said yes to his proposal, but also agreed to out with him too.

After Liam and I spoke at Mama Macy's the guy was still so confused about what to do for Julie. He went on a drive again after dropping me home, hoping for some idea to just waltz into his mind.

There was a lot of things that I knew about Julie and I could help, but I didn't. If I put myself in that place, I knew that it would most likely end up with me in tears and hurting. This was Liam's relationship, he could worry about it himself as far as I was concerned.

I heard about it the next day from Julie, that Liam got the school band to play one of her favourite songs - assuming he bribed them with something for that. She was surprised and loved it.

I appreciated that didn't tell me all details about it, which wasn't her being rude, but rather her eagerness to know how Holden had asked me.

Holden had asked me last night, in his usual sweet way.

The entire day he'd been leaving me notes, with random praises written within them. Then at the end of the day, instead of dropping me home, he lead me to the basketball court, which had been decorated with small tea lights. We had to clear up the place before the janitor found out about this potential fire hazard, but I was still happy nonetheless.

It helps being with who already likes you and you don't have to long for. It seemed like such a simple thought, I can't believe I didn't know it before.

***

I hate that I can only get a lot work done, when I'm in a really productive mood, or just in that kind of zone. It doesn't help when you're feeling lazy, but have so much to do.

That was pretty much how my morning had been today. I've been in my room, just slaving away to get my work done, mostly because I had a lot reading to do for my classes.

My math homework is never an issue, not since Julie has basically become my tutor. We spend the evening after school getting the work done, and because she's an angel, she'll spend extra time helping through it.

It's the reading for English that just makes my days a lot longer than usual.

Although I generally have the routine to do it earlier, but I have off days too.

Feeling a bit peckish, I decided it was time for a break and headed downstairs. Hopefully, Mum had made something to eat.

As I headed into our dining room, I was not prepared for the scene in front of me.

There was Liam sitting at my dining room table, with my mother doting on him, getting him to eat something and my Dad, who was just reading the newspaper. What the was happening right now?

"Liam?" I called out his name, causing all heads to turn towards me. "How long have you been here?"

He looked sheepish, his face turning a little red. "About ten minutes."

My eyes widened instantly at his answer. "Seriously?" I asked, and then looked at my Mum. "Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"He's trying my food, Serena. Let him be," she said, as if that was the most normal thing ever.

Did she really not understand how weird that was?

"You're something else," I commented, shaking my head. There was no point fixating on that, because...well, it's not the first time she's done it unfortunately. "I'm so sorry about this," I apologised to Liam, feeling so embarrassed right now.

"No, it's okay." Liam shook his head. "Your Mum's cooking is really nice," he complimented her.

Mum then gave me a triumphant smile. "See, it's nice. He appreciates it," she said and then stuck her tongue out at me, before walking back to the kitchen, causing my Dad chuckled seeing Mum's behaviour.

Because that's mature.

"Let's go to living room," I told him, waving him over and away from my crazy parents.

After Liam had followed me into the living room, we sat down on the sofa.

"So, why did you come over?" I asked him, assuming this wasn't just a random visit.

"My Mum made some banana bread so I brought it over," he then told me.

Instantly, that caught my attention.

"Ooo banana bread," my eyes lit up and I made a move to get up, only for Liam to speak up before I could run out the room.

"And I also had something else to ask," he said.

I sat back down and raised a brow at him. "What is it?" I questioned.

He looked hesitant to say it. "I saw you teaching Max how to dance to the other day."

His words caused me to laugh. "Oh yeah. I actually taught him last year, but he can't ever remember. Surprisingly, I didn't have to teach Danny."

During the Summer Ball, there's a few slow dance songs that get played, for the couples in our school of course. Max really can't dance, so literally during the ball last year, we were outside and I was trying to teach him, before he went and stepped on Flo's toes or something.

I thought he'd remember the steps, but then he asked me to teach him again. He sort of has two left feet when it comes to dancing.

"Well, I'm kind of like Max," Liam mentioned.

"Hopeless?" I asked, which laughing.

"Yes," he replied instantly. "Could you teach me how to dance as well?" He asked.

Before I could reply, I heard my Mum cooing in the background and turned to face her.

"Mum," I said, watching her smile at Liam, as if he were an adorable puppy, and my Dad stood next to her, shaking his head.

She ignored me and looked at Liam. "That's so cute."

"Mum, stop," I whined. I really didn't want to look at Liam right now, because this is painfully embarrassing.

"Okay fine," she said, holding her hands up. "You're in good hands, Liam. Mark taught her how to dance from when she was just a tiny little thing," she then said, making this situation worse.

I looked my Dad. "Would you please..." I said, gesturing towards her and he laughed.

"Come on, sweetheart. Let's leave Serena teach him," Dad said, taking her away.

When I turned towards Liam, he was looked at me with a lot amusement. He knew how embarrassing this was for me.

"Your Dad taught you how to dance," he asked.

I nodded, smiling at the memories that just popped up in my mind.

"Yeah, when I was little and couldn't even walk, but just sort of bounced whilst standing, my Dad would taking my hands, put my feet on his and sort of dance with me."

That was our thing we used to do. However, even know, if there was a song playing in the living room, my Dad would just take my hand and start dancing, as if I were still that little baby.

I then cleared my throat, getting back to the initial topic of our conversation. "So, you need a dance teacher," I questioned him.

"Yes, please. I saw you teaching Max so well. I also remember last year, when you danced with Shawn. You knew what you were doing, he clearly didn't. But you helped him through it," Liam said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You were watching me?"

"You just happened to catch my eye," Liam replied.

This was one of the things I'd love to have heard some time ago, but in a whole different context. Hearing it now...it's just one of those reminders you'd rather not have.

"That sounded a lot more cringe than intended," he then said. "I just...I was going to ask you for a dance, but then remembered you'd probably hate my guts and also, I don't know how to dance and it would've been an awkward mess."

Well, he's not wrong there.

"Alright, well, let's do this," I then said.

I knew that he wanted to do this for Julie, since it was her first ball and probably didn't want to crush her toes or anything. If I just kept in mind that I had done this for Max and for Shawn, then it's fine...I think.

"Wait here, I'm going to get my heels," I told Liam.

He tilted his head, looking confused. "You need heels for this?"

"You're so bloody tall, this is already going to be a challenge and Julie's shorter than me. It's probably appropriate to fo this in heels, for added height and plus she's going to be wearing it on the night," I explained.

Liam just nodded. He probably understood nothing.

I then rushed to my room, finding a good pair of heels and then came back downstairs, strapping them on. I instantly remembered why I didn't like wearing these.

Grabbing Liam's hand, I brought him to the centre of the living room. "Okay, so first you need to stand straight..." I instructed him.

"Don't we need music?" Liam asks.

"Learn the moves first, then we'll use music," I told him.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, as if I was an idiot for suggesting that.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you questioning me?"

Liam chuckled and shook his head. "Sorry, Your Majesty."

"Better," I grinned, quite liking that title. It was a whole lot better than Mr Miyagi.

"With a slow dance, there's basically not a lot of moving involved, it's mostly just swaying," I told Liam.

He just nodded.

"You're still so bloody tall," I commented, shaking my head gently. I was wearing heels and yet it was like a rock in front of a mountain.

Liam snickered, but covered it up with a cough when I didn't look too amused. "It's not my fault you're short," he said.

I smacked his chest. "And it's not my fault you're a twat. Let's move on."

He laughed at me, knowing I didn't like comments on my height. So I wasn't vertically gifted, big deal.

"Alright, come closer," I instructed him, as I looped my arms around his neck.

Liam then instantly put his hands on my waist, which caused my eyed to widened, realising we'd never been in this position before and it was...unnerving.

"I hold you here, right?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I managed to say, trying to bury the weird feelings that were beginning to bubble up. "Okay, now we sway," I directed him.

Unfortunately, we didn't really sway, but more rocked, because Liam was so rigid, as if he were being constricted.

"You need to relax," I told him.

"I can't," he replied, taking a step back. "This doesn't come naturally to me. I can dance a party just fine. But slow dancing? I can't do it," he sounded so frustrated.

"It's not rocket science," I told him.

"It might as well be," he muttered, like a child.

I laughed at him, realising he really was struggling with this.

"Let me put on some music," I suggested. Slow dancing in silence was probably a little odd.

I grabbed my phone and played the first song that came to mind.

"Okay, so let's try this again," I said, once again coming closer to him. "Put this hand on my waist," I instructed him, taking his right hand. "Now my hand goes on your shoulder and our free hands, join together.

He did as I said and intertwined our fingers together.

"Perfect. Now follow my movements," I told him.

As I tried to lead, Liam still stood rigid as ever, looking down at the movement of our feet.

"Rena, this isn't working," Liam whined and the threw his head back when he just wasn't able to get the dance quite right.

"Just keep your eyes on me," I said.

Liam looked at me and nodded. "Eyes on you," he repeated.

"On me," I confirmed and began moving my feet once again.

His eye contact with me didn't last long, since he looked down at our feet once again, seemingly too conscious of stepping on my toes.

"Do you remember that time, when we were younger and we built that fort?" I asked.

Liam looked at me straight away but with a confused expression. "Yeah, you were the princess and I was the knight. I had to slay the dragon to save you," he said.

"By dragon, you mean your Dad," I commented.

Liam let out a chuckle at this. "I remember trying to use my tinfoil sword to slay him."

"-But then he bribed you with cupcakes," I reminded Liam.

"Hey, I was a growing boy," he replied.

"You were a pig," I corrected him.

"A starving pig," he added.

We both began laughing at the shared memory, which was just a mess. We never really followed the normal way of playing make-believe.

"Why are you bringing it up now?" Liam then asked in confusion.

"To get you to relax and stop staring at my toes," I told him and then grinned. "-and it worked," I said cheerfully.

We carried on dancing together, gently swaying to the music and as I looked at Liam, but I couldn't hear the beautiful melody but the questions in my mind.

"Was the banana bread an excuse to come over and ask for my help?" I asked, blurting out the question, unable to help myself.

My words must have caught him off guard, since he looked incredibly stunned. "No, Mum really made it and asked if I could bring it over," he explained.

I nodded. "Ah, I see."

When I looked away, still in a mind of my own, I felt Liam squeeze my hand, which caused me to look at him once more.

"I'm sorry," he then said.

"For what," I asked, not quite understanding the random apology.

"I'm really horrible, aren't I?" Liam said, but with a small smile on his face. "My timing is always off and I always say the wrong things, but I don't mean to be malicious."

I guess he understood why I had asked that initial question.

I then smiled at him. "I know," I said, squeezing his hand as well. "It's just...if Julie hadn't come to our school or say if you hadn't liked her straightaway, would you have apologised to me? Would you have come back?"

This was something I had been meaning to ask him for a while. I understood that he sort of was there for me in the shadows, but I would've rather had my friend alongside me.

He had apologised and said the right words, which did seem genuine, but the timing of it hurt. Especially when he asked for something straight after. It might not have been malicious, but it was stupid as hell.

"Probably not as instantly as I did," Liam replied, which wasn't exactly what I was hoping to hear.

"Oh," I said, unsure on what else I could say to that.

"No, no, no," Liam said in a panic. "I mean, I tried a lot before to just come up to you and start talking."

I frowned. "Then why didn't you?"

"I didn't know what to say," he said and then sighed deeply. "I knew I couldn't just carry on from where we left off and you deserved a proper apology, I just didn't know how to give you one."

This caused me to raise a brow in question. "But you had a reason when Julie came?"

It sounded incredibly bitter, which I didn't mean for, but I just didn't understand completely and I wanted to.

"I'm saying the wrong things again," Liam shocked his head and looked at me once more. "I was...do you remember when we stopped talking?" He then asked randomly.

"Not vividly," I replied, wondering where he was going with this.

"It was near the end of school," he began to say, whilst we continued swaying. "You used to save me a place at the lunch table and every so often we'd sit together, until we didn't. You stopped saving me that place, and that was the day we sort of drifted the most. I knew then, that I fucked up. During lunch at the cafeteria, I would see Danny, Sara, Max, the other's sitting next to you but it wasn't a saved place anymore. I felt bad but I knew I was the one to have caused the damage between us, I didn't know how to fix it."

I looked at him and the guilty expression in his eyes.

We used to always sit together at school, it was our thing. But as we began drifting, we made different friends and slowly we stopped. To be honest, I hadn't noticed the whole seat thing. I guess he wasn't completely blinded.

"You are an idiot," I told him bluntly.

He nodded. "I know."

"You should've said something way before. You should have apologised," I added.

"I know. I'm really sorry, Rena," he apologised once more. "You're extraordinary. I'm sorry I treated like anything but that."

I didn't really need to be treated any certain way to know my worth, but it was nice that he knew that he hadn't been that nice to me.

"It wasn't all bad," I then spoke up.

"But it wasn't all good," Liam replied, giving me a half smile.

I grinned at him. "Which is when we hope for better."

We should always strive to be a better person, something that my Dad used to tell me.

For a moment, we didn't say anything, Liam didn't smile at my words, I didn't even know if he heard them, but instead he was just looking at me, but then shook his head. As if trying to lost whatever trail of thought he was on.

"So, this is it?" He then asked.

I laughed realising we'd been dancing for ages now, enough for him to be able to get this on his own at least.

"Yeah, this is all there is," I said. "You're good to go."

I then moved away from Liam when another song started to play, making me realise that the first song had finished way back.

Before I could make a move towards my phone, Liam pulled me back, causing me to crash into his chest.

"No, please leave it on. I like this song." Liam exclaimed.

He then spun me away from him and then back towards him again, which caused a laugh to bubble out from me.

"Oh, so suddenly you're a pro now?" I questioned.

"I learnt from the best," He grinned. "The student has become the master."

I scoffed. "He wishes."

"Oh yeah?" Liam smirked.

We then began to dance with one another, unable to stop laughing as our movements weren't the most graceful at times.

When the music stopped, I assumed we were going to stop dancing, and I was preparing to just stand up straight, but I don't think that's what Liam had in mind.

Suddenly, he dipped me at the waist, cause my upper body to fall back, with his arm on my back keeping me from falling.

"And that's how you finish it off," Liam grinned, as if he'd mastered a new skill.

I wasn't sure if it was just from the dancing or the closeness, but I felt my heart thumping against my chest at a very fast pace.

"Oh, honey. You guys look so cute. Wait, let me get my phone," I heard my Mum squeal, but neither Liam or I turned to her.

He was just looking at me, his eyes piercing into mine, and I'm scared he may discern what I truly feel for him. He seemed as if he was searching my face for something, but couldn't find it.

Then, just as sudden, Liam pulled up so I was standing straighter once again.

"Thank you, Rena." He then smiled.

"It's, um, not a problem," I replied, still wondering what was up with that strange look he was giving me.

Liam still looked as if he was confused and I wasn't sure why.

"I am sorry, too. What I said before, I think I said it wrong again but just know, I wasn't trying to hurt you," he told me.

I nodded, having gathered that much at least.

"For future reference, don't be an idiot again," I smiled.

Liam shook his head. "I can't promise that, but I'll try."

Before I could reply, he then got a call, which sounded like Emma on the phone.

He ended the call and looked at me. "I have to get back home, Mum's asked me to take her to the shops. Could you say bye to your parents for me?"

"Sure. See you later," I waved at him.

Liam took a step to leave, but then looked back at me.

He pulled me into an abrupt hug and then pulled away just as quick, before leaving my house.

What the hell was that?

"Oh, you guys didn't stay like," Mum frowned, coming back into the room with her phone this time.

"Because that's weird, Mum." I told her, and began to walk back up to my room.

I don't think we could ever just stay like that.