Dancing on my Heartstrings (Xander/Robby)

Chapter 12: Tough Love

His dad had only just left when a familiar face approached him.

He let out a long, suffering sigh.

"Hey, there, Channing Tater Tot," Kimmy chirped as she approached.

Robby rolled his eyes when he saw her coming and decided to give her an attitude right back. "What do you want now, granny? You gonna call the cops on me again?"

He was, of course, referring to the rager he'd thrown at his step-grandfathers mansion when he was out of town on business, which had gotten shut down because a certain annoying blonde called the police and ratted on him.

He hadn't quite forgiven her for that.

Sid hadn't exactly been too happy with his grandson when he received the fine for underage drinking and was forced to pay restitution for not adequately locking up the liquor cabinet.

Not that Robby particularly cared what that living fossil thought about him.

The teenager knew perfectly well the old geezer was only funding all the money constraints that came along with being a dance captain, like his athletic attire, travel expenses, and the price of competing in other divisions to win national competitions so that he could boast about it at the country club.

It was all just a smoke show.

Sid didn't care about his grandchild or fostering better "opportunities" for him.

Instead, he merely wanted to relish in all the compliments and praise he received from other rich snobs for 'kind-heartedly' sponsoring such a talented young up-and-comer.

Honestly, their relationship was parasitic in many ways, but he was getting something out of it as well, so he kept his mouth shut in public and pretended to be cordial.

Kimmy smirked at the kid's attitude. "I'll have you know, I'm very young at heart."

"I think you mean up here?" he corrected, tapping his head pointedly and giving her a not-so-nice look.

"How dare you! Anyway, I just came over to say that I'm glad that you chose my daughter to be your partner, but next time maybe something less risqué and that involves less touching. I don't think her dad liked that very much."

Robby crossed his arms across his chest with a scowl. "You've got a lot of nerve, lady. The last time I checked, your daughter wanted to be a competitive dancer, not a nun."

Kimmy raised an eyebrow. "I'll have you know my daughter was accepted into the San Francisco School of Performing Arts before she even joined your group, and they didn't make them perform moves like you do in your dances."

For some reason, that amused him and made the girls behind him giggle. "Oh yeah. Great school. Living off wheat germ, kale, and beet MRE packs is the dream. Plus, the other crap they pull like not allowing people to have a social life or do anything but dance constantly until they drop from exhaustion and hire private investigators to tail you."

"How did you know what they eat there?" Ramona asked, puzzled.

Robby couldn't help but feel amused by the expression on her face. "You do realize I was offered a full-time position to teach there last year, right?"

"What?" his partner nearly screeched. "What happened?"

"The instructors at that place are held to the same standards as the students. Meaning they control every aspect of your life the moment you sign a contract with them. So I told them I had no interest in their shit school and hung up."

"You also told them to go 'fuck themselves,' remember, baby," Sienna said coyly as she leaned up against his shoulder and smirked mockingly at the girl's mother.

Everyone blatantly ignored their 'closeness.'

The two dancers might act flirty at times and had undeniable chemistry, but neither was interested in the other romantically.

"I'm surprised they didn't try to blacklist you?" the girl said, frowning.

The captain of the dance team shrugged nonchalantly. "They did try to blacklist me. "Try" being the operative word in that sentence. SaFSPA even revisited my history with drugs and attempted to use that against me, but it wasn't exactly a secret — so the artistic director overseeing my contract elected to ignore it."

"It's news to me," Daniel stated, having overheard most of that conversation and crossed his arms. "You better still not be doing drugs when you work for me. Otherwise, I'm going to start implementing mandatory drug tests."

Robby couldn't help but feel offended. "You fired me, remember?"

Oh yeah.

It was clear his former boss had forgotten about that hasty decision.

Daniel deflated slightly. "Well, I'm rehiring you — if you want your job back. But just so we're on the same page, some things are going to have to change. Starting with limiting the number of hours you've been working, and you're not allowed to take the customers on test drives anymore."

Robby looked disheartened. "Is that my punishment for lying to you?"

He'd really enjoyed getting behind the wheel of the expensive cars and moving them around the dealership.

It was his favorite part of the job.

Daniel's eyes softened. "Of course not, Robby. I'm not doing this to hurt you, but obviously, you lied on your resume. Those jobs were fine when we thought you were a high school graduate taking a gap year before you went to college."

His student reddened, remembering that during his interview he'd handed Mrs. LaRusso a doctored transcript that said he was fresh out of high school and explained he was just "taking some time off to figure things out."

Daniel placed his hand on his student's shoulder and gave him a little hug to clarify that he wasn't purposely cross with him. "It's not good business to allow a sixteen-year-old to leave the lot with a stranger or drive the kind of cars we sell, period. The people at the insurance company would have an aneurysm."

Robby hugged him back tentatively. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Mr. LaRusso. I just wanted to get back at my dad and make him hurt, like how he'd hurt me."

"I know, kiddo," Daniel replied, feeling his heart ache for the badly neglected boy in his arms.

THE END