Mateless and Home Bound

Chapter 23: The Dancing King

"1, 2, 3, and 1, 2, 3, and,"

"Ow!" Alexa whined, "Dammit, Eric, that hurt!"

"Ugh!" he stopped what he was doing and fell onto one of the chairs that had been pushed to the edge of the room. "I can't do this. I suck at dancing."

They were in the grand hall of the pack house. When there weren't any parties going on, it was a great place to hang out in or try and do different activities.

Like dancing.

Why he thought this was a good idea, he still couldn't figure out.

"That happens all the time with new dancers, Eric," Uncle Nick laughed. "It's just like life: You can't get anywhere if you don't step on a few toes!"

"Can it not be my toes?" Alexa said. She sat down on one of the chairs too, rubbing her feet. "Why do I have to be the volunteer sacrifice for this?"

"I'm sorry, Alexa," Eric sighed. "I shouldn't have even tried."

"Oh, now you're just being dramatic, both of you," Nick said. "I just wish you tried to learn dancing when I was trying to teach you when you were seven. You would have been an expert by now."

"I hate dancing," he groaned into his hands. He never wanted to learn how to dance. It just wasn't something that he was ever interested in, no matter how cool Uncle Nick tried to make it seem. It was fun to watch, but he never wanted to learn it until now.

He didn't know why he was even trying this. Jane had just said that she wanted to learn how to dance and he got this brilliant idea of learning how to before she did so that he could dance with her. It seemed like a great idea at first. He would finally get to spend more time with her and have her in his arms. If it was a slow song, they could just talk through it or something. Maybe he could see her in a fancy dress rather than the normal ones that she's always wearing. She looked great no matter what, but he could only imagine what she'd look like in a nice party dress.

"I don't get it," Michael shook his head. "How do you make all these karate moves in your training perfectly in the blink of an eye, but you can't learn a simple dance routine?"

"Conventional dancing is a societal torture method," a voice came from the corner of the room. Eric almost forgot that Victor was there. He had decided to do his homework in the room with them all. Eric thought that it was going to be distracting for him, but he proved him wrong by putting on his earbuds and pulling out his papers.

"That is the most insulting thing I think I've ever heard," Nick crossed his arms. "But, it's to be expected of the drama king of the pack."

"The fact that you actually enjoy dancing is baffling," Victor rolled his eyes. It was easy to see with all the black eyeliner he put on them. That and his dyed black hair made him look way more dramatic than he actually was.

"If it were up to you, headbanging would be the conventional way of dancing," Nick threw up his hands.

"Absolutely not," Victor argued. "Only if you have the hair for it."

Eric laughed at that. He couldn't help but feel better with Victor around. The kid was hilarious, even when he wasn't trying to be. He could even make Reggie laugh when he was freaking out over something. Eric probably should have invited him to the gym the first night Reggie really was freaking out.

"Come on, Eric," Michael sat next to him. "You can't just give up on this."

"Is this for Jane?" Victor asked.

"Yes," Eric answered, burying his face in his hands again. "Because I'm absolutely horrible with romance."

"Join the club," Victor mumbled.