Can such a strange friendship turn into love? He never realized she was so lovely. She never noticed how charming he was. Miles Bridgerton and Vanessa Everleigh have known each for over a decade and both of them had never really given the other much...
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"Nessa, you must always remember that the most important part about dancing is to make sure you never, ever, ever, step on a gentleman's foot. That would surely be the worst mistake you can ever make while dancing."
- Susan Everleigh, teaching Vanessa how to dance at 6 years of age
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Many attendees almost didn't realize how strange it was to see the pair: Miles Bridgerton and Vanessa Everleigh. There was so much that was odd. Miles Bridgerton was actually attending a ball? Vanessa Everleigh, the spinster, was asked to dance by a Bridgerton? People stared in awe and disbelief. Surely Miles was only dancing with her in pity, although it was still surprising to think that someone actually noticed her enough.
Miles and Vanessa could feel the eyes on them. They both felt uncomfortable about it, but Miles had asked her to dance and she agreed. Both were slightly regretting their decisions.
"It seems that we have now become a sight to behold." Miles told her as he lead her to the dance floor.
"Well it's certainly a rare one. I can almost hear their disbelief." She out a small laugh, "It's not often that Miles Bridgerton comes to an event and actually danced, and better yet, no one would have expected you'd choose me as your first dance."
"I think you're a perfectly acceptable first dance. You're certainly not dull," He said playfully.
"I should hope I'm not. I don't think I could live with myself if I were dull."
He laughed and they began to dance. It was odd, she held herself in a rather powerful way the entire time they had been talking, but once the dance began it was as if her demeanor shrank. "Are you in discomfort?" He asked in concern.
Vanessa hesitated, but gave in, "I can't help but admit that I may have forgotten how to dance." She tried not to look at him, if he had found her to be ridiculous, she definitely did not want to see it in his face. "It's been so long... I do not wish to make a fool of myself when so many people are already expecting so little of me."
"Well then, Miss Everleigh, we shall exceed their expectations," He said kindly, understanding her dilemma. "Don't worry, I assure you that I will lead well enough that you will remember."
And.. they simply danced. Vanessa had kept her mouth shut the entire time, deciding to focus on remembering the steps. She knew that it was often wise to partake in conversation during dances, but she really didn't want to stumble. She hadn't realized until now how much she missed to dance.
Miles knew that Vanessa would want to dedicate some amount of concentration to remembering the dance, but he certainly wasn't expecting her to be silent. He thought maybe once she had eased into it more, she might strike up a conversation or say something witty, but as he was waiting for her to speak up about anything, he looked at her and noticed the sheer amount of focus on her face. She was facing him, but she wasn't looking at him. He actually wasn't quite sure if she was even looking at anything. If a person could stare at air, that's what Vanessa was doing. He tried to hold back a smile; it was very amusing to see just how determined she was to remember the dance. It was rather surprising actually, he hadn't expected her to care so much about how she would look dancing. He hadn't expected her to care at all what others thought of her. But, he supposed it was only reasonable for a girl to care about something like this. Had it really been so long since she danced that she was afraid to dance badly?
