HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[3.12] square dance

❝ It's basically just cowboy cosplay without the horses. ❞

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"So then what did Drac's father do? Did he kill his great-grandson?" West's eyes widened as he quizzed Maxie on the remainder of the movie she'd gone to see.

The girl frowned, taking a quick step forward through the door West had just held open for her, "I actually don't know," She cringed awkwardly, "There was a popcorn and slushy-themed emergency that involved some random man and I having to drag Eldon out of the cinema before it ended," Maxie sighed, recounting the defeat she faced when seeing the blond slumped over the toilet of their local cinema with rainbow-covered popcorn stuck to his shirt.

"West, Eldon, James and I were meant to go and see the Hotel Transylvania 2 movie last weekend, but James cancelled last minute for band practice, and Miss Kate had to call West in that evening for help with the baby ballet dancers, so now I'm just filling him in on what we saw of the movie," Maxie explained with a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, your mom was telling me about that when I was waiting to pick you up this morning," West let out a breathy chuckle, finding slight bemusement in the situation, "Sorry I couldn't be there to witness it, babe," He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Maxie let slip a giggle, "Oh, yeah, you missed a real cinematic masterpiece," The girl quipped, leaning into her boyfriend's touch as the two entered the studio, ready to face another day of rehearsals, hopefully with little to no disruptions.

West couldn't help the giant smile on his face, "I'm really happy with Maxie and our relationship. You know what? I think I'm the happiest I have ever been! You know what? I'm so happy I could just dance," West proclaimed in a childlike manner before beginning to do small dance moves in his seat.

Just as the two walked into the centre of the dance space, the sudden sound of outspoken bickering that they'd previously droned out became all too apparent. Before the two stood a ring of A-Troupe dancers in the midst of a heated debate, the topic unknown to their Dance Captain.

"I should go, uh... Find out what this is about," West frowned, planting a small kiss on Maxie's temple as he jogged off to stand beside Eldon, who was more than eager to have his friend on his side whilst filling him in on who was arguing what point.

Just as Maxie was about to step in and mediate the situation, a dancer who'd broken away from the circle caught her attention, "Zie! Thank God you're here, what time do you call this?" Ella rasped, grasping Maxie's arm as she began to drag her away from the commotion.

"Ella? Hey, good morning to you, too," Maxie managed to get out in the rush to get towards Kate's office for some mysterious reason, "Please don't tell me that you're behind this, 'cause I don't want a Summerford incident number four repeat, especially since it's my job to sort this all out, so if you would excuse me," She tried to release herself from Ella's grip on her, only to be met with craning laughter.

"Don't be silly, your 'profound' dancers caused this themselves with their uptightness," Ella rolled her eyes with a sense of wry humour, "I just thought, as Dance Captain, you might want to help me to help them lighten up a bit."

Maxie let out a sigh, looking over at the circle of dancers that were still arguing over whether they should start a new dance, or perfect the current ones, "I guess Internationals is still a fair few weeks away..." She trailed off, failing to notice the beam spreading across her peer's lips.