Let's Tango

6 | Q U I N N

"Did you see?" A blur of pink flies towards us as Maddie breaks away from her group at the barre.

"That last jump! Did you see it?" Eyes wild, she jumps on her toes, vaguely demonstrating the move.

"You were amazing! That was a beautiful grand jeté and your positions are looking so graceful!" Rory hugs the ball of tightly woven energy while I pat the top of her head, wistfully remembering the days when we actually had to bend over to do this. Maddie's up to my chest now and it feels like she sprouted overnight. "I'm a little jealous actually, I love ballet but it was never my strong suit."

"Ah, you're Rory, right?" the dance instructor calls out as he makes his way over to us, wading through the throng of children and adults that crowd the mirror-lined studio. Maybe a handful of years older than us, his sandy blonde hair and round eyes give him a youthful appearance.

Maddie makes use of his interruption and jets off again somewhere, leaving the three of us.

He thrusts a hand out in Rory's direction with a wide grin. "I'm Cam. It's nice to finally meet you, Maddie talks about you a lot, she couldn't resist telling us a million times about how you were picking her up today. We've actually competed a few times before—you're with Heat Wave, right? Impressive."

She grips his hand and only gets a chance to nod in acknowledgment before he turns to me with raised brows. "And you must be the brother."

I feel like I should be offended at being known only as 'the brother', but I don't feel anything except a little embarrassed when his eyes rake over me. "She failed to mention you were a handsome devil. Do you dance? Horizontally, perhaps?"

It definitely takes me a second to recover and I can't help the amused smile that crosses my face. "Uh, no. Sorry, not really my thing."

I don't miss the double meaning, and apparently, neither does Rory. She smirks wickedly next to us as he mutters a little "Shame," with a shrug.

"You compete? What team are you with?" She asks.

"Rhythm Reborn. I'm into more classic stuff and my sister, Taryn, over there," he throws a thumb over his shoulder, "does more modern dance. We're co-captains so we like to incorporate both into our routines like you guys do. Our crew's on the newer side so ya'll have served as some inspiration for us actually, but I'll admit I've never had a chance to talk to any of you since it seems like you keep more to yourselves."

"Yeah, well our captain's kind of a di—" She catches herself with an assessing look around the room before restating, "He's not the best person in general and is really strict about us not conversing with other groups. 'This is a dance competition, not a party,'" She punctuates with air quotes. "'Don't give away our tactics.' All that jazz... If you ask me, competitions should be fun, I miss talking with everyone, sharing tips, and congratulating them when they've earned it. He makes it feel like we're going into battle or something."

"I guess every team treats it differently, and hey, it seems to work for you since Heat Wave has like, what, six or seven golds? With you being a semi-local team, it's given us some motivation—maybe we'll beat you one of these times."

As they chat, I glance to the opposite side of the room where he had indicated. It's not hard to pick out his sister, minding her business in the corner with a tablet—it's like they share the same face. The same animated eyes and hair just a few shades lighter than his, although hers is cropped short in what I've recently learned is called a pixie cut. With her slightly more heart-shaped face and dark lipstick, she does indeed remind me of a fierce pixie. She's also easy to spot because she's not included in the mirage of pink, white, and black ballet clothes, instead wearing looser activewear, which would track if she sticks to more modern stuff.