Callisto: Bound to the Alien Commander |18+

Chapter 15

Clearing my throat, I quickly step out of Santi's grasp and straighten my clothes.

"What is that?" The confusion on their faces makes me smile. I guess watching people dance would look strange if you've never seen it before.

"Salsa!" Santi starts to move again, this time grabbing Clarisse.

"They are dancing," Olexa's voice is full of amusement.

"I do not understand the appeal." Ronan watches Santi as he moves his hips from side to side while swaying his arms in front of his body.

"It's fun," I try to explain even though the look on his face tells me it's a wasted effort.

Elite Navigator watches us thoughtfully before turning to talk to Ronan quietly. They watch us, then whisper, then watch some more. When he leaves the room, Olexa looks at us eagerly, like whatever she knows, is something we want to know, too.

"We have converted audio files from discs. Would you like to hear them?"

"Audio files?" I can tell that the others don't know what that means either.

"I believe it is music."

The buzzing excitement is immediate. We follow him down the hall to a room that Olexa didn't show us. It looks like a control center of some kind. It's circular with a large, glass tube in the center that looks like it's somehow filled with liquid and lightning. Elite Navigator is already here, tapping the illuminated pictures on the wall. I used a computer a few times while working on my thesis. It reminds me of that, only bigger and better and beyond what I'm capable of using.

A cheerful beat starts to play behind the voice of a woman singing in Spanish. Santi doesn't waste a second grabbing our hands in his and leading us to the center of the room.

"Do you know this song?"

"I've never heard it before," he laughs as he starts to dance, situating himself in between us to show us what to do.

"Right, left, right, left," he instructs us on which foot to step back on. "More hips and add your arms." He exaggerated the movements until we start to catch on. "Now, step back and turn, right, now back and turn left."

By the time the first song ends, I've forgotten that we have an alien audience to our dance lesson. Clarisse and I are howling with laughter over our uncoordinated spins as we try to remember the steps.

As the second song starts, Santi gives up on us and grabs Olexa by the hand. She happily dances with him. It would appear that she was watching his instruction closely while he taught us because she does each step perfectly.

"See!" Santi spins her around, "this is how you cumbia! Eso es!"

I attempt to spin Clarisse the same way but she steps on my feet instead.

The next song starts with an upbeat rhythm that sounds different from the last few, this sounds like pop music. When the singer starts in, we dance around the room with no choreography or steps, just moving.

As the songs transition in and out, from the third to the fourth to the fifth, we dance, like we're the last people on Earth. I don't care about Ronan watching me. I don't care that I'm a terrible dancer. I don't even care that I've never heard any of these songs. For the first time since waking up, I feel normal. If I close my eyes, I can pretend that I'm at a party with college friends, laughing and dancing.

My chest feels like it's full of champagne bubbles, tiny tingly bursts of joy. I don't know the artists or what year the songs came out, but here we are, dancing to them. Everything isn't lost. Even now, years later, we're listening to this small piece of our history.

I'm suddenly so grateful to Ronan for showing us these songs. Without thinking I grab his hand and pull him into the center of the room. He lets me pull him forward but he doesn't move, he just stands there while I spin and jump around him.

The scream that comes from both Clarisse and me when 'You're The One That I Want' starts seems to startle everyone.

"I know this song!" I grab both of his hands and start to loudly sing the lyrics while I spin around the room with him. Never in my life did I think a song from the Grease soundtrack would make me this excited.

Ronan moves around the room with me. I try to show him the dance from the movie, using Clarisse to teach him his part. He looks amused as he watches us fumble with the choreography. He never actually smiles, but he almost does. There is a softness in his gaze that makes me feel warm. Not embarrassed just sort of... fuzzy.

My mind wanders back to my high school prom. I was a shy, nervous wallflower who didn't dance to a single song the whole night. If I could tell that girl that she would be twirling in the arms of a physically perfect alien almost three hundred years later, I doubt I would have believed it. I can hardly believe it's happening even now.

At the end of the song, I bow gracefully and thank him for the dance.

"I think I understand the appeal of dancing now," he says quietly, only to me. My cheeks burn and my heart flutters.

Damn it.

Olexa picks up my discarded and nearly forgotten notebook from the floor. Any tingly feelings Ronan was making me feel are pushed to the side.

"This belongs to you," she hands it to me but I can see the curiosity. She's been looking at it all day.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about this," I hope this isn't going to end up being an unacceptable request. "As you know, I am a doctor of human anatomy. I would love the chance to do an anatomical study where I could gather some information about your bodies. Just for educational purposes."

"Would you like to study me?" She offers immediately.

"I really would," I sigh, relieved. "We have so many similarities but I want to learn about the differences too."

I was hoping she would be willing to do this but I wasn't expecting her to volunteer so quickly. The more time I spend with Olexa, the more I like her.

"I will come to your quarters tomorrow."