On the Dancefloor

3

"Delmira." He calls out again.

I open the door, catching Dario's eyes as they go from my eyes and linger down to my chest area. I look down to where he is looking and see my dress half off my body, my entire bra in full view. My eyes widen and slam the door shut. I hear a chuckle from the other side of the door as I hurry my practice clothes back on. Asshole.

I zip up my dress in the bag and look in the mirror to make sure I didn't leave any other clothes behind and open the door again to see Dario leaned up against the door frame. Great. He has a smirk plastered on his face.

He gives me a once over and I push past him, he grabs my wrist from behind and I slapped his hand, "Akim said to not grab the hand of a lady that isn't yours." I said, forcing my wrist out of his hold.

He looks me in the eye, "But you are mine. You've been mine the moment I saw you Delmira." He says. I look at him.

"I am not something to be claimed. I am not yours, I am not Mateo's. I am no ones. I told you, if anyone wins, it's gonna be me or Luna, fuck you guys." I spit at him. He scoffs to himself,

"I knew that fire in you wasn't just in the dancing." He says. I glare at him and walk away from him and head back to the dancefloor. More couples have entered in since before and they all greet me as I walk past them. I see Luna and she gives me the 'where is Dario?'  look, I simply point to the hallway I walked out of and continue walking towards Mateo who is sitting down, looking at the floor. He looks insanely stressed.

I stand in front of him as he picks his head up to look at me. I put my hand out, "One more round and we're done for today." I say. He nods and grabs my hand, to which I pull him up and grab our airpods since the speaker is taken over. I take the right ear and he takes the left, our usual choices. I play a random 2 min latin rounds and we get adjusted. We start our cha-cha.

As I'm dancing, the only thing through my mind is the steps and visuals. I know the dress, how it looks on me, how it feels, I know how I'm gonna look tomorrow. I created dream visuals and apply them to my dancing as best as I could so I can make my dancing better. Mateo has been with me through this stage so many times but he's changed. He keeps dragging my arm more and trying to prop it up.

He keeps reciting to me, "timing" or "keep your arms up" to me while we are dancing but...I'm dancing the same way I always do. Everytime he drags my arms more and more aggressively that It starts to hurt. I don't verbalize it until we hit jive, the final dance. I utter "ow" when he pulls my arm again and he just stops and blows up on me.

"It wouldn't hurt if you just put your fucking arms up!" He says, shaking my arms in front of my face, "you're leading me when I am the leader! If you don't like my leading, then go be with Dario." He keeps spitting in my face, shaking my arms more aggressively, fear instills in me, I'm in shock and don't know what to do so I just stay silent, "Just do something right for once in your damned life!" He finally says, slamming my arms down as he walks away, his airpod dropping out of his ear onto the floor, I watch as he walks away into the hallway with shock as I see Dario racing towards me.

I don't feel anything until Dario grabs me and pulls me back into reality, "I saw everything, did he hurt you? are you okay?" He asks, looking at me and examining my arms. I pull my arms out of his touch and nod, "I am fine." I reply.

He deadpans at me, "Delmira, you're crying, you aren't fine." He responds. I wipe my tears I didn't know existed and bended down to pick up the airpod, putting them back in the case and in my bag.

"I'm just shocked. I am fine, go practice with Luna, she needs you more than I do." I say, taking off my shoes and piling them in my bag.

"I already finished my rounds with her, she's packing to leave right now, so she doesn't need me for your information." He responds. I feel a rise of heat spiral in me as more tears leave my eyes.

"Can you just leave me alone, Dario? I'll see you tomorrow, please!" I fire at him, tears leaving my eyes. He looks at me with hurt in his eyes and he starts backing away.

"Alright, I'll- uh.. see you tomorrow.." He says, going to his seat. A pang of guilt hits me as I continue packing away my stuff, getting my keys and leaving the studio. If Mateo dares asks me where I am and why I left... I'll fucking lose it.

I get in my car and start it, getting ready to back out and leave, until I see Akim hurrying to me. I sigh, please Akim...

He stops at my window and I roll it down, "What happened, Delmira?" He starts, "I saw you crying while Dario was with you...Did he do something to make you uncomfortable? I swear to God if he did.." He continues.

"No! Akim, Dario didn't do anything. It was Mateo, he was getting into his head. He yelled at me and threw my arms around, saying they aren't working like they usually do... I didn't do anything wrong, he just got so heated and blew past me. Dario came to offer comfort but I told him to leave me alone." I explain, Akim listens actively.

"Alright, I'm sure it's a misunderstanding... I'll see you tomorrow... Don't forget this." He says, holding up the bag for my dress. My eyes widen and I grab it, laying it in the passenger seat.

"Sorry Akim...I'll see you tomorrow." I respond. He nods and backs away from the window, allowing me to back out of the lot carefully and drive away.

During the car ride back home, I couldn't help but cry. I'm nervous, mad, excited... I'm feeling so many emotions at the same time, I don't know how to exert it.

I drive all the way home and check the time to see it's already seven-thirty. I need to eat, get some homework done and sleep.

Big day tomorrow.

***