PERMANENT - Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 8 - Dance Lessons, Life Lessons

Sunday 9.05am

I sat on the floor of the dance studio opposite the giant mirror with Raymond, our Irish Dance teacher and a whole team of professional dancers that would be starring in the film, waiting for Leo to turn up so that we could start, and as always, I was deep in thought.

When I got home last night, Jake was long gone, as were his clothes that had lay scattered across my floor. The place was just how I had left it – all my possessions were still there. I felt bad for even considering that he would steal from me, but that was just my paranoia. The only difference in the appearance of my bedroom was that my bed was neatly made, with a note sitting on top of it. I had recognised the paper as one from my notebook that sat near my bed. When I picked it up, it read, in the same scruffy hand writing as the one on the napkin he gave me when we first met:

'Penelope, I apologise if I have made you upset. It was not my intentions to get you into bed with me, and if I'm being honest, I'm not sure quite what happened. We both had a bit too much to drink, we both know that, but that doesn't mean anything has to change. It's already happened, and all we can do is move on. Maybe in a couple of years we can laugh about it, or that could be one of your crazy 'experiences' that you can tell stories about. Either way, I really do like you and I'd like to see you soon, so call me, please. But if you don't, I'll probably call you anyway.

I hope to see you soon.

Jake'

"What's UP," I heard Leo shout as he pushed through the doors, headband on as always, walking in confidently with both his hands up flashing peace signs. I snorted – he always knew how to make an entrance. The girls in the dance group all giggled, thrilled to be in the presence of the planet's 'cutie-pie' charmer, but then again, so was I. A week ago I was practically jobless, and now here I was, rehearsing with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Upon seeing me, he ran over and hugged me, picking me up and spinning me round. I'm surprised he didn't snap in half. "Leo! Put me down!" I squealed, hitting him on the shoulder "Hi," he said, as he put me down. "Yeah hi Mr Macho-man, glad you could make it" I joked back.

"Alright now that Leo's here we gonna start. So what's gonna happen is we're gonna demonstrate first, and then I'll walk you through it step by step." As the music started, we watched the dancers, some went at the same time, some individually, each dance slightly different from the last.

When it was our turn, Raymond guided us carefully and patiently, and I seemed to get the hang of it straight away. I had done ballet back in England from the age of 7-12, following in my mother's footsteps, so maybe that helped me be quick on my feet.

Leo, however, was clearly not much of a dancer, and took several hours to learn just the basic foot movements.

"Wait, don't move! Let me hold on," he laughed, as he clutched to my shoulders, eyes firmly fixated on his feet. Raymond was on the other end of the dance studio talking to one of the dancers. "Leo that's not gonna help you need to do it yourself. That's how the scene goes," He continued to hold on, staring down as if he didn't hear me. "Leo,"

"I got it, I got it, look" He was now concentrating so hard, his tongue was sticking out a little bit, and I burst out laughing. He let go and continued to move his feet randomly, positive that he had the dance nailed, and I now felt tears coming out of my eyes from laughing.

"I don't know why you're laughing, we're both amateurs here," he laughed back, "You're right, great job Leo," he scowled at me teasingly.

"Alright everybody, refreshment break!" Raymond clapped, and everyone headed down to the table of food in the very far corner of the room. Leo walked past, smacking me on the arm playfully as he went.

Once we had gotten some plates of food and drinks, some of the dancers had returned to the front of the mirror practicing, whilst me and Leo sat against the wall, eating.

"It's gonna be so good once we get to Rosarito to film, the beaches are amazing down there." Leo said, taking a sip of his juice. "Yeah as if we don't have beaches down here in Santa Monica. You're literally like 10 minutes away from one,"

"No it's not the same. Completely different vibe." He interrupted.

"Isn't it gonna be hard though? To live away from what you're used to for so long? Aren't you gonna miss anyone?"

"Well you did it didn't you? Moved all the way from England. It's the same thing."

"Yeah but this is different. It's gonna be gruelling days of hard work, no social life in some weird freaking car park and a fake ship. For months. I'm not even gonna be able to see anyone..."

"Why, you got someone back here you're gonna leave behind huh?" he said slyly, nudging me on the shoulder. I knew it was Jake he was referring to, and I wasn't sure how to feel anymore.

"Yeah...no...I don't know. We're not official, we haven't known each other long but," I stopped, unsure if I wanted to carry on and spill all my secrets. "It's messed up." I sighed.

He looked at me for a moment, studying my sullen expression and finally spoke up "All I'm gonna say, is if you like him, and he likes you, then why the hell aren't you official? If he hasn't hurt you, and you tell me if he does, then there's no problem right?" I stared down at the half eaten spiced chicken wrap on my plate, then looked at him, cracking a smile. 

"Okay everybody food away, we'll get back to it. We're covering the Polka this half of the session!" Raymond clapped his hands again. Leo stood up, and held out a hand to me "Come on," and I gave him my hand as he pulled me up, and we went back to join the dancers.