Tour the way: Book 2

Shall We Dance?

After I left the Louvré with Bruno, we pretty much just spent the afternoon taking in the sights. We were passing by a café when he asked me about my dancing.
"I guess I started when I was about 7." I told him. "I was kind of tall for my age and my mom thought I might as well use it to my advantage." I laughed.

"Well you know, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I've got a few moves myself." he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I've seen your moves." I said.

"What's the verdict? Do I get the Erica seal of approval?" he asked jokingly.

"Meh." I replied teasing him.

"Oh really?" he asked. "You wanna go, Brooklyn?" he asked extending his arms and laughing.

"Maybe I do, Honolulu!" I said back. I took out my phone and played his song 'Finesse' from my phone.

"How appropriate." He grinned at me.

When I'm walkin' with you
I watch the whole room change
Baby, that's what you do
No, my baby, don't play
Blame it on my confidence
Oh, blame it on your measurements

A two step here and a few turns there and the two of us had almost completely occupied a sidewalk in Paris. Without even realizing it, we had attracted quite a few people. Bruno was waiting for his turn when he met my gaze and directed my attention to the crowd.

"You gonna let a little thing like stage fright stop you?" I asked in a huff.

"Not a chance." he smirked.

We out here drippin' in finesse
It don't make no sense
Out here drippin' in finesse
You know it, you know it
We out here drippin' in finesse 

After our little dance battle, which ended up at a stalemate, Bruno and I were laughing at the whole situation.

"So I guess I have no business challenging a chick from a major dance company." he said.

"More like I have no business challenging a dude who does this in front of people on a regular basis." I replied.

"Looks like I guessed right when I thought you spoke English back at the Louvré." he said. My eyes widened a little.

"So wait..." I started. "You completely guessed?" I asked in disbelief.

"I took a guess. I had no idea you spoke English when I came up to you." Bruno admitted.

"Oh. Risk taker." I said laughingly. He shrugged. A few hours had gone by and I had spent every minute of it with Bruno. It was nice to actually have someone to see this with. It certainly beat sulking around and feeling sorry for myself. "Thanks Bruno" I told him.

"For what?" he asked.

"Well, I was in a pretty lousy mood when I met you." I explained. "It was a long morning." I continued. "Although,  you've made today pretty great." I confessed. He smiled at me.

"You know, I have an extra ticket to the show tonight." he shrugged. "I know it's a little weird for a first date, but.." he trailed off. My eyes grew wider.

"Date?" I asked. "Oh, umm." I said with panic in the back of my mind. My heart was beating so fast, I was sure they could hear me on the next continent. "B, I'm so sorry. I have a boyfriend." I told him. Bruno didn't say anything. "I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on in any way." I apologized profusely. At that point, I felt like I was rambling, but can you blame me? I felt like such a spaz. I was so embarrassed and my face grew warm.

"That's okay. You should take it anyway. No reason we can't still be friends right." he said. I could still feel my hands becoming increasingly clammy. I nodded my head and cautiously took them.

I got back to the hotel a little later and could feel the ticket Bruno gave me burning a hole in my pocket. "Text me when you get a chance" he told me as exchanged numbers. The sound of his sentence still lingered in my mind. I had a few hours before his performance if I had decided to go. I used my key card and walked through my room door and found Avi sitting on my bed.

"Hey." I said cheerfully.

"Hey, were you okay today?" he asked.

"Yeah. It was an interesting afternoon actually." I told him putting my jacket on a nearby chair. Avi stood up and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm really sorry about today Erica." he said.

"It's okay Avi." I simply said while taking my earrings out.

"I felt terrible about leaving." he kept going but I was walking over to the nigh stand after removing the earrings from my first and second holes.

"I was fine. I made a friend actually." I told him even though I was a little nervous about telling him due what happened last year.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah. You are not going to believe this, but I actually ran into Bruno Mars today." I told him. "I couldn't believe it. He was really nice and we had a little dance battle in town." I continued to tell him what happened. "I actually had a lot of fun. He even gave me a ticket to his show tonight." I finished.

"That sounds great." he said a little less than enthusiastic. "Are you gonna go?" he curiously asked.

"Do you not want me to?" I asked. I stared and waited for an answer.

Avi's POV

I was finished with the others for the day, but the day had already been lost. My girl was out in the city of Paris without me and I couldn't even join her at this point. I felt terrible about having to put work over her. It was supposed to be my day off with her and I lost it jus as quickly as I got it. I figured she would be back at her room by now so I went to find her. On the way, I got a text from Kevin. It was link to a video that was posted online and the only caption was "Bruno Mars dance battle" I was a little puzzled at this but stopped to watch anyway. My eyes grew a little wide at what I saw. There was Erica dancing against Bruno Mars. I guess she wasn't so bored after all, but I guess I couldn't help but feel a little iffy about it. I couldn't bring myself to watch the whole thing. I don't know who won and quite frankly, I didn't want to. The more I watched, the more it didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to this again. I  couldn't go through what she and I had last year so I kept an open mind. I trusted her.

"I knew Erica could dance, but man, she's killing it." Kevin sent shortly after. I placed my phone back in my pocket and didn't want to jump to conclusions. I was reminded of what happened the last time I did that. It nearly tore us apart for good. I reached Erica's room and she had yet to return so, I figured I'd wait for her. Looked around the empty room and saw the hair clip I had given her. It wasn't her apartment, but her essence was all around. It sounds sappy, but I guess the guilt bothered me more than I realized.  Just then, I heard the key card activate. The knob finally began to turn and I looked up.

End POV

"You should go." Avi told me. I was a little shocked to be honest.

"Really?" I asked turning towards him. He nodded. "Because if you just wanted to stay in tonight, we can do that too." I said.

"I'm actually pretty tired. You go on ahead and have fun. Besides, I know how much you love his music." he told me.

"Well, okay Avi." I said walking over to my closet and picked out something to ware. "What do you think of this one?" I asked showing off a long fitted blue shirt that almost long enough to be a dress. I wore leggings and shoes that gave me a slight lift. I had picked out a new set of earrings to go with what I had on.

"Beautiful as always." he gave me peck on the forehead" I smiled and kissed him.

"See you later alligator." I said gathering my things.

"In a while crocodile." he replied and exited my room.