The Waiting One

Chapter 5- The Rise and the Fall

Chapter 5- The Rise and the Fall

Of course factions formed. Jesse and the three guys were the most liked, getting so much attention from the dancers. Zachary seemed to enjoy it but he wasn’t cocky. He was still at the butt of every joke over his partner Serronie. He’d developed an affinity towards her, almost like a crush. Being her side arm didn’t turn out to be bad as he’d anticipated.

Each day they became better dancing together. The more she grew to know him, the more she dropped the guard when they danced. Still, there was awkwardness when it came to them doing the extra touching. She agreed that they would go all out with the dance for the performance; but, until then, everything was still fairly reserved.

Zachary’s dance skills were sharpening. When working with their dance coaches Tammy and Ramone, Serronie and Zachary tried their best to nail the current part of the routine. Serronie constantly praised Zachary for his efforts. He found her to be rather reinforcing. Zachary commanded her body easily when they executed lifts and spins. Her petite stature was easily controlled by his robust hands. He made her feel safe, she knew he wouldn’t slack up and make a careless mistake at her expense.

One evening in practice, Tammy and Ramone showed them how to do a particular lift that was very intimidating. Both Serronie and Zachary were nervous about it. She was required to be lifted in the air by one foot, while holding the other leg straight out to the back, and kicking over into a handstand on his shoulders. They practiced her pose first. She did well with holding the pose with subtlety and poise.

Then the time came to practice the actual lift. “So how exactly are we going to do this?” inquired Zachary scratching his head. Serronie paused for some moments of deep thought and strategy. “Okay, we’ll start like this”, said Serronie walking up and wrapping her arms around his neck. Her initiative startled Zachary. It almost made him feel nervous. She continued, “I’ll hold you while I do the preceding steps, then when it’s time to lift, I’ll crane my neck, you bow into my chest so I can get a good hold on your shoulders. From there I’ll raise my foot, you’ll grab it, and we’ll just throttle into the lift. How does that sound?” Zachary looked down at her and smirked. Their direct eye contact in such proximity made him jittery. The stern grey of her eyes paralyzed him momentarily. “Well? Did I say it too fast?” she said tittering. He snapped back reality, “Yeah, I got it! Let’s go for it!” he replied enthusiastically.

Sarah danced with her partner while staring shamelessly at Zachary and Serronie. She noticed how close they were, smiles and all. Anger began to fill in her chest. She hated the thought of Serronie being any form of competition. Then she had a plan.

“And go!” said Serronie. They began the sequence of moves. Thing were going fluidly, and right before the lift, she stopped. Zachary’s expression changed to one of curiosity. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Serronie glanced around the room. She exhaled quietly and responded, “I just panicked, that’s all. I don’t want to fall.” He lightly held her shoulders and bent slightly to meet her eye level. “I’m more than twice your size, I’m not going to drop you. Right now, you”, he paused to tap her nose with his index finger, “have all of my attention.”

Slowly a slim smile erupted on her face, followed by, “Alright, for real this time, let’s go!” She pushed her shoulders back and held the back of his neck. Zachary lowered his body into a lean while sinking his face into her chest. Her hold on him tightened as she found balance and steadily folded her knee. His hand gripped her foot and the side of her hip. She forced her weight upwards as he hoisted her body into the air. Perfectly, she stood like a figurine in his hands with her hind leg to the back of her head. Slowly, she bent over to his shoulders, grasped them, and eased her legs into the air, one after the other. They flawlessly executed the move.

He lowered Serronie to the floor and she sprung up anxiously to hug him. “Oh my goodness, we did it!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down. Zachary reciprocally held her and shared their mini victory. “We’re pretty awesome”, he said as they stepped back from each other. Zachary and Serronie exchanged a genuine smile that sent electricity to both of their bones. His wide bright smile mirrored how happy he was with her at that moment. He knew that she trusted him, and surprisingly it meant a lot.

“Well, let’s try it again”, he suggested while walking up to her. She stretched her lips boldly in agreement as she extended her arms to his neck once more. The sequence of tedious moves ensued. As the most detrimental point of the lift came, together, they jolted all their energy upward. Soon as Serronie’s body weight left his hands for a split second, someone let out a piercing, blood curdling scream. In that instant, Zachary and Serronie’s attention was diverted. Serronie broke her posture, and Zachary’s hand violently shifted. She fell sideways with her side and hip crashing fiercely into his shoulder. He caught her by the side and thigh as they plummeted to the hard wood floor.

*Hmmm, Zack and Ronnie has some chemistry going on :-), and umm, OUCH! Hope she's okay.....can't dance with an injury......  -LeeBabyRnR