Return To Wonderland

Chapter 4: Dance Lessons

Alice awoke the next morning, the sun beamed brightly through the curtains making the room lighter (since the castle was white.) She slowly and tiredly stood up, walking to the closet and picked a green dress that were the color of Hatter's eyes (surprise?) and headed out into the hallway at the same time that Hatter came out of his room, (another surprise?)

"Good morning!" They both said at the same time then laughed.

"Shall I escort you to the kitchen Miss Kingsleigh?" Hatter held out his arm to her and she looped her arm through his, smiling.

"It would be my pleasure Mr. Hightopp" Alice giggled and they both walked through the hallways and entered the kitchen, quickly ducking as a tea cup was thrown at them (oh, thackery..)

"Yer' both late for breakfas'!" Thackery said, throwing ingredients into a bowl then started talking to himself again.

Hatter and Alice walked over to the table where everyone else was finishing their breakfast and poured themselves cups of tea.

"Alice, dear how did you sleep?" Mirana smiled and sipped her tea.

"Fine, thank you Mirana. I love the room, it's really wonderful but you didn't have to do all that for me." Alice smiled back, she still wondered why they did all that for her. She was just an  ordinary Above-lander.

"Nonsense, you are the champion of Underland and like I said, you have our everlasting gratitude, you freed this land and everyone in it from my sister's terrible rule." Mirana explained and stood up. "Now, I must keep preparing everything for the ball and I have some meetings to attend to, do you have anything to do Alice?"

Alice thought about it for a moment and realized she had nothing to do. Then when Mirana mentioned the ball, she realized if she was going to a ball, she would have to dance and she didn't know any Underlandian dances, she saw Hatter do the Futterwacken on Frabjous Day but she knew she couldn't dance make her body spin like that (or could she? Maybe not.)

"I don't really have anything to do but I would like to learn some Underlandian dances for the ball, I don't know any and I think they are different than in London." Alice said then Hatter stood up quickly, looking excited.

"I could teach you if you'd like me to! I know many dances and I'd be glad to teach you!" Hatter smiled widely and Alice could feel warmth spread inside her, she loved to see his smile and it made her feel something inside. 

"Yes, I'd love to learn from the master." Alice giggled. "Thank you."

"Now that everything is settled," Mirana walked to the pair and whispered. "You may use the ballroom in the far south wing, no one will bother you there while your practicing." She gave a quick wink at them then gracefully walked out of the room. 

Hatter gently took Alice's hand and lead her to the far south wing. Mirana was right. There were barely any people who came down this hallway so it was a good place to practice. They both opened the doors and the room was not very small but big enough to dance in and there was a record player on a chair.

"The first dance I'll show you is an upbeat song which is called the Renkir." Hatter said then started dancing step by step with Alice following his movements.

Time seemed to go fast because they were having fun learning to dance and Alice already learned more dances than she could count. They were spinning, laughing, smiling and when Alice was learning another upbeat dance, she accidently bumped into Hatter and they both fell on the ground and started laughing.

"Look at the time! Time must have gone fast since we were passing him, hopefully we didn't kill him, at least I hope you didn't because I already did and he stopped for me but slowed down for Thackery and Mally-" Hatter once again went into his rambles, he seemed nervous about something.

"Hatter!" Alice called, she was starting to get worried, his ramblings were happening more frequently then usual.

"Time...thank you, I'm fine," Hatter shook his head and tried to focus then looked at Alice. "We can learn one last dance, it's called the Waltz and it's a slow dance."

"I know that dance, it's also from Above-land but I never really learned how, the only slow dance I knew from London was the Quadrille which was very boring." Alice sighed then remembered when she had to dance that with suitors just to please her mother. 

"Then I shall teach you!" Hatter saw Alice's expression fall slightly, he didn't like seeing anyone (especially his Alice) sad. "Quadrille? That does sound boring. Boring is very boring! A unique person like yourself isn't boring, your mad but all the best people are." 

This made Alice smile and Hatter smiled back. They both stood there for a while until they both jumped at the sound of the clock chiming. 

"We should start practicing this last dance before it gets dark." Alice whispered then Hatter nodded and smiled.

"May I?" Hatter whispered, asking for permission, Alice knew he was a true gentleman and would ask before he did something. 

Alice nodded and Hatter (very gently) placed his right hand on her waist which made Alice take a small (and quiet) breath but she smiled slightly and nodded when Hatter gave her a worried look. She placed her left hand on his shoulder and they held their other two hands together.  

"One, two, three.." Hatter whispered and started moving slowly so Alice could follow and once in a while he would spin her. 

They kept dancing a long time and neither of them noticed when the song had ended. When they finally did stop, they were staring into each others eyes until both them started to lean in slowly. Hatter could feel Alice's breath and wondered what it would be like to kiss her, would she feel the same way about him? Would she reject him and go back to Above-land? That thought made him nervous but Alice was leaning in as well. Did she love him back? 

Alice was thinking the same thing. Did she love him more than a friend? Did he love her back or does he think of her as just a friend? 

"Alice..I.." Hatter whispered then he backed away slowly, he wasn't sure if he should tell her how he felt. He loved her but did she feel the same? 

"Hatter?" Alice slowly walked towards him, worried that she did something wrong.

"Alice, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that.. it was very slurvish of me and I know you probably wouldn't want a madman like me..I- I have to go..I'm sorry." In a blink of an eye, he turned on his heel and walked as quickly as he could out of the room, leaving Alice standing there, worried.