Two Steps Back

Tarantism (NxR)

Tarantism--the uncontrollable urge to dance

He doesn't know when he first met her. She's been there two steps behind him for as long as he can remember, her blonde hair spiralling around her as she spins and her laughter fills the entire room.

That's Richelle.

At least that's who she used to be. They're the only ones left from the ten odd of them there used to be. His mum says they met in baby ballet and Noah who was back then the quiet one had asked her to dance with him at the end of the session saying that he felt an uncontrollable urge to dance with her. The words had sounded funny coming from a five year old apparently and Richelle had laughed at him for the first time and said no. Her mother had later explained that Richele had developed a fascination with the word recently and said no to everything when he'd run to complain to his mum that the little blonde girl didn't like him.

He didn't believe her then but he couldn't help but feel that Richelle's fascination with the word still hadn't ended. It allowed her to form boundaries around herself he knew. Saying no allowed her to feel powerful in a way that nothing even dance did because it meant she could control whatever she had to do. Richelle had never hesitated to say no to him as children. She couldn't hang out because she had to finish working on her spins or do her homework or play the piano.

He never stopped though. Whenever she said no he just squared his shoulders, gave her the space she said she needed and he'd leave with her piano playing filling his head as he goes home. Her delicate fingers darting over the keyboard nimbly even just at 9 or 10 dancing up and down the octaves as she coaxes sound out of the tired instrument in the music room.

...

The she said yes though unlike the first day she said no to him he remembers. She was 11 and he was 12 and like always they were waiting to be picked up. They were always the last two left. She was sitting in the music room cross legged her hair falling out of a french braid her mother had clearly done and it was caught in the suns ray. She had been doing her homework and she was gnawing on the end of a pencil. It was courtesy a habit when he stopped in to check on her and ask if she needed anything. And she said yes and asked him to help her with her maths. The questions were easy enough as he'd studied the same things not a year ago but thinking of what to say when she looked up with a dimpled smile consumed his thoughts as he helped her.

She never said no to him again for years. They'd sit in the music room whilst they waited for their parents and ignore each other for the most part but Noah never did as well in school as he did then doing his homework in Richelle's quiet company. It was a delicate balance. He didn't push her because he never knew what it would take for her to start saying no to his company or to just blank him out of her life erecting the walls that Noah had spent over half his life breaking down.

...

They sat like that for two years until Richelle upon hitting thirteen and officially entering her teenage years became a butterfly. She still sat with him after dance class but with Gabi or Camille chatting about dance class and whatnot. He never joined them but Richelle never asks him to leave and he instead just practises the guitar or his latest dance move whilst he waits. He's glad though that Richelle has finally come out of her shell enough to talk to him and the other two girls so it's enough for him.

In dance class she becomes the leader and they all listen to her because when someone who has been quiet and withdrawn as Richelle has for so many years starts to talk you have to listen. She's the best after him and Noah can't help but think that their hours in the music room training together yet alone have been paying off. Besides when she smiles at him charmingly and asks him to have a juice before they go to the music room Noah doesn't consider saying no to her and they grab a juice. No one can consider saying no to Richelle ironically enough nowadays and everyone in the dance studio is wound around her little finger. Noah knows this but he doesn't care because he was wound around her finger first.