Dance for Me

Chapter Three

"Joe, wait up!"

I turn at the sound of my name and see Annie rushing toward me, her blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders. As usual, she's running late. Or, at least, she thinks she is. Annie is the type of person who thinks the clock is working against her the minute she walks out the door. In reality, she's always on time, if not early, for everything.

Stepping back so I'm not blocking the sidewalk, I wait for her, amused. A yard separates us, and I can tell from here by the pink in her cheeks and the intense look in her bold green eyes, that she's experiencing a freak-out moment. Beside me, Annie is petite, bordering on munchkin size and a perfect mixture of cute and drop-dead gorgeous. A bolt of shame strikes me briefly, because Annie would never be caught dead doing what I do for a living. She's too sweet, too pure. Combined with my late-night rendezvous, I feel soiled and used up standing beside her.

I shake the soul-damaging thought away as Annie reaches me and fall into step with her as she continues on. "You're really cutting it close," I tease her. "There's only twenty minutes left until class starts. We'll be lucky to get a front-row seat." Today I start my first art class, and I get the added bonus of sharing the experience with my best friend.

Annie shoots me a mock glower but increases her pace a fraction. "Not funny, Joe. I don't want to be late for this class. Everyone says the same thing: Professor Scott is a total ball-buster."

"Well, good thing we don't have any of those." I nudge her playfully, but I can see that Annie is in The Zone. Her playful side won't be free for at least another hour. "I'm surprised you haven't given yourself an ulcer already. Relax, would you? It's Art Comp. How hard could it be?"

As it turns out, those words would come back to haunt me.

We are the first students through the door. The room is set up amphitheater-style, with stadium- seating overlooking a half-circle floor where a small, functional desk and podium are set up. The florescent overhead lighting strains my eyes as I follow Annie across the floor to the first row, taking the seats positioned front and center, just the way she likes them. I prefer the back, as far away as one can get. This close, I'll be able to see the professor's nose hairs flutter while he talks.

As the class steadily files in, I lean into Annie and speak low enough that my voice won't carry. "So, how did it go with Jason last night? Did you get everything straightened out?"

Lately, she and her boyfriend have been having problems. She's been tight-lipped about it, but from what she's shared with me, they've been dating since the start of their freshman year at university and hit it off so well, they made plans to get married once they graduated. We are two weeks into the start of our first semester of senior year and it looks as though Jason is reconsidering his life plans. Distant, moody, and all-around jackass, I have a hard time understanding what she sees in the guy. He only comes around to get free ass, and then he's gone again, and I'm getting tired of seeing my friend mope around in his wake. The only reason I haven't said anything is because I know Annie is the type of person who needs to handle it in her own time and in her own way. This is precisely the reason I haven't settled down with anyone. If this is what I have to look forward to, I'll gladly stay single forever.

Even as the thought crosses my mind, a set of dark, penetrating eyes surface in my memory.

Rolling her eyes, Annie inhales deeply. "It didn't. As soon as we got to his dorm, his friends burst in and next thing I know, I'm sitting on a crowded couch on Frat Row watching him play beer pong and get wasted. I can't talk to him when he's like that." She looks at me, one eyebrow lifted. "And he's always like that these days."