Dazed

Chapter 6

The feeling of Laurent's hands on my skin replays in my mind on a loop as I sit in Calculus the next morning. After we'd danced together everyone joined us on stage, and Mercy partnered with Laurent like she was supposed to. I watched on with a hint of jealously, because something in me wanted to feel that again.

The first day of rehearsals was an overall success though. It was mostly spent brainstorming, positioning, and teaching Mercy and Katrina the choreography. The twins sat on and watched intently, adding necessary critiques in here and there. I appreciated their expertise and input; we all clung to every word they spoke. We were together for two hours before 5 pm hit, and I dismissed everyone.

Something about leadership roles make me feel oddly powerful. 

I picture their eyes dutifully looking to me for instruction. An image of Laurent flashed through my mind. I see his sly smile and tall, lean body under the stage lights again. I can feel his strong hands guiding my leg into air, as his eyes observe my movement in awe. I start slipping into a daydream as my stomach tingles wildly.

"Layton!" My teacher booms. I jump, whipping my head to the side to look at him.

"I said class was dismissed almost a minute ago. But since you're still here I want to remind you that you should make sure to complete your math lab assignments tonight. It's due for 11:59, and I see you haven't started on any of it," He says, leaning on the desk at the front of the row next to me and looking at me expectantly.

"Ohh yeah. I will Mr. Benson," I reply quickly, as I gather my belongings into my book sack. The sheet of paper I'd written today's date on was completely blank except for two equations I'd scribbled down absentmindedly. I try to cover the fact that I didn't take any notes, but he sees it before I can put it away. I glance at him, and cut him off before he can mention my empty paper.

"I've just been a little distracted lately. I'll get it together, I promise," I assure him, swinging my book sack over my shoulder and picking up my water bottle. He nods unconvincingly and moves back to the front of the room. I take that time to slip out of the door quickly, embarrassed from our exchange.

I was two tests away from our final exam, and I had just bombed the midterm. Yet, here I was daydreaming about a guy I barely knew while my grades were suffering. I punch myself internally for not taking the notes on today's lesson. My grades should be the most important thing to me right now. If I get less than a 3.0, I will not be allowed to dance at the competition in November.

As I'm walking and thinking to myself my phone rings in my bag. I swing my backpack around my shoulder to dig and look for it. While I'm rustling through my bag, I can see two tall figures, in all black, heading in my direction. It isn't until I grab the phone and look up that I see who it is.

"Heyy look bro, it's our girl!" I hear one of them say, nudging the guy next to him. The sweet sound of French fills my ears. The other guy takes off his sunglasses and pulls down his hood revealing a black Durag that gleamed in the sunlight. My hand travelled up to my hair instinctively, and I pulled a dark curl from my puff. 

There were those eyes again.

I wave timidly as Laurent walks up to me and holds out his hand to dap me. The rings on his fingers feel cold on my warm palms as I slide my hand across his.

"I know you don't like hugging. So, we can do this instead," He says, showing off his pearly white teeth. It makes me kind of sad that I couldn't feel his embrace again, but I'm too shy to tell him any different. The only thing I notice in this moment is the heart shape of his lips, and my stomach flutters.

"Ayyee. It's my nigga," Larry says taking off his hood and dapping me up as well. I smile at both of them, becoming slightly self conscious. I can't help but notice the few people sitting around looking at us. 

"What's up Larry? What's up Laurent? What are you guys doing walking around campus?" I question.

"Larry want to look at some schools for his daughter. Even though I keep tell him she doesn't want to go to college. We didn't even go to college," Laurent says, giving his brother a look. "I tell you and I keep telling you that we had no money and ma could not afford the shit. Now we have the money, so she's going to school. Even if she major in dance," Larry tells his brother.

"She's only 13 bro. There's no reason for us to worry about this now," Laurent responds, rolling his eyes and looking back at me while shaking his head. I can't help but giggle at their bickering, they're so grown yet they still argue like children. I imagine how it would feel to have a twin, as they go at each other for another minute.

"Whatever bro! I'm going to look at the library. You stay here pussy." Larry says, popping Laurent in the cheek with the back of his hand before turning and walking towards the library. Laurent pushes him and shakes his head, looking back at me and grinning. "Sorry about him, he's a dick."

I smile back at him and wave it off. "I don't mind. I deal with dicks everyday." He looks at me quizzically with humor behind his expression, and my eyes get big as I realize what I just said to him.

"Really? How many?" He asks, trying to hold back a laugh. I facepalm internally, as my face starts to heat up. He notices my embarrassment, and puts his hand on my shoulder. "I kid sweetie, I know what you meant," He reassures me, putting his other hand on his hip and sticking it out femininely.

I see a tan stuffed animal swing lightly around his thigh, and he sees me looking at it. He takes it from behind him and shows it to me. "This is Patro. He's my travel buddy," Laurent says in a childish voice, squeezing the bear's head with his fingers.

"Nice to meet you, Patro," I greet the bear, holding my hand out to him. Laurent moves the bear's arm to shake my hand and I laugh.

"It's nice to see you outside of your tights," Laurent says, motioning toward the jeans and white hoodie I was wearing. I blush, unable to look him in the eyes or accept the compliment. My phone rings in my hand again, and I look at it quickly. Terry's name showed across the top of the phone, and I looked back at Laurent heavily considering whether to answer it or not. "You're not going to answer that?" He asks.

Before I respond, he takes the phone out of my hand and answers it himself.

"Hello?" He says in a high-pitched voice, trying to sound like me. He listens to Terry on the other line for about ten seconds before he looks at me with a mischievous expression on his face. He takes the phone from his ear and steps toward me. I smell his cologne as he gets closer, and my stomach flutters again. He puts the phone on speaker and all I hear is Terry going crazy on the line about Les Twins. She's raving about the feeling of being so close to Laurent when he walked by her and how she got so nervous when Larry came in that she actually crawled out of the theatre on her hands and knees.

I shouldn't have let him answer the phone, because I'm getting second hand embarrassment from just listening to her gush about the man who was standing two inches away from the phone. "Terry!" I say sharply, cutting her off and causing her to fall silent. I look at Laurent in horror as he looks back at me then at the phone with amusement.

"I'm very happy you like us so much. We love you too Terry," Laurent says to the phone. There is a long silence on the other line before it hangs up. I stare at my phone for a couple seconds before putting it into my back pocket. "She probably fainted to be honest. She REALLY loves you guys," I say, stating the obvious. He nods, looking at me with an expression that I couldn't read.

Right then Larry walks back up from behind him.

"C'mon bro I'm starving. I want to see what they got to eat around here," Larry pulls on his brother's arm, forcing him to take a step back. He wasn't as close now, but I could still smell him. "We'll see her tomorrow night. You can flirt with her later, bro!"

It's Laurent's turn to look embarrassed as he pushes Larry away from him. "Shut the fuck up, Larry! You do too much bro!" He looks back at me, his face slightly red. "Bye Layton." He turns and starts to walk the direction they came in. 

"Byyye Laytonnn," Larry says, mocking his brother in a singsong voice.

I watch as they pull their hoods back up and put sunglasses back on as they walk away. I didn't even notice how hard my heart was pounding until now, and I have to sit on a bench for a minute to catch my breath. "Well damn," I whisper to myself, smiling at the memory of Laurent's embarrassed face.