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"WELCOME TO DANCING AT SEA," an energetic woman shouted, clapping her hands together.
On the first day of the cruise, the Pankow and Addison families thought it would be a good idea to sign up the whole family for this dance class. Dylan and Ollie were not fond of the dance class idea until they were told they could invite their friends, Charli and Lilah. In addition, Rudy was never much of a dancer, but he was a people pleaser and would do anything to make his family happy. Erin was probably the only one who was excited to participate in this class. Regardless of how everyone felt, at seven in the evening, everyone was in the lounge participating in the dance class. When they walked into the room, about twenty other people were standing around, waiting for the class to begin.
"Okay, everyone, we are going to begin our class now! Would everyone please pair up in groups of two?" The female dance instructor began. Following the instructions, everyone grouped up, Rudy and Erin, obviously pairing up.
"My name is Ms. Cara, and this is my husband, Ruben, and we will be your dance instructors for today's class. In this class, we will be learning the cha-cha." The instructor continued explaining the origins of the dance. "The cha-cha is face-paced and energetic, so let's burn off some of those extra cruise calories!" Ruben joked, making all the older people in the room laugh.
"The first thing you're going to want to do is to face your partner. There will be two roles in this dance, the initiator and the follower. So everyone can decide who will be who now." Ms. Cara stated.
"Which one do you want to be, Ru?" Erin asked Rudy.
"I'll be the initiator, I guess." Rudy replied.
"Okay! Now that the roles have been assigned, the initiator is going to take their hand and place one on the follower's lower back and one in the follower's hand." Ruben instructed, demonstrating where his hands should go on Ms.Cara.
"And for the followers, they are going to place one hand on the initiator's shoulders, and the other hand is going to rest in the initiator's hand." Ms. Cara added on showing the correct positing on Ruben.
Rudy placed his hand on Erin's lower back and placed his hand in hers. Erin followed suit and put one hand in Rudy's and one on his shoulder. Right about then, Ruben and Cara walked around and adjusted everyone's position.
"Closer! Closer! Act like you like each other!" Cara demanded as she corrected Rudy and Erin.
Rudy and Erin were now extremely close to each other, which they were both uncomfortably aware of.
"Now, initiator, take your right leg and step forward," Ruben instructed.
"And the follower, you are going to take your left leg and step backward. After that, you will return to that beginning position and do three small steps in place." Cara demonstrated.
Everyone in the room began to practice the steps that were just explained to them, as the dance instructors critiqued.
"Okay, initiator, start us off." Erin teased. Rudy and Erin both stepped forward, making both of their legs bump into each other.
"You are supposed to step backward!" Rudy exclaimed, laughing.
"Okay, I'm sorry, let's try again." Erin reassured herself, "I got this, I got this. If our parents can do this, we certainly can."
The two of them finally got the hang of the steps when the Cara came over to the pair, "Closer! You want to feel their leg on your leg. Like this." Cara grabbed Rudy and demonstrated the proper positioning and dance steps, making Erin surprisingly jealous. Rudy was flattered as he noticed Erin's jealously toward the dance instructor.
"Jealous, eh?" Rudy teased.
Erin scoffed as she grabbed Rudy's hand, "shut up, let's just try the stupid dance moves again."
After mastering that section, the instructors added on to the dance by adding the spin and a dip.
Ruben got the group's attention and then started, "Initiators, you are going to want to take your partners, spin them out, then in, and down."
"Followers, you are just going to want to follow the lead of your partner. Easy enough, right?" Cara said, making the older members of the dance class laugh.
"Don't drop me." Erin joked towards Rudy as they prepared to do the dip.
"You trust me?" Rudy asked seriously.
"Of course I do," Erin responded just as serious.
Right after their little moment, Rudy spun Erin around and then dipped her down.
"Nailed it!" Rudy exclaimed, lifting Erin back up.
Erin laughed and cheered along, "Yes! I knew we could do it."
"Now, with music, everyone!" Ruben shouted, clapping his hands together.
Erin and Rudy stepped together and with every beat moving closer to one another. When Rudy dipped Erin down, they smiled at each other.
"And a big finish, everyone! Excellent job!" Cara started throwing her hands in the air, clapping.
Everyone cheered when they were finished with the dance. Erin and Rudy walked over to their parents after the class was over.
"Rudy, you have turned into quite the dancer." Mrs. Addison gleamed.
"I just had the best dance partner." Rudy threw his arm around Erin's shoulder, making the parents laugh. Typical suck-up. At this point, the younger brothers and their cruise friends had already left, so family time was obviously over.
"Hey, me and Rudy are going to head up to the sports deck, we'll catch up with you guys later," Erin said, hugging both of her parents.
Erin and Rudy walked up to the sports deck, talking about how the dance class was surprisingly fun. When they got up there, the speakers were playing upbeat music, so they decided to try the dance that they had learned just minutes before.
The two started dancing as a joke, but with each one of Rudy's steps, the dance got more and more passionate. As their eyes locked, Rudy dipped Erin down, never breaking eye contact. Rudy pulled Erin back up, their gaze becoming more intense. Rudy could have sworn he heard both of their hearts beating in sync.
Feeling the time was right, the two leaned in to kiss, Rudy gently placed his hand under Erin's chin, but at the last second, Erin hesitated.
"Rudy, I'm sorry," Erin whispered, stepping away from his grasp.
"No, no, it's okay." Rudy reassured, stuttering over his words, "I'm the one that should be sorry. I shouldn't have, I mean after everything with you and Jairus, I shouldn't have tried to, uh, I'm sorry. God, that was so stupid." Rudy put his head in his hands and mumbled to himself
Erin walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, and reassuringly smiled, "Rudy, it's okay. I'm just not," she paused, "not ready, yet."
"No, I completely understand. God, I'm such an idiot, I should have never tried to kiss you and now everything..." Erin could tell that her friend was spiraling.
"I just don't want things to ever be awkward between us. God, I don't ever want to ruin what we have as friends," Rudy whispered weakly, looking up at Erin.
"I know, I know, me neither," Erin responded, pulling Rudy into a hug. It might not have been the best move for two people who just tried to kiss one another, but as his best friend, it just felt right.
