Page 36 of Love is a Dance Step
“Have a little faith, Pipes. Have I ever let you down?”
“Constantly.”
He pressed a hand to his heart. “Lie to me. That’s what I pay you for.”
She snorted. “Just please at least consider that girl might not be the best for the job. Watch these groups. Some of these dancers are truly incredible.” She lifted her voice again. “Will the next group line up?”
Drew leaned in. “You didn’t say please.”
She shot him a scowl. “All right, ladies, I am going to start the music. We’ll run through the dance once for practice before judging you on it the second time.” She dialed up the music using her phone, and a moment later, it blared through the overhead speakers. They’d used the same two songs all day.Something About Youfor the solo dance andDance For Mefor the duets. He’d be happy if he never heard either again.
As each dancer began, Drew only had eyes for one. Even in her work uniform, Lola moved with a fire he couldn’t look away from. Every step was deliberate, almost like it had an exclamation point on the end.
Her eyes focused forward, never once shifting as she gave everything she had to the dance.
This was his mystery girl.
The dance in the studio wasn’t a fluke.
Lola Ramirez worked these steps better than Drew himself.
Piper nudged him. “I like one-sixty-two.”
No. That was all wrong. Why couldn’t she see it? Lola wore number one-sixty-one. He wanted to reach over and write that number down on Piper’s clipboard. In reality, he could have. This was his tour, and he got final say, but he wanted Piper and Ben and everyone else to see what he saw.
When the music stopped, one corner of Lola’s mouth tipped up. He didn’t want her to stop smiling. Ever.
I’m not a dancer.
Did she know how wrong she was?
“I see you stole Lola.” His dad walked up.
“What? I didn’t steal her.” That was something Asher would say. She was the girl who’d always been in Asher’s life, not Drew’s. What had Nora called that relationship? Complicated?
His dad chuckled. “It’s okay, I gave her the rest of the day off.”
Oh, work. He’d stolen her from work. “She’s good.”
“I didn’t know she wanted to be a dancer. I just thought she enjoyed teaching, giving back.” His dad shrugged. “Gotta admit it, kid, it’s weird to see her out there.”
“Why is it so weird, Dad?”
“That girl—” He pointed to where Lola gulped water. “I don’t want anything to disappoint her.”
How did he respond to that? Sure, there were hundreds of dancers there, but only one he wanted. He couldn’t tell his dad that, could barely say it to himself.
His phone buzzed with a text from Leah.
Leah:How are auditions?
He sighed, wishing she was there with him.
Drew:They’d be better if I didn’t have to hold them.
Leah:LOL. Patience, Padawan. You’ll find someone. And if you don’t, strip during your concert. Then, no one will notice you’re down a lead dancer.
His lips curled up into a smile.
