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Yes, he’d gotten the invite months ago. Yes, he RSVP’d on time. Yes, he had put it on his to-do list to ask for Abby’s help on the same day he RSVP’d.
Unfortunately for Cliff, he had completely forgotten to ask Abby pretty much as soon as he put the invite away after sending in his RSVP. So…no, he still had no idea how to dance.
It wasn’t really that he didn’t enjoy dancing, but more because he didn’t want to embarrass himself at his cousin’s wedding. Or any future wedding, for that matter. Having two left feet was excusable, maybe even considered cute, for a kid, but he definitely wasn’t a kid anymore.
So today, after class, he put finding Abby high on his priority list.
Cliff had developed a somewhat keen eye for his friend. Today, he spotted her through a window from a decent distance away, sitting at a cafe on campus. Abby looked as pretty as she always did, though the closer he got the more he noticed her concentration face, which had him smirking as he made his way inside. He ordered himself a warm drink and two snacks, and gave the name “Lionel” for his order purely out of curiosity. He wondered if it might get her attention since it was his second name and all.
Unfortunately for Cliff, he had completely forgotten to ask Abby pretty much as soon as he put the invite away after sending in his RSVP. So…no, he still had no idea how to dance.
It wasn’t really that he didn’t enjoy dancing, but more because he didn’t want to embarrass himself at his cousin’s wedding. Or any future wedding, for that matter. Having two left feet was excusable, maybe even considered cute, for a kid, but he definitely wasn’t a kid anymore.
So today, after class, he put finding Abby high on his priority list.
Cliff had developed a somewhat keen eye for his friend. Today, he spotted her through a window from a decent distance away, sitting at a cafe on campus. Abby looked as pretty as she always did, though the closer he got the more he noticed her concentration face, which had him smirking as he made his way inside. He ordered himself a warm drink and two snacks, and gave the name “Lionel” for his order purely out of curiosity. He wondered if it might get her attention since it was his second name and all.
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Abby absently chewed on her bottom lip as she worked away on her laptop. She had a blog post due and the library had been too crowded and oddly loud for her to concentrate. Besides, it wasn’t like she was doing school work, just working on her next story for her blog. Her ‘public’ blog. The one where she covered things that were happening in the city that were mundane. Simple things like the state of a public park or the sale of an old historic building turned BnB. Nothing mystical or magical at all. That was all reserved for her other blog. The one that was written under a pseudonym and posted through several layers of security. It was as locked down as she could make it. She was not going to risk her friends and family if they found out about it.
She was so absorbed in her work Abby didn’t even bother to look up whenever the cafe door’s bell chimed, informing everyone a new patron arrived, nor was she paying attention when order names were called out. It wasn’t like a name she really recognized was being called. Her own cup of hot chocolate had long since gone cold… and she was not about to get a tepid, half a**, american version of tea. If she wanted tea she would brew it herself.
She was so absorbed in her work Abby didn’t even bother to look up whenever the cafe door’s bell chimed, informing everyone a new patron arrived, nor was she paying attention when order names were called out. It wasn’t like a name she really recognized was being called. Her own cup of hot chocolate had long since gone cold… and she was not about to get a tepid, half a**, american version of tea. If she wanted tea she would brew it herself.
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She hadn’t noticed. It didn’t bother him, he was just a bit curious and thought it’d be fun to maybe get the jump on her for once. More often than not it happened the other way around, so now that he saw an opportunity he was definitely going to take it.
When they finally called his name he went up and grabbed his order, then made his way to her table and took the seat across from her.
“Don’t you usually work in the library?” he said as he set down one of the two pastries he ordered–a favorite of hers–closer to her end of the table. “Not that I’m complaining. Easier to talk to you without that librarian breathing down my neck about being loud or whatever. I’m not loud, I just get excited sometimes.”
He took a sip of his drink before just laying out why he wanted to talk to her in the first place. “I was actually hoping to call in that favor you owe me for going with you on that kayaking thing? You and I both know I’ve got two left feet, and I have a bad feeling I’m gonna get asked to dance at my cousin’s wedding…in a month. Ish. Maybe less than that, I gotta check.”
When they finally called his name he went up and grabbed his order, then made his way to her table and took the seat across from her.
“Don’t you usually work in the library?” he said as he set down one of the two pastries he ordered–a favorite of hers–closer to her end of the table. “Not that I’m complaining. Easier to talk to you without that librarian breathing down my neck about being loud or whatever. I’m not loud, I just get excited sometimes.”
He took a sip of his drink before just laying out why he wanted to talk to her in the first place. “I was actually hoping to call in that favor you owe me for going with you on that kayaking thing? You and I both know I’ve got two left feet, and I have a bad feeling I’m gonna get asked to dance at my cousin’s wedding…in a month. Ish. Maybe less than that, I gotta check.”
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Abby was just about to give whoever had the balls to just sit at her table without so much as a ‘by your leave’ a veritable tongue lashing when she looked up and saw it was Cliff. That smart a** had just plunked his stuff down… it didn’t pass her notice that he slid one of her favorites towards her. At least he came bearing a peace offering. She still gave him the stink eye before picking up the muffin, sticking her tongue out at him, and taking a bite. After chewing for a moment and swallowing she answered his library question with one of her own, “Shouldn’t you be at practice or something?” A glance at her computer’s clock told her it was after his normal class schedule but not necessarily past his soccer practice. “And the library is packed today so I decamped to here. And you really do get that loud.” Abby teased him before taking another bite of her muffin.
She was just putting it down when Cliff explained why he chased her down to the cafe. “Ok…. So…. what? You want me to introduce you to a class or something? A month isn’t exactly the best timing, you know.” She sighed, already knowing where this was going. “I can ask my dance teacher if she can fit one more person into her ballroom class, since I’m assuming that's the type of dance you will need to know. Or is there a specific style you have to know?”
She was just putting it down when Cliff explained why he chased her down to the cafe. “Ok…. So…. what? You want me to introduce you to a class or something? A month isn’t exactly the best timing, you know.” She sighed, already knowing where this was going. “I can ask my dance teacher if she can fit one more person into her ballroom class, since I’m assuming that's the type of dance you will need to know. Or is there a specific style you have to know?”
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He only smirked at the look that she gave him, more amused than anything that his plan to appease her worked at least on some level. “Ah, makes sense,” was his only reply, as he chose to ignore the first bit of it. It was a fair enough question on her part, and he was pleasantly surprised by the fact that she knew his schedule well enough to know that he ought to have been at practice as opposed to roaming around.
“School’s doing some field maintenance so we’re off for the day. Some of the guys and I were gonna meet up later to practice on our own so Coach doesn’t kill us tomorrow, thinking we’re slacking or something. I had some time before that, so I wanted to take care of this first.”
Cliff paused to eat a bit of his danish, eyes flickering to hers as she spoke to show that he was still paying attention, and ultimately he gave a nod when she offered the option for ballroom class. “That, yeah,” he said as soon as he washed down the food with some of his drink. “Ballroom dancing, please and thank you. And I know a month’s not a whole lot of time. Do you think you could also squeeze in a bit of practice time with me between classes? I’ll owe you big time.” The brunette offered his best grin, knowing he was asking a lot but trusting that she would at least tolerate it even if she had to shoot him down.
Which he hoped she didn’t, but it was a lot so he’d understand if she couldn’t.
“School’s doing some field maintenance so we’re off for the day. Some of the guys and I were gonna meet up later to practice on our own so Coach doesn’t kill us tomorrow, thinking we’re slacking or something. I had some time before that, so I wanted to take care of this first.”
Cliff paused to eat a bit of his danish, eyes flickering to hers as she spoke to show that he was still paying attention, and ultimately he gave a nod when she offered the option for ballroom class. “That, yeah,” he said as soon as he washed down the food with some of his drink. “Ballroom dancing, please and thank you. And I know a month’s not a whole lot of time. Do you think you could also squeeze in a bit of practice time with me between classes? I’ll owe you big time.” The brunette offered his best grin, knowing he was asking a lot but trusting that she would at least tolerate it even if she had to shoot him down.
Which he hoped she didn’t, but it was a lot so he’d understand if she couldn’t.
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Abby just gave him a skeptical look, eyeing him as she took another bite of her muffin. If she didn’t know Cliff so well she would have figured he had skipped or something but the young man who sat across from her was as fastidious regarding his training as she was in her cooking. Not that she would tell him… there was no fun in that! “Sure…. Field maintenance. Riiiiiight,” She drew the words out like she didn’t believe him, only to grin at him and polish off the muffin and turn her attention back to the request at hand.
“I’ll reach out to my teacher to see if she is ok with it,” The young woman said as she pulled out her phone. “No promise there though.” Her fingers practically flew over the phone as she rapidly texted out her request. “Even if she can't, I'll teach you what I can. I can’t imagine you will need to be a professional, just a simple waltz would likely do fine.” Weddings now rarely had fancy dancing. They had more modern stuff, something that Abby was not going to teach since wasn’t all that good at it, or slow songs. Cliff could get away with just general movement for more of the modern songs but she knew it was the slow songs he was worried about. “You know, you could likely just do the whole ‘swaying in place’ thing that's pretty common now. I’m fairly sure no one would notice.” She pointed out, only looking down when her phone chimed.
Abby kept her sigh internal as she read the teasing response, she kept her reply kurt but informed Cliff that they were good to go on the classes. “If you're free at five today, my teacher said you can join in today’s session. The rest of the practice we can do between school and classes. Does that work for you?”
“I’ll reach out to my teacher to see if she is ok with it,” The young woman said as she pulled out her phone. “No promise there though.” Her fingers practically flew over the phone as she rapidly texted out her request. “Even if she can't, I'll teach you what I can. I can’t imagine you will need to be a professional, just a simple waltz would likely do fine.” Weddings now rarely had fancy dancing. They had more modern stuff, something that Abby was not going to teach since wasn’t all that good at it, or slow songs. Cliff could get away with just general movement for more of the modern songs but she knew it was the slow songs he was worried about. “You know, you could likely just do the whole ‘swaying in place’ thing that's pretty common now. I’m fairly sure no one would notice.” She pointed out, only looking down when her phone chimed.
Abby kept her sigh internal as she read the teasing response, she kept her reply kurt but informed Cliff that they were good to go on the classes. “If you're free at five today, my teacher said you can join in today’s session. The rest of the practice we can do between school and classes. Does that work for you?”
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He smirked, more amused with her teasing than annoyed by it. She liked to push his buttons for the fun of it, not to actually be mean or accusatory. At least, that’s how he took it, so he didn’t mind it at all. He just sipped some more at his drink as she spoke.
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug, “but my aunt and uncle go to dance classes, so I’m pretty sure they’re gonna pull pretty much everyone in the family onto the dance floor and try to show us a move or two. Would be cool if I had a move or two of my own.” She had a point, though, that for the majority of the evening he could probably just do the swaying thing she mentioned.
The excitement that shone in his eyes when she confirmed a possible class he could slip into for later that afternoon wasn’t something he could hide, though, and he leaned forward and nodded his head a bit like a bobble-head to confirm.
“Yep, I can work with all of that,” he said, absolutely beaming. “You’re the best, Abs! Thank you!”
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug, “but my aunt and uncle go to dance classes, so I’m pretty sure they’re gonna pull pretty much everyone in the family onto the dance floor and try to show us a move or two. Would be cool if I had a move or two of my own.” She had a point, though, that for the majority of the evening he could probably just do the swaying thing she mentioned.
The excitement that shone in his eyes when she confirmed a possible class he could slip into for later that afternoon wasn’t something he could hide, though, and he leaned forward and nodded his head a bit like a bobble-head to confirm.
“Yep, I can work with all of that,” he said, absolutely beaming. “You’re the best, Abs! Thank you!”
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“Yes, I know,” she grinned at him when he called her ‘the best’ and texted him an address. “Ok so there is the address, I’ll meet you there at five. We will get you at least passable with some luck.” It would take a lot of practice but that was one thing Cliff was good at. He wouldn't shirk his responsibilities, especially if it's something he really wanted to learn.
