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Avery laughed again, an adorable bubbly laugh that Taylor had heard from her only once or twice before.

“Like I said, I take direction well, and luckily, I had goodpartners. But yeah, once I got the hang of it, I wasn’t nervous anymore. And I think it helped to be in that space—everyone was so warm and welcoming, so I wasn’t stressed about messing up in front of them. And…”

Her voice trailed off, but Taylor waited instead of prompting her. After a few beats, she started talking again.

“And I guess because it was in a queer space, I just felt so much more comfortable. Like, I wasn’t worried about people judging me, or hitting on me in a way that would feel creepy, or making me feel bad about myself. It was just…it was really nice, that’s all. Thank you for bringing me.”

“I’m so glad,” Taylor said. Was there a way that she could express how touched she felt by what Avery had just said? She had no idea, and she didn’t want to make Avery feel weird, so she didn’t even try.

“There’s, um, there’s one other thing, though,” Avery said after another pause. Was she going to say she didn’t want to do this anymore? That Taylor had given her enough flirting lessons and she could now carry on with this all by herself?

“What is it?” Taylor asked.

“I had a great time tonight, and I talked to my partners, and we danced and stuff, but…I don’t know if I quite ‘flirted’ with them? I still don’t feel like I’m any good at the flirting part of this. I don’t think I’m doing any of it right. Am I failing flirting lessons? I’m failing at flirting lessons, aren’t I?”

Taylor couldn’t help but laugh.

“You are such an overachiever. Of course you would think you were failing at flirting after only two lessons. You’re not getting graded on this, you know!”

Avery scoffed.

“Obviously I’m not getting graded on this; why would you think I would think that?”

She looked at Taylor, and now they both erupted into laughter.

“Okay, I understand why you’d think I would think that,” Avery said. “But…do you have any feedback for me, or things I could do better, or…I don’t know.”

Taylor patted her hand.

“I’ve been trying to ease you into this, but okay, I can give you some feedback. But first I have a few questions: How did you feel about the people you danced with? Did you have fun dancing with them? Did you have fun talking to them? Did anyone in particular stand out?”

Avery thought for a second, and then nodded.

“Yeah, I mean, I had fun with all of them, though I had more fun as the night went on, mostly because I relaxed about everything. But as for anyone who stood out, that woman with the short overalls on, the one who hugged me on the way out…she was great.”

Taylor nodded. She’d sort of suspected that.

“Okay, so, you do this thing when you’re nervous, or someone gives you a compliment, and you don’t know what to do about it or whatever. You kind of withdraw from them. You look away, don’t really respond, sometimes you change the subject. And that makes most people think that you aren’t interested, that you don’t like them. I saw you doing it with that woman, both while you were dancing and when she hugged you when we left. She said how much fun she had dancing with you, and you looked away and mumbled that you had fun, too, and then walked away from her. That was an opportunity to keep flirting, that’s what she wanted, and from what you say, that’s what you wanted, too, but you didn’t do that.”

Avery was silent for a moment. Had Taylor said too much? Hadshe made Avery feel bad about all of this? Would Avery not want to do this anymore?

But then Avery nodded.

“You’re right. It feels so…bold to keep looking at someone when they give me a compliment. Like I think I deserve it.”

“Youdodeserve it!” Taylor said. It blew her mind that someone like Avery felt that way.

Avery didn’t respond to that, and just went on.

“And I guess I worry that if I hold eye contact with them, or try to flirt with them, or show them that I’m interested, they’ll laugh at me or something, so I freeze up.” When Taylor tried to interrupt her, she said quickly, “Even though I know that probably won’t happen. That’s in the back of my mind.”

Taylor didn’t say anything for a minute. She could tell it had been hard for Avery to tell her that. It felt good that Avery could be honest with her.

“I get it,” she said. “We can work on that. We’ve got time.”

Avery groaned.

“Oh no, how much time is it going to take to make me even slightly passable?”