Page 41
Story: The Devil Wears Tartan
“All right, maestro, play the music,” I announce when I’m ready.
She gets the song going on her phone, bumping the volume up as loud as it will go. I shift our chairs all the way back against the wall and then assume the typical highland starting position, with my heels pressed together and my hands resting in fists against my waist.
Chad Kroeger starts rasping about an old photo of his high school friends, and I do my best to channel my goofball eleven-year-old self.
I don’t even realize what my body’s doing until I’m halfway through a turn a few moments later and hear Kenzie laugh. I amp up the drama a little, incorporating a flowy step from the Lilt, and she whoops.
“It was cheesier than that, Moira.”
I resist the urge to flip her off and continue floating my arms in a wide circle instead.
“More drama!” she shouts.
I roll my eyes but don’t stop moving. “If you remember it so well, why don’t you come do it too?”
That gets her to be quiet.
“What, Kenzie?” I tease. “Too scared to join me? Too scared I might be better than you?”
I should have known that would get her up off the floor. She springs to her feet from where she’s been crouching beside the tripod and stomps over to stand beside me.
“This part will not be in the interview,” she says, pointing back at the camera, “but I’m not about to let you say you’re better and get away with it.”
She assumes the same starting position I did, and I stop my ridiculous routine to mirror her pose in front of her. With our fists still pressed to our sides, we bend at the waist to bow to each other.
The music builds, and then the chorus hits.
Kenzie jumps into action, busting out a complicated dance called the Tribute to JL McKenzie, with some added ballet-style flourishes thrown in. I up my game with some moves from the Flora and twist my face into an exaggerated grimace, like Chad’s growled nostalgia is piercing my very soul.
We hardly have any room to move, and we keep bumping into each other, shouting and laughing the whole time.
Just when I’m getting confident I’ve got an edge on her and will be the video’s clear winner, Kenzie dashes over to grab the nearest framed family photo off the wall and starts using it to mime out the song’s lyrics as she dances.
So of course, I have to do the same.
By the time the song winds down, we’re both panting and sweating, wrapping up our final spins with photos of my smiling family all decked out in tartan clutched dramatically to our chests.
I hold my final pose for a second after the music stops before I collapse down on my ass on the floor. Kenzie stumbles into a seat on one of the wicker chairs.
“Dramatic enough for you?” I say between gasps for air.
She lifts her hand to wiggle it in a ‘so-so’ gesture, and I let myself drop flat on my back as I groan up at the ceiling.
“You are impossible, Kenzie Andrianakis.”
“Yeah, but you like it.”
I shift to prop myself up on my elbows, prepared to say something along the lines of ‘the hell I do,’ but when I look at her sprawled in the chair as she smirks at me, the words die in my throat.
Her cheeks are pink, her forehead slick with sweat that makes the stray hairs she pushes back stick to her skin. Her typical brutally tight ponytail has loosened, and her face looks softer when it’s framed by a few wayward locks of dark brown hair.
Her chest is heaving, and her collapsed posture has her legs spread wide enough to make her tartan skirt rise halfway up her thighs. My throat goes dry as I imagine crawling over to kneel in front of her and slide the red and white fabric higher up her legs.
She might make me want to scream and pull my hair out, but right now at least, I do like it.
I like it a lot.
“Come on.” She pats the arm of the other chair. “Let’s finish this interview.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41 (Reading here)
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115