Page 74 of Damaged Boys Don't Fall For Bubbly Girls

“This is definitely much harder than it looks,” he says with a sheepish laugh.

I move behind him and position his arms the right way. “Try it now.”

When he leaps in the air this time, he’s not as uncoordinated as he was before. But is he graceful? Not at all. It’s still pretty hilarious.

I laugh so hard and clutch the side of my stomach because it hurts. But Brock acts oblivious to my laughs and continues to make up his dance moves, as though he’s choreographing his own dance sequence.

When he’s done, he bows and says, “Now that was a one-hundred-point performance.”

“Let’s see you do it again.”

“Uh…” He does random moves again, each and every one of them different from the ones before. “See? Nothing to it.”

“I said you were supposed to performexactly the samedance moves.”

“I dance to my own beat.”

I move closer to him and copy his moves, trying to put a ballet spin on it. Brock might not be the best dancer on the planet, but he definitely knows how to freestyle. He and I dance side by side, with me copying some of his moves and also doing some of my own.

Suddenly, warm and gentle hands close around my waist and lift me in the air. My body acting on its own, my back arches and my arms and legs spread outward. I feel as graceful as a gazelle as he lifts me a little higher and takes a few steps to the right. Then he lowers me and spins me around a few times, his hands as light as a feather on my waist.

Before I have a chance to realize what’s going on, Brock hoists me into his arms so effortlessly, as though he’s been doing this for years. My lungs expand and contract heavily as I gaze into his face and his chest moves exactly the same.

“You’re so strong,” I blurt.

He chuckles softly. “Thanks.”

He spins us around, but he must have overestimated my weight because I’m airborne for a few seconds before I’m back on the ground. And he must have miscalculated the distance between us because my body is now pressed against his.

I gaze into his eyes again, getting sucked further and further inside, with no way to escape. Every part of me is on fire and I’m having trouble breathing normally.

He stares back into my eyes, his chest still heaving.

“You’re so strong.”

He laughs again. “You already said that.”

“I did? I mean, yeah, I did. Ha…that’s funny.” My blood surges throughout my body, making me feel a little dizzy. “You have more moves than I thought. It was…well, kind of romantic.”

His eyes widen.

“In like a romance novel kind of way. Not that I read a lot of romance novels, but I’ve seen movies.”

“Well, I am so dashing, aren’t I?” he jokes.

You certainly are.

I laugh lamely and step away from him.

“Sorry for bothering you,” he says. “I just wanted to see if I can dance ballet. Clearly, I can’t.”

“You know you need many years of practice under your belt?”

“That’s true. There are no shortcuts in life, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, too bad. Because I would definitely take a shortcut and be done with my math test.”

He chuckles. “I hear you. Do you need help studying? I’m decent in math.”