Page 90 of I Don't Need Your Love

“Can your head get any bigger?”

“Well, my face is my best feature.”

“Why do I put up with you?” I mutter as I head to a spot in the gym. “Ready to start?”

“Straight to business, Cap? I like it. But I want you to know that I brought something for you.”

My forehead creases. “You did?”

“Yep. But I’ll only give it to you once we’re done with practice.”

“What is it?”

He shakes his head with a smile. “It’s a surprise.”

“A jar of bugs?”

“A jar of…are we eight?”

“You got me a jar of bugs one year for my birthday.”

He holds up his hands. “Okay, I’ll have you know that I asked Blake what to get you, and he told me you would love a jar of bugs.”

I give him a look, not believing a word.

“I’m serious!”

I scowl. “My brother.”

“See? I’m innocent.”

I’m not sure about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a prank from both of them. But that was so long ago and obviously we’ve grown. It’s kind of funny now that I think about it.

“Wait, are you smiling?” he asks.

I set up the music and shrug. “I can laugh about it now.”

Surprise passes over his face, and then he punches the air. “Yes! Carly Simmons is finally over the past and laughs at all the pranks I pulled on her.”

“Not really,” I say. “There’s a lot you still need to beg for my forgiveness.”

We move closer to each other and get into position, pressing our foreheads together.

He grins as he gazes into my eyes. “I know you’ll forgive me wholeheartedly one day. You can’t stay mad at this face forever.” He points to his face and gives me a puppy dog look.

“I definitely can,” I say as the music starts and we begin our routine.

We both know the first half very well, but we’re supposed to look like we’re in love. Moreno sent me a video of Friday’s practice, and we look like two friends hanging out at the mall. We put too much distance between our bodies and we don’t make a lot of eye contact or put on emotional expressions. We’re also hesitant when we hold hands. I know we need to work on that if we want to wow the judges, but I kind of don’t want to deal with that right now. It’s best we get the routine down perfectly before we worry about the romance part, right?

“You okay?” he says as he twirls me toward his body, where my back presses to his chest and he crosses our arms around my torso. He dips his head and whispers in my ear, “You’re too much in your head.”

A chill runs down my spine at his close proximity, causing me to stumble away. “I’m cool,” I say as I let go of his hand so we can do synchronized leaps. “Just trying to get the steps down perfectly.”

“Darn, I missed a move,” he says as we reach for each other’s hands.

“It’s okay. Carry on.”

We do a few more steps, still putting distance between ourselves, and then it’s time for a lift. I incorporated a few of them into the routine, even though we’re not sure if we can pull them off. If we can’t, I’ll just have to replace them with othermoves, though I’ll be darned if we don’t work our butts off to get them right. And I also want to include a lift for the grand finale, if we can.