Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,52
me?” Nicholas asked tightly.
“Are you trying to tell me you don’t know? She’s up there every night talking to her partner back home, going on and on about how much they miss each other.” Katarina rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what she’s whining about when she’s got you.”
For a moment, Nick considered responding with jealousy. The longer he danced with Danni, the more he liked her—and the more he wanted to keep dancing with her even after The Nutcracker was over. Oh, the odds in favor of it weren’t good—but they looked good together, and the teachers usually tried to keep pairs together if they could. They considered it unfair to force them to learn to dance with someone else at the same time as they learned a new routine, especially as quickly as those were thrown at them. Having Danni go back to Michael as soon as he arrived would be a blow.
On the other hand, her loyalty to her partner was commendable—and he remembered her saying that Michael wasn’t just her partner, he was also her best friend. It would have devastated her to hear that he was jealous of that friendship.
Besides, that still, small voice inside him reminded him gently, look who’s saying it.
Katarina wasn’t exactly known for her honesty. Danni and Michael might miss each other; but Nick was sure that he was well on his way to attaining her loyalty and her friendship.
He shifted his weight, trying to ease some of the ache in his shoulder. It wasn’t working. What he really needed was that big mound of pillows up in Danni’s room—a mound even more extensive than his own, and therefore twice as comfortable. “Last time I talked to you, you made it pretty clear that you didn’t want to be anywhere near me,” he pointed out quietly.
“Oh, that.” Katarina waved it off. “You didn’t actually take me seriously, did you? I mean, I was hurting, you know?” She cast a haughty glance at his shoulder. “Something you ought to understand.”
Yeah—and I never once lashed out at you just because I was hurting, even when you were the one causing it. Nick didn’t dare say that aloud, however. Starting a fight with Katarina now wasn’t his intention.
Actually, he wasn’t sure what his intention had been. He had just known that if he didn’t speak to her on the way by, she would be furiously insulted—though there wasn’t any real justification for her anger. They had never really associated outside of dance class. Oh, they’d talked occasionally—for her to inform him that she needed him to be in a certain place at a certain time for so many hours of practice. In all the months that they had worked together, he had never gotten to know her any better than he had the first time he had danced with her.
How different it was, working with Danni! She was well on her way to becoming a good friend, regardless of who the two of them danced with; it had never occurred to her that they shouldn’t be friends. Practices with her were warm, welcoming, and full of laughter even when she was entirely focused on her work; and as far as Nick was concerned, they were more enjoyable all the way around.
“I’m sorry about your ankle, Katarina,” he said simply—and somehow, that said all of it. He was sorry about her ankle.
He wasn’t sorry that they weren’t dancing together anymore.
Luckily, Danni appeared at his shoulder then; and Nick didn’t hesitate as he slipped his hand into hers.
“You ready?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah.” He gave her a grateful smile, glad that she had come in when she had. If she had lingered even for another minute, there was no telling what Katarina might have decided to say to him—and he didn’t want his pleasant afternoon ruined. “You get—“ He glanced down at her other hand. Of course she had an ice pack already. She was the one who insisted that he take care of himself, even when he was trying his level best to convince her that he was just fine.
His smile was all the thanks she needed. Hers in return began to wash away some of the dark feeling he got from trying to talk to Katarina.
“What are you two doing, exactly?” Katarina’s voice was high, sharp.
Danni turned to look at her, her eyebrows knitting together in surprise. “Studying,” she said simply. “Both of us are trying to get ahead in our classes while we can.”