Equal Shares Ch. 06

After a while, Stan began to lose his self-consciousness and enjoy himself. Belinda was superb at putting him at ease, seeming to know instinctively when he would make a wrong move and nimbly avoiding his foot without fuss. She gaily chatted away while gently teasing information out of him about his wife, what happened and how he felt, what had got him interested in the class and so on.

When Stan told her that it was his friend Denise's idea to come here, she asked him, "Can you describe the young filly?" He did so, mentioning her long red hair and freckled complexion.

Belinda said "Oh yes, I remember. She didn't take many lessons, but picked up the basics quite well. I heard that she started going out with a chap she met here. That sort of thing happens quite often. Sometimes I tease Yves about running a dating service rather than a dance class. Still, there are many who come back week after week."

Too soon, Yves called for a ten-minute break. The studio supplied soft drinks, bottled water, instant tea or coffee in plastic cups, and Stan opted for bottled water. Pamela approached him, and asked in a light, slightly higher than expected voice, "Did you enjoy that?" Pamela's dark chestnut hair was tied simply back, and she had minimal makeup on, but Stan reflected that she didn't really need a lot.

"Yes, I did. I was surprised, actually. I was very nervous coming here, but they're very good at putting you at ease."

"Yes, they are," Pamela agreed. "You looked terrified at first, but you seem much better now."

Pamela was a pleasant, self-confident young woman who was attending a local university. She wanted to go into Marketing once she'd graduated. She told Stan that the ability to dance would probably be useful, since it taught poise and elegance that made anyone look more self confident than they really were, and a lot of presentations needed just that to make them work.

"With enough confidence you can sell anything to anyone!" she declared. Stan nodded, unable to disagree openly with the girl, but inwardly not quite so sure – there had to be a product worth selling first, he thought.

Belinda called the break over, and picked Pamela's previous partner to dance with. Pamela shrugged a little and turned to Stan. "You've got me!" she said. The music began, Yves counted them in, and off they went.

Stan was concentrating much more in the second session, intent on NOT stepping on Pamela's toes. He got into the rhythm of it after a while and once again started to enjoy himself. With about ten minutes to go, Yves again called a halt, and said that he and Belinda would demonstrate how it could be done.

He started the music, stepped over to his wife, and they put on a thrilling display of a Foxtrot. When the music finished, Stan and several others spontaneously applauded. Belinda curtseyed, Yves took a small bow, the class was reminded to arrive at the same time next week, and Belinda went to the door showing each of her pupils out.

Stan thanked Belinda for the lesson. She told him he'd picked things up quite well in his first lesson, "so next week we'll try to do itwithout me having to take evasive action!" Stan blushed, but she smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek, telling him, "Don't worry, I'm teasing. I told you, you did well on your first night."

Stan drove home reflecting that Denise's idea had, indeed, been a good one.

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