Dancing with the Badboy

Chapter 4

Mila's POV

"I'm so not looking forward to this," I muttered as I walked into the Academy. Lena trudged beside me, sipping her morning coffee from a travel mug. 

"You'll be fine," she mumbled, half her sentence drowned by a yawn. We both ended up staying up till 1 watching a movie, completely neglecting the fact that we had to be up at 6:30.

"Ugh, I feel like I have a migrane," Lena groaned, the jingle of car keys echoing in the halls. 

"Blame Tom Cruise and Mission Impossible," I grumbled, pushing open the door to the studio. 

"Morgen (Morning) Ladies," Adam grinned.  I gave him a half hearted smile, a yawn escaping my lips. 

"Everyone begin your assigned choreo's that we've been working on for the past weeks, split the rooms if needed. Mila and Ajax, with me," he signaled with his finger.

"Viel Glück," Lena wished me luck, patting my back as I passed her. 

I dropped my duffle bag on the floor, fishing out a hairtie and throwing my hair up into a birds nest. The second studio room was freezing cold and I frowned, scanning the room. 

"Mind if I close that?" I asked, pointing to the open window at the back. 

"Oh, go ahead. I wonder who left that open," Adam said, his brows furrowing in confusion. Ajax pulled off his hoodie, revealing a navy blue shirt underneath. His hair ruffled slightly, the chestnut locks shiny and soft looking. 

 I was a sucker for guys' hair. 

He ignored me as I crossed the room, leaning over the railing to close the window. My finger tips turned red from the cold metal of the sill. 

"Stretch for a few minutes. I need to speak with Oskar," Adam said, slipping out of the room. 

I walked back to my corner of the room by the door, dropping to the floor to start my stretches. Every now and then, I could feel Ajax's eyes on me. It was weird, I never understood people when they said "I can feel someone watching me."

But this time, I knew exactly what they were talking about. 

"Look, I'm sorry you have to deal with all this, it really does suck. I just want you to kn-"

"It doesn't matter, I don't really give a shit. Just... try to keep up," he interrupted, glaring at the floor as he reached for his toes. I shut my mouth, steeling my jaw. Anger bubbled in me and I pulled off my sweatshirt, feeling hot. 

I made sure I dressed appropriately. Usually dancers couldn't give two shits about their skirts riding up and walking around in their bras. But I definitely wasn't that bold, especially around someone like Ajax who liked to pick on every little thing. A simple fitted long sleeved shirt and lululemon leggings that cost a fortune did the job. 

"Alright, let's get started. Good thing you and Anna didn't finalize your choreo," Adam spoke, returning to the front of the room. 

"So you're serious about this partner thing?" Ajax asked in German. 

"Yes, of course."

"Great," he muttered and I bit my lip, looking down at my feet. 

"Any song suggestions?"

"What's the theme?" I asked, tilting my head in thought. 

"For the duet's it's to tell a love story."

"Lovely," I sighed, rubbing my forehead. 

"How about Unsteady?" Ajax suggested, looking up from his phone. 

"X Ambassadors?"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking over at me. 

"Sure," I shrugged. 

"Perfect, we can mask any first duet mishaps with the purposeful lack of trust," Adam nodded. This was working out surprisingly well. 

We spent the next 45 minutes planning out the choreo, doing our own individual moves. I was shit at learning choreographies. I preferred to make my own because it was really hard for me to follow other people's moves. 

"Alright, ready to try it out?" Adam asked, looking between us. 

"Mila?" he asked, raising his brows at me, a knowing look in his eyes. He knew about him. About what happened. 

I nodded silently, ignoring the questioning look on Ajax's face. 

We did our solo parts, trying to find out where they would fit in with the song. It took about 15 minutes before we had it down properly. 

Now for the part I dreaded. Lifts. 

We followed what Adam told us to do without any objection, but I could feel the urge to run out of the room grow inside me.

(Dance at the top^)

I lay on the cool cement surface of the studio, waiting for Ajax's hand to reach and pull me up. His hands were surprisingly warm, his grip strong. 

"Good, now 3 turns," Adam called, watching us from the front. 

"Now semi turn lift," he said and Ajax moved his hands to my waist. 

My heart dropped as my feet left the ground, Ajax twisting me around. A shriek caught in my throat as the room spun around me. I landed on my feet, staring up at Ajax, his arm around my waist holding me up. I had no idea what a semi turn lift was and I definitely wasn't prepared for it. 

I scrambled away from Ajax, my heart rate slightly elevated. 

"That was good Mila, you're doing good," Adam encouraged, patting my shoulder. "Drink some water."

"And you say you're not a newbie," Ajax muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not. Sorry I don't know what a semi turn lift is," I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever," he mumbled. 

"And that I fucking hate lifts," I muttered under my breath.

We easily finished the first 30 seconds of the dance perfectly in 10 minutes. Only a few baby lifts here and there. Every time his hands were on my waist, I could feel the tingle of butterflies in my stomach. I didn't know why, maybe all duet dancers had that. 

It was a pain to keep watching our reflection in the mirrors. Ajax was adamant that I should follow his lead and match my pace and movements to his. 

"Ajax you're too fast," Adam called, folding his arms over his chest. By now my hair had loosened from it's ponytail, hanging limply on my shoulder. I quickly retied it while Ajax got water. 

"Ajax, after that, lay on the floor on your back. Mila, I want you to do a bridge into a layout over him, then into a seated position back to back. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

"Yeah sort of," I nodded. 

I listened for the song lyrics, beginning my movements at the cue word. My skin tingled as Ajax's hands rested right above my butt. They quickly moved as I sat up on his legs. He easily shifted me off of him to the side and I slid behind him swiftly. We turned to face each other, my forehead barely touching his. It seemed as if electricity crackled between us. 

I was glad part of my loose bangs covered the sight of Ajax's bright green eyes. His hand reached up, only just touching my hair. I reached over, one hand under his jaw, the other hovering over his hair and tilted it slightly. 

"Ok, that's it for today," Adam said after we completed nearly half the song perfectly. "Great work."

Ajax grabbed his things and left the room without a second glance.