Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (14 page)

Danni giggled.  “I use the New Living Translation,” she told him.  “And Michael—my partner from back home—always used an NIV.  We’d check with each other if a verse was confusing or something, but most of the time, that one translation was all we needed.”

“You had a partner back home?” Nicholas demanded, looking surprised. “And the two of you didn’t come together?”

“He missed the scholarship deadline this year.”  Danni looked down.  “Waiting for me, actually.  There are always more spaces for guys than girls, but he wasn’t willing to come without me.”

“You didn’t have the same problem,” Nicholas guessed. 

“No.”  She sighed, the warmth and camaraderie giving way to something a little bit empty.  “If I’d given up my spot, there was no telling when I’d been able to get another chance—and I think the spot has always meant more to me than it did to him.”  She shrugged, shaking off the melancholy.  “Besides, he’ll be here next year.  He’s promised me he’d get all the materials in on time for a change.” 

“Well, I wish him the best.”  Nicholas smiled.  “Though I may make him go hunting for a new partner.  I suspect I’m going to like having you around.”

Danni positively glowed.  Nicholas liked having
her
around.  She had been afraid that she would have to wait until next year to really dance with a partner again.  And Michael would definitely have been all hers—she knew that—but at the same time, she hadn’t relished the thought of waiting for him.

She didn’t think he would mind—not really.  Oh, there would be that twinge of jealousy; but they had both known when she came ahead without him that it was a possibility.  And dancing with
Nicholas
….

He was the best male dancer at the school.  Everyone knew it—except, possibly, Nicholas himself.  With him at her side, things that had seemed impossible were suddenly in the realm of the possible again. 

The two of them chatted all through dinner—which they ate perched on the counters in the kitchen.  The discussion was comfortable, Danni thought.  It was like they had been partners for weeks already, She couldn’t believe that she had only met this man today, danced with him for the first time
today
.     

“You want to come up with me, or do you want to take off?” he asked cautiously as he fished an ice pack out of the freezer.

Danni raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m not…suggesting anything,” Nicholas said quickly.  “Just…a distraction.”  He offered a self-deprecating smile.  “Ice is uncomfortable—you know that.”

Well, given that, how could she deny him?  And anyway, Danni thought, hadn’t she just been thinking about how partners were supposed to look out for each other, and regretting the fact that she couldn’t be back home with Michael?

Nicholas wasn’t Michael—but he was her partner now.  That meant that she was supposed to help keep an eye on him—and part of that meant sitting with him while he iced his aching shoulder.

“Sure,” she told him with a small smile.  She was curious to see his room anyway; and on top of that, she was eager to spend more time getting to know him.  From what he had said so far, she knew that Nicholas was a man of God.  She wanted to know what else there was to know about him. 

“Up the stairs, second door on the left,” he told her.  “I’ll be up in a second—I have to let my house mother know you’re here.”

Since she had the same rule—no boys in her room without first notifying the house mother, and the door was supposed to stay at least cracked open unless there were more than two people in there—Danni didn’t think anything of it.  She made her way up the stairs.  Second floor, second door on the….

Oh.
  Even if she hadn’t been told that this was Nicholas’s room, Danni thought that she might have guessed.  It just looked like him:  dark blue comforter on the bed; shelves of books lining the walls…and yes, there was his Bible, resting at his bedside table just the way hers did.  There was no dust on it, either; either he had just cleaned—which, from the look of the rest of the room, was probably not the case—or he genuinely did read his Bible regularly.

Lord, I hope that he does rest in your word regularly.  I really like this man,
she prayed.  Her fingers lightly brushed over the top of the Bible, though she didn’t open it.  Bibles were a private thing, especially if the user wrote in the margins.  She had hundreds of little conversations with God penned in hers—sometimes revelations,
things that had come to her attention; other times just references to what she had been going through at the time, or how the verse had helped her. 

She’d read Michael’s Bible a time or two, and he had read hers.  She didn’t feel even the slightest qualm about letting him read her Bible, nor did he hesitate to hand her his—because they were that close.  They each knew all the other’s secrets.

What would it be like to read Nicholas’s Bible?  It was evident that it was well-loved.  Either it had been carried with him a lot, or he had read it frequently.  Which one, Danni couldn’t be completely sure without asking him; but she suspected, from some of the comments he had made earlier, that he read it a lot. 

Thankfully, Nicholas came in then.  Danni wouldn’t have wanted to give in to temptation and peek—and she might have, if she had been left alone for much longer.  She wouldn’t have wanted to read it; but the highlighting, the frequency of those penned comments…that would tell her something about the man she was now dancing with. 

He gave her a crooked smile.  “Yeah…you’re not the first to go straight there when you come in the room.”  The grin changed, turned warmer.  “First to understand it, though, I think.” 

“Mine is in the same spot.”  She smiled up at him.  “So, um…you have a favorite spot to do this, or….”

“One that hurts less than the others, anyway.”  Nicholas jerked several pillows off of his bed and shifted them, then eased down on them so that his shoulder was securely braced.  He didn’t need to think about it; that, if nothing else, made it evident that he had done this before. 

“How long have you been hurt?” Danni asked curiously.

Nicholas grimaced.  “I’d really rather not talk about that just now,” he admitted tiredly.  “Or anything that reminds me of the pain, actually.  I just….” 

“Sure.” She hesitated, then reached out and squeezed his hand like she would have Michael’s.

He turned it over trustingly, taking hers comfortably.  It was only natural, really.  They’d spent the better part of the day in each others’ company, and much of it touching.  That comfort with one another transferred to their everyday lives; and put into a situation like this one, it could easily turn to taking comfort
in
one another. 

“You’re a sweetheart, Danni.”  Nicholas sighed.  “Would you be offended if I asked you if this was the real you, or just some mask you’re putting on?”

Danni had to think about it for a minute.  “No,” she said at last, her voice as steady as she could make it.  “Because I’ve seen the other girls around here—and you’re right.  About half of them would only pretend to be friendly and then turn around and stab you in the back later.”

“And the other half?” he asked curiously. 

“The other half wouldn’t bother waiting until your back was turned.”  Danni winced.  “I didn’t meant to say that out loud,” she said quickly.

“You really didn’t, did you?”  Nicholas laughed.  “For what it’s worth, it’s a fairly accurate description—especially with all the competition for partners.  It can get ugly.” 

“Had any try to seduce you away from Katarina?” she wanted to know  A couple of girls had tried that with Michael—to their detriment, since regardless of who he dated, his dance time had always belonged to her. 

“Oh, yeah.  Seduction…threats…a couple have even tried bribes.”  He made a face.  “Almost took a few of them up on it.”

“Why didn’t you?” Danni knew it was really none of her business; but it was clearly no secret that he didn’t like Katarina.  If that was the case, why dance with her?

Nicholas sighed.  “Honestly?” he asked slowly.

She nodded.  Might as well get it all out in the open up front. 
Worst case scenario, he tells me he’s secretly in love with her,
she decided. 

Nicholas was silent for several moments, his thumb tracing over her hand over and over again as he worked out the best way to say the words that he needed to say.  “Kat’s good,” he said slowly.  “I mean, she’s hard to work with, self-centered and self-serving, and her attitude leaves a lot to be desired…but she’s
good
.  She has this incredible work ethic, and she’ll work herself into the ground if that’s what it takes for her to get things right.  And she’s not like one of those girls who won’t work with her partner if he needs her help for something.  She’ll go over it again and again, until I finally get it, and never issue a word of complaint.” 

“Sounds like a pretty decent partner,” Danni said slowly. 

“She is if what you want is to be the best.”  Nicholas threw his good arm over his eyes; surprised, Danni realized that she was holding the bad one.  Well, if he wanted to let go, he was more than welcome to; she knew from experience that guys were more likely to pull away than they were to initiate contact.  “She’s not if what you want is a partner that you actually like—or one that, at the end of the day, you’re proud to claim, instead of ashamed.” 

She winced.  “She can’t be all that bad,” she pointed out.

“I just said she’s not,” Nicholas reminded her.  “And Kat…she has her good points.  She’s dedicated, for one thing; and she’s fair.  She’s just as hard on herself as she is on anyone else.”

“Kat,” Danni said slowly.  “That alone implies that you’re pretty close to her.”

“Oh, she hates it.”  Nicholas grinned.  “It’s…well, it started off as a little bit of a joke, and turned into a bit of not-so-subtle revenge.”

Danni frowned.

He eased his arm away from his eyes so that he could see her expression.  “Hey, you try dancing with the girl day in and day out,” he suggested.  “You’d develop a few tiny little revenge habits, too.”

Privately, Danni tended to agree—but she wasn’t sure where she was going to stand on this one until he finished the story.  “Explain,” she requested cautiously. 

“Well….”  Nicholas sighed.  “Do you realize that because of her, there isn’t a single person in this school who will call me Nick?”

Danni’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Katarina doesn’t like it.  She says Nicholas is more formal, and sounds much more like a dancer—so she refused to ever call me by a nickname.  People hear her doing it, and they just assume that if my partner doesn’t shorten it, I must not like it.  So—Nicholas.”

Danni grimaced.  “That would get irritating…if you prefer the other.”

“I prefer the other.  I
deeply
prefer the other.”  His expression was so comical that she had to laugh.  “Anyway, I told her that if she got to call me whatever she wanted, I got to call her whatever I wanted.  She put her nose up in the air and informed me that
she had never answered to a nickname, and I put mine just as high and informed her that if she was going to have the whole school calling me Nicholas, I was going to have them calling her Kat by the time the semester was over.”

“How’s that working for you?” Danni asked wryly.

“Oh, it’s not.  She’s made her preferences quite clear,” he admitted.  “But it’s a very private revenge, you see.  She refers to me as Nicholas…and everywhere I go, I call her Kat in front of at least one other person.”  He shrugged, made a face as it dislodged the ice pack.  “You’re a very potent distraction,” he informed Danni.  “Because I actually forgot that was there.”

“How’s it feeling?” she asked quietly.

“Like little ice trolls are jamming cruel implements into my shoulder,” he confessed cheerfully.  “But it’s not as bad as it could be, and the ice comes off in…what, another five minutes?”

She glanced at the clock on his bedside table and nodded.

“So, that’s ten minutes that I wasn’t sitting here counting down the seconds.  I figure that makes you a success.”  He flashed her that crooked smile again.  “Much appreciated, by the way.” 

“I’ll stay for the hour,” Danni promised.  “But I’m going to have to leave after that.  I have work to get done.”

“So you’re actually buying into the whole, ‘get the academic stuff out of the way now’ thing, huh?” he asked conversationally.  The way he said it, Danni had no doubt that he agreed with her; he was just starting the conversational ball rolling again.

“Oh, yeah.  I was taking all the right classes at my school back home and everything,” she admitted cheerfully.  “Besides, getting to just dance for a whole year?  Tell me that’s not a dream come true.”

“Well, it might be a little difficult if you did decide to go on to college,” he offered.

She made a face at him.  “They offer college courses as an option—some agreement with an online school or something.” 

“You’re serious about this.”  Nicholas—Nick—grinned.  “Good.  I hate being alone in the studying world.”  He looked up at her consideringly.  “Hey—how far along are you?”

She told him; his eyebrows shot through the ceiling.  “And you’ve been here for three weeks?  At that rate, you’ll be done before Christmas!”