Dancing for the Lord: The Academy (18 page)

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.”

“Studying.”  Katarina snorted.  “As if Nicholas ever had any interest in any such thing before.  Does Mrs. Baxter have any idea what you’re really doing up there?”

“We’re
really
studying, Kat,” Nick said calmly.  “Come up and check in yourself, if you want.  Actually, if you’re interested, you’re welcome to join us.”  He made the offer knowing full well that she wouldn’t take them up on it.  For one thing, Katarina might have been on the same fast track they were academically, but she wasn’t nearly as dedicated to it. She would be several chapters behind.  For another, she would consider it beneath her to spend that much time in Danni’s company. 

“Really.”  She looked them over in a way that suggested she knew exactly what they were trying to do.  Nick knew full well that she didn’t even have a clue.  “Well, you
two have fun, now.”  She fluttered her fingers at them in a movement that was meant to appear vindictive and spiteful.  Mostly, it just came out looking pathetic.

Nick shrugged and headed for the stairs.  Danni paused for just a moment, her heart going out to the forlorn-looking young woman. 

“You really are welcome to join us if you want,” she said quietly. 

Katarina looked up, and suddenly, all traces of dejection fell away.  Rather than answering Danni’s invitation, she took a completely different track.  “You’ll never keep him, you know,” she said flatly.  “I’ve seen you—you aren’t half the dancer I am.” 

“I think that’s up to Nick to decide, don’t you?”  Danni very carefully didn’t place any emphasis on the nickname.  Let Katarina think of it what she would. 

“You think you can hold him with pretty words and kisses, don’t you?”  Katarina shook her head.  “It may have worked on the boys back home, but it won’t work on Nicholas—I promise you that.  He’ll head for greener pastures just as soon as he finds a better dancer.”

“If I were trying to keep him with kisses, I might be worried.”  Danni’s voice was wryly amused.  She didn’t take offense to the clear insult to either her or Nick.  It was clear that Katarina didn’t either know or understand either of them at all anyway.  “Personally, I’ve always thought he had more sense than to be won that way.”  That having been said, she turned and hurried up the stairs behind Nick.  He’d be wanting that ice pack; and anyway, Katarina didn’t have anything to say that she considered to be worth listening to. 

Nick was pacing the floor of her room when she got there.  “She doesn’t get it, does she?” he demanded. 

“Get…what?”  Danni slipped inside and eased the door almost shut.  She didn’t want to break the house rules; but she also had the feeling that Nick wouldn’t want anyone else to hear his heated rant.

“Anything!”  He dragged his hands through his hair.  “Human kindness.  Friendship.  Humanity in general.  You name it, Kat’s missing it.”  He spun suddenly to look at her.  “What bile was she spewing at you after I left?”

“Just the usual.”  She kept her voice light.  There was no sense in getting Nick any more riled up than he already was, especially when there was nothing either of them could do about it.  “Come on.  Sit down, get this ice on your shoulder while you rant.” 

“I don’t know if I can sit.”  But he rearranged her pillows into a pile very similar to the one he created in his own room—more to have something to do with his hands than anything else, Danni thought. 

“There’s no use letting her get to you this way.  You know she is who she is, and she always will be.”

“That’s not comforting,” he snarled. 

“No?”  Danni sat down on the bed, patting the seat beside her.  With a sigh, Nick dropped down onto it.  “I think it will help if you simply accept that it’s her choice, you know.”

“Maybe.”  He didn’t look convinced as he took the ice pack from her, staring down at it as though he didn’t recognize it.  To be fair, Danni barely did.  It was a far cry from the frozen peas she and Michael had always used back home. 

“Katarina is just…Katarina.”  A squeak in the hall outside made Danni pause, but when there wasn’t any further noise, she didn’t feel any qualms about continuing.  This was the conclusion that she had reached about the girl as she struggled to understand why she found it necessary to be so nasty to everyone; and she thought Nick might benefit from it, too.  “I have the feeling she’s been hurt pretty badly somewhere along the way—that’s why she treats people the way she does.  If she’s nasty to them first, it doesn’t hurt so much when they don’t like her, you see.”

“I don’t understand how it is that half the girls in the Academy idolize her,” he muttered. 

“Maybe they haven’t been exposed quite so much to her stunning personality.”  Danni smiled tiredly.  “Or maybe she doesn’t show them quite as much as she’s shown you.  She disliked me from the beginning; you, she just expected to answer her every whim.  And let’s face it:  you’d still be dancing with her if she hadn’t gotten hurt.  Like you told me, she’s not all bad.”

“Can she be pretty close?” His words emerged as a whine.

Danni didn’t answer him, just squeezed his hand gently and asked, “So, are you going to ice that shoulder, or are you going to sit there holding on to the cold pack like you’ve never seen one before?”

Nick grimaced.  “Do I have to?” he wanted to know.

“Yep.”  Danni took it from him and eased it into place for him, carefully shifting it so that it covered the entire surface of the shoulder.  He winced, but didn’t make a sound; they both knew that eventually, this would help.  “Now, I believe we have work to do.  Dwelling on Katarina isn’t going to get it done; but the two of us getting on it might.” 
With those companionable words, she pulled out her science book and propped it on her lap, leaning over so that Nicholas could see the chapter easily. 

If anyone had come through the door at that moment, they might well have gotten the wrong idea about what was going on between Nick and Danni.  He was propped up against her pillows, as comfortable as though he had done it a hundred different times; they were sitting very close together; and as they read, her head dropped to his shoulder, the book carefully shifted until it was resting between the two of them.  When Nick eased the ice pack off of his shoulder, he lowered his head to rest on top of Danni’s.

They read at approximately the same speed.  That was handy.  She and Michael would never have been able to do this unless one of them was reading aloud—Danni read twice as fast as he did, and Michael tended to want extra time to absorb concepts before he moved on to the next one. With Nicholas, Danni would hesitate for just a beat before she turned the page, her hand lifting almost imperceptibly; with the faintest of movements, he would let her know whether or not he was ready for her to continue. 

They finished the chapter.  Danni pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil, passing another set to Nick—and all of this without ever shifting away from him.  She could tell by the way he was sitting that he was actually comfortable and relaxed for the first time all day; the less she jarred him, the more likely it was that he would actually be able to stop his shoulder from hurting before he left for the night. 

The ice was reapplied.  Nick hissed faintly as the cold began to seep in, a noise that Danni would never have heard if she hadn’t been tucked so close to him.

He wouldn’t have let anyone else hear that noise, she realized—and she didn’t comment on it.  She just laced her fingers gently through his and pulled out the next book—again, tucked close enough to her that he didn’t have to move in order to get comfortable again. 

It wasn’t unusual for them to work for a long time at night.  Both of them were easily engrossed in schoolwork, and they had gotten used to each other’s company.  Working together, they even tended to accomplish more than either would have alone, and they were more likely to retain the information.  On that particular evening, it was even later than usual when Nick finally slipped off of the bed, yawning hugely. 

“If we don’t get some sleep, we’re both going to be useless at practice in the morning,” he pointed out quietly.

“You’re not wrong.”  Danni gathered her books, slipping her assignments into them through bleary eyes.  She wasn’t sure how she had managed to see what she was doing for the better part of the last thirty minutes. 

“I did enjoy it, though.” Nick collected his own materials, slipping them into one of the spare folders that Danni kept in her room.  “We were productive tonight.”

“Definitely that.”  Danni grinned.  “Repeat tomorrow night?”

Nick mock groaned.  “You’re going to be the death of me, woman!”  In his heart—where he wasn’t sure even he acknowledged it—there was a faint answer to that. 
But what a way to go!

The next morning, Nick was pleased to see that his shoulder was actually loose and moving freely for the first time in days.  He was a little bit stiff as he began the
morning; but after a quick shower and a couple of Advil, he was definitely back in fine form. 

The night off did me a lot of good, Lord,
he admitted tiredly. 
It’s a shame Danni can’t afford for me to do it every night.

Except that he had underestimated his new partner.  She took one look at him that morning and nodded, clearly seeing exactly how much the early evening had done for him. 

“You’re not doing any of those lifts,” she said flatly. 

Nick stared at her, sure that he must have misunderstood.  “Excuse me?” he demanded.

“Oh, you heard me.”  Danni put her hands on her hips, giving him that imperious look that always reminded him so much of Katarina—except that when she got it, it was because she was looking out for him, not because she was about to do something that would cause him even more pain.  “Tell me you aren’t feeling better than you have in days.”

“I can’t tell you that.”  It never even occurred to Nick to lie to her.  He knew better than that.  Danni would probably just see right through him if he tried; and anyway, it would absolutely destroy the relationship they had been building if he tried to lie about something so obvious. 

“Then admit that you need the break, and take it.”  Danni lost the haughty posture, walking quietly over to stand beside him.  “That shoulder needs a break—and you know as well as I do that when we hit dress rehearsals and performances, you’re going to be in even more pain if you don’t take the time to let it heal now.” 

“Allie—“ 

“Can wait.”  Danni’s eyes twinkled.  “Tell her I’m being demanding and insisting that you work with me every spare minute this week.  I’ll demand it and make it more truthful, if you like.”

He raised an eyebrow.  “Except that you aren’t going to let me dance.”

“Oh, I’ll let you dance,” Danni corrected immediately.  “You can dance until your feet are ready to fall off, if that’s what you need to do—but you’re not going to do the lifts.  We’ll walk through them like we have been all along.”

He wanted to argue with her—wanted to be strong enough to argue with her.  She needed the practice.  Yeah, they had it down now; but she hadn’t been doing it that long.  They couldn’t afford to simply not practice.

“We’ll go back to doing it all-out at the dress rehearsals,” Danni promised him.  “But until then, take the break you need.”

Nick felt as though he had been transported into an alternate reality.  Thanks to Danni, he had several days to just let his shoulder rest.  He danced as much as he ever had or more; but she kept a close eye on him, and any time his jaw tightened even the faintest bit, she made him sit down and take a break. 

By Thursday night, he actually didn’t need the ice anymore—which was good, because the next day was their dress rehearsal. 

How had he managed to end up with this gentle, understanding partner who actually cared whether or not he was in pain?  What had he done that was good enough, pure enough, that God would give him someone who was so entirely good and caring that it would never occur to her to push him when he was hurting?