No Ordinary Love Songs

Chapter 2 -Insensitive

"Are you going to have garage sale?" Sasha said as she watched Tiffany piling her clothes on her bed.

"It is our first day of dance practice," she said looking at her clothes, "I need to wear something enticing, but not the kind that makes flirting too obvious."

"It is still flirting," Sasha rolled her eyes.

Tiffany first picked a set of black leggings, black sports bra and a white sleeveless to wear over her sports bra. After looking at herself at the mirror she thought it was too sexy on the sides so she decided to look for another set. She then considered wearing a fold over knitted shorts over her black leotards and then a knitted over coat but then she thought it was too feminine and not so alluring. After a countless times of wearing and changing clothes, Tiffany decided on a black sweat shorts paired with white spaghetti strapped blouse. 'After all, black and white are the basics. I'll never go wrong with them,' she thought to herself.

*** ------- ****

Tiffany hurried to their first dance practice. Jason was early as usual so as soon as Tiffany finished changing, she went to the barre to do some stretching. Mike came late. It was obvious that he was not prepared for the practice. He came in with Rish and as soon as Rish is seated, he took off his upper shirt leaving his white sleeveless under shirt on.

As Tiffany proceeded with her stretching routine, she reached her toes and then lifted her head to take a peek on Mike. She thought he was sexy but she was then distracted when Mike gave Rish a wink. She continued to stretch and then decided to shift to her other leg.

"Our first dance is Paso Doble," the coach announced as soon as Mike and Tiffany finished their warm-ups.

The coach asked them to face each other. Tiffany could smell the musky scent of Mike; it was her first time to face Mike this close. She thought that watching Mike from afar is great but standing close to him is even greater.

The first figure as instructed by the coach: The pair should be in close hand position. When the music starts, they have to bend on one knee on the same side together extending the other leg in two counts and then release to three steps to the side, three spins and on the fourth spin, Tiffany will have to turn from front to the back of Mike and then hook her arms on Mike's arms, swinging her legs in scissor at Mike's left side. Mike will have to support this routine by positioning his body in order for Tiffany to easily swing back to the place where she started. He has to hold Tiffany so that she would not fall and must guide her swing so that she won't be thrown away.

It may be the first figure but this gave Tiffany and Mike had a hard time. Since the dance exhibits both snappy and smooth movements, Mike sometimes overdoes the movement and hurt Tiffany's shoulders. Sometimes he steps over Tiffany's foot or let loose of her and so Tiffany was thrown over, or strongly gripped her hands making her unable to move. There was clearly no chemistry between them. No matter how much Tiffany tried, Mike does not make any further effort to make it better.

The coach thought that Mike may have done it in purpose because Rish is watching or because he wanted the school to decide to replace him with someone else. To keep Mike from being distracted, the coach requested Rish to leave the room and instructed her to never watch the pair during practices.

At first Mike resisted but when the coach said she will call Mike's father, he decided to agree. Two hours passed, still there was no improvement on Mike's side so the coach decided to call it a day and then sent them home.

*** -----------***

"Hop in," Mike told Tiffany without looking at her.

Tiffany's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, but hurriedly went in anyway.

"From now on you will ride home with me," Mike said blatantly.

Tiffany smiled and looked at Mike.

"Don't be so assuming," Mike said, "my father decided on this because of that stupid engagement."

Tiffany felt the words pierced through her heart. She prepared herself to say something but when she turned to Mike, she became tongue-tied. There was sadness in his eyes. For no reason, she suddenly felt guilty about the whole engagement thing.

She sprawled on her seat and looked out the window. The silence between them was so deafening that Mike turned the radio on. As the song, "Insensitive" by Jann Arden played...

Oh, you probably won't remember me

It's probably ancient history

I'm one of the chosen few

Who went ahead and fell for you

I'm out of vogue, I'm out of touch

I fell too fast, I feel too much

I thought that you might have some advice to give

On how to be insensitive

Tiffany sighed. She wished Mike was listening to the song. She wished Mike knew that she meant to tell him the same things as the song says.

'He wrapped his arms to my waist and pulled me towards him,' Tiffany thought.

'How can he be so romantic that night but so cold the next day?' Tiffany wondered.

The car parked in front of Tiffany's house. Tiffany wanted to say something but Mike said something first, "I will pick you early tomorrow."

"Okay," Tiffany wanted to say something else but it seems as if her mouth has a mind of its own. She decided to open the door but before she turned and could even say thank you, Mike reached for the door, closed it, and drove away.

Tiffany watched him leave feeling empty.