					LET'S (ICE) DANCE  (Chapter 9)


It was Friday night. Sophia always had the house to herself on Friday nights. That's usually when she brought her boyfriends home to have sex. Well, she sighed to herself, that hasn't happened yet with Warren. But he was here, with her, watching a movie.

"Had a history quiz today," Sophia said.

"Yeah?"

"I actually studied for it last night."

"Wow."

"And I think I did pretty good."

"Double wow."

"Warren Kelleher, what the fuck have you done to me? Studying. No parties. Sitting in an empty house on a Friday night watching a movie. I'm becoming boring!"

"Not even a little bit are you boring. Don't ever worry about that. You pack more living into one day than most people do in a year. Besides which, I didn't do this to you. You did it to yourself."

"I know, I know. It's just weird. I like Shakespeare, for chrissakes! I'm not supposed to like Shakespeare, I'm supposed to like beer!"

"Which do you truly like better?"

"Shakespeare." Sophia sighed. " I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Before I turned into Wild Woman, I loved to read. I still do, but I never do it as much as I used to. Reading Romeo and Juliet-and I started Taming of the Shrew after I studied last night-reminded me how much I used to like reading. It all came back to me. It was actually pretty cool."

"I want you to know something, Sophia. I think I need to say this. I love you, whatever you do. If you didn't like Shakespeare, I'd still love you. If you told me you didn't want to be together tonight because you were going to a beer and bong bash, I'd still love you. I'd worry more, but I'd still love you."

Sophia laughed. "I think I knew that. But it was nice to hear, anyway. I really do like reading more than partying. I suppose I always did-I just forgot. But I worry about my image, more than I should. Reading Shakespeare and getting good grades just is not done in my crowd."

"Actually, Soph, you do other things that I'd bet aren't done much in your crowd. And that's not even including having a preppie boyfriend."

"OK, what else?" Sophia chuckled.

"I'd bet not many of your friends are Beatlemaniacs. And then there's that whole thing where you know more about baseball than most guys I know."

"True. Those things are, however, easier to hide than good grades."

Warren thought for a minute. "What else did you like to do before you became Party Woman Extraordinaire?"

"This, actually. I loved movies. I like that we watch movies, I've missed it. I actually-you're not going to believe this-played chess. "

"We'll have to play sometime, if you remember. I'm pretty good."

"A preppie? Good at chess? I'm soooooooo surprised."

"You just keep quiet, you."

"I'll have to brush up, so I can kick your butt. What else? I spent more time on the computer than I do now. Oh, and figure skating, of course."

"Figure skating?"

"I never mentioned that? Oh, yeah. Made it to Sectionals as a novice, what, three years ago? Yeah, three years ago."

"What happened?"

"My partner quit, and I never found another one, and then I started the downward slide into the depraved Wild Woman you see before you today." Warren stuck his tongue out at her. "If you're gonna stick that thing out, come over here and put it to good use. Anyway, I was a pretty good skater."

"You said partner. Pairs?"

"Dance."

"Ah. I competed in singles as a novice two years ago. Didn't make it out of regionals, though."

"You did? Wow. Another thing we have in common. I didn't know you skated."

"Still do. I'm at the rink every Saturday morning. I stopped trying to compete, but I still take lessons and skate for fun."

"Why'd you quit competing?"

"I wasn't much good." They both laughed. "Actually, I'm a superb basic skater. Great edges, good footwork, fast, the whole bit. However, I wasn't much of a jumper."

"You should've switched to dance."

"Hmmmm. Never thought of that."

Sophia thought for a minute. "You going to the rink tomorrow?" Warren nodded. "Think I could tag along?"

"Sure. It'd be fun."


They showed up at the rink the next morning. Carol, the lady Warren took lessons from, let Sophia join in for the morning, as a guest. Sophia thought she'd start with the beginners, but she realized she really hadn't forgotten all that much. Quickly, she was flying across the ice like she had never left it. She had to admit, it felt really, really good.

She looked over at Warren, trying some jumps. He had a double salchow that was solid, and a double loop that was respectable, but couldn't get past a single of any other jump. And the axel, even the single was an adventure. Sophia realized why he had stopped competing, at least as a singles skater.

But, boy, could he move on the ice. His edges were solid as a rock; he had quick feet, good carriage, everything you could want in a young skater-except jumps.

Sophia skated up to him as he took a slight break next to the coach. "Warren, I've been watching you."

"What did you think?"

"Warren, we should dance together."

"Ah, I don't know."

"Warren, you've got strong, strong basic skating skills. Your edges, your turns, everything. Screw the jumps. You need to dance, and you need to dance with me."

"You're pretty vehement about this."

Sophia smiled a little. "Yeah, I suppose I am. I watched you do that piece of footwork a minute ago, and I said to myself, damn, I want him to do that with me. With me in your arms."

Carol, the coach, overheard. "Do you have a dance background, Sophia?"

"Sixth in novice sectionals three years ago."

"Great! You didn't skate out of here?"

"No, down in Wennington."

"Ah. Well, if you want to dance again, I'm sure we could find you a partner."

"I'm trying to convince my partner," Sophia said with a smile.

"Actually, Warren, she's got a point. You've certainly got the basics to do ice dance. The jumps are not coming. And, I don't know if you guys can learn to dance together, but you are certainly physically well-matched."

Warren thought for a minute, and then said, "Hmmm. What the heck? I can try it, right? And I get to skate with the love of my life, that's a cool bonus."

Sophia laughed. Carol said, "Listen. After the free session, the next lesson is run by June Riegert. She's a dance coach. You guys were going to stick around for the free session, right? Afterwards, I'll introduce you."

They tried skating together a bit during the free session, and found that they had a decent natural rhythm. They met June, and she agreed to let them join her dance class. They danced for a while, mostly just trying to teach Warren the most basic of steps, but Sophia loved it. By the end of the class, Warren realized that he liked it better than singles, already.






