Previously on The Saga of Office Boy: The L-Word.
As most of you know, my sister is getting married. This shindig is going down in 2 1/2 weeks, and to prepare for the festivities, my parents have been taking ballroom dancing lessons. The weekend my sister was in town for her bachelorette party, there was a guest evening where students could invite guests to a group lesson and practice session for free. So the whole family headed over to the dance studio. And so did Office Boy.
I walked outside the studio, phone in hand, and pressed the button to return my missed called from Office Boy.
"I missed my appointment," said Office Boy."I'm sorry," I replied."It's okay. I just got stuck at work. So I'm gonna drive home and eat something and shower and I should be there soon.""Okay. Sounds good.""But I'm not dancing." "Yes, you are.""No, I'm not.""That's the whole reason that you're coming to this, Office Boy. It's a ballroom dance studio.""I don't dance, Sarah.""It'll be fine.""No...you don't understand. My body doesn't move in that way.""I'm sure it'll be just fine. They can teach you. There's instructors there.""I'm still not dancing.""Yes, you are," I said. "I'll see you when you get here."
I walked back inside, and continued to partake in the group lesson where we learned the basic step for the waltz and the club swing (which is essentially swing but your march and rock step instead of side step and rock step...it's strange) at a painfully slow pace.
Right around the time the lesson was finishing up, I checked my phone and saw I had another missed call from Office Boy. Once again, I made my way outside and returned his call.
"Where is this place?" he asked. "I think I've passed it like eight times."
I walked a little farther out from the studio entrance to get a bearing on our location.
"It's between the Nationwide building and the...Number One Coin Laundromat," I said, reading the signs on either side of me."Okay. I'll be there in a minute. But I'm not dancing."
I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone. He was dancing whether he wanted to or not. A minute later, his little blue car whipped down the street, made a quick u-turn and pulled into the parking lot.
We walked inside the studio, hand in hand, and signed him in at the front desk.
"And you are?" the receptionist asked."Sarah Hayes," I answered."Oh, yes. Guest of Chris Hayes," she said. "You can just put your name right here with hers, since you're together," the receptionist said to Office Boy, handing him a clipboard and a pen."How do you know we're together?" he asked."You just look like a couple," she answered. "And she seems to know you a bit." She smiled and winked at him.
He finished putting his name down, she wrote him a name tag and handed it to him, and we went on into the dance studio.
The practice session had begun, so we walked over to the side where my sister was standing. I handed him to her and went off to dance with my brother.
As the night progressed, Office Boy slowly began to find his rhythm and get the steps down, but as soon as he would get the rhythm of whatever dance we were doing, the song would end and a new dance would begin.
When the evening ended, the instructors made an announcement that any guests who had come for the evening could take advantage of a special offer and take two private lesson for $50.
"You should do that," my older sister said to Office Boy."Do you want to?" he asked, turning to me."Sure," I said, smiling."Okay. Let's do it."-----
A week later, Office Boy and I walked hand in hand back into the same dance studio.
Two instructors greeted us at the front desk.
"Hi," a petite young woman said. "I'm Suvda. You must be Sarah and Office Boy.""Hi," I said, shaking her offered hand."Fill out this information and then we'll get started."
She handed me a clipboard with a very sparkly, feathery, pink pen. I filled out my information and handed the clipboard and pen to Office Boy. He stared at it like it had three heads. Once he had put his information in, we headed on back to the studio.Suvda turned on some music and got us started with the Foxtrot.As we progressed through the dances, Office Boy found some easier than others. We continued to Foxtrot and suddenly, he lost count and had to stop."No...that's not right," he said, shaking his head and looking down at his feet. He took me into dance position again and waited for Suvda to count us in before he began dancing again.After the Foxtrot, we moved onto Swing and Club Swing, and then finally onto Waltz.As the music slowly played, Office Boy held me in dance position and we worked on the basic box step."So how many siblings do you have?" asked Suvda, her hand on Office Boy's shoulder, guiding him in a slow turn as we continued the step."I have two sisters and a brother," I said. "The older one is getting married.""Very nice," she said and smiled. "And what about you?" she asked, looking up at Office Boy.
He furiously shook his head as he kept his eyes on his feet, counting very carefully to make sure he stayed on beat and didn't lose the step."He has one brother," I said, laughing.After forty minutes, the lesson ended and we went back out to the front to schedule our next one."I did good?" Office Boy asked, looking at me expectantly with his big brown eyes. I smiled."Yes, you did very well," I said, and kissed his cheek. He smiled and grabbed my hand as we walked out of the studio into the balmy August air.
----------Like what you're reading? Consider liking me on Facebook or following me on Twitter!
