Chapter 8

That caused Jimmy to smile big as he said, “Now ... Charles & Claire will show us all, the Tango,” starting “Hernando’s Hideaway,” a different version than we had danced to before, but quite lyrical.

Claire turned to me and said, “Charles remember, No rise and fall!” What a wonderful dimpled smile was on her face.

We proceeded to Tango ourselves into a lather using steps that we know Jimmy wouldn’t be teaching tonight, but when you love to dance ... you do what you do, and what you know! Claire was smiling all through the dance.

I realized that we needed a Tango routine for our next competition. The song was over and Jimmy proclaimed, “Those two really are something, aren’t they?” as the crowd applauded our dance.

Sarah was taking me home, with Claire and I in the back seat together. I saw Sarah glancing back at us from time to time. Kalista turned around and was listening to everything.

I said, “So, we need to be back at Cotillion Wednesday and Friday this week and Monday and Wednesday next week. Our upcoming competition is Thursday next week. I am not sure where, but my mom says it’s three hours east of us. Claire, I thought we would do the Tango at this next competition. How does that sound to you?”

“Great, X,” she replied. “I know we won’t win every time we enter, but it sure is a lot of fun to win. What time tomorrow did you want to me to come over and practice?”

“How about ten o’clock in the morning? Does that work for you, Sarah? I certainly don’t want to cause any trouble with your regular schedule, as far as getting Claire over to our house.”

“It’s the least I can do for the future NDCA Champions of the United States,” Sarah replied.

Kalista was jumping around in her seat. I could tell she had something she wanted us to ask her.

I casually turned towards Claire and said, “You know Claire, since you are coming over to practice tomorrow, why don’t we find out, if a certain almost nine-year-old would like to be there with you?”

Claire responded, “Charles, are you sure? The only one I know is Kalista. Is that who you are talking about, or is there another young girl you want to invite?”

Sarah had stopped the car and said, “So ask her, already? She’s going crazy up here, waiting for one of you to ask her!”

“Kalista, honey,” Claire said. “Would you like to come with me to Charles’ house tomorrow, to watch us learn some new dances?”

As soon as she heard the word ‘tomorrow’ Kalista turned to Charles and said, “I would love to come and watch you two dance. I actually dream about you two dancing and then at some time during the dream, Claire morphs into me and I am dancing with Charles all by myself.” She had slowed down for the last part of that sentence looking directly into my eyes.

“We’re here, Charles — If your girls let you get out of the car,” Sarah remarked. Everyone chuckled at that.

I got out of the car and Claire stepped out as well. I opened the door to the front seat and gave Special K a kiss on the forehead and closed the door.

She walked me to my door and it suddenly felt like the final moment of a date. Take a breath, Charles. Claire leaned in and she gave me a nice, sweet kiss. “See you in the morning, X.”

I waved to Sarah and Kalista, hugging Claire at the same time.

The front door unexpectedly opened. It was Mom. “I thought I heard voices out here. Clean him up, Claire.”

She did. Mom waved to all and closed the door behind her, leaving us outside together.

“Well, Charles ... it looks like I am officially third on your list, the way I saw Kalista looking at you just now. My son, the polyamorist,” she smiled and giggled.

“It’s not that way at all, Annie,” Claire said. “Kalista does have a huge crush on Charles, but she and Charles danced in front of everybody at the Cotillion tonight and I think she loves the idea of dancing, as badly as she’s fallen for my Charles.”

“Your Charles?” I said turning on her.

“Yes, Charles,” Claire said giggling and taking my arm. “You are mine, and I don’t want to share you. You know what I mean, Annie, don’t you?”

“I believe I do, Claire. I have got an idea that may embarrass you both, but it’s a good enough idea to say anyway.”

“Go, Mom,” I said. What could it possibly be this time?

“No problem by me, Annie,” Claire responded.

“Here it is. I think that each of you should get a couple of sets of clothing in a bag, kind of like an Airline Hostess does. So, you could crash at each other’s homes after a late night of Cotillion or coming home after a faraway competition.”

“Then, you would always have it with you, like right now. If Claire, had her ‘Go-bag’ as they’re called, she could stay over and you could get an early start on your practicing, what with all the routines you apparently need to learn. All of that driving to and from everywhere would be saved and you two would have that much more time to spend together dancing.”

The implications of this idea caused both Claire and myself to blush quite a bit.

Mom continued, “On your way home tonight, Claire, bring this up as casually as you can. Since you two are practicing here tomorrow, I will set up Charles with his own ‘Go-bag’ and we will see you and Kalista about ten o’clock, OK?”

Finishing up, Mom said, “Oh and Claire, tell your mother that this is my idea, or she will never go for it. Say goodnight and we will see you in the morning.”

Mom went inside, leaving Claire and I alone and Sarah was motioning at Claire to get into the car. Claire turned to me and said, “I am really beginning to like your mother, Charles.”

She gave me a kiss and left.
====
The next morning, Mom and I were waiting for Claire and Kalista to arrive for practice. She was talking me through my checklist of the contents of my ‘Go-bag:’

“Three sets of outer wear and underwear?”
“Check.”
“Two sets of sleepwear?”
“Check.”
“Dancing shoes and plenty of socks?”
“Check.”
“Toothbrush?”
“Check.”
“Toothpaste?”
“Check.”
“Mouthwash?”
“Check.”
“Deodorant?”
“Check.”
“Condoms?”

“What!”

“Just making sure you were listening. You do know what condoms are and what they do?”

“Mother, that is such an inappropriate question for a mother to ask her own son,” I said blushing tremendously.

“Considering how close the two of you dance, I would suspect you are possibly getting ... all hot and bothered by her?”

I started to mist over, “Yes, I am.”

“Is Claire on the pill, Honey?”

‘We haven’t had that conversation, we are only 13-YEARS OLD!”

“Don’t you dare raise your voice to me. I am doing my job asking you the tough questions. I have the right to ask you anything I feel necessary. Is that clear?”

“Sorry, Annie. To be honest it happened when I danced with Sarah and you, as well.”

“Charles Xavier Newman Jr. Did you just tell me that Sarah McArthur made you hard? I did as well?”

“I am sorry, it just happened, I am so ashamed!”

“I think you have all you need, Charles. Remember, Sarah isn’t quite as comfortable around your ‘PDA’s’ as I have gotten. Be careful, honey, especially around her.”

“You have got a good thing going here. A beautiful young dance partner — oh, make that two young dance partners! And you have got dancing, which you are very proficient at. You could blow it all by saying or doing one wrong thing.”

“You forget one other thing I have going for me, Mom?”

“And what is that, Charles?”

“I have got the nicest, prettiest, most caring mother on the face of the planet. Before there was Kalista, before there was even Claire, there was Annie. I love you a lot, you know.”

I couldn’t keep from tearing up during this speech, but it must have been OK ... so was Annie.

“HONK!”

Mom and I went outside and we saw both Claire and Kalista carrying a little bag, as they got out of the van, with Robert driving away. I looked over to Mom and we both smiled at each other.

Everyone came in and hugged everyone else. I got up and announced to them all what had been scheduled to happen today.

“Mom and Kalista, have patience with me today, please? I want to practice the Quickstep first and then I am going to start teaching Claire the Samba and the Paso Doble. Jimmy hasn’t specifically told me when we’re supposed to know these dances at Cotillion, so I would like to be prepared.”

“Tonight, at Cotillion, it’s scheduled to be more Cha-Cha and Tango. We will touch on that a little later.”

Kalista’s hand shot up, as though she was in school, making everyone laugh. “Yes, Special K, we will practice and add some more steps to your Waltz and Tango, along the way.” That must have answered her question for she put her hand down and smiled at my Annie.

“Claire, come up here, please?”

Claire raised her hand and asked, “Annie ... permission, please?”

Annie nodded her head in approval and Claire gave me a kiss and, of course, wiped it off.

Kalista’s hand shot up like a rocket and I said, “Wait until after we dance later, OK, K?” causing all the ladies to giggle, including K.

“Claire, there are four basic movements to the Samba; Natural, Reverse, Side and Progressive. We will start with the Natural. It starts with my right and your left. The Reverse is exactly what it sounds like.”

We tried it a few times. Claire didn’t quite understand the hip movement involved. I put my hands on her hips and she put her hands on mine. I heard a cough from the sofa, “Is this the alternative teaching method again, Charles?”

“I am simply helping her to feel the steps, Mother.” That made Kalista laugh. “The count is one a’two ... one a’two, one a’two. Got it Claire?”

She looked up at me, smiled and said, “Oh, yeah Charles, I got it ... bad.” Her giggle never fails to make me smile.

This is going to be a very long day.

“All right, next is the Side step, same counting — very good Claire. Lastly, is the Progressive step.” I showed it to her and she got it right away. “Let’s try it with music, OK?” I suggested.

Claire said, “Oh, Yes Charles, everything’s better with music, isn’t it?” She blushed and looked over at my mom, who also blushed. “Sorry, Annie. I am in his arms and it feels so good.”

Now, I blushed.

I previously picked out some music from my dad’s extensive collection. This song was called, “Eres Mia,” by Romeo Santos, and was over four minutes long.

Having Claire in our ‘alternative dance position’ with this rather sexy song, made me a little self-conscious, but we quickly got ‘in the groove’ of the music.

Kalista was giggling the whole time, probably because of the suggestive nature of the song along with Claire’s hip action during the dance.

We went through all the steps. I had to excuse myself for a moment. When I came back, the girls were all talking among each other.

“That looked like fun,” Annie said.

“It was kind of sexy,” Kalista said, blushing because of the word that she used, probably for the first time in her life. “I want to learn that dance too, Charles!”

My mom jumped in, covering a chuckle, and said, “That’s a rather advanced dance step, K, and it may be a while before Charles can teach you that. You are just not tall enough yet. Have patience, dear.”

“How about learning a new waltz step instead, Special K?” I said. She was up off the sofa, as soon as I said the word Waltz.

I taught her the Natural Turn, which she picked up rather well and added the Change Combination, again being quite the student. I asked Claire for a medium fast waltz. She pulled out a Celine Dion song, “A New Day Has Come”...

MS. CELINE DION
A new day has come
A new day has come

I was waiting for so long
For a miracle to come
Everyone told me to be strong
Hold on and don’t shed a tear

Through the darkness
and good times
I knew I’d make it through
And the world thought I had it all
But I was waiting for you

Hush, love
I see a light in the sky
Oh, it’s almost blinding me
I can’t believe
I’ve been touched by
an angel with love
Let the rain come down
and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul
and drown my fears
Let it shatter the
walls for a new sun... .

A new day has come
Where it was dark
now there’s light
Where there was
pain now there’s joy
Where there was weakness,
I found my strength
All in the eyes of a boy

Hush, love
I see a light in the sky
Oh, it’s almost blinding me
I can’t believe
I have been touched by
an angel with love
Let the rain come down
and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul
and drown my fears
Let it shatter the
walls for a new sun...
A new day has...
Let the rain come down
and wash away my tears

Ohhh, a light
Hush, now
I see a light in your eyes
All in the eyes of the boy
I can’t believe
I have been touched
by an angel with love
I can’t believe
I have been touched
by an angel with love
Hush, now
a new day
Hush, now
a new day

She was looking right at me the entire time, expecting which step I might change into. I didn’t hear the ‘boom-tic-tic’ from her this time. She must really be feeling the beat and the music. Hmmm. She’s almost as easy to dance with as Claire, just a bit shorter ... that’s all.

The song was over and K asked me to bend over to her, where she planted a lipstick kiss upon my cheek. I could tell she thought of putting it on my lips, but I was thankful for her modesty.

“Let’s all take a break,” Annie suggested.

Claire came up to me and said, “She has gotten under your skin, hasn’t she, Charles?” while wiping the mark of K off my cheek.

“Yeah, Claire,” I admitted. “I remember back to when I first met her, outside of your house. She said to me, ‘Hello. My name is Kalista. It means the most beautiful one.’” I leaned on Claire and sniffled a little. Mom walked in and saw this, but at once realized what was going on and ushered Kalista back into the kitchen.

“Charles, you must realize why you are always crying around her, don’t you?” Claire said.

“Tell me why, please Claire; tell me why?” I was on the verge of weeping.

“Because ... she’s your soul mate, Charles. The girl you are destined to be with — live your life — have children with. I am just a ‘placeholder,’ until enough time passes for you two to be together ... to become one.”

I shook my head in amazement, “No, No, No, No ... that’s impossible — You are crazy, Claire. You are my soul mate!”

“Temporary soul mate. She is your destiny!”

“That’s pretty heady stuff for a thirteen-year-old to find out — That the eight-year-old cousin of his girlfriend is his soul mate. Let’s keep all of this under our hats until a later time.”

Mom and Kalista came back out with water, glasses and a plate of warm sugar cookies. Kalista was pouring us of all a glass of water. I looked at her and said, “Thanks, Special K,” and she beamed.

I took a long drink of water and said, “Now, before we move on, I would like to ask my outstanding mother, if she would like to Waltz with me?”

That surprised them and made them all giggle. My mother got up and walked towards me, while Claire went over to the player and put on my mom’s recording of ‘Sunrise Sunset.”

Mom said, “Oh, you dog, X.”

We got to the closed position and I moved in (very) close to her, like Sarah and I had. She gave me a furtive smile and we danced the Waltz and while we were dancing, I moved my hand slightly lower, due to my hands being a little sweaty. Mom instantly, but quietly said, “Where are you going with those hands, buster? Be careful. I am still your mother and I can ground you from all of this faster than you can say ‘Quickstep!’”

I started laughing from what she was saying. When she was through, I mentioned my hands were sweating a little and moving my hand was my solution for it. She smiled at me and said, “That’s a good line, X ... Have you used it on either of your other dance partners?”

“Mom, you are so odd sometimes. I have only danced with you, Sarah, Kalista, and Claire in my short lifetime and I love you, but you are a little crazy, you know.” The song ended.

Claire and K stood up and applauded while my mother bowed gracefully. (She is slightly less top heavy as Sarah, and didn’t say anything about our chests touching.)

“Time to learn the Paso Doble, Mi Carina.”

“Carlo, Il mio cuore è per voi!”
(Charles, My Heart is for You).

“Mi sento allo stesso modo anche, Clara”
(I Feel the Same Way Too, Claire).

“You didn’t just ask her to marry you, did you Charles?” my mom quickly interrupted, snickering as she said it, getting a loud laugh from Special K in the process.

“Of course not, Annie. I am saving that for one of those great BBQs that the McArthurs have. Which would that be, the twenty-third or twenty-fourth Annual BBQ, Claire?”

“I won’t be of age until after the twenty-third, so you can ask me at the twenty-fourth, OK?” Claire calculated.

“OK, CC,” I replied.

“You haven’t called me that in quite some time, Loverboy!”

“Thinking about the BBQ helped me remember what your father calls you. Enough of all this talk about marriage proposals and such — we have more important things to do ... learn the Paso Doble. Are you ready, my dear?”

She nodded, then gave me a soft kiss.

“The first step is called the Sur Place, pick up your feet like you are marching, but barely off the ground, for an eight-count. Again, very good Claire! Now the Sur Place Link is a flashy move. We start connected by my left hand and move towards each other during the eight count, and we connect back up on the seven count.”

“Very nice! Now we turn to the left? Uh-huh, good — then to the right? We will stop there and do it to music. Annie, I left a CD over there called Modern Paso Doble, could you start it, playing cut three, please?”

She walked over, found it and said, “Eye of the Tiger?”

“Yes, please!”

It started...

“Do you feel the beats, Claire? Yeah, you have got it. This seems like a very tiring dance. I may need to work on my stamina and breathing, so I can keep up with you. That’s very good, Claire.”

She gave me a quick kiss, saying, “What a wonderful teacher you are going to be after we retire from winning all of those dance competitions, and start having children!”

“Now, we’re retired from competition and becoming dance teachers? You certainly have things planned out, don’t you, my beautiful girl!”

After the song and dance was over, Claire responded, “Let’s take a break.”

Kalista got up and refilled all the water glasses and sat back down — Right next to me.

After the break, Special K assumed it was her turn. I couldn’t turn her down. I figured she could learn the Promenade Move. She was always giggling when she saw Claire doing it.

“Special K, I am going to teach you the Promenade. You have seen Claire do it ... Do you think you can do it?”

“Anything you want to teach me, I will learn how to do, X,” she quickly replied.

Claire got up to show K how to do it. K was nice to her and tried it and did it, spot on.

Claire sat back down. I heard her say to my mom, “Aren’t they the cutest couple?”

Annie grabbed Claire by her hand and said, “Don’t worry, dear — he loves you much more.”

“K, you ready to do this to music,” I asked.

“Let’s dance, X!” She was jazzed.

Claire got up and had “Hernando’s Hideaway” ready to play. K and I moved towards each other. I heard Kalista quietly say to herself, “There is no Rise and Fall.”

I nodded to Claire — she started the music and we were off. Kalista felt like a feather against my right hand. Maybe Claire is right about K!

We danced and I was looking at K the whole time. I smiled at her and she smiled back, with a twinkle in her eye. As soon as the dance was over, I bent over and gave her a quick kiss upon the lips. She had brought her hand up to her lips, blushed at me and mouthed, ‘Thank You.’

“BREAK,” I said as we stayed in our dance clinch.

Kalista and my mom scattered into the kitchen, while Claire said, ‘I told you so!

We grabbed a few kisses, being all alone. I heard my mom cough, which I assumed was a signal to us — so we broke apart.

K and my mom brought out little sandwiches and lemonade. K was quick to stand next to me and she poured me a glass of lemonade. I looked over at my mom and Claire and they were smirking at me.

“Well,” my mom said. “I guess I am officially third on Charles’ list now.”

We all laughed a little as we sat and ate the food in front of us.

“After the break, Claire, I want to teach you a few new Quickstep Steps,” I mentioned.

We had all finished eating and took care of
cleaning up. It was time for the Quickstep.

“Mom,” I asked, “There is a new CD in its case called ‘Ballroom Nights’ on the player. Pick a song and Claire and I will go through what we already know, or think we know.”

She selected random and what came up, was ‘As Long as I am Singing,’ the Bobby Darin version arrangement.

Claire and I started up and were moving across the floor like nobody’s business. I keep asking myself, how come this is so easy to me? And Claire? It’s like we were born to dance. Man, oh man, we were really moving. We did have a Cotillion to go to, so after the song was over, we stopped.

First, I wanted to add ‘The Hesitation Step,’ so I showed it to Claire, who picked it up the second time through. I was physically tired, so I asked if we could stop after a while. The ladies agreed, so Kalista, Claire, and myself just lay our heads back on the sofa and closed our eyes.

I woke up suddenly with a head on my lap. I was almost afraid to look down. It was K. Her head was face up on my lap and she looked so pretty and peaceful. I looked to my left and Claire’s head was resting against my shoulder. I looked over and saw my mom, with her eyes closed, resting as well.