Who: October and Charlotte Where: Quad What: Oh Crapness When: Morning Rating: PG-13 for safety Status: Complete Back dated to Oct. 5th
October was pissed. He couldn't believe he had to make up a small dance for his stupid dance class. He was not a dancing person. Granted he had to sign up for the class at the last second and he had some balance and coordination, he didn't have to like it. Sighing, he had the music on and there was pretty much no other there, all in class. He didn't have the room at his place and the classrooms for dance wouldn't be open till later. So he was left with just this one place and now was the only way he would get his practice in. Growling under his breath as he stumbled a bit, he hit the pause harder than what he meant to. "God damn it," he huffed grabbing his water and taking a drink.
Charlotte was on her way back to her room from class and wasn't really thinking about where she was going. When she heard the music, she was surprised and looked up to see a guy dancing. Or at least trying to dance. On the quad of all places. Being a dancer herself she was intrigued by what he was trying to do even if she had no idea what exactly that was supposed to be. She stopped and watched him for a minute and tried to hide a smile. He was really having trouble so she decided to offer some help. "Hey," she said and walked up to him. "I was umm..watching and I'm curious. What are you trying to do?"
October grumbled, looking up. Decked out in just sweat pants and a sleeveless shirt, he looked over at the girl. "I'm trying to dance, but apparently I didn't get that gene." Taking a seat down on the bench next to the picnic table he looked up at her. "Why? You one of the many snobs that love to find something wrong with me? Go ahead take your best shot, bet it's already been said." Granted he was already in a foul mood, the fact that he suddenly had an audience didn't help the mood at all.
She raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. "No I wasn't going to make fun of you at all. I was planning to offer you a little help but never mind." She rolled her eyes and started to walk away. "Oh and by the way, you might want to think about what the music is trying to tell you and work with it instead of throwing yourself around like an epileptic ostrich." He didn't want help, fine, she wouldn't help him. Charlotte hated it when people assumed you were judging them when in fact you were trying to be helpful.
October hated it when other people were right. Letting her walk away a bit, he argued with himself. He needed the help whether he wanted it or not. Grumbling under his breath, October jogged to catch up with the girl. She might be the only way to get a passing grade in that class. "Hey, look I'm sorry," he said catching up to her. Swallowing his pride with a shudder and repressed groan, he asked what he needed to. "Since you seem to know what you are talking about can you help me out a bit?" October was sure he was going to die of coronary right there.
It was tempting to say no and keep walking but that wasn't who Charlotte was. Instead she nodded. "Yeah, I'll be glad to help you. My minor is dance so I've done this before." She looked around, trying to think of some place better (and warmer) than the quad but it was early and this seemed to be the best place. She walked back to where he had his music set up and put her books down, sitting on the ground next to them. "What kind of dance do you need to do? That's where you need to start. What story is it that you're supposed to be telling? That's what dance is, you know. It's telling a story without words."
Frowning, October thought about it. He didn't really think he need a 'story' to tell, just wobble his hips around a bit and pretend he knew what he was doing. It was very obvious that he had no clue what the hell he was doing. "I don't know. I got assigned interpretive dance and that song. It's called 'In Her Eyes' by some guy, Joe Graben. Hell I don't know his name, but I have to tell the story of the song or something like that. I've looked over the lyrics and it's about some guy that has a girlfriend that thinks he's the shit, so I guess that story."
"I think you mean Groban," she said, suppressing a smile. While you couldn't judge a book by its cover, she was willing to bet that this guy wasn't a fan. "So okay you have a background story. What you need to do is put yourself in this guy's place. Pretend you're him and you're trying to tell this girl that you feel the same way that she does." Charlotte reached for the button and pushed play, the music filling the morning air. She listened for a moment with her eyes closed and then opened them to look at the guy standing before her. "See, just sit and listen, let the music talk to you. I know it sound kind of weird but trust me, it works."
"Ok," October said as he took a seat. "I'm listening," he closed his eyes like she had, trying to do what he was told which is a feat in itself. Slowing standing, October took a deep breath. "Ok, I'm already in over my head as it is so could you stand maybe. . . right there?" He asked as he gently touched her and moved her to a certain spot with distance all around her. "I think my feet are gonna do a lot of talking."
"Sure," she said and got up to move where he indicated. This was going to be interested but he seemed to get it and she was grateful for that. "Ready when you are. Do you just want me to stand here?" Charlotte was curious as to what he wanted her to do but she was willing to help so she waited patiently.
"I want you to play off me a bit, not really dancing since I have to do this myself for class, but just like for. . . You know to keep me focused I guess," October said talking his place, trying his best to put himself in this guy's shoes. He couldn't really relate to the story, but for a semi-decent grade, he'd do what he had to. Dancing was the only thing he was having to really work at and if that was it, then he'd do the work. Slowly, taking dainty steps towards the girl, keeping eye contact and acting the part as best he could, October started to do several twirls around her, getting into it.
Charlotte watched him and did as he said. He wasn't bad really. Not exactly Baryshnikov but passable. She said nothing, letting him feel the music and being quite please that he had taken her advice. When the music stopped, she looked at him and nodded. "Not bad at all. The only thing that I think you need to work on is the first part. Don't do that little prissy thing. Be more masculine, look like you're determined to win the girl, not perform in a drag show."
He stood there for a moment, not real sure whether to fire something back or just leave it. Not really finding anything to fire back about, he left it alone. "Ok, what do you suggest then? I'm just making it up as I go here, I really have not a clue what I'm doing. I'm going off the videos and demos we've been shown."
"Be more determined," she said with a nod. "Make it look like you want her to notice you. Like this." Humming the music as best she could from memory, Charlotte marked out the steps, making them a little bigger, more determined yet keeping in time with the music and the theme. "See?"
"Ok," he nodded. He went back to his starting point and pressed play again for the song before mimicking her. Trying to make as much want and passion as he could muster push forward and around her, he did his bet to make it seem like he wanted her to believe he was just human, that he just wanted to love her and have have her building him up to be something that he wasn't. He got so into the part that he didn't even notice how close he was getting to her and how much he was working as he actually started to get a light sweat worked up as he went through the song again with more 'oomph.'
He was really good when he put his mind to it, she thought and when he finished, she applauded. "You're good," she said. "that was really good. Now if you can do it like that in class, you're set." It hit her then that she hadn't introduced herself and didn't know his name. "I'm Charlotte by the way. I don't think we've met." She knew that they hadn't since he had a face that was rather hard to forget after all.
"Jackson Jefferson, but everyone calls me October," he said wiping sweat from his brow with one hand while offering his other. He hated his name, wish it would go away or something. He didn't really have the drive to change it, just had people call him what he wanted. October had been his named for as long as he could remember from school, why change now?
Charlotte had to try hard not to react when he told her his name. She'd never met Will's older brother although she'd heard about him. He'd been gone most of the time that she'd been dating Will and while she knew he'd been at USC, they'd never crossed paths. Should she tell him who she was? Would he even know if she did. Deciding against it, she simply nodded. "Nice to meet you, October. Were you born in October?" She knew that he had been but as long as she was trying to keep her identity a secret, she was going to pretend she knew nothing. Charlotte knew that the two brothers weren't close and there was little chance that he'd tell Will she was here but she wasn't willing to risk it.
"Yeah, Halloween to be exact, sucked for presents," he snorted. He gave her a little look, see just a flinch when he said his name. Had she come in contact with his family before? He doubted it. Jefferson was a very common last name and she was probably associating him with a family she knew. "So you from around here or else where?" He asked as he started to gather up his stuff. Might as well make slight conversation to figure her out a bit. October didn't like it when he couldn't read someone.
She wanted to run. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry but she didn't do any of those things. No, she was going to face this. "I'm not from here," she said. "I'm from California. Near Los Angeles." That was sort of true and it was all that she was going to give him. San Diego was near LA after all. "What about you? Are you from here?"
"Chicago originally, but we moved to San Diego cause my dad's a dick," October answered honestly.
She was curious about that. Mr. Jefferson had always been nice to her but she knew there had been times when he and Will had their differences. "Oh?" she said, wondering if he would elaborate.
"Let's just say he puts the original 'Mommy Dearest' to shame," October glowered at the ground for a second. He hated his father with a passion for what he did to him and put him through. He only hoped that he went to the grave in a horrible way.
"Wow," she said. Charlotte was speechless. She would never have guessed that Will's father was like that. Something told her that if she spent time talking to October that she might gain some insight into the person that Will was. She wasn't ready for that however. Not yet. In fact the only thing she was ready for at this moment was to leave. "Hey look," she said. "it's been nice to meet you and I hope that things go well for your class but I have to go. I'm going to be late for class." In fact she'd just left a class and was on her way to the bookstore to pick up some things she needed but he didn't need to know that. Obviously that was canceled because what she needed right now was to go back to her room and freak out.
"Ok that's cool," October nodded. "I'll see you around some time then," he said shouldering his bag. "Thanks for the help by the way, but this stays between us ok?" He said looking around cautiously for a moment.
"Oh absolutely," she said and with a smile and a wave, hurried off toward her dorm.