WHO: Logan and Wendy WHEN: Friday, after classes and before dinner WHERE: Dance Club space WHAT: Dancing lessons and Logan flirting... as usual PG Complete
Logan arrived at the appointed meeting place ahead of time. Some might be surprised that a boy, so known for his carefree manner, would actually care about being on time, but Logan knew the value of punctuality, especially for men. Women might get away with being fashionably late, but men were frequently held to a different standard, and he knew that being late would do him no favours, especially not with this current project.
He had no serious intentions towards Wendy Robbins, he wasn't setting out to woo her, but she presented a challenge he couldn't resist. She was an attractive girl, a little eccentric, but lacking in confidence - or at least when it came to social occasions, as he'd never had the opportunity to see her in the Gryffindor common room with her mates. He'd seen her in Art Club when he was part of it and noticed she was one of the creative ones, and she clearly had 'views' about certain causes - although she wasn't annoying like Kitty Corner could be. So, while Logan wasn't planning on dating the girl, he wanted to draw her out and boost her confidence more. Perhaps it was his Hufflepuff side, the need to increase the happiness of the people that he liked.
Whatever the reason he'd made the arrangement to teach her to dance so she was more confident when place in a social situation where dancing was involved, and therefore here he was, with a portable wireless tuned to the channel that had the best dance music. She wasn't waiting for him, which didn't surprise him as he was early, and Logan took the time to create a good space for dance and set up the wireless. He placed a flask of water and a couple of mugs on a table, dancing was thirsty work, and then settled down to wait. Leaning back in a chair, his long legs propped up on a table, he drew out a small notebook and began making some notes for the newspaper piece he was writing on the fashion show.
Wendy had just got off the Flown with her older brother (after all, who wanted to talk to Dylan when all he was interested in conversing about at the moment was, well. Who knew? It was all nonsensical to Wendy, at any rate) and despite eye-rolling at his repeated advice that she ought to just stick to guys her own age, was still sort of looking forward to these dancing lessons. No one had ever really offered her dancing lessons before. Sure, her parents sometimes did some kind of sway in the kitchen to the wireless, and according to their wedding photos, they were quite good at dancing. However, Wendy hadn't really done any of her own. She figured it was a lack of practice or just self-conciousness that made her movements all awkward.
There was evidence, somewhere in one of the many family albums, of her performing with her jazz class but the only recollection she has of this is feeling so nervous she actually was sick. Or maybe it was someone else who was sick. She couldn't remember, she had only been four at the time. And it was officially the last time that she'd bothered with dancing anything.
And, anyway. These were just lessons, because for some reason beyond Wendy's understanding, Logan Snell was being nice and who was she to refuse? She highly doubted there was anything romantic behind it all. She was, as she had repeatedly informed Lewis, a fifth year.
Arriving at the appointed place just on time, Wendy found herself feeling nervous yet again. She would love it if she could just get a grip, breathe in and out a few times and sort of saunter in confidently like those cool people do. But instead, she could just anticipate the first ten minutes worth of awkward bumbling and inability to say whatever it was she meant and the general Making A Fool Of Herself that was about to occur.
"Hi?" she greeted, biting her lip as she entered the room. Ugh! Why could she just be cool and casual like that?
At the sound of the door opening, Logan's feet went down and his head came up, a charming smile instantly on his lips as he got up and set his notebook aside. "Wendy, hello!" he took a couple of steps closer, leaning forward slightly with a teasing note in his voice as he spoke. "I was starting to worry you might have stood me up - and then I really would have been heartbroken!"
If he noticed anything about her nervous greeting or that she wasn't 'cool', he didn't let on and spoke to her just as he would one of the pretty, popular girls.
She decided to take on some of the advice that one of her cousins had passed on last summer when she'd shared her frustration and fears with him and just tried to relax, and act as though she was at home with people she felt comfortable around -- like her family!
"No! Not at all. I'm on time, right?"
"Yes you are, I'm just teasing," Logan reassured her with another easy smile.
"So... dancing," he tilted his head and regarded her steadily. "Are you a raw beginner or do you know some steps?"
Wendy could feel a blush coming up underneath her skin and hoped that she hadn't turned terribly red as Logan regarded her for a moment. "Um. Beginner. Definitely." Instinctively, her hand reached up and pushed back the hair that was falling into her face. Her hair bands, for some reason, had a habit of snapping and she was constantly losing bobby pins - so she was coming to a point of no longer bothering with any of them.
He leaned over and gently brushed back another few strands for her, tucking them behind her ear. "That's good actually, since you don't need to unlearn anything, which makes my job easier. So!" Logan stepped back and turned with easy grace, using his wand to switch on the portable wireless. Some Latin music came on and he grinned, glancing back at Wendy. "Let's learn salsa!"
What?! Salsa?! Wasn't that difficult?!
Wendy stared at Logan for a moment, not even bothering to hide her hesitation. Salsa? Really? She was pretty sure she wasn't going to need to know how to dance the salsa. However, she gathered herself together.
"Alright," she said at last and stepped forward. "What do I do first?"
Logan chuckled at her expression, knowing exactly what was going though her head. "Yes, I know, salsa looks very daunting, but actually it's very simple - the basic steps can be learned in ten or twenty minutes, easy!" he snapped his fingers to illustrate his point and then stood beside her. "All right, watch me first as I demonstrate the women's part, all you need to remember are six steps. Once you're feeling confident about those, we can move onto dancing together."
"And once you have a dance like salsa mastered, you'll find you can start adapting the steps," he explained as he did the footwork slowly. "The beat is quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow. Keep that in mind and... on the first beat you take one step back on the right foot, shift your weight to the left, then forward with your right and hold on the fourth beat. Then it's forward with your left, shifting your weight on your right and then backwards with the left and pause on the beat."
Logan stopped and looked at her. "Now you try."
Wendy had been watching him carefully, memorising the steps he'd taken and tried to imitate them in time with the music. "Right. So, it's step back, forward and then left forward and back?" All that pausing and holding on the beat she didn't bother with repeating, though she did her best to perform it instead.
"Was that alright?" she queried, as she finished and looked up for affirmation.
"That's just fine," Logan nodded. There were flaws of course, no one was perfect the first time, but she wasn't a mess. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then turned off the wireless. "Let's work on the beat and quicken your steps, and I want you to look up, not at your feet. Follow this," he clapped the rhythm slowly. "Okay.. one, two..."
Once he was sure she was getting used to the steps, he increased the speed of his claps until it was almost as fast as a normal salsa rhythm. If she slipped up, he reassured her and encouraged her to keep going, not chiding her for any errors and the only time he did sound stern was if she started looking at her feet.
"All right," he called a halt and smiled. "You're doing well. Let's try together," he held out his hands.
For once, Wendy did not feel embarrassed at the thought of taking his hands and dancing with him. She actually felt quite determined and was so wrapped up in the task and process of learning that she'd quite forgotten about being embarrassed or awkward at all. "Okay," she replied, with a short nod and stepped forward.
Logan considered just holding hands, but he then decided they might as well start properly and therefore put her left hand on his shoulder and clasped her right while his other hand rested on her waist. "Ready? One, two..." he counted the beat as he stepped forward.
She could feel her ears go hot and hoped that she wasn't blushing too obviously when he placed his hand on her waist. Not even know why that was making her feel the way she did, Wendy did her best to ignore it and proceeded with following his instructions.
She messed up her steps once or twice, but sooner or later, she was actually beginning to get the hang of it, and relaxed -- allowing herself to enjoy the dance itself.
"Good, very good," Logan thought it was adorable how she blushed, but for now kept any inclinations to tease her to himself. As she started to enjoy herself, he took a moment to turn on the music again. "Now, keep in time and look at me!" he challenged her with a laugh and began to move around the floor more, guiding her direction as any good partner would. "Fun, eh?" he grinned, giving into the inclination to tease by dipping her slightly.
Wendy bit her lip, wishing she was more enigmatic when it came to hiding her feelings, and looked up at Logan. "Yeah," she grinned slightly stepping back for a breather and to take a sip from her water bottle. "I guess that was pretty fun," and pushed her hair back and sneaked a look across at the older boy.
Oh, crap. Crap. Crap.
It was happening again, wasn't it?
"You guess? Ack!" Logan, who'd go for a drink as well, put one hand over his heart and affected a wounded expression before chuckling. "I saw your face, Miss Wendy, and you were definitely enjoying yourself," he walked close again, bending down slightly so his face was level with hers. "And you're a good dancer," he wasn't teasing or flirting, he was obviously sincere. "So next time there's a party, I don't expect to hear any arguments when I ask you to dance, hm?"
Wendy smiled -- she wasn't in general good at receiving compliments and tended to shake them off a bit, unless it was from someone she knew really well and could accept that they were sincere or she was comfortable enough to take them regardless. But this time, she was happy to take up the compliment.
"Thank you," she replied. "You're much better, though. But I suppose you have had practice. And yeah. I did have fun," she added a little shyly. "I guess I can't say no anymore."
"Good," Logan reached out and tucked one of those stray strands of hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing against her cheek as he withdrew his hand. "Thanks," he accepted her compliment with a lazy smile, not letting on his own personal belief that it was his natural talent that made him a great dancer. "Practice makes anyone good," he raised one eyebrow. "Perhaps you should join Dance club, hm?"
"Oh no!" She was definitely blushing now, what with his fingers brushing across her cheek like that. She was just hoping that he couldn't hear her heart beating quite as loudly as it was ticking in her ribcage. "I have a lot on. I mean, I already have Intramural Quidditch, and then there's Art Club and Choir and class and homework. One of my friends, Dominique -- she's in like everything, but I have no idea how she handles it all!"
This babbling thing? Had to stop, she told herself with a mental kick.
"Oh? Well, then maybe we'll just have to continue these private lessons when you have some spare time," Logan suppressed another chuckle as she babbled. Really, the girl was just adorable! "There are lots of dances after all..." he was definitely flirting now, body language, the pitch of his voice and the charming expression as he took her hand and slid his free hand around her waist once more, manoeuvring her into a dance, similar steps but slower and more sensual. "Would you like that?"
Okay. This was crazy. She was definitely not expecting all this! Growing obviously more awkward, but allowing Logan to lead her back into the dance, Wendy tried to look at anything but him.
"That would be really kind of you," she replied, not daring to say yes or no one way or another.
There was a very small voice in the back of his mind telling him he was maybe taking things a bit too far, but Logan was used to ignoring that little voice. Playfully he spun Wendy out and pulled her in tight - although not so tight that she might panic, he did have SOME sense. "But?" he moved his hand from her waist to capture her chin in gentle, but strong fingers. "Why so shy all of a sudden? Or is my face distressing to look at?"
Wendy had no choice but to look up at him -- what with his hand cupping her chin. "N-no. Not at all," she stammered slightly. Was there a record for how many times in an hour one could blush? Because she was pretty sure she was raising the bar right now. "If you're happy to, more lessons would be lovely, I think."
"They would be my pleasure," Logan took pity on the poor girl and stop, with a gallant kiss to her finger tips before finally releasing her. "Until next time then."
She smiled at him and let her hair fall forward onto her face so that he couldn't see her blush this time. This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. Not only had she agreed to spending more time alone with him (she doubted certain members of her family would be highly amused), but she was also pretty sure that in the space of a couple of hours, she'd definitely developed a crush on him.