Chapter 23: 22: Tripping Over His Own Feet

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: TRIPPING OVER HIS OWN FEET

July 2nd, 2020

Rowan was not surprised that morning to find Avery sitting over the toilet bowl, throwing up. For the last few days, she had been fighting brutal morning sickness -- and today was no different. Rowan held Avery in his arms as she cried in bed. He wished there was more he could do for her.

"Row," Avery said in between coughs. "We have that wedding dance class today,"

"Shit, I forgot about that," he mumbled against her hair, leaving a kiss on the back of her head. "You can't go."

"I already paid for it," Avery sighed. "You can still go."

"Without you?" Rowan questioned. He was not sure how that would work; showing up to a wedding dance class without the bride.

"Maybe a worker can fill in for me. I should be okay to go to the session next week."

"Avery - "

"Rowan, go," her voice was stern. "I don't want my seventy-five dollars wasted."

He just nodded in response, even though Avery could not see him.

"Stay here for awhile longer," she whispered just before drifting to sleep. Rowan complied, and held Avery in his arms for the next hour. It was difficult to free himself from her when it came time to leave, considering she moved around a lot in her sleep and her head laid on his chest.

The drive to the dance studio was short. Rowan felt awkward walking in by himself, but thankfully, a worker approached him as soon as he walked in.

"Do you have an appointment?" the short blonde girl asked.

"Yeah uh - " he pulled out his phone with the confirmation email that Avery had forwarded to him. "For Rowan and Avery?"

"Take a seat, I'll tell the dance instructor that you're here. Is the bride on her way?"

"Uh, no," Rowan awkwardly responded. He wished Avery was here. "She isn't able to make it. Is there anyone else that can help me out?"

The blonde girl shook her head. "Sorry, you'll need a partner for this one."

Rowan nodded, defeated. There goes Avery's seventy-five dollars. She definitely wasn't going to be happy about that, but there wasn't anything Rowan could do.

"Well, thanks anyways."

Just as Rowan was about to leave, the blonde girl spoke again. "Could you call anyone to fill in? Maybe a bridesmaid?"

The thought had never crossed his mind. There was no way Rowan was going to call Miranda or Peyton. Rowan could not stand them, and never understood why Avery was friends with them.

"No - " Rowan started to say, but then remembered the other bridesmaid, who at this point, did not even seem like a bridesmaid, given how uninvolved she was with the wedding. "Well," he gulped. "Maybe. Give me a minute."

He walked out of the building before the blonde girl could say anything else. Rowan pulled out his phone, hesitating once he stumbled upon Gemma's contact. He doubted she would say yes, so he might as well have just left. There was no use in asking.

Just as he was about to put his phone away, Rowan forced any hesitation aside and hit the call button below Gemma's contact photo, which he never changed. It was a photo of them on a date. Rowan was not sure where, but they were both smiling in the photo. They looked happy.

To his surprise, Gemma answered only after one ring.

♥♥♥

When she heard her phone ring, Gemma was laying in bed with pajamas on, watching American Horror Story. She had a day off from Target, which was much needed considering how burnt out she was feeling. Pausing the show, she grabbed her phone, surprised to see that Rowan was calling. Though without any hesitation, Gemma answered the phone as soon as she read his name across the screen. She held the phone to her ear, thinking that maybe she should have let it ring for just a little longer.

"Hello?"

"Gemma?" Rowan sounded hopeful on the other end of the line. "I uh - I know this might sound weird, but I have this wedding dance class and Avery wasn't able to make it, but I need a partner. Would you uh - would you mind filling in?"

Gemma was not sure how to respond. Part of her was confused -- why wouldn't Rowan just leave if Avery couldn't make it? This definitely seemed like something for the bride and groom to be, not the groom and a bridesmaid who happened to be the groom's ex girlfriend. But the other part of Gemma was excited -- that Rowan had asked her and not one of the other bridesmaids.

"Sure," she did not hesitate before responding. "Send me the address."

♥♥♥

The dance studio was not far from Gemma's house. As soon as she pulled in, the strange excitement that Gemma was feeling was quickly replaced by nervousness when the reality of the situation began to set in.

Gemma would be dancing. With Rowan. The last time she did that, was at her parents' ceremony to renew their vows two years ago. Rowan did not know how to properly dance, given he kept tripping over his own feet. Gemma just laughed it off and instead of actually dancing, the two just swayed side to side with their arms around one another. There was much more kissing between the two that night, than dancing.

Gemma forced the memory out of her mind as she exited the car. Slowly walking towards the building, she noticed Rowan sitting in the lobby. He rose from his chair with a smile on his face as she walked in.

"Thank you for coming,"

"No problem," Gemma attempted to smile. Just as she started looking around the small studio, a tall woman that looked like a dance instructor approached the two.

"Are you the bride?" she asked with a thick southern accent.

"Oh uh, no. Just filling in." Gemma quickly explained.

"Well," the instructor smiled. "Follow me. Let's begin."

Gemma and Rowan followed her into the next room over, which was a large, empty studio. She did not hesitate before getting right to work, by instructing the two of them to stand in front of one another.

"This is the classic two step dance,"

"Remember the last time we did this?" Rowan mumbled so only Gemma could hear.

She nodded, thinking of that memory for the second time today. "Yeah. You were terrible,"

Rowan rolled his eyes, followed by a quiet laugh. "I wasn't that bad."

The instructor interrupted the conversation by explaining where each of their hands should be. Gemma felt her breathing quicken as one of her hands entwined with Rowan's, while her other hand rested on his shoulder. Rowan's hand that was not holding Gemma's rested on her back, just below her shoulder.

The two stood there like that for a moment, fingers interlocked, while they waited for the instructor to tell them what to do next.

"Are you going to trip me this time?" Gemma asked jokingly.

"Me?" Rowan pretended like he was surprised by Gemma's question. "Trip you? Never."

Gemma just rolled her eyes in response, the smile never leaving her face. Rowan was smiling too.

"Now, move your feet like this." The instructor showed them.

They mirrored her actions and for a minute, it was working. Rowan was looking at his feet, trying not to mess up, but Gemma already knew what she was doing. Her dad taught her how to dance like this long ago, telling her that she would need to know it one day when she got married. So while Rowan kept his eyes on his feet, Gemma did not take her eyes off of him.

"No looking at your feet," the instructor spoke disapprovingly. "Keep your eyes on the bride,"

"I'm not the bride," Gemma reminded her again.

"Sorry, I forgot," she brushed off the mistake. "I wouldn't have known if you didn't tell me. You two have such a natural chemistry."

Neither Gemma nor Rowan knew what to do with this information. That's what happens when you're with someone for two years, Gemma thought to herself. Rowan just stayed quiet, though a small smile formed across his face that Gemma did not question.

Rowan and Gemma's eyes never left one another's as they moved back and forth for a few minutes, never once messing up the movements. At some point, they must have inched further away from one another because the instructor gently put her hands on both their backs and closed that inch of space between them.

"You have to stand very close to one another, or else it looks awkward." she explained.

Neither of them responded. They just focused on the movements, and the fact that their faces were severely close to one another. Somehow, in the few minutes they'd been moving, Rowan hadn't tripped over his own feet.

"Let me put some music on, to make it feel like you're there, at the wedding." the instructor smiled and within seconds, a slow song filled the speakers of the room.

As soon as the music started, Rowan felt his heartbeat increase. He continued dancing with Gemma, though his movements were becoming more shaky and before he could try to fix it, Gemma tripped over his foot.

"Shit," he mumbled as he caught Gemma, who was seconds from falling over if Rowan hadn't steadied his arms to catch her.

"Told you that you'd trip me," Gemma laughed. By the way they were standing, because of the way Rowan caught her from falling, her face was even closer to his. Rowan could feel Gemma's breath on his face as she laughed.

"It was an accident," he laughed too, his eyes flickering from Gemma's eyes, to her lips.

"Restart!" The instructor spoke, though both Rowan and Gemma ignored her. The soft, romantic music was still playing in the background while Rowan held his ex girlfriend close to his body.

Instead of repositioning her body to fit the two step dance, Gemma moved in Rowan's arms so that his arms were around her waist. She wasn't sure how, or when, but her hands found their way to his neck, where she interlocked her fingers on the back of his neck.

"Told you that you were bad at this," Gemma joked, though her tone was far from joking.

"Yeah," Rowan whispered, his eyes never leaving Gemma's lips.

Gemma thought she could hear the instructor telling them, once again, to restart, but she ignored the thick southern accent as she leaned in -- with every intention of connecting her lips with the ones she hadn't kissed in over seven hundred days.

Gemma closed her eyes, ignoring the voice in her head that was telling her not to do this. She listened to what her heart was telling her to do, though before she could finish what had been started, Rowan pulled his face away.

"Gems," he whispered. "I can't."

Gemma's eyes shot open, bringing her back to reality.

The music had stopped, and the dance instructor whose name they never learned was still standing a few feet away from them.

"Take five," she cleared her throat. "Clearly you two need a minute."

Gemma felt her face pale as the instructor walked out of the room, and as Rowan pulled away from their embrace.

"Gemma - "

Her heartbeat started to quicken, along with her breathing.

"Rowan, I'm sorry - " she spoke in a panic.

"It's okay, Gems."

"I'm sorry. I should go," Gemma gulped. Before Rowan had the chance to respond, Gemma was quick on her feet to exit the building. She ignored Rowan who was calling after her, and ignored the dance instructor who was standing in the lobby asking her if she was leaving.

It only took Gemma three minutes instead of six to arrive at home, considering she was speeding the whole way there. She ignored her family who was sitting in the living room, wanting nothing more than to go to her room and scream out of embarrassment into her pillows.

Though to her surprise, Marcie was sitting on the bed when Gemma walked in. Marcie immediately took in Gemma's frazzled state.

"Are you okay?" Marcie asked as Gemma sat down with her head in her hands.

"No," Gemma felt tears forming. She wasn't sure why she wanted to cry -- likely from the guilt and shame she felt for what she had almost just done. "I'm so stupid,"

"You are not," Marcie frowned when Gemma started crying. "What happened?"

Gemma collected herself for a moment before explaining, though she was still slightly crying. "Rowan called me, asking if I can help him with a wedding dance class - "

"Hold up," Marcie interrupted, her eyebrows arched in confusion. "Isn't that something for the bride to do?"

"Obviously," Gemma sighed. "But Avery wasn't able to make it, so he asked if I could fill in."

"Go on," Marcie was beyond interested now. By the looks of it, she knew something had happened between the two, because there was no other reason for Gemma to be crying the way she was.

"So we started dancing, and we got super into it - "

Marcie's jaw dropped. "Did he kiss you?!"

"No," Gemma sobbed. "I tried to kiss him. But he stopped me."

Marcie bit her tongue to keep from laughing. She didn't think it was funny by any means -- just sweet. Sweet, because she noticed the chemistry between Rowan and Gemma and secretly hoped that somehow, someway, the two old school loves would make their way back to one another. This wasn't something Marcie ever admitted, though. She just kept it to herself.

"So why are you so worked up? You were in the moment. Shit happens."

"Because he's engaged!" Gemma stated the obvious. "I almost kissed him, knowing he's fucking engaged!"

"Is that really why you're upset?" Marcie questioned. She had a feeling there was more than what Gemma was letting on.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Marcie thought for a moment before speaking, choosing her words carefully. "Don't you think that you might've tried to kiss him because, well I don't know, because you still have feelings for him?"

In the same exact moment, Gemma felt her heart stop and her jaw drop.

"No. Not a chance." she immediately defended herself.

"Then why is your face so red?" Gemma's best friend questioned. "And why are you so flustered?"

"I'm not!" Gemma defended herself once more, her voice raising with each word she spoke.

"I think you're proving my point," Marcie grinned.

Gemma rolled her eyes, her face still red. She was still flustered. "How?"

"Because," Marcie laughed. "I know you, Gemma. If you didn't have some sort of feelings for him, you wouldn't be acting like this."

Gemma shook her head frantically.

"You're wrong," she choked out. But she wasn't even sure if she believed herself, anymore.

Every interaction she had with Rowan over the last few weeks replayed in her head. Every strange, sinking feeling she had, every time she felt nervous around him, and the excitement she felt when she saw him -- all replayed in her brain over and over again, while not listening to a word Marcie was saying.

And that's when she realized.

"You're right," Gemma slowly let a shaky breath out, interrupting Marcie from whatever she was saying. "You're right." she said again.

Marcie knowingly nodded. "I know."

Marcie was right -- but what she was right about wasn't something Gemma was willing to say out loud.

Marcie already knew, but in that moment that stood still -- Gemma silently admitted to herself that despite moving to New York and breaking it off for two years, she was still undoubtedly in love with Rowan Taylor.

But the problem was that he was in love with someone else.

♥♥♥

a/n: I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS CHAPTER LOL they almost KISSED!!!!!!