Chapter 36: chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six“No, no, no!” Maya slapped her hands on her hips and glared at her two primary actors who were supposed to be salsaing sexily but were instead falling over their stupid two left feet. “You move like this.” She held her arms in the right positions and gave a little shimmy with her hips. The female actor slash volunteer tried making the same motion with her hips but ended up bumping one of the background dancers into the set’s background. All of Maya’s painstaking hard work went crashing down in one swing of those uncoordinated hips. The other dancer went flying through the painted boards leaving a man shaped hole in it. Maya stared at it, her heart sinking to her feet. Despair filled her at the thought of the extra hours she’d be putting in tonight to get the background ready by the next day when the photographer was going to show up for the shoot.“Never mind that,” she said, pasting a determined smile on her face. She helped the poor guy to his feet and turned her back on the painted board with the big hole in it. “Let’s try this one more time.”She led the male lead to the center of the cafeteria and positioned his hand on her hip. When he tried to stare at her feet to count steps, she tipped his chin up and said, “Look in my eyes.” The guy swallowed hard and tried to look in her eyes but she could see him mentally counting down to the start of the dance. Maya sighed and dropped her hands.“You need to feel the music,” she said, gently. “Don’t focus on the steps so much. Feel the beat. Let the music move through you.” She gestured to the boy in the corner to start the jingle. Music filled the hall and the guy with his hand on her waist started to sweat. Profusely. “Come on.” Maya smiled encouragingly. “You can do this.”He smiled back a second before his eyes rolled back and he slid into a strangely graceful faint and landed with a thud at her feet. The room erupted in chaos as his friends rushed forward with water to splash on his face and struggled to help the six foot two burly guy to his feet and into a chair. “Step back and let him breathe.” The command in the voice had everyone in the room subsiding except for Maya who could feel her tension ratcheting up. She didn’t turn to look at him. “Do you need to see a doctor?” Yash asked the fainter who shook his head, a bright red tinge to his already ruddy cheeks. Maya stepped back and watched as Yash said a few quiet words to the other guy. It had been this same air of reserved confidence that had drawn her to him the first time they’d met too. His quiet sexiness had been a huge draw for an overenthusiastic extrovert like her. She’d believed he’d calm her, ground her and center her in a way that she hadn’t managed to do herself. But in the end, he’d been the one to bury her, in debt and in regret. She turned away from him and towards the group that was meant to be the flash mob. “Shall we practice our steps one more time?” she asked, brightly, her smile feeling forced but nailed to her face anyway. They nodded, darting cautious looks at Yash who’d sat down next to the fainter. He stayed for the entirety of that rehearsal, his butt firmly planted in that seat, those dark eyes tracking her every move until Maya was starting to feel all prickly and itchy. She must be allergic to him. The man literally gave her a rash by being in the same room. “That’s it for today then. Unless,” she gave the fainter a hopeful look. “You want to try the salsa one more time?” He shook his head vigorously starting to look queasy again. Maya sighed in defeat. “Well then, I guess-“ “Why don’t we show them how it’s done?” Maya stilled. When the world didn’t immediately collapse around her, she turned cautiously to look at Yash.“Excuse me?” she asked, hoping she hadn’t heard him right. Yash got to his feet and walked over to stand in front of her. He held his arms out to her, inviting her to step into the cradle they formed. Maya was shocked by her longing to snuggle into his embrace and stay there. She was losing it. Officially. “I’m not sure that is such a good idea.” She forced herself to step back. Yash simply stepped forward and stared at her, his arms still held out in expectation. “You want to shoot tomorrow, right?” She nodded in response.“Then let’s get this show on the road. The best way to explain something to someone is to show them. Show, don’t tell.” Maya shook her head, reluctant amusement flaring at his words. “Come on, chicken,” he murmured, adding a soft cluck. She stepped into his arms. The feel of his fingers gripping her waist and pulling her closer had her breath catching in her chest. Someone started the music and they moved, their bodies merging into one as the beat pounded through them. A pulse of yearning began in Maya as she stared into Yash’s eyes. His gaze was blank and unreadable, and still, he didn’t look away. Not from her. Not for one second. He moved smoothly with an innate grace that told her he’d done this before. He was a strong partner and led her confidently into the turns and twists, automatically compensating for the unevenness of her gait due to her limp. Maya forgot everything, the people watching, the shoot the next day, the broken background and mostly, their tangled past. She let herself soak in the moment and the joy that came with it, and she danced. When the music ended and they finally, stopped moving, she stared up at him, chest heaving, heart thumping, exhilaration streaming through every inch of her body. She wanted him. Despite all the heartache, all the pain, all the grief…she wanted this man like she’d never wanted another. Yash dropped his arms and stepped back. She felt the loss of his warmth keenly as the cool air of the air conditioner had goosebumps rising on her arms. She rubbed at them, her gaze still caught in his intense one. “Time to get back to work everybody. We do have day jobs to attend to as well.” The moment shattered. Chairs screeched as people got to their feet, chatter rushed in and popped the bubble of intimacy and still, Maya didn’t look away. Neither did he.“Hope that helped,” he told her with a nod, his entire bearing distant and aloof. And then he left. Maya watched him stride away from her and she allowed a truth she’d buried for years to emerge again. She wanted Yash, more today than she had in the past. He’d certainly shown her what she’d never been able to tell herself. Show, don’t tell.