gina tries to get rosa to dance with her
Rosa wakes up to music blasting from the living room.
‘Gina,’ she groans, wrapping her pillow around her head as she tries to block out the noises. She reaches out but there doesn’t seem to be anyone next to her. Groaning again, she opens one eye and squints at the bright light streaming in through the window. Who drew the curtains? Just then the music stops and Rosa sighs contentedly, pulling the blanket closer, but then the music starts again, this time seemingly even louder, and Rosa opens her eyes, exasperated. Well, at least she’s awake now.
Dragging herself into the living room reluctantly, she sees Gina twirling around and dancing to a song that’s currently playing from the speaker.
‘Morning Rosa,’ Gina greets, way too cheerfully for nine in the morning. Rosa only makes an annoyed noise in return, heading to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee.
When she comes back out, Gina is still dancing. Rosa leans against the table as she sips her coffee. She smiles to herself, admiring the view in front of her.
‘Come dance with me,’ Gina offers her hand expectantly.
‘No way.’
Clicking her tongue, Gina shakes her head disapprovingly. ‘Rude.’
‘Sorry, G,’ Rosa shrugs, putting her mug down on the table. ‘I don’t dance anymore.’
‘But I have a competition tonight, and I have to warm up,’ Gina whines. ‘Not that my performance won’t be flawless anyway. And clearly I,’ she twirls around dramatically. ‘am the best in the troupe. All eyes will be on me. So if I don’t do well, there will be no more hope for Dancy Reagan. We will have to kiss our victory goodbye. Do you understand?’
Rosa watches her in amusement, ignoring her question. ‘You have a competition tonight?’
‘Yeah.’
After a long pause, Gina suddenly claps her hands together, her enthusiastic mood back. ‘So you’ll dance with me?’
‘Still no.’
‘Fine,’ Gina huffs. ‘You can just stand there with your stupid coffee, and admire my beautiful presence.’ She turns the music back on and resumes her dancing. Rosa only lets herself smile when Gina turns away.
—
The subject of Gina’s dancing doesn’t come up again until lunch. They’re sitting at the table, eating hamburgers and fries. The apartment is quiet, except for the occasional ruffling of paper bags, but it’s okay, they enjoy each other’s presence.
That is, until Rosa breaks the silence. ‘Hey, Gina, can you pass me the ketchup?’
Gina nods and reaches over, before hesitating and saying, ‘Yes, of course. I will very helpfully pass you the ketchup,’ putting extra emphasis on the word helpfully. ‘A quality that is very hard to find in people nowadays.’
A look of confusion washes over Rosa’s face, but it quickly disappears. ‘Gina,’ she sighs. ‘You can’t possibly still be mad about the dance thing.’
Gina shrugs.
‘Oh my god Gina,’ Rosa laughs in disbelief. ‘I already told you. I don’t dance anymore.’
‘But you still know how to dance, right?’ Gina asks hopefully.
Rosa nods. They sit in silence for a while. She sighs, contemplating her options. She has a feeling that Gina won’t stop talking about it if she doesn’t give in. Closing her eyes in exasperation, she thinks to herself, I can’t believe I’m about to do this.
‘One dance.’
‘Huh?’ Gina looks up.
‘One dance only.’
It takes Gina a moment to realize what she’s talking about, but when she does, she’s ecstatic. But before she can say anything, Rosa cuts her off.
‘On one condition,’ she says threateningly. ‘No one finds out about this. Do you understand? No one.’
’Sure Rosie,’ Gina says, waving her words away. She’s too excited to care. After turning on her speaker (where did that come from?), a slow song begins playing.
Rosa sighs and ties her hair up in a low ponytail. Heading to the living room floor, she begins to dance. It’s a little unnatural at first, given how long it’s been since she last danced, and she’s aware Gina’s eyes are on her, but she brushes the self-conscious feeling away.
It’s like she’s back in ballet class. Closing her eyes, she twirls and pirouettes, getting lost in the music. Dance had always brought comfort to her, until it became too much, too stressful, too competitive.
Gina watches her every movement. It’s breathtaking. She’s never seen Rosa dance, and had no idea she could be this graceful, this at ease. Gina thinks she just fell in love even more.
Rosa doesn’t realize that Gina has joined her until she feels hands wrapped around her neck. Her eyes open in surprise, but she quickly relaxes. She puts her hands on Gina’s waist and they sway to the music slowly.
‘Thank you for doing this,’ Gina whispers, laying her head on Rosa’s shoulder.
‘Of course. I can’t wait to see you at your competition,’ Rosa smiles into her hair.
Gina freezes for a moment, then laughs awkwardly and lifts her head. ‘Oh yeah, about that. There’s no competition. I just wanted to dance with you.’
Rosa stops in her tracks, unable to comprehend what she heard. ‘What?’
‘There’s no competition. Ta da!’ Gina says uncertainly, making jazz hands.
‘So I danced. For no reason,’ Rosa says slowly.
‘Oh come on, Rosa, don’t be mad,’ Gina pleads, moving forward to hug her. ‘I’m sorry. Plus you know you loved it.’
Melting into her embrace, Rosa sighs and smiles slightly. ‘I’ll never admit that.’
‘Well, we’ll both know the truth,’ Gina says in a singsongy voice, relieved that everything’s okay.
Rosa laughs and pulls Gina in even closer, swaying to the music again. It’s perfect, and she knows she wouldn’t trade that moment for the world.