The Devil of DiRisio (6 page)

~ * * * ~

The first day of hip-hop class wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Damian was a tough teacher, but I kept up with him. Every once in a while he would look at me, smile, then throw something at us even more challenging. Everyone had trouble with his intricate choreography, so I wasn’t completely embarrassed when I missed a step. I think he enjoyed making a room full of accomplished ballet dancers seem uncoordinated and awkward.

As soon as he dismissed us, I rushed back to my room to call Will and see what time he would be coming for lunch. I didn’t need to call, though, because when I opened my door, he was there. He had covered all the windows, making the room romantically dark. He placed flowers on every available surface and played opera music in the background. He had laid out a blanket in between me and Anna Marie’s beds covered with fruits, cheeses, breads, and meats. He even had a bottle of apple cider chilling in a bucket. It brought tears to my eyes.

“You are amazing,” I said as I kissed him over and over.

“You deserve it. You’ve been working way too hard.”

I sat down on the floor with Will as he filled a champagne glass with cider.

Even though hunger gnawed my stomach since I’d skipped breakfast, I couldn’t eat for some reason. The sight of food made me nauseated. So, I sat back and drank my cider as Will explained how well things were going on the team for him.

“So, for the last three games I’ve had triple doubles.” It took about three months after we moved to Italy for me to finally ask someone what a triple double was. Apparently, it’s when someone scored in double digits in any three areas like points, rebounds, and assists, for example.

“I’m so happy for you, Will. I knew everything would work out. You’re
gonna
be a star.” I tried to seem happy. I
was
happy for him, but I was also miserable for myself. Will picked up on my mood and embraced me.

“I know you don’t like it here, but there are plenty of other dance schools. You can transfer. Or, we can get married and move to another country all together. I’m sure there are dozens of teams that want me.” Will patted his pocket, reminding me of the ring’s presence.

“Do you have to bring up marriage every time we talk, Will?” I snapped. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Will. I don’t know
what’s the matter with me
. I’m stressed. I’m tired. I love you, I do love you. And I know I’m
gonna
marry you one day, just not yet. Okay?” Will nodded, but I could tell that I’d hurt him. I didn’t know how much more of me he could take.

I looked at my watch. Eleven fifty-seven. “I
gotta
go,” I said, leaping to my feet.

“But you didn’t eat anything,” he protested.

“Just leave it and I’ll eat it after my
pas de
deux
class.”

Will
looked
skeptical.

“What about tonight? Can we go out tonight?”

“Yeah, come by around eight,” I called as I flew out the door and down the stairs.

~ * * * ~

My spirits were up when I went to go get ready for Will that night. Pierre only dropped me twice and Alejandro only called me fat once. It was almost a victory. We were dismissed at seven fifteen, so I had plenty of time to enjoy a long, hot shower before Will arrived. I could practically feel the hot water soothing my aching muscles as I took the leisurely stroll across the courtyard and back to my dorm room.

I was so enthralled with the imaginary water rolling down my body that I bumped into Damian Karl leaving with Beatriz. He turned and winked at me. Then he put his arm around her and made her giggle with his sweet words of … what was that?
Portuguese?
Maybe he was from Portugal not France. But then again, what did I care?

~ * * * ~

“What do you mean you don’t want to go out to dinner?” Will threw his arms in the air in frustration.

“Will, I’m so tired. If we sit in front of some sort of quiet romantic dinner, I might just face plant into my soup bowl.” Will knew this was possible because I had actually done it before as we were having a romantic meal by the fire at his house.

“Fine,” he said as he put his arm around me. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, but make it someplace loud and exciting.” We ended up going to The Spanish Fly again. It was perfect. We danced the night away. I was able to relax for the first time in a long time.

At the end of the night, I was in such a good
mood,
Will thought he could convince me to go to his place.

“Will, come on, it’s two in the morning. By the time, we get to your house and you finish kissing me, I’m going to have to get up, turn right back around and come here. And what more can we do at your place anyway? Remember the ‘Sign of the Llama.’ It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It makes perfect sense to me,” he said playfully as he kissed my neck. He backed me up against my dorm room door and slowly inched my skirt up so he could caress my thighs.

“Will, Anna Marie will hear,” I whined.

“So?”

I could feel my resolve weakening. This had to stop. I couldn’t let Will break one of his luck rituals. Anytime he did that it would put him in a funk for weeks. I didn’t need a grumpy boyfriend to add to my problems. “I love you, Will. See you tomorrow,” I said as I kissed him quickly, and then slipped out of his grasp and into the room before he could protest. I closed the door behind me then leaned against it. I heard him sigh in frustration,
then
tap lightly on the door.

“I forgot something,” he was saying.

“No, I won’t marry you, Will Maddox,” I called through the door.

“No, something else.”
I opened the door slightly. He smiled and said, “I love you too, my angel.”

As soon as I closed the door this time, I heard Anna Marie burst into tears. At first, I thought I had
woken
her up, but then I noticed that she was lying down watching TV.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I went over to her bed and sat next to her.

“Everyone’s in love. You’re in love, Will’s in love, they’re in love,” she said pointing to the TV screen. She was watching some sappy romance movie.

“It’s in Italian. How do you know?”

“Look at the way he looks at her. You don’t have to speak the language to see love. I want someone to look at me like that.”

“Anna Marie, you can’t compare yourself to people on TV or even to Will and me. He and I went to the same high school and
… ”
I was about to say that we’d known each other for a long time, but that wasn’t the case. So, I just said, “You’ll fall in love one day, too.”

“I don’t even need love. I’ll settle for a date,” she sniffled. “I’ve been here for two years and I haven’t even had one date. One! Men don’t even look at me.”

“That’s not true.
What about … what about … Damian Karl?”

“Damian Karl? Damian Karl?” Anna Marie sat up and rolled her eyes. “Damian Karl doesn’t count,” she said as if it was common knowledge and I was an idiot for not realizing it. “He would stare at a goat as long as it was female. Besides, he doesn’t stare at anyone as much as he stares at you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You mean you haven’t noticed?” Anna Marie sat up in bed and gave me a classic ‘are you kidding me’ stare.

“What?”

“You don’t see how when we have class, he practically ignores the rest of us as he
personally
shows you step after step?”

“I thought that was just because I’m so bad at hip-hop.”

“Oh, here we go again.” Anna Marie sighed, flinging herself dramatically across the bed. “You don’t realize how absolutely gorgeous you are. You drive men crazy. That’s why I don’t go out with you anymore. I’ll never catch a man if I’m standing next to you. You make me look like a troll.”

Now that I thought about it, we didn’t go out together as much as we used to. When we first came to Rome, we would go to different bars or restaurants almost every night Will was out of town. We hadn’t been out together in weeks. I just thought it was because we were both busy. This revelation was news to me.

“You have these hazel eyes that seem to hypnotize men; you’re insanely tall with this perfect figure. I would kill for your cleavage. You have the most magnificent mane of jet-black, flowing locks, your lips are
kissably
full and, if that weren’t enough, you’re completely unaware of your innate sex appeal. It drives men wild the way you’re so beautiful and you don’t even know it.”

Anna Marie paced the room and waved her arms in the air in frustration as she made her various points. “You’re an exotic beauty that most men think is inaccessible, but you’re so innocent, naïve and genuine, they think they have a chance with you. You’re like this soft, innocent, cuddly child wrapped up in a sexy candy shell. The only reason every guy in
DiRisio
isn’t after you is because half of them are gay and the other half are scared to death of Will. But apparently, Damian isn’t. He’s practically obsessed with you, but you’re so oblivious, you don’t even see it. I swear to God, if I didn’t love you so much I’d hate you.”

Anna Marie started examining her different body parts, asking me what she could do to improve, but I was too confused to pay attention. Damian Karl obsessed with me? Should I be flattered or … frightened?

Hip-hop didn’t feel natural
to me, but I worked at it so hard to make up for that. I wasn’t the worst dancer, but sometimes I felt like it. I felt because I was black, I should be the best, but I wasn’t. I thought the other students were snickering behind my back at how uncoordinated I looked in attempting some of Damian’s choreography. But according to Anna Marie, the other students weren’t snickering about that. They also noticed the special attention he gave me.

After one class, Damian asked me to stay.

“I am shooting a video in a couple of days. I want you to be in it,” he said as he took his shirt off and wiped his sweat with it.

“Are you crazy?” I asked, forcing my eyes to not look at his chest. I tilted my head up to keep from even getting a glimpse of it. I think he noticed my obvious attempt to avoid looking at his half-naked body because he smirked. His eyes did some sort of twinkling thing and I felt a little weak in the knees. He knew what effect he had on women, and he enjoyed that power.

“Why would you think I am crazy?”

“I can’t dance hip-hop. Have you seen me in here? I look ridiculous.”
Don’t look at his chest, don’t look at his chest,
don’t
look at his chest.
Damn it, I looked. My God, he was cut. My breath caught in my throat. Good thing it was his turn to talk.

“I
have
seen you in the class. That is why I am asking you. You have the steps down perfectly. It is like you can imitate anything you see. The only thing you are missing is the passion behind the steps. You have to feel it like you do when you dance ballet.” His accent was different today. He kind of sounded British with a hint of Russian.

I stared at him, incredulous, wondering if he was just trying to hit on me. Anna Marie had been completely right when she said I was clueless and oblivious. It was hard for me to decipher flirtatious from friendly. Then again, this was Damian Karl. He flirted with everyone. He was certainly making his rounds at the academy. From my count, he had already been with five different girls. Not that I was counting.

“Look, you just need to loosen up a little,” he said when I didn’t say anything. He went over to the iPod and chose a song. It was a bit slower than the music we had been using in class.

“Close your eyes and improvise. Feel the music,” he instructed. I obeyed and started to dance. After a few seconds, he
paused
the music and said, “You are doing ballet moves to an R&B song. You do not look so bad, but you are stiff. Loosen up and try to use some of the moves you have learned from me.”

He put the music back on and I continued. Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands on my waist. I jumped. “Relax,” he said. “Just pretend you are dancing with your basketball player boyfriend.” So, we danced. We just improvised and it was just as magical as it was at The Spanish Fly. It amazed me the way I could follow him and spontaneously create this great, funky, rhythmic routine. What we did together transcended a specific genre of music. We were completely in tune with one another. We could anticipate each other’s moves. At one point, he lifted me with ease and without prep. He raised an eyebrow and I knew exactly what he planned to do.

We danced for the entire break, going through song after song on his iPod. Every once in a while he would stop, show me a few steps, and then we would try it with music.

“I have to go,” I announced when I noticed it was almost noon. “I have
pas de
deux
class. Madame Mara hates it when we’re late.”

“It’s okay. She knows you are with me.” I gave him a skeptical look. Why was it okay? I decided not to question it, though. I was having so much fun dancing with Damian, I wanted to delay going back to Pierre for as long as possible.