Saturday
"NO!!!" Aaron exclaimed for probably the 5th time that morning in the staff quarters getting frustrated with me. Aaron was wearing his black muscle tank top, black jeans, black converse and hair slicked back as usual. I was wearing a white buttoned up top with a hot pink undershirt, dark jean capris, and white converse with my hair curled. "You don't step on the 1. You start on the 2, find the 2. Do you understand me?" Aaron asked me as he walked over to play De Todo Un Poco from his iPhone on the iPod dock. "I told you that I've never done any of these dances before in my life, except-." I said as he cut me off. "Ballet. I know, I've heard you say it a million times. Now you've gotta remember, it goes 1,2,3,4...1,2,3,4. And when the music starts you don't dance until the 2. Got it?" He asked me as I nodded my head. "Good. Now, just relax." He said as we both took deep breaths and he shook my arms to loosen up a bit. "Alright, now put your frame up." He said as I put my left hand in his and my right hand on his shoulder. "Good." He said giving me a small smile. "Nope. Remember what I told you." He said as I put my left foot out before the song started. As the song began, I was doing great.... that is until I stepped on his foot and he got mad at me again....

Sunday
The next day went well...or so I thought. We both wore the our same dance clothes as the day before. "Alright, let's do it again." Aaron said after our 15 minute break sitting on the steps of the staff quarters as I put my hair in a bun as we stood in front of the full length mirror. "And you go... 2,3,4... 2,3,4." He said walking around in a circle. "Don't lean back, your not in a recliner." He said counting out the beats to me as he straightened my back. "Lift your arms up, not down." He said lifting my arms up into a frame position. "Put your shoulders down, like your slouching." He said as pushing my shoulders down to where he wanted them to be. "Continue going 2,3,4... and 2,3,4." He said holding my posture in place as I danced while he counted out the beats. "Ok, can we please stop?" I asked him out of breath as I sat back down on the stairs. "No. Come on, you've gotta concentrate. Let's do it again." He said pulling me up from the stairs as we went back into it. After each dance lesson, I practiced everyday on the bridge until I felt comfortable with myself and happy. Finally, I was dancing and this time not to ballet! One afternoon, I decided to wear my white buttoned up shirt around my waist and danced freely on the bridge, that is until I saw my parents and sister jogging up the path, as I put my white shirt back on and saw my family wearing matching outfits, which were white polo shirts, white shorts and white tennis shoes. "Nikki, what are you doing here?" My dad said stretching his arms. "N-Nothing, I'm just doing some stretches. Gotta be good and fit for Juilliard." I said as I did a ballet warmup. "Why are you getting practice? You've already gotten your scholarship, isn't that enough sis?" Lela asked me as she stretched as well. "Lela, you should be proud of your sister's success." My mom said tightening her ponytail. "Of course, I should be. Why can't you be proud of me for once?" Lela asked as them. Once they left, I began dancing freely again, my way, as I tossed my white buttoned up top from my waist and danced back up the stairs as Elizabeth walked by and caught my shirt laughing.

Monday
"Don't put your heel down." Aaron said as I danced while walking in a circle around me as he corrected me as Bobby and Elizabeth came to watch us at the staff quarters during their break. They were wearing their usual Kellerman's attire while we wore our usual dance clothes. "Ok." I said giving him a small smile. "I just said don't put your heel down, you need to stay on your toes!" Aaron exclaimed to me as he crossed his arms. "I didn't. Just stop yelling at me." I said putting my arms down in frustration while Bobby and Elizabeth snickered at our bickering. "Just listen to me, the steps aren't enough. You've gotta feel the music." He told as he looked at me. So, that afternoon, I felt the music in me. I danced to song on repeat on my phone as I made my way down the bridge, making sure no one saw me as I did a cute dance pose on the bridge, as I danced my way back to the cabins that afternoon.

Tuesday
It was a new day and we were both wearing our regular dance clothes as always, alone in the resort's dance studio. "It's not just and 1. That's not how you do the Mambo. It's more of a feeling, kinda like a heartbeat." Aaron said as he walked over to the cooler to get two bottles of water and putting them on the table where an older record player was before demonstrating this example to me. "Ga gunk... ga gunk... ga gunk. Now, don't try so hard." Aaron said smiling at me as he put my hand on his heart after I patted on mine with such a slow movement since I was out of breath from dancing that morning. "More like this, Ga gunk, ga gunk." He said as he tapped my fingers on his heart. "Just close your pretty little eyes and listen to my voice." He said as he closed my eyes with his hand while continuing to tap my fingers on his heart. As soon as he said that, I immediately heard the song Hungry Eyes being played from his IPhone on the Ipod dock. "And we go 2,3,4...2,3,4...breathe." He said as I took a deep breath continuing to dance with him as I heard the sound of his beautiful voice. "Head up!" He exclaimed as I immediately opened my eyes and saw Elizabeth on the other side of the room wearing her dance clothes, which consisted of a high low black tank top that had the word Dance on the front in gold lettering, black leggings, gold heels and her hair in a messy bun. "Lock your frame, Lock it....lock it!" He exclaimed as he held my arms down from their current position. "Look,spaghetti arms, this is my dance space, this is your dance space." He said pointing at the space between us. "I don't go into yours. You don't go into mine. You've gotta hold the frame." Aaron said as he tapped my forehead as I looked up at him while Elizabeth smiled at us from afar. "Let's do it again." Aaron motioned for Elizabeth to play the song again. "Frame." He said as I held up my arms as Elizabeth fixed my hands, straightened my back and unslouched my shoulders. We finally began rehearsing a different way, with Elizabeth holding my shoulder with one hand and my back straight with her other as Aaron and her both led us around the dance floor. As the hours passed, I learned how to spin into Aaron's arms correctly, while wearing Julianne's silver heels, which were surprisingly my size, without falling the 4th time, letting Elizabeth teach me how to move my hips, and just how to let Aaron lead me through the other dance techniques that I needed. Before I left, he decided to practice the arm lift with me. As he lifted my arm, about 2 times, with me having the giggles since his fingers trailed my arm, which made me laugh so hard. "Come on, Nikki. This is serious." He said to me as I couldn't suppress my laughter. "Ok, I'm sorry. Let's do it again." I said smiling at him. The last time that we did the arm lift, we both looked into each other's eyes. It felt like we had a connection on another level with each other. After he spun me out of his arms, we just brushed it off. "So um.... I'll see you tomorrow morning, same time." He said nervously as he got his dance bag and water bottle as he walked out of the dance studio. "Yeah... I'll see you there." I said laughing awkwardly. He nodded his head as he left the dance studio giving me a small smile. "You so like him!" Elizabeth's voice squealed with happiness as she sat on the steps still in her dance clothes. "Elizabeth, how did you get in here?" I asked her as I began putting on my white converse. "I snuck in through the back door and stayed here after my lunch break.  Come on, it's obvious that Aaron likes you." She said sitting beside me on the steps. "How would you know?" I asked her as I drank a sip of water. "Nikki, you must be blind not to see the way he looks at you. He's totally in love with you!" She exclaimed happily as I blushed. "He sure doesn't show it. He just gets mad at me all the time." I said as we both walked out of the dance studio together. "Aaron's just trying to do his job." She said smiling at me as we walked back to Julianne and her shared cabin to check on her.

Wednesday
The next day at the dance studio was a rainy one. We've been rehearsing for the last few days and the rehearsal was a stressful, but fun one. We were still in our usual dance clothes, except I had my hair in a ponytail. He continued dancing with me through the counted out steps, that is until I almost twisted his back. "Are you seriously trying to kill me?!" He asked me furiously. "I said I was sorry." I told him folding my arms before drinking a bottle of water. "You've seriously gotta concentrate! So, Miss.Prima Donna Ballerina, is this your idea of fun?" He asked me while sitting on the stairs. "Instead of doing ballet, yes, as a matter of fact, for me it is. I've got until tomorrow to get this routine down. You haven't shown me lifts, I'm not sure of where to turn, I'm doing all of this to help save your butt from getting fired, when what I could really do now, is just drop everything and leave right now. Is that what you want, Mr.Tveit?!" I exclaimed as I stood against the wall frustrated. "Well, since your stressed, let's get out of here." Aaron said as he picked up my yellow raincoat and his black leather jacket.

After riding in his car, in what felt like ages, we came to the woods and he dragged me to a log. Before we got on it, we both took off our shoes and left them on the grass. Aaron began walking on it, like a tightrope, which frightened me. "Now, the most important thing to remember in doing lifts, is balance." Aaron said as he jumped on it and almost fell. "You're gonna kill yourself." I said seriously as I laughed. "Well, I've got it now." He said as he held his arms out smiling at me. "So, where'd you learn to be a dancer?" I asked him as he laughed as he continued balancing on the log, like he was in a yoga class. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you." He said as he sat down on the log. "When I went to Ithaca in New York, I changed my major to musical theater after being a voice major since I didn't really enjoy it, I was taken under the wing of my dance instructor, Johnny Castle. He was an amazing dancer, almost like Patrick Swayze & Gene Kelly combined. He taught me everything from teaching me all the different kinds of dances, breaking them down, and teaching them to people." He said smiling at me. "Wow." I said smiling at him as he stretched his arms. "What?" He asked as me as he swung his feet on the log. "That's exactly what I thought about you when I first saw you dancing with Jules." I said blushing at him. "Oh, thanks for the compliment." He said winking at me as I smiled at him. "So, what do you do in the winter, when your not dancing that is?" I asked him as I sat on the end of the log smiling at him. "I just try to keep my balance." Aaron said jokingly to me while I giggled as he stood up. After he balanced for a while, he pointed a finger at me to come on the log with him. "What?" I asked as he pointed at me to come join him. "No way." I said shaking my head at him. He walked over to me and pulled me up to join him on the log. After balancing on the log for a while, we did playful dance on the log. "Alright, let's go somewhere else." He said as we walked off the log together. A few minutes later, we were in a wheat field. "Now we're gonna try something else fun. Come on." He said after we put our shoes back on as he took my hand and we walked to the empty field. "Ok, now just bend your knees and go up." He said as I ran and jumped into his arms as he partially lifted me in the air. "Alright, now if you hurt me, you don't trust me." He said as I nodded my head as he walked out farther to give us space so I could jump. "Now, I want you to try and go over my head this time, ok?" He asked me smiling. "Ok." I said nervously. After the last lift, we both fell in the grass as I laughed my head off while he smiled at me. "You do you wanna know the best place to practice lifts is at?" Aaron asked me as we both got up and walked away from the field. "Where?" I asked as I was trying to get grass out of my hair. "In the water." He said pointing towards the lake where the sun was beginning to set. "Alright, so all I want you to do is just bend your knees and just go up." He said as we were both soaking wet head to toe as I nodded my head. "Ok, ready 1,2,3." He said as I was now lifted over his head. "Great. Now, just hold that position. Good, don't break it." He said before I fell in the water and laughed with him. "Alright, let's do it again, you ready?" He asked me smiling. "Yeah." I said feeling pretty confident this time. "Ok, again, 1,2,3." He said as I lifted my arms out again to balance me. "Ok, you doing great. Just don't look down at the-." He said before I fell back into the water again after the second try. "Water." He said as we both laughed it off. "Not too bad." He said as he lifted my chin as he wiped the water off of my face. "Ok...um... can we try it one more time?" I asked him blushing while covering up the awkwardness between us. "Oh...yeah...sure." He said blushing at me. "Over my head, go!"He exclaimed as we did the lift again. "I did it!" I exclaimed with joy. "You did it! See, I told you could!" He said before I spoke to soon, just to find out that I fell into the water again. "That was one of the best days I've ever had. Thanks, Aaron." I said as he wrapped me in a white Kellerman's resort beach towel from his car before arriving back to the resort. "Your welcome and I'm glad." He said after wrapping a towel around himself as we came back to the resort after giving me a hug that in my opinion probably lasted longer than 10 minutes. "Ok....so I'll see you tomorrow night?" I asked him blushing as he nodded his head smiling at me before walking back towards the staff cabins. As I walked back to me & Lela's cabin, I wondered what would happen this summer between me and Aaron.