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Friday, 1:50pm just like he'd said. Well, okay, he'd said two but early was never a bad thing! Especially when you had to change into the ridiculous heels that went with the dress, and managing your hair was a bit like navigating the Amazon jungle. But before her phone chimed the alarm, she was sitting happily texting away to Pasha while waiting.

The sweetheart neckline of the black dress she'd worn to the Killingworth Fiasco showcased what meager chest she had, necklaces resting almost perfectly against her pale skin. White flower applique dripped down the side to the hem and shockingly she wore no stockings with the peep-toed thick-strapped heels. They added a good three inches to her height, and she would only be about six or seven inches shorter than her partner this time! Hair was cinched up into a high ponytail and blue curls dripped in a tail down her back. Surprisingly, she was nervous!

Trying to not chew her lip and peel the skin off of it, she shot surreptitious glances towards the door and the afternoon sunshine. Hopefully he wouldn't be late! She already looked so ridiculous, so overdressed, but it felt wrong to dance in jeans and a t-shirt! Augh, she was such an idiot, she really should be avoiding him entirely! Damn him.

If he kept staring at her like that, she was either going to faint or punch him. Either would ruin her chances at a good friend and someone who generally understood her tricky romantic situation. And okay, all that aside, he was attractive and charming and really great fun to spend time with. That wasn't a sin, right? Audrey pushed any thought of Sailor Castor to the back of her mind with practiced ease and smiled brightly at her partner. "You think so?" Lightly, she twirled in front of him, the skirt belling out prettily.

"It's my newest outfit, before I never would've been so ambitious as to go with heels. I own a lot of skirts, but not many real dresses. Can't really say I had an occasion to wear one before the wedding. "And you're not too late, it's what...five after? I've got all the time in the world, at any rate." Nervousness was shoved under rapid-fire speech and she picked lightly at the flowers on her dress, other hand winding into the curls dripping over her shoulder. She was an atrocious dancer, and generally bad at anything requiring an artistic flare. It just wasn't her thing! "Uhm...really? All I know is your basic two-step. I wasn't really screwing around when I said I can't dance too well. What do you know?" Hopefully something, or this was going to end real fast.

What hip? Light melancholy passed across Audrey's face as she yet again mentally ripped apart her looks from the inside out. Already she felt mildly exposed, having left her customary matching sweater balled up in the bag casually resting on her chair. Bare from the chest up, and boy was she regretting it! All that, however, faded as she started to consider and concentrate on the lesson. It was almost as intriguing as the change in her partner's personality.

Elzo was generally a confident young man, and she could imagine why. But it was the cocky variety, and generally meshed well with her upbeat warmth even if it did add to the awkward feeling of the whole situation. The sudden formality and instruction in his voice put her at ease more than anything else could have, and she smiled at it. "A mirror, that makes sense. One person..." Her voice trailed off and she simply straightened and rose to her full and mildly sad height of five feet, six inches tall. "I think I can manage that. Try me out, see how I drive?" Her hand tightened in ever-so-slightly and her other hand came up to rest on his shoulder. Goodness he was tall!

Audrey looked up to say something, and stared straight into blue eyes, unsettling her again and making her blush before she averted her gaze to the wall behind his head. "Ready when you are!" Hoo boy.

It was probably a very good thing that Audrey liked her shoes, because she was getting a very nice inspection of hers and his as she tried to follow the motion of his feet with her own. Sliding in three-inch heels wasn't exactly ideal, but she was learning. If nothing else, it would help her backslide on attacks when they came in and then could counter...no. The teen stopped her train of thought right there and simply concentrated on the moment. Tying work in with her everyday life was how you ruined everything and became nothing more than a machine. Audrey was no machine.

Something she was finding to be easier, and allowed her to raise her head, was something she'd actually seen in the five minutes that Dancing with the Stars had graced her television. Putting a good deal of weight on her toes, it enabled her to step back instead of slide and the heel didn't impede the movement. There was, however, a small problem with this. It meant that she was all but pressing her torso against Elzo to absorb the extra weight on her top half. Her hand was already desperately clutching at his like she'd fall over if she moved wrong, and her hand was up on his shoulder. That meant she could all but feel him breathing as he watched her and talked in that smooth teacher's voice of his, and really it wasn't so hard, if you could get your balance. Audrey was good with balance. Unless, of course, she was pressed up against attractive male.

Looking up and trying to move for a moment without staring intently at her toes, she grinned sheepishly. "I did get a little bit from dad, but you're a lot smoother. I might be getting the haaaaaaa~aaa~ohhh~" Her pitch wobbled as her toes landed wrong on the curve of her shoe and her balance teetered lightly. Blushing, she laughed and rested her weight back down fully on her heels and shook her head. "Guess I spoke too soon!"

It was nice to be held. As you got older, your parents did less and less cuddling with you and more with each other, thinking that you lost the need for affection as you grew. You didn't. For awhile, she'd actually been missing Khaldun for if nothing else, he was good to curl up against and watch a good bloody movie. So it wasn't much a surprise when delight rippled straight down to her toes and she held on perhaps a bit longer than necessary, pretending to be unsteady.

Picking up one foot dramatically, she looked at it balefully before removing her arm from Elzo's shoulder and reaching down to pluck it off her foot and then toeing out of the other. The height difference was now how it always was, but this close, it was truly drastic. Careless of their condition, she turned lightly in Elzo's grip and chucked them in the general direction of her bag. "There, that should probably be easier. I thought they might help, but I guess I'm sorta used to jumping in and treading water right away, you know? I think I'm more artistically disinclined than I thought." Shoulders slumped for a moment before she looked back down and smiled a bit mischievously. "Do you think I should stand on your feet?" She already felt awkward as hell, why not add on?

There was the danger, when playing with fire, that you would end up with burns all over your body and you'd wake up without any hair anywhere on your flesh. Audrey's lighthearted comment had had merit to it and was responded to in that vein as he all but picked her up and set her down onto the tops of his feet like a child. All this did, however, was put the girl much too close to Elzo's body and with every breath she could almost feel his in response. The peculiar male mix of deodorant and cologne was also evident this close, and she couldn't help but smile at the effort he'd apparently gone through - almost equal to hers.

Holding on tightly so as not to fall off or press too much weight down onto sensitive toes, the bluenette looked up at his face through her lashes and smiled even more. "I think feeling it might help, I've always been a hands-on sort of learner you know? See it done the first time, and then repeat until I get it down. Trying her hardest to block out all the incredibly strong, secure, male things about the boy holding her, Audrey tried to focus on her feet, and the feel of things as they moved. It was not easy, she was all but tingling at the physical contact and wanted so badly to rest her cheek against his beating heart. Friends. Just friends.

Damn friends. Why was it so goddamn hard to be friends with Elzo Xanis?!

Closing her eyes, Audrey counted in her head and put numbers to the motions. It was something you saw a lot in old movies, new movies, generally something that Hollywood had concocted. But for a girl whose mind generally worked in numbers, it was the perfect solution. Step one, step two, turn three-four, step one, repeat. It was easy to smile and open her eyes to look up at Elzo as the movement started to slowly cement itself into her brain, straightening her posture and leaning into the steps more now.

A complicated dance it wasn't, but as far as she was concerned it was still absolutely lovely. The sun was slowly setting in the windows of the community center, staining the room with golds and orange, giving almost purple highlights to her hair. As they turned, the setting sun glowed in both of their eyes, and the whole thing took on an almost surrealistic, dreamy feel. Obviously, Audrey Collins was hiding an incredibly romantic heart beneath her prudish veneer. As Elzo slowly moved into the close of the dance, Audrey's smile dimmed just a little bit and she stepped off his feet, but didn't move out of the grip of his arms. "Did I thank you yet, for doing this with me? I really...I'm...having a good time." God bless the sunset, for it hid a good majority of the roses blooming now in her cheeks.

"Seems easier than it is, but still so fun. I could feel wind in my hair, and that's not easy to do." Mundane, yes. Mundane was good.

Audrey was trying very hard to not look at Elzo and instead turned to watch the sunset for a moment outside the window, the light shifting around her body and bathing her half in shadow as she turned back to smile. It was also incredibly hard to not look at their hands as they stayed linked and the teen tried incredibly hard to not move her fingers or put any pressure on the connection, lest he sever it. Friends could hold hands, right? She'd done it several times with Pasha!

Except Pasha didn't make her heart pick up speed when he smiled at her. ******** them both, Audrey lifted a hand to the sleek ponytail she'd worked so hard on taming and pulled the band out so that the curls dropped down over her shoulders and the front of her dress, spilling to cover the small amount of exposed back. Immediately with this curtain to cover part of her body, she felt more at ease and a bit bolder. "I would like that! Uhm..." Now or never, right? Biting her lip, Audrey rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet for a moment before sighing exasperatedly and looking shyly up at Elzo. "Do you uhm...would you maybe like to go with me to prom? You know, to put these lessons to good use!" Oh smooth, Aud. Smooth. Don't tell him that you want to go to prom with him, just tell him you want to get good use out of your dancing lessons.

No wonder nobody liked her, she was a damn fool.