Grease Monkey Jive Read Free

the life out of them and even Fluke could see that.
    He looked at Dan again. He was holding the babe’s hand and stroking her hair and she was loving it. He wondered what she’d think if she knew she was just a bet between mates, if she knew Dan might neglect to ask her name and would almost certainly have forgotten it by the end of the month.
    He sipped his beer. The night was still young and there was time yet to find Cinderella, in fact the sooner Dan took off the better it would be. Some nights Dan was so bright he attracted enough moths that there were leftovers to split among the three of them, but tonight he’d scored the Queen Bee and she was keeping all the other female bees out of her zone.
    Birds and bees. That’s what it was all about.
    After Dan gave them a mock salute and steered Ms Shrink-wrap to the door, Mitch breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank Christ. I was getting a crick in my neck from watching that.”
    Fluke laughed. “He’s charmed.”
    “He’s a lucky bastard.”
    Fluke angled his glass. “See that blonde over there in the red dress?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Been checking you out.”
    “Yeah?”
    Ant had disappeared somewhere and the night was still young, so if Fluke was right about the red dress, there was still half a chance to have a conversation with a girl before things got really sloppy.
    He’d go over, check her out, make eye contact, see if eye contact could become a contact sport, knowing that with Dan gone he’d probably score, either the blonde or her brunette mate. Knowing that Saturday morning, when the four of them hit the surf, they’d hardly bother to mention the random hook-ups and that they’d be back here Saturday night trying out the same old routine again and hoping for a different result.

3. Bird
    Alex gave Scott a grin, took a deep breath, ran, and dived into his extended arms. He caught her, and in one fluid motion she was suspended above his head, his hands on her hip bones, her body in a long, almost straight position, her head held high, her legs together, her toes pointed, and her arms out to her sides, like wings. She was an exotic bird in flight.
    The watching class broke into spontaneous applause.
    Simultaneously Alex brought her legs down and Scott folded his elbows. In a flash, he took her hand and spun her out to his side saying, “Tah-dah,” theatrically, and they both took a little bow.
    “That’s a Bird.” Alex grinned. “But don’t worry we’ll build up to it by starting with both of you on the floor.”
    Eight couples looked uneasily at each other. Alex knew all the women were wondering ‘what if I’m too heavy?’ and all the men were thinking, ‘what if I drop her?’
    “It’s got nothing to do with how much you weigh or how strong you are. It’s all about body position, momentum, and trust.” She looked at the anxious faces in the advanced Latin dance class. To date, they’d mastered the advanced level of the core routines, the rumba, samba, cha cha, paso doble, and jive, but now they needed to learn the lift components, especially if they wanted to earn a ranking or compete.
    Teaching lifts was harder than teaching the dance steps themselves; students could get hurt more easily and it was a real test of fitness, strength, rhythm, posture, and partnership, but it was Alex’s favourite thing to teach and Scott was in such a good mood, it was going to be a fun class.
    Leading up to tonight they’d done various holds and drops, Fish, Scarf, Flag, and a host of other movements, but Bird was the big one everyone was scared of. Tonight it was all they’d do.
    “All the boys on the floor. Watch me,” said Scott. He got down on the wooden floor on his back, legs out straight and together, and arms by his side. Then he bent his elbows, lifting his palms and flattening them to the ceiling, lastly extending them straight up.
    “This is basic Bird arm and hand position. You’ll have her hip bones resting in your palms. If you don’t keep