Paso Doble - A two-part short story
Part 01
'Are you okay, sweetheart?'
'Of course honey, have fun and see you tomorrow!' Herman looks appreciatively at his wife. 'You look fantastic again!' He looks the other way with a regretful look on his face and hopes she doesn't see it. Lena has dressed for the activity ahead, which means that she is wearing a bright short summer dress in red, black and green, with a short cardigan over her bare arms and red sandals with heels on her feet.
'Thank you, my love,' she whispers and kisses him on the cheek. She looks at him lovingly for a moment and then she is gone.
Herman rolls his wheelchair to the window and watches her as she throws her overnight bag into the trunk of the car. She blows him another kiss, gets in and drives off.
Lena loves ballroom dancing, unfortunately she has had to do it on her own for the last ten years, since her husband Herman is in a wheelchair. A car accident ended their mutual passion, Herman has since been paralyzed from the waist down, with no chance of recovery. Herman managed to convince her that she should continue to dance, he knows it is an important source of energy and joy of life for her. He doesn't want her to give that up for him, that would mean they'd just sit and be miserable on the couch together and that wouldn't do anyone any good.
So she took up dancing again a few years ago. At a different club than before, she didn't feel the need to keep explaining why Herman is no longer dancing with her. At the new club, only a few know that she is married, and no one knows about Herman's' accident.
Fortunately, the dance club she is now a member of also has a number of members without dance partners, some single and some whose partner doesn't like to dance or is a danger on the dance floor. Lena especially likes Latin American dances, such as the Rumba, Samba, Jive and Paso Doble. But she also loves going wild on a Quickstep. She prefers to dance with Thom, they seem to be a perfect match on the dance floor and moreover he's always a lot of fun, he has a wonderful sense of humor. The fact that he also looks very attractive is no punishment either.
Lena is looking really good for her fifty years, she's slim, with long, shapely legs, she has a nice toned body, and curves in all the right places. Lush head of curly strawberry blonde hair, clear blue eyes, beautiful, smooth skin and full, red lips complete the picture. She hardly uses make-up; she doesn't think it necessary. Moreover, it saves quite a bit of time if you don't have to plaster yourself every day and then have to take it all off again in the evening. She can think of better things to do.
Lena has been dancing with the same dance school for years now, it is mainly recreational and a form of exercise rather than a real dance class, although they still learn something new every now and again. They are currently having a lot of fun doing the Paso Doble; the dance instructor, Sylvia, picked up some new steps during her trip through Spain last spring and is now in the process of transferring them to her students. Not everyone has the same feeling for it, it turns out, there is quite some puffing and cursing sounding up with some people, especially men, because in this dance the man is the one who plays the leading role and is the eye-catcher.
Thom, however, throws himself into it with great dedication, he really likes it and it shows. He's got the looks for it, of course, with his Spanish-looking black curls and a long and lean but muscular body. The women are therefore standing in line to dance with him, he's always in demand. It also doesn't help that there have been a few too few men lately.
But today it's not about dancing, every so often an outing is organized for the group, this time they will visit a so-called swimming paradise, with an afternoon to spend at leisure and a dinner in the evening, after which there will of course also be dancing. After all, it is still a dance club. To give everyone the opportunity to drink alcohol without having to get behind the wheel again, they all spend the night in a hotel.
When Lena pulls her car into the parking lot where they gather, she sees that the bus is already waiting, groups of people are busy talking and laughing. As she gets out, Thom walks up to her.
'Can I help you with your luggage?' he asks as he bends over and kisses her three times on the cheeks.
'Are you crazy,' she says, 'I don't have that much with me.' She opens the trunk and takes out her overnight bag.
'Is that all?' asks Thom with disbelief in his voice, 'The other women have brought along trolleys, bags and I don't know what else. I already assumed that was normal.'
'It's just one night, right?' asks Lena, suddenly unsure.
'Yeah, we'll be home again tomorrow. Unless something happens of course.' He leans over to her and lowers his voice. 'Perhaps there will be a murder in the hotel, then of course we should all have to stay!' He grins at the thought.
'Then I hope one of us isn't the victim,' Lena chuckles, 'then I'll have to find another dance partner, that would be a shame.'
'Oh, nice,' grumbles Thom, supposedly deeply hurt, 'is that all I mean to you, a dance partner?'
Lena laughs. 'Here,' she says, 'you can carry my bag, to show you that you are more than just a dance partner to me.' And she walks off with a cheerful smile on her face, hips swaying, ahead of him towards the bus.
Thom follows meekly, he pauses for a moment, creating some distance, that way he can better take in the sight of Lena's beautiful ass. He spontaneously starts humming.
The dance instructor gets off the bus where she had a chat with the driver and starts counting heads. There's still a couple missing, Ron and Harriet, the eternal latecomers.
While Sylvia checks her phone to see if a cancellation has come in, the car of the missing couple pulls into the parking lot and five minutes and five pieces of luggage later they all can leave.
'Can I sit next to you, Lena?' asks Tom. 'I promise I'll behave.'
'You can sit next to me,' Lena replies cheerfully, 'but only if you promise not to behave.'
'That sounds good too,' says Thom with relief, 'I'm much better at that!'