Thread: [KylarStern & Tortoise] Dancing With Myself;;

The school bell rang long, announcing the end of class. As the kids all began to gather up their books and bags in a frenzy his voice floated over the clamour trying to get their attention. ??Remember assignments are due next week? and there just maybe an impromptu assessment test? so be prepared.? A few groans of dismay and a couple of 'Yes Mr. Kimble's could be heard over the noise as they started to troop out of the room. Standing just shy of 6 ft, he didn??t look the typical academician. Pushing a few years over the big 3-0, he was still lean and muscular, but not overly so. His broad chest tapered down to a slim waist and the muscular legs of a runner. Unlike the rest of the male members of staff, his skin had the healthy glow of a man used to the outdoors. Laugh lines around the corners of his mouth stood out against an otherwise smooth face, suggesting a predilection to laugh at the slightest excuse. His sense of dressing, right now a faded blue shirt casually thrown over a white round-neck t and black jeans, was often frowned upon by the more traditional members of his ilk. He did however get a few eyeballs from the younger more feminine members of the faculty and occasionally, to his embarrassment, from those of the student body as well. He was smiling now as he gathered up his papers and stuffed them into the worn leather satchel that had become so much a part of his identity. There was however a time, in the not so distant past, when that satchel held mostly old LP records from the 60??s and 70??s, stuff he??d dug up from the back rooms of old music stores, curio shops, antique dealers and on one occasion even an old pawn shop. He hadn??t always been the sandy haired, bespectacled and respectable professor, but it sometimes felt like it was a whole lifetime ago. Ambition. That was what they said he lacked. Even in high school, he was what you??d call a carefree soul. Whoever had come up with the words happy-go-lucky might well have been describing him. He was neither the nerd nor the jock, and yet accepted by both as an ok sorta guy. He played a little high school basketball, but more because he enjoyed the game, than any sense of competition. He was never their first pick for the team and he was perfectly fine with that. He also, almost always, came up in the top ten percent of his class. But never beat himself up over a test score that didn??t go so well. He liked to think of himself as well-adjusted, his parents and some of his teachers however, felt he never lived up to his potential. Jonathan Kimble, or Nathan as his friends called him, was happy to be an ordinary sort of fellow. But the high point of his life had been her. Desiree. He had first noticed her on one of the rare occasions some of his friends had convinced him to tag along to a party. She was on the floor dancing and even a blind man could say she was in a league of her own. She was the most beautiful creature he??d even seen. She had an over abundance of natural grace and she moved like a dream. He wasn??t much of a dancer? two left feet some said. But the next thing he knew he was on the dance floor making an ass of himself. All he saw was her laughing. It trilled over the sound of whatever innocuous music was blaring through the room. And he laughed with her. It took him a while to realize she was laughing mostly AT him and that slowly brought him down to reality and he was quick to make a hurried retreat. But later on, she had found her way to him and they??d gotten talking. She was a dancer, no surprises there, with a dream to take it up professionally. They??d stayed together through the rest of college, and had gotten married soon after graduation. She was easily the best thing that ever happened to him. Their life had been blissful. Perfect even. It took him a long time to realize that he had been blind to reality, but by then it was too late. Ambition. That??s what she said he lacked. After the divorce, he??d almost withdrawn into a shell. Depressed and lonely, he had shut himself off from the world. Sinking into the murky depths of self loathing, occasionally buoyed up by copious amounts of alcohol, psychedelics and the strained vocals of Dylan, he??d become a wreck. But time the great healer had done as much as it could, to close some, if not all, of the raw wounds that had bloodied his heart. He picked himself up with great effort and went back out into the world. He did everything he could to try and forget her. He joined a gym and whipped himself back into shape, got himself a teaching job and put himself back on the market with a vengeance. A string of blind dates, corny pick-up lines and unsuccessful relationships later, he had given up. It also didn??t help that she??d gone and become famous too. Now every time he flipped a channel or read through some magazine, he??d see her beautiful face all over. She was living her dream. She was happy and he realized that he was happy for her. She was engaged to her manager and they were soon to be married. He couldn??t deny the fact that he had felt a little jealous at that. It seemed she had indeed moved on. Then came news of her accident? followed by the even more devastating report that she wouldn??t ever dance professionally again. But there wasn??t anything he could do. They were worlds apart and had never even spoken to each other since the divorce. He had shrugged and tried to forget it. He picked up the satchel and slung it over his shoulder and was soon trudging across the campus. He had a few hours free before his next class and was thinking of grabbing a bite at the deli down the road. He wasn??t a huge fan of the cafeteria fare. He was looking at the students all around. Some hurrying to their classes, others catching up on some reading under a tree and hang on? were those two making out?! He shook his head with a smile and moved on. He was humming ??Tangled up in blue?? to himself, as he turned a corner round one of the science labs only to crash into someone coming from the other side. His first impression was she was a student, he was still looking at the papers that were fluttering all about when she had looked up at him. He bent down quickly gathering up the papers before they all flew away. Bunching them up together he turned to her with an apologetic smile, ??I??m so sorry? guess I was a bit spaced? he said as he held out the papers to her. That??s when he really saw her. His heart skipped a beat and his smile faltered and disappeared as recognition washed over him like a tide, threatening to drown him in the wave of emotion that welled up inside. Shock, joy, sadness, even a hint of anger all flitted across the canvas of his clear blue eyes. But a whispered, ??Dee?? was all he could manage to force out of himself.