Read Online Home for the Holidays by Steven R. Schirripa - Free Book Online

moving your feet a little, like this, right? Shift your shoulders. You're watching the other guy. You're waiting for him to move. You're getting ready.”
    “Should I start the music now?”
    Tommy put his hands down. “What is it with you and the music? Do you think there's going to be an orchestra playing when this stuff goes down?”
    “Isn't there?” Nicky was confused. “It just makes sense. Shouldn't you be listening to music when you learn to dance?”
    “Dance?”
Tommy stared at him.
    “Well, yeah,” Nicky said. “What did you think?”
    “I thought you wanted me to teach you how to
fight.”
    “No!” Nicky said. “I want to learn how to dance.”
    “Oh. All right,” Tommy said, but he looked a little let down. “I can do that. Maybe later I can teach you how to fight, too.”
    Nicky got some CDs from his room and brought them down to the library. Tommy inspected them—“Too fast. Too depressing. Not bad.”—and made his selections.
    “We'll start with the easy stuff, okay?” he said. “Look at me. Stand here. Now, you feel the beat? Just pick up your feet a little and move your arms.”
    Nicky did, while Tommy watched.
    “Oh boy,” Tommy said. “This could take a while.”
    They practiced for an hour. Nicky began to feel like a dancer. Tommy showed him the simple stuff, then the more difficult stuff.
    “You're doing great,” Tommy said. “Remember, it takes most guys years to develop these moves.”
    “It took me a long time to learn the box step and the fox-trot,” Nicky said. “I had to go to cotillion for, like, two years to learn that and the waltz and a bunch of other junk.”
    “I bet you could teach me pretty quick, though, huh?” Tommy said.
    “Why would you want to know?”
    “I don't know,” Tommy said. “But it seems like, with a girl like Amy, you probably ought to know how to do the slow-dance stuff.”
    “A girl like Amy, eh?” Nicky said. “You little devil.”
    Tommy blushed. “I'm not saying anything.”
    “Well, I'll show you anyway—just in case,” Nicky said. “Put on something slow.”
    “Yeah? Then?” Tommy said.
    “Give me your hand,” Nicky said. “Like this.”
    It felt a little weird. Nicky stood with his left hand raised, holding Tommy's right hand, and his other hand on Tommy's hip. But Tommy was a good student. Within minutes, he was going one-two-and-three-four like a pro.
    “This ain't so hard,” Tommy said.
    “No, it's simple,” Nicky said. “Now you try leading.”
    The boys switched positions. Tommy took Nicky's hand and began moving him around the floor, counting, “One, two, three, four …,” out loud.
    The lesson was almost over when Clarence walked in, carrying one of Nicky's father's briefcases and fumbling in his pockets for his keys. He saw the two boys dancing and stopped suddenly. Nicky and Tommy broke apart.
    “Sorry, guys!” Clarence said. “Didn't mean to barge in.”
    “No problem,” Tommy said. “I was just teaching Nicky here how to, uh, fight.”
    “Really?” Clarence looked embarrassed. “It looked more like—well, whatever, right?”
    “Well, actually,” Nicky said. “We—”
    “Hey—it's cool,” Clarence said. “You guys are friends. Why shouldn't you dance together, right?”
    “Uh, right,” Nicky said. “But actually it was a dance
lesson.
I was teaching Tommy the box step and the waltz. He was teaching me some dance steps. Some of his
moves.”
    “What moves were those?” Clarence asked. “You know all the latest steps or something?”
    “I don't know,” Tommy said. “I was just going like this.”
    Tommy did a quick turn. Clarence started laughing. “Smooth!” he said. “Can you do this?”
    Clarence put down the briefcase and the keys and did a few steps.
    Nicky laughed and said, “Clarence! That's great. Let me put on some music.”
    Tommy said, “Show me that again,” and Clarence did.
    For the next ten minutes, Clarence showed Tommy, and Tommy showed Clarence. Then