~The Compromise
Jabeth’s POV
“D-Dance lessons?” I watch flabbergasted as Josie grins at me, hands planted on her hips.
“Yep! I’ll teach you to dance, if you teach me how to-‘ahem’-control my power. .” Her tone of voice goes from confident to sheepish.
Her powers. . I flashback to the scene in the Heaven’s where Josie was crying in the gardens. She had said she didn’t have good control of her powers and even. . hurt her friend.
I feel a little sympathy in my heart for Josie as I watch her awkwardly hold her arm, a little ashamed. And who can blame her? There’s a lot of pressure being the heir to an entire realm.
But of all the things I thought she would’ve asked for in exchange, I never thought she would’ve wanted training lessons. “I thought you said your mentor was a good one.”
Josie glances at me and lowers her hand from her arm. I can see a wall build up in her eyes. “Yes, he is. But I’ve told you already, I’m wired differently. .”
After a few moment of silence, a small, lopsided grin tugs at the corner of my mouth. It seem’s me and Josie have more in common then I once thought. We both need to use each other to fix ourselves. When I first started using magic I wasn’t at all too different from Josie’s current state. Using my magic was like trying to trap a hawk in a cage. It was a wild beats I didn’t know how to control.
“And in return for my training,” she adds, “I’ll teach you how to dance.”
Now it’s my turn to feel sheepish. Jabeth Jericho Blackwell isn’t incompetent, nor is there a talent he cannot master. He’s practically a god, or thats what everyone on the Demon Daily’s says. I’m a talented war hero who can use every method of defense and offense possible. I have an incredible sense of deduction, and my looks are killer. . but despite all of this, I don’t know how to shuffle my fucking feet in time with someone else’s while listening to music.
“I remember, actually,” Josie says, tilting her head to peer at me. “When you and you’re family were staying in the Heaven’s, on our birthday I promised I would teach you how to dance.”
Our birthday. That shouldn’t sound as nice as it does.
“But then you left so I wasn’t able to.” Josie immediately whips out one of her smiles, and I feel a little caught off guard by her sudden change in mood. “So now I’ll be able to keep my promise.”
“Was it a promise though?” I ask, trying to evade the topic.
Josie walks up to me until there’s only two inches between us. I lean my head back, trying to distance myself when Josie adds, “When I say I’ll do something, I intend to keep it.”
The hard determination in her eyes already gives hint to her firm resolve. “Words are powerful,” Josie says. Her eyes drift off past my shoulder for a moment, lost in thought, “and I of all people should know that.”
Her eyes meet mine once more, and all I can do is blink down at her, taken aback by this new side of Josie. “When I say I’ll do something, I mean to do it. That itself is a promise that I intend to keep-”
I open my mouth to interrupt but she cuts me off.
“-and so, Mr. Blackwell, I will teach you to dance. Even if I have to drag you across the floor the whole time, by the star’s I’ll do it!”
My eyes are wide and surprised, a little intimidated, much in contrast to the fierce look in Josie’s blue orbs. Everything about her screams, “I can,” and, “I will”. I can’t deny the small pang of admiration in my heart as I look down at her, although I feel as though she’s the one towering over me in this situation.
I take a step back, feeling a little heat flood into my cheeks as I put distance between us. I straighten my shirt and clear my throat. “Okay. . so we’re doing this?”
Josie curtly nods.
“Alright then. .” I drift off. “Now, about the magic lessons you requested-”
“This isn’t a request, this is a mutual interaction.” Josie stops me mid-sentence. Damn, when did she get so domineering? She plants her hands on her hips, “We made a deal, I help you, you help me, there is nothing else to negotiate from this point on.”
I bite both my lips together and awkwardly nod my head. "Okay! Okay. . soo, when do we start?"
Josie juts her chin to the open floor of the wing by the lounge area. "Now."
"Now?!"
"Yes," Josie walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder, her deep blue eyes look into mine. "Now."
Xavier's POV
