The Time of Your Life
a Dirty Dancing story
by Hermione Eveningfall
The ballroom was packed to the brim. Baby sat with her parents, leaning against the corner of the stone wall. She wore a sleeveless dress of light blue and white strips that barely reached her knees, and a string of pearls about her neck. It was over, their week long stay at Kellerman's Mountain house in the old fashioned Catskills. Originally, the idea of coming here had been a complete nightmare for Baby and her sister Lisa, but little did she know what surprises awaited.
The first night of her stay, Baby wandered aout the grounds, stumbling upon one of the staff members' who was carrying watermelons. After she offered to take one, he brought her into a secret night club for staff only. There, Baby was exposed to some of the most extraordinary dance moves she'd ever seen in her life. That was the night she met him, Johnny Castle.Thinking of Johnny caused Baby to sigh sadly and fold her arms, her blue eyes misting. What began as innocent dance instruction turned into her first real sexual adventure. They'd fallen for each other, but ther love was forbidden, due to Johnny's position as a worker at the lodge. As the dance instructor, he was not allowed to "mingle" too closely with the guests. Unfortunately, they'd been caught, and Johnny was fired.
Baby bit her lip as the Kellerman anthem began, and remembered the last moments she and Johnny spent together by his car near the violet fields. It had been very difficult saying goodbye, and if she'd been a bit more bold, she would have begged to go with him and to hell with her parents. The evening he left, she spent most of it in her room. Lisa attempted to comfort her sister, having only realized her own supposed lover turned out to be a serious creep. Still, nothing could fill the gaping void in Baby's heart.
When she looked over her shoulder, she noticed a small group of the night club dancers standing by the entrance way, expressions of sadness on their faces. All of them had connections of friendship to Johnny. Just as Baby turned back towards the stage, the main door to the building opened and Johnny stepped through it as quietly as would a mouse. He creapt up towards the dancers, who all gaped at him in amazement. "Johnny, what are you doing here?" Penny whispered from where she leaned against the wall, wearing her red and black polka dotted shirt. He smiled at her and pecked a quick kiss on her cheek, before walking down the isle. He removed his trademark leather jacket and Penny took it for him, watching as he made his way towards the stage.
Johnny looked over the heads of the guests, spotting his target. Baby felt her heart stop in mid beat as she saw him, and her mouth hung open. Dr. Houseman glared at the intruder, as though daring him to come any closer. "Nobody put's baby in a corner," Johnny announced in his deep voice, extending a hand, which Baby gratefully took. She felt weak in the knees as he lead her towards the stage and up the steps. Max, the owner of the lodge stared as he cut in front of the line to stand before the microphone.
Baby suddenly realized something as he started to apologize for his interruption, and felt her cheeks flush a bright shade of red. She had spritzed on a bit of her favorite rose perfume, which she had worn once when going to visit Johnny while he still worked at the lodge, and she'd discovered his horrible allergy to the particular scent. But now wasn't the time to tap him on the arm and whisper anything about it, so she folded her hands in front of her lap and hoped for the best.
"Miss Frances Houseman." Johnny finished his speech, catching her attention, and she smiled shyly. "Now normally I do the final dance of the season, but this year someone told me not to." He eyed Max, whom Baby was shocked hadn't tackled Johnny off the edge of the stage yet, though he looked ready to. "But I'm going to do my kind of dancing my way, whether he wants me to or not, because dance is really what brings out the spirit in everyone." He took a deep breath and squeezed Baby's hand, before making his way backstage to where his cousin Billy stood holding a record.
Baby stood in the pale yellow spotlight, shaking a little. She couldn't see the guest's faces very well, and would have loved to see the looks of her parents at the moment. When the music to "Time of your life" began playing, Johnny walked towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist and bending her backwards.
"Johnny," she whispered as she allowed him to swing her from side to side and up again.
"Mmmm? Surprised?" he replied with a grin as he lifted her arm and ran his fingertips gently down her side.
"Very." She grinned. "Johnny, I'm um..." He laced his fingers through hers, and they began stepping back and forth, and he dipped her.
"What's wrong?" he pulled her close and the two of them sunk low towards the floor in the usual "dirty dancing" style, and she frowned.
"How do you feel actually?"
"What?" he turned towards the edge of the stage, clearly energized by the hype in the place, and looked at her.
She sighed, shaking her head. "Nothing." She stroked his hair and stepped back, laughing heartily as he leapt dramatically to the floor, sweat pouring down his cheeks and neck. He moved down the isle, meeting up with his crowd from the entrance door, and they began dancing back towards the stage again. He stopped about five feet from it, motioning for Baby to join him. She did, ran forward and leapt high. He hoisted her into the air, a lift he'd taught her originally for the performance at the hotel. Baby wrapped her arms around his neck when he lowered her again, and shuddered with pleasure as he kissed her.
"Now what's wong, Baby? What were you trying to tell me?" he asked as he lead her for the entrance way.
"The rose perfume," She replied. "I'm wearing it."
He raised his eyes, looking her up and down. "You are?" he sniffled, suddenly realizing his itchy nose. Baby stepped away, noticing her father approaching. Johnny quickly turned away, sneezing hard. "HETSHHHH! ESHHHHH!" he swallowed past a scratchy throat, feeling Baby rubbing his back.
"Bless you." Dr. Houseman told Johnny, his expression softer than Baby had seen it in a couple of days.
"Thanks." Johnny glanced at Baby, and then stared at him.
"I know you aren't the one who got Penny in trouble," Dr. Houseman insisted, though he didn't actually smile.
"Yeah?" Johnny wriggled his nose a bit, not wanting to sneeze again. He hated sneezing in public, personally.
"When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong."
"ETSHHHH! HUSHHHH! I'm sorry." He apologized, coughing a bit. "Baby, I think I need some fresh air...I'll meet you outside." She watched him leave, sighing as she heard him sneezing fitfully along the way. Turning back to her father, she lowered her head.
"Is he all right?" Dr. Houseman asked. "Maybe I should check him over. Summer colds pop up at random intervals."
Baby shook her head. "No, he's not sick...well, he's allergic to my perfume. I only wore it because I didn't think he'd be here, and...Daddy, please please accept...accept us."
He hugged her tightly. "Baby, I know I was hard on you, but I did have my reasons. However, now that I know that boy didn't get Penny in trouble, I think I can trust him. I've never seen you so happy, and that's all that matters." He smiled at last, and she hugged him again, laughing and crying at the same time.
"Thank you so much." She kissed him on the cheek. "Now I'll be outside until he calms down."
"Take your time...the night is young." Dr. Houseman winked, before returning to their table, and Baby headed out of the ballroom. She found Johnny sitting on the stone steps, his head between his knees, and Penny beside him. She looked worried, and frowned up at Baby.
"Hey. This was a full blown attack, Baby...how much perfume did you put on tonight? He told me that's what happened..."
Johnny lifted his head, revealing red-rimmed, watery eyes and pale skin. "Hey." He greeted as she joined him.
"I didn't put a lot on. I just had no idea you'd be here, Johnny. I'm so sorry." She kissed his cheek. He wrapped his strong arm around her shoulder, and turned her face towards him.
"I love you so much, Baby." He whispered into her ear.
Penny, seeing that everything was going to be fine, crept back inside. An owl hooted in the distance, and crickets chirped. "I love you too. Johnny, I'm so glad you came back...I didn't know how I was going to leave knowing we might not ever see each other again!" she lay down with her head on his lap, and allowed him to massage her shoulders, though he had to pause every so often to sneeze.
"I was thinking that too, as I was driving. We never exchanged addresses or phone numbers." His green eyes were sparkling.
Baby sat up again, smiling. "Well, I'll be away at school in the fall, but you can come visit me there."
Johnny reached into the pocket of his tight black jeans, pulling out a small piece of paper and a tiny yellow pencil. He began jotting something down on it, and handed it to her. "Well, when you get settled, give me a call and let me know."
"You aren't leaving now, are you?" Baby asked, her eyes widening as he helped her to her feet, doubling over with a "HuHSHHHH! No, no." he blinked. "Not yet anyway...we still have some dancing to do. And you aren't leaving till tomorrow morning, right?"
Baby nodded, linking arms with him. "Mmm hmmm." She linked arms with Johnny, and the two of them made their way back into the ballroom, amidst the orange and indigo-colored lights. They soon disappeared into the crowd, whom had been at last set free by the music.
The characters don't belong to me...darn! (Oh how I'd love to own Johnny ;o)) I'm only borrowing them and promise to return them eventually. I also don't plan to make any money on this...it's just a way to tame the raving obsession. XD Written for Weekly Hatch: #14 (Red, orange, blue, green, violet, indigo must be used in story) I originally was going to make this a cold-based fic, but I've kind of decided to go in league with the Rose perfume idea again from "I Want to Be With you". It just kind of made more sense to me to do that, so yeah...that's why it sounds so familiar!