From there, Roger passed her through a graceful turn before he gathered her in for a beautiful triple twinkle sequence in front of the mirrors. Linda could tell Roger had turned his head so he could watch their reflection as it dance by, but she could not bear to do the same. The memory of the horror in the bathroom mirror was still fresh. As Roger led her the rest of the way through the waltz, he pressed up tightly against her after gathering her in for one last turn. Linda could tell that the music was winding down.
Roger gently nudged her so that she pivoted sideways and he could lead her through an elegant passing twinkles sequence to finish off the dance. When the music finished, she had tears in her eyes, which seemed to startle her teacher, though he didn't say anything. Had anyone ever cried on a dance floor, she wondered. Dance was emotional and she was sure it had happened before.
"I want you to know I'm really enjoying this lesson," Roger said, as he held onto both of her arms and looked deep into her eyes. Linda couldn't help but think that the young man possessed all of the style and graces to be very successful in the business, whether or not he ever became a competition quality dancer himself.
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain on the low side of her belly. It caused her to wince and gasp as she bent over.
"Oh my god," Roger said. "Is everything okay?"
Linda held herself in the place where she'd felt the pain. She forced a weak smile.
"Oh, nothing. Just the baby making his presence felt."
Roger took her hand and guided her toward the receptionist desk and the lounge chairs. "Maybe we should let you have a little breather," he said.
While Linda walked along with him, she felt a warm wetness on her upper thigh. Not a gush, as if her water had broken, but a slight trickle. "Oh no," she said. "I need to get to the ladies room."
The Next Step contained two separate bathrooms. There was the one in the foyer, near the elevators (it contained a separate men's and lady's room), and another one, beside Maggie's small office. The bathroom inside the studio also contained a shower and lockers, as it was the place where people changed into their costumes for routines. Roger helped her toward the door. Maggie noticed them and followed Linda into the bathroom, with a distraught, desperate look on her face.