Clueless Camping - 16. Dirty Dancing

…is fun whether it’s vertical or horizontal.
For Drew. Tillykke med 21 års fødselsdagen.  

I tried to keep my eyes open, but they kept sliding shut, and I could feel sleep claiming me. I wanted to stay awake and savor the feeling of Jacob’s body next to mine. He was already asleep; his chest rose gently under my left hand. Hopefully, wearing Jacob out would give him a good night’s sleep, making him fresh for his exam tomorrow. And he did ask me to distract him when I came home. Our first lovemaking had been magical, and the second unbelievable….

***

When Jacob had asked if I was up for more sex, I didn’t really have to answer. The kissing and touching intensified rapidly and before long we were completely naked and doing our best to drive each other crazy. Lying side by side, facing each other meant we could let our uppermost hands roam freely. I played with his balls for a bit, but my fingers soon strayed to his ass. Ghosting my fingertip over his entrance had Jacob moaning and handing me the lube.

“Get them inside me. Please, Russ.” He tilted onto his back, spread his legs and lifted them to give me better access.

I sat up and slicked two fingers on my right hand. I made sure to get lube distributed everywhere around his hole before I applied pressure. There was only a moment of resistance before both digits were buried inside him. Damn, he was hot and soft inside, and I sighed with relief at not encountering anything icky. I moved my fingers back and forth a bit, and I think I touched his prostate. Jacob certainly writhed on the bed much like the way I had done the other night. Yeah, I could totally see the attraction of having a lover at your mercy like this! His reaction to me playing around in the shower had been no fluke.

I’d been focused on his ass, but now my eyes were drawn to the leaking, throbbing column of flesh rising from dark blond curls. No hesitation, I simply leaned forward and engulfed as much as I could. I moaned at the delicious taste, and my fiancé arched his back and groaned, “Oh, fuck.” Okay, note to self, this is a good combination, and it sure turned me on too. For the first time I seriously contemplated what it would be like to sink my dick inside Jacob and fuck him until we both came. I felt the surge down below at the thought, telling me my neglected manhood approved of the idea and wanted it to happen sooner rather than later.

Thinking about it, I didn’t want to stand behind him, because I wanted to see his face. Somehow the idea of lying on top also felt awkward, even if his position invited me to. Were there any other ways? Maybe I should let my lover decide? Sitting up, I gently withdrew my fingers, and my blond hunk shuddered and opened his beautiful blue eyes. They were hazy with need and I knew no other man would ever excite me the way he did.

“Jacob, how do you want me to…?”

He licked his lips and his voice was almost shy as he answered. “I like to ride, if that’s OK?”

Ride? Oh! He must have seen my momentary confusion followed by understanding. I nodded frantically and his answering smile had my heart doing somersaults. I wish I had words to adequately describe the experience. Maybe one day I’ll draw him, catch the taut lines of his body, the fluid movements as he straddled me, the ecstasy in his face as he slowly impaled himself on me. I didn’t have to do anything but lie there and watch, feel and enjoy the unbelievable sensation of sliding into that velvet furnace and having the sexiest man in the world doing a fucking awesome combination of a ‘pole’ dance and a lap dance for my benefit only. Not that I knew those two terms right then…

My only regret was that it was over too soon. Neither of us had any staying power, even though we had made love a few hours earlier. Once Jacob had adjusted to having me inside, he rode me with abandon and I bucked my hips up to meet him. I don’t know if he felt me swell to maximum hardness, but my balls rose up and got ready to discharge, and that was the moment he grabbed his dick and brought himself to an impressive climax. His tight ass gripped me and we both shouted as we unloaded, me deep into his body and him all over my chest and stomach. Talk about mind-blowing sex….

Neither of us was capable of coherent speech. Jacob bent forward carefully and kissed me, and I felt a few tears leak from below my eyelids. I’d never felt so happy and fulfilled; I’d never dreamed making love could be so satisfying, body and soul. I knew I would pay any price; deal with whatever difficulty awaited us, in order to have Jacob as my dancing partner for life.

Like the first time, we helped each other clean up in the shower before going back to bed. Somehow, Jacob had managed to place a couple of towels strategically on the bed, so we didn’t soil the sheets again, or at least not apart from a few random spots of cum. But our bodies bore plenty of evidence of our uninhibited lovemaking. I had been a bit embarrassed about sorting my backside out after Jacob had fucked me, but he was quite relaxed and matter-of-fact about it, telling me this was the price of bare-backing. Now he was the one with the need to make sure he didn’t leak all over the place during his sleep.

“Or even worse: during my exam tomorrow. Being a little sore is reminder enough!” He grinned at me and told me it was totally worth any discomfort. “I loved having you inside me, Russ. Promise me, we’ll do that again.”

“I promise, but it’s my turn next time; or the next ten times.” We chuckled, but I think we both knew I would bottom most of the time.

Snuggling up in bed again felt heavenly, especially sharing drowsy kisses, sated touches and soft words of love. We were both too exhausted to have any meaningful conversation. Jacob fell asleep within minutes after we settled in bed, and I was struggling to stay awake to savor the memories of our evening together. But sleep claimed me too.

***

I made myself wake up to wish Jacob good luck on his exam as he left shortly before seven-thirty. Without meaning to I went back to sleep and when the alarm clock went off again, I was momentarily confused. As I saw the digital numbers saying 09:15, I sat up and cursed. Shit, Evan and Chris would be here in fifteen minutes. Thank God Jacob had reset the alarm, giving me a chance to get dressed and grab some breakfast. I jumped out of bed and moaned as various sore parts of me made themselves known. But the cause of the soreness had me smiling and in truth it wasn’t worse than what I’d felt after my first night camping.

Looking outside, I could see the sun was promising another hot day, so I grabbed a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, briefs and socks. Hurrying into the bathroom I managed to get rid of my morning wood enough to pee, and dressed after washing my hands. Good thing we had a thorough shower before bed. I ate a piece of bread with cheese and drank a large glass of OJ before collecting my wallet, cell phone and the keys Jacob had given me. I grabbed a bottle of water and stuffed everything in my backpack with my sketchbook and pencils. I was tying the laces of my sneakers when the door buzzer went off.

“Hello?” I wasn’t taking any chances, even though I was expecting my twin.

“Russ? It’s Evan and Chris.”

“I’ll be right down.”

I grabbed my sunglasses from the shelf by the mirror, took a last look around to be sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, closed and locked the door and ran down the stairs. Chris and Evan were holding hands and looking as happy and well rested as I felt.

“En!” I gave my twin a hug and turned to Chris. He put his free arm around my shoulders, giving me a brotherly hug. “Hi Chris, thanks for taking us to the dance studio.”

“You’re welcome. Let’s go, you don’t wanna be late.”

A quick walk to the Metro, five-minutes-ride, and ten-minutes-walk had us arriving at the address Oliver had sent us. There was a reception area, but the front desk was unmanned. A sign on the counter said ‘Ring på klokken’ and underneath ‘Press the bell’ so we did, and moments later Oliver popped out from behind a door.

“Hey guys, you found it. Take off your shoes and come inside.” He held the door open for us and Evan and I walked through it after leaving our sneakers by the door.

“I’ll wait out here,” Chris said, after catching sight of the room. It was a dance studio with mirrors along the wall and nowhere to sit. “Russell, do you want me to take care of your bag?”

I nodded and gave it to him. He winked at me and said, “Have fun.”

Oliver said, “Help yourself to tea or coffee,” and let the door slide shut. He turned around and bent down to pick up what looked like two pair of strange socks with suede-like soles.

“Put these on, either on top of your socks or directly on bare feet.”

“What are they?” I asked, while Evan grabbed one pair, sat down, shed his socks and put them on.

“Dancing slippers. They give you a good grip, but also let you move freely.” Oliver gave me the other pair.

As I turned from him to sit down and put them on, I noticed Mikkel standing further down the wall, fiddling with some equipment, which turned out to be a music system. There was a short burst of sound before he flipped a switch and walked towards us.

“Hi Evan, hi Russell. Are you ready to do some dancing?” We both nodded, Evan eagerly and I with hesitation.

“I thought we could warm up first, and then Oliver can teach you a few easy dance routines.” He smiled at me before turning to Evan. “I think you’re up to more advanced work, right?” My twin grinned and jumped up, and I felt the usual twinge of mixed pride and envy over his abilities.

“Once you’re both confident with the steps, we’ll let you practice together,” Mikkel concluded.

“Together?” I asked as I stood up.

“Oliver and I have choreographed five short dances to specific songs. My understanding was you wanted to exploit the twin effect as well as impress your boyfriends.” He looked at us with raised eyebrows, and I immediately knew who had given him this idea. But of course I agreed with Evan’s plan and we both nodded enthusiastically.

“It would be silly to make you mirror each other. We cannot eradicate the skill difference created by a year of dance lessons for Evan. No matter how fast you can learn, Russell, you would look like a clumsier shadow of your twin. Not the effect you want at all.”

Fuck no, he could say that again. It would throw me right back into the role I had played for years. I shuddered at the thought and Evan looked appalled.

“Instead, we’ll use Evan’s skills to make both of you look good. Oh, you’ll have to work hard too…” he smiled at me, “…but your task will be to anchor your twin as he whirls around and showcases your identical good looks and sexy bodies. Your steps will be basic and mostly slow, with simple arm movements to match. The difficulty is mainly in getting the timing right and making sure your weight is distributed on the right foot, when Evan needs you to support his moves.”

Oliver took over the explanation. “We decided to create short routines to match the chorus of commonly played dance songs. This way you can freestyle during the rest of the number and go into the routine as the chorus comes around.”

“Man, sounds awesome!” Evan gushed, and I wanted to giggle at the way he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, all eager and Tigger-like. “What songs have you chosen?”

They walked towards the music system together, with Mikkel reeling off a list of songs of which I only recognized I’m so excited by The Pointer Sisters. From Evan’s enthusiastic replies I gathered they were all favorites of his. I looked at Oliver who was watching his boyfriend with a proud little smirk.

“Thank you, Oliver.”

He transferred his attention to me with a surprised lift of his eyebrows. “For what?”

“For understanding I didn’t want to imitate Evan. Did you really make up new dance routines for us?”

“We mostly adapted some existing routines. In fact, three of them are ones Mikkel and I have danced together. That’s another advantage, because I can tutor you while he works with Evan. You’ll have to practice apart and with each other, so I hope you can come back here a couple of times before you’re performing.”

I wrinkled my nose at the last word, and Oliver noticed. “Evan likes the attention of an audience, but you’re only dancing for one man, right?”

I nodded and looked down on my left hand. “Jacob’s the only one for me.”

“Wow, is that your engagement ring? Can I see it?” I held out my hand and Oliver made admiring noises over the stones in the band.

“So, you’re officially engaged now?”

“Well, the official party is on Saturday, but Jacob and I didn’t want to wait. I picked up our rings yesterday, when Evan and Chris ordered theirs.”

“Wasn’t Evan wearing a ring already?”

“Uhm yeah, but that’s something different. Anyway, they decided to get engaged the Danish way too. I’m over the moon about a joint engagement party, because our weddings will happen separately. The good thing about it is we can be best man for each other.”

“Already planning weddings, eh? You’re not wasting any time. Speaking of which, we should start dancing.”

“OK, show me what to do, and I’ll try my best.”

I won’t bore you with a detailed account of our dancing lesson. Suffice to say, both Evan and I were sweaty and tired by the time it ended. Oliver had endless patience and once I relaxed and began enjoying myself, I found it wasn’t too hard to learn the steps and get them right. Poor Evan had a much harder time with Mikkel constantly pushing him to do better and make an effort. They showed us what our routines should look like together, and we tried two of them a few times, but it was pretty obvious we needed lots of practicing.

“Evan, I don’t think I can keep this secret from Jacob and make it a surprise. Not if we’re coming back here Thursday and Friday.”

“Nah, you’re right. And in any case, he’ll take one look at us and ask what we’ve been doing to make us this hot and sweaty.”

“You can take quick showers here. Did you bring a change of clothes?” Mikkel asked.

I shook my head with chagrin. “I didn’t know I’d need it.”

“Sorry, I should have realized,” Evan apologized.

“You were too damn eager to pick up Russ and go dancing,” Chris teased him gently. We had returned to the reception area, drinking water and trying to get our breath back.

“Tell you what,” Oliver said. “We have dance studio T-shirts on offer, two for the price of one. Why don’t you get them and use the showers?” He hesitated and a cute blush turned his cheeks pink. “We…uhm…also sell jocks if your current underwear is too damp with sweat.”

Chris grinned. “Go along and start showering, boys. I’ll buy what you need, and Oliver can take it to you.”

“I’ll bring you two staff towels as well. Go down the corridor, and the changing room will be on the left hand side.” Oliver pointed and we took off, carrying our shoes and socks.

I was relieved to see there was no one in the changing room. I didn’t mind getting naked in front of Evan, and Oliver was no problem either. But I didn’t want to be with a whole bunch of guys. I quickly stripped and headed into the shower part of the facilities. I heard Oliver’s voice a few minutes later and then Evan entered and hung two large towels on hooks on the end wall. He took the shower next to mine and we stood in silence and let the hot water soothe our tired muscles.

“Did you have fun, Russ?”

“Yeah, I did. I’ll never enjoy dancing as much as you do, but I liked doing this together.”

“Mikkel is a very accomplished dancer, and an even better teacher. I learned more from him during these two hours than my last five lessons at home.”

“We should pay them, right? At least for the next two sessions. It’s taking up a lot of their time.”

“Yes, but when I said the same to Oliver just now, he refused. He said it could be our engagement presents.”

“But they’re not even going to the party.”

“We’ll find another way of paying them back. I’ll talk to Chris. Perhaps we can persuade them to visit us in Chicago.”

“I could invite them to my wedding next spring. I’d like to keep in touch with them, and Oliver might become a friend if we spend more time together.”

“I like him because he helped you on the beach.” I’d told Evan all about the encounters with the young Danes on Læsø, including Oliver’s understanding of my issues and Kathrine’s advice. My twin could benefit from her wisdom too, and I hoped he would see the need for us to talk to a therapist or someone. So far he had shrugged off the idea, saying all he needed was to connect with me and be part of the family again. I had to admit he had a good point, since I also felt a lot better with him, Mom and Kristin around. But the unresolved matter of our father was still lurking, even if we ignored him at present.

By now we’d finished showering and drying, so we walked back into the changing room. Two colorful T-shirts with the logo and name of the dance studio were waiting for us, together with clean underwear in the form of jocks.

“Do you want the white or the black one?” Evan asked as he held them up.

“I’ll take the white one and the blue T-shirt.”

He grinned at me and slipped into the black jock and his shorts before pulling the bright yellow T-shirt over his head. “Chris knows what I like, but he did well with choosing for you too. Although, with your tan yellow might look better on you than me.”

I shuddered. “There’s no way I’m wearing that bright thing.”

We put on socks and shoes and went back to the reception area. We had said goodbye to Mikkel at the end of the lesson, since he had other students coming in, but Oliver was still around, chatting with Chris. He beamed at us.

“You look good. Hot, walking advertisement of the studio. Let me get a few pictures.” He whipped out his cell phone and took several photos, promising to email copies to us.

“You’re not actually going to use them for promotion material, are you?” Chris’ voice was calm, but held a slight warning. I noticed he held his cell phone, had he been taking pictures too?

“What? Oh, no of course not,” Oliver said, and the genuine surprise in his voice made us all relax. “We do have people writing about their experiences on our homepage with pictures included, but we’d never put anything up without permission. We might help them with the technical stuff, but any recommendation has to be their own words. Anyway, most people post it themselves, it’s a Facebook page.”

Evan and I exchanged glances; we’d been given the perfect answer on how to pay Mikkel and Oliver back for their time and effort.

After confirming the times for Thursday and Friday morning, we said a fond farewell to our new friend. The end of Jacob’s exam time was approaching, and we had a long walk to the campus area in central Copenhagen where we had arranged to meet him at twelve-thirty.

***

I was pacing in front of Evan and Chris who were sitting on a bench holding hands and talking quietly. The time was almost twelve-forty, and Jacob hadn’t appeared yet. I checked my cell phone once more, but there were no messages. Should I send him a text? I had started to get one ready, when I heard my name called. Looking up I saw Jacob on the steps across the square. He’d obviously just exited the building and was hurrying towards us.

“Jacob!” I forgot everything else and ran towards my fiancé. We met in the middle of the square and kissed as if we hadn’t seen each other for days. His arms tightened around me, pulling me closer as his mouth left mine and traveled to my ear.

“I missed you, Russ. Sorry I was late, my thesis supervisor wanted to talk with me.”

“Missed you too, but everything’s all right now.” My stomach chose that exact moment to rumble, and we both chuckled. “OK, some lunch would be nice too.”

“I’m quite hungry myself. How about Evan and Chris? What did you do this morning?”

We turned and walked towards them, holding hands and smiling, and I suppressed a giggle at the sight of my twin bouncing around like an excited emoticon, yellow T-shirt flapping and a huge grin flashing us. Chris simply stood up and held out his hand to Jacob.

“Hello svoger, how did your exam go? And congratulations on the engagement.”

Jacob grinned at the Danish word for brother-in-law and pulled Chris in for a quick hug. I was slightly ashamed for having forgotten to ask about his exam, but on the other hand I knew he wouldn’t get the results until next month.

“I think I did OK, at least well enough to pass, and that’s all that matters now. I had a quick chat with my supervisor, and he’s OK with me writing my thesis abroad. I’ll have to send him an outline in the middle of January, and I should meet up with him when we come back for the wedding. This is why I was late; he and everyone around us wanted to congratulate me.”

“Were they surprised?” Evan asked.

“Well yes, those who’re not friends with me on Facebook, like my supervisor and other teachers, were. But even people who know me wanted to admire my ring and ask questions about my handsome fiancé.” He laughed and winked at me. “In fact, I didn’t dare say I was meeting up with you, because they would have followed like a swarm of locusts. Let’s get out of here and find something to eat, before we’re caught.”

He didn’t have to say that twice; I had no wish to become the center of attention around people I didn’t know. We let Jacob lead us to a charming café in one of the old streets around the university and ate sandwiches while we talked. Of course, Jacob quickly noticed the new shirts we had on, which made our dancing lesson the first topic of conversation.

“What’s up with the T-shirts you’re wearing?”

“Evan arranged for us to have dancing lessons with Oliver and Mikkel. I wanted it to be a surprise for you, but it’s harder to learn dancing than I thought. We’ll have to go back on Thursday and Friday, if we want to get it right, and I’ll have to practice at home too.”

“That’s what you have been doing this morning? Dancing with Oliver and Mikkel?”

“It’s OK, isn’t it?” The disbelief in his voice made me nervous, and Evan’s arm was suddenly around my shoulder.

“Stop pestering him! We wanted to do something fun together and hopefully impress our fiancés. What’s wrong with that?” He glared at Jacob, who held both hands up.

“Whoa, calm down, Evan.” Jacob gave me a tender smile. “There’s nothing wrong with having dancing lessons, Russ. I’m sorry if I made it sound like there was. I’m surprised, that’s all. So you achieved your goal, right?”

Chris gave a small chuckle and I relaxed. Jacob got up and came around to my chair. Crouching down next to me he leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I can’t wait to see you dance for me,” he whispered in my ear.

Leaning back he gave a quick pull at my T-shirt. “I like the color even though Evan’s choice makes you two look like the Swedish flag.”

“Chris chose them for us. We forgot to bring a change of clothes and were too sweaty after dancing.” My explanation made Evan roll his eyes.

“What Russ means is that I forgot to tell him we would need extra T-shirts and underwear. But buying stuff was also a good way to pay Mikkel for his time, because he refused to charge us for the lessons.”

Jacob went back to his chair and we all started eating again. After two bites, he suddenly stopped chewing and gave Evan an intense look. Swallowing his food and taking a drink of water, he simply said, “Underwear?”

I could feel my face getting hot, and I was acutely aware of the material of my shorts against my bare buttocks and the unfamiliar feeling of a jock holding my private parts in place. Evan developed this deer-in-headlights expression, and Chris burst out laughing. He had been checking something on his phone and before we could say or do anything else, he held it up and took a couple of photos.

“It’s a rare treat to see Evan speechless. But I think you’ll like the solution we found. I’m looking forward to seeing which color jock Evan has, although I can make a good guess.” He smirked at my twin and gave me a wink, and now I was the one to roll my eyes as Evan stuck his tongue out at Chris.

“You’re wearing a jockstrap? For a moment I wondered whether you were commando.” At my confused look, Jacob explained. “No underwear at all.”

I looked around, but there was no one at the nearest table, and we had been talking in low voices. Still… “Can we please talk about something else,” I begged.

“Sure, when are you going back for more dancing?”

“Thursday morning at ten and Friday morning at eight, but I’m hoping we won’t need the last lesson,” Evan replied.

“And I’m sure we will, or at least I will,” I muttered.

“When do we get to see you dance?” Jacob turned to Chris. “Did you watch them?”

“Oh no, Evan told me we would only be allowed to see the finished product, not all the hard work getting there.”

“He told you?” Our two men on the other side of the table seemed to have a moment of silent communication. I looked at Evan and noticed the small satisfied smile on his lips. Hmm, apparently being told what to do goes both ways. For my part I was simply relieved not to have an audience to my inept attempts to dance with my twin.

“Hopefully, you can see one or two finished dances on Friday. Maybe you could bring your camera and take a few photos.”

Everyone’s faces turned to me, and I tried to act casual as I continued. “Evan and I thought it would be a nice way of showing our gratitude, writing a recommendation on the dance studio’s Facebook page and including a good photo of us dancing.”

“Or perhaps a small video,” my twin added. I gave him a doubtful look, but nodded.

“We should think about wearing something better than this. Not a costume, but something which adds to the sensual nature of the dances,” Evan told me, and I sighed. Great, more shopping for clothes.

“Sensual?” The chorus from the other side of the table sent us both into giggles. As one, we turned to look at Chris and Jacob, giving them identical coy looks and licking our lips.

“Mmmm, erotic, seductive, and guaranteed to get us laid,” Evan purred, and I loved the reactions his words caused. The old virginal, clueless me would have cringed with embarrassment, but the new, experienced, confident Russ was able to deal with the challenges of love, sex and his naughty twin.

“You’re gonna want us sooo bad.” My voice came out husky and certain in the twin power we had.

“For fanden i helvede!” – “Holy shit!” Their exclamations said the same as their faces, and we chuckled when they both tried to adjust themselves discreetly under the table. Oh yeah, our men were turned on and becoming aware what they were dealing with. Evan might be a challenge on his own, but with me at his side, he was unstoppable and confident on a whole other level. As for me….

“It probably sounds crazy, but I love this version of Russell,” Jacob confided in Chris. “It’s like a delicious rollercoaster, scary and fun at the same time.”

“Well, truth to tell, I’m enjoying the new exuberant Evan,” Chris admitted. “In any case, it’s a vast improvement on the I-miss-my-twin and I’m-gonna-kill-my-old-man crazy boy I’ve had to deal with for the last three months.”

The mention of our father threatened to destroy our mood completely, but I refused to let it happen.

“What kind of clothes were you thinking of? Something tight and colorful and sexy, right?”

Evan nodded and his eyes were full of pride and happiness. He always loves it when I back him up in his wild schemes. “We need to be able to move freely, and the colors should suit us and match, but at the same time we don’t want to look dressed up.”

“Low-cut, soft leather pants with short white tank tops and loose silk shirts on top?” Chris’ suggestion made us look at him, and I saw Jacob swallow. The heat in his eyes as he stared at me had my dick trying to escape the confines of the jock.

“Do you know where we could get something like that?” Evan asked Jacob.

“I know of a couple of shops specializing in leather clothes. We could start there.”

“Cool, let’s go after lunch.”

“Uhm, shouldn’t we wait until we know we’re actually going to be able to perform the dances?” I tried to put some sense into Evan’s flights of fancy, but he just laughed.

“Did ya see the look on his face? He wants to see you in tight leather pants whether we dance or not.” OK, he had a good point. But of course my twin had to increase the stakes. “But we want to see their butts wrapped in leather too, right? Perhaps a sexy, bad-ass leather jacket with matching black briefs for your hunky Viking, and a leather vest and form-fitting pants for my handsome stud.”

“Evan!” Chris shook his head as Jacob blushed, but I could see they were flattered and intrigued. The irresistible twin force strikes again. I had to admit it would be a turn on if I knew Jacob was wearing such brief under his jeans.

“Yes, babe?”

“Never mind.” Chris went back to eating, and showed Jacob the pictures he took of us at the dance studio as well as the studio Facebook page. From their talk it was clear they were fine with us posting a recommendation and a photo, but Jacob had reservations about a video. I was glad he was reluctant, because so was I. Chris said he would record our dancing with his phone in any case, and we could make a decision afterwards.

“You should have videos so you can see how you look,” he said to me, when I muttered something about it being unnecessary. “I do it for Evan all the time, and it helps him improve.”

“It’s true, Russ. Seeing yourself in the mirror as you dance isn’t the same. It’s fine while you’re learning, but when we perform the dances for real we should be focused on each other and the audience. Having the videos will help us evaluate what works.”

Jacob and I yielded to their combined persuasion, and the lunch ended with Evan giving enthusiastic accounts of the dancing styles he had tried during his first year at college.

After lunch we walked down to the tour boats and were lucky to get on a trip almost right away. The guide alternated between Danish and English and told us historical facts and funny stories about the various sights. I thought I would be disappointed about The Little Mermaid, mostly because Jacob warned us about the statue being a lot smaller than most tourists expect.

“There’s a joke about what is most commonly said around her,” he told us with a mischievous glint in his eye, before switching to an atrocious nasal American twang. “Oh my Gaaad, she’s so smaaaall.”

We all scowled at him, but when I saw the slight, lonely figure on her stone, staring at the water with sad longing, my heart ached for her. She had left everything behind for the sake of love, suffered pain and rejection, and even when all hope was gone, stayed true to herself, dying rather than taking the life of the man she loved. At least my fate was a lot better than hers and I would never be lonely again.

We had walked past several of the sights included in the tour already, but it was different seeing them from the water. Chris was interested in the story of Holmen, the naval base of Copenhagen for more than 300 years, and I decided I wanted to visit Thorvaldsen’s Museum and draw some of his statues. When I asked Jacob about it, he agreed to take me there Thursday afternoon, and told me Danish art students also used the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek as inspiration for sketching.

After the canal tour we walked up Strøget to the Town Hall and past Tivoli and the Central Station. Jacob wanted us to visit the Tycho Brahe Planetarium and maybe see a show. Afterwards we could go shopping or perhaps find a café and relax until we met up with Christian and Kristin.

“It’s gonna be confusing with all those similar names,” I sighed. “Chris, Christian and Kristin; I know I’m going to mess them up at some point.” Evan nodded.

“I suppose I could tell you Christian’s nickname,” Jacob said.

“I don’t recall him having one five years ago.” My twin looked at me and I shrugged. I hardly remembered the guy himself, since we hadn’t spent much time with him.

“No, he got it during his time in the military, and somehow it has caught on with his friends. Maybe because it’s similar to his last name, and he has the looks.”

We had arrived at the Planetarium and were all staring at him expectantly.

“I’ll tell you later; let’s check out the shows and the exhibition.” He ignored our growls of annoyance and led us into the cool interior of the place.

Ninety minutes later we were back outside, with me feeling slightly groggy and nauseous after a terrifying helicopter trip in their Space Theatre. I had enjoyed the exhibition and the initial show about the stars and space in general, but the film itself had been over the top. The fresh air slowly revived me as we sat on benches facing the artificial lake next to the Planetarium. Of course Evan was the one to bring up the topic of Christian once more, and I was pleased the answer took a while. I could lean against Jacob, close my eyes and bask in the sun.

“OK, tell us about your best friend’s nickname.”

“It’s a long story, but bear with me. There’s a tradition in his family for the men joining the military company called Gardehusar Regiment. They provide the horse guards for parades with the Royal Family, and in old times they were the cavalry of the Danish Army. Today I think it’s tanks rather than horses, except for the special parade unit.”

“How old is the regiment?” Chris asked.

“I’m not sure, but around 400 years,” Jacob replied, quite oblivious to the impressed faces of his American visitors. But I guess if you live in a monarchy going back 1,000 years, four centuries are nothing to brag about, even if the U.S.A. hadn’t even been founded then.

“Anyway, in the old days, soldiers in this unit didn’t get numbers but were called by the name of their home towns. I was told this was because whenever a cavalry unit arrived at a place, the officer would call out the town name and the relevant rider would answer. He could then be asked for local knowledge of where to stable the horses and get food and lodgings. This tradition has persisted, but Christian didn’t get the name of Dragør, because there was another guy from our town. But more importantly, his great-grandfather came from a small village west of Copenhagen, and after his time as Gardehusar he named his farm Torslunde after the village and used Torslund as his own surname. Christian’s granddad used the same name while serving and so did his dad, because he was also born on the farm and lived there when he joined.”

He took a break and a drink of water, while we digested the information and tried to work out the nickname.

“OK, so Christian asked permission to use Torslund even though it was also his last name and they agreed. But his fellow soldiers shortened it and called him Tor after they saw his wrestling skills.”

“Tor, as in the Norse god Thor?” Chris asked, and I noticed he managed to copy the slightly different pronunciation of the Danish version of the name.

“Yep, and when we found out he had gotten a tattoo of Thor’s Hammer on his left shoulder after completing the first three months as Gardehusar, the name stuck. He’s actually rather proud of it.”

“In other words, he’s a Christian who has been converted to a pagan god named Thor,” Chris summed up, and we all fell around howling with laughter. I remembered the photos from Jacob’s Facebook page and had to admit his best friend did indeed look more like a Norse war god than a meek Christian.

“Did he do the horse guard thing?” Evan asked.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself,” Jacob replied. “I can see him walking towards us.”

We sat up and looked in the direction he pointed, and sure enough a tall, broad-shouldered, blond guy was making his way towards our bench. Jacob stood up to greet him and was engulfed in a massive bear hug.

“For pokker da mand, jeg har savnet dig. Hvordan kunne du bare sådan forsvinde, din skøre skid? Nå, never mind, lad mig møde din kæreste.”[1]

“Urgh, Tor, let me go, you crazy bastard,” Jacob wheezed and we all laughed.

Evan leaned towards me and whispered, “The puppy has grown up. I think Kristin is in for a surprise.”

Before I could come up with e reply, Jacob turned to me and held out his hand. I got up and stepped over to him.

“This is my future husband Russell, and that’s his brother Evan, who is engaged to Chris, or will be after Saturday. Russ, this is my best friend Christian better known as Tor.”

“Hi, Russell. I have to admit I can barely recall you and your twin from five years ago. But I’m glad to meet you again.” Jeez, another outspoken almost rudely honest Dane, but I guess I couldn’t feel insulted, when I’d more or less forgotten him too.

“Hi, Tor.” I held out my hand and he grabbed it and gave my arm a hearty shake. Then he moved over to shake hands with Evan and Chris, who also called him Tor, much to his amusement.

“You’ve made my name change official, eh?” He punched Jacob’s shoulder, and turned to me. “But what about your sister? I thought she was going to join us?”

“Kristin should be here any minute,” Evan replied. “I sent her a text when we came out of the theatre and she said she would arrive around five-thirty.”

“Awesome! I can’t wait to meet her again. I hope she remembers me,” Tor declared, and looked completely bewildered when Evan and I promptly had a fit of giggles.

“Ignore them,” Chris said, giving us a control-yourself glare. “I’m sure Kristin will be pleased to renew your acquaintance, Tor, particularly if you throw her annoying little brothers in the lake.”

“No problem, man.” Yup, this confident guy with merry blue eyes might well impress our sister.