Last Dance

Chapter 16

  After they got something to eat Isabell's father texted Jessica to let her know he was coming to pick her up. They headed back to their hotel room to wait for him there. When he got there Jessica asked him if she could talk to him alone. He agreed and they stepped out into the hall.

  "Hey if you ever need someone to watch her just let me know. I was already planning on staying out here a little bit after the dance competition is over because Isabell asked me to teacher her how to dance." Jessica told him.

  "Thank you so much. She has been bugging me about taking lessons but with paying for her mother's treatment I just never had the money to do it." He told her.

  "Well I will do it for free. I enjoy hanging out with her and she is a very sweet girl." Jessica told him.

  "She really enjoys hanging out with you and Alice. Everytime Austin brings her back to me I can never seem to get her to stop talking about you guys and the dance competition so I am happy she got to meet the two of you. I do have one question for you though. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to." He told her.

  "What's your question?" She asked.

  "Well Austin is the one who brought it up to me the last time we were talking and I noticed it this morning. Why do you look sad sometimes when you look at Isabell?" He asked. Jessica went quiet but decided that she should tell him.

  "Look I will tell you but please don't tell Austin. I don't want him to know yet. A year ago I lost all of my family in a horrible car wreck. That's why I dropped out of the competition last year. Sometimes when I see Isabell acting like a normal kid her age it reminds me of my little brother and I get upset about it." Jessica explained. She looked down at her feet not wanting to make eye contact with him.

  "That is understandable. If I do ask you to take her for me and it becomes too much for you just let me or Austin know that you need someone to take her and we will get her. I know how it is to suddenly lose a family member and everything around you reminds you of them." He said. The door flew open behind Jessica and she jumped around to see Alice and Austin standing there looking crazy.

  "Please tell me Isabell is out here with you. We decided to play hide and seek with her and we can't find her so we thought maybe she snuck out here with you two." Austin said looking around.

  "No she never came out here. Austin how could you lose Isabell in that hotel room. It is so small." Her dad said. Jessica and Isabell's dad followed the two of them back in the room and helped the two of the search the room for Isabell. They had looked all over and were not able to find her until Jessica heard a small giggle coming from one of her suit cases.

  "You two looked all over but you never thought to maybe check the suitcases. She is small enough to fit in one." Jessica said as she unzipped it to reveal Isabell inside.

  "No I didn't think she could even fit into one of them." Austin said as he picked up Isabell and spun her around.

  "Yeah little kids tend to hide in really small places when playing hide and seek. Once I was playing with my little brother and could not find him for hours because he had hide from me inside our couch. I panicked and called our parents to come home because I could not find him and I was worried he had left the house." Jessica said smiling as she thought back. She had been so scared that she had lost him that she never even checked the hole in the couch.

  "Dang that is crazy but I do remember that. You called me panicked because you could not find him. You were crying because you thought your parents were going to never let you babysit him again after that." Alice said laughing.

  That all hung out for a little bit until Isabell and her dad left. Austin had stayed to hang out with the two of them for a little bit longer before he decided to head back home because Jessica had said she needed to go to bed soon because she had to get up early for the competition.

  An hour after Jessica fell asleep she woke up crying. She dreamed of the crash and her family blaming her because they were coming to watch her competition.

  "Hey your okay. You know that you are not to blame for the accident." Alice said as she climbed on the bed and pulled Jessica into a hug.

  "It is my fault though. If I never came to the competition ghat would have not been out that day and thay would be here now." Jessica said. Alice continued to try and calm her down but nothing was helping so she texted their teacher to come help. She knew she had to calm Jessica down so she could get some sleep before competition because the next three days were back to back competition days and she knew they were going to be really stressful for Jessica. They sat there a few more mimutes before there was a knock at the door. The door opened to show their coach standing there.

  "Hey I came here after you texted me." Their coach said as she came to sit on the bed beside them.

  "I have been trying to calm her but nothing I am doing is helping. I thought maybe you could help me." Alice said.

  "Hey Jessica remember why you came back this year. You promised your mom you would do this. No one blames you for anything that happened." Their coach said. Jessica just cried even harder and buried her face into Alice's chest.

  "Okay this is last resort but do you want me to call Austin and have him come here. I won't tell him anything other than the stress is getting to you and you wanted him to help you calm down." Alice said.

  Jessica just nodded her head because she feels so safe with Auztin and she knew he would be able to calm her down. Alice grabbed her phone and called him. A few minutes later Austin was in their room and sat on the bed. He just held onto Jessica while she cried until she fell asleep with her head on his chest.

  "Thank you for coming over. I have been trying to calm her down for the past hour and everything I said or did just made it worse." Alice said as she moved hair away from Jessica's face.

  "Of course. You told me she was freaking out so I came over here as fast as I cocould. Can I ask what caused her to freak out this much?" Austin asked her.

  "I'm sorry but it's not really my place to tell you. Maybe when she feels comfortable enough she will tell you." Alice said before she climbed in her bed and laid down. Alice and Austin fell asleep quickly after the conversation.