Dance with Me [h.s] (Completed)

Chapter 76

Harry's POV

I wake up with a face full of dark hair but I can't seem to mind because it smells like lavender and that means my Sun is here. She sleeps in such opposition to how she dances. When she's on stage, she commands so much attention that she takes up space. She's vibrant and flirtatious. Seemingly larger than her petite body. But when she's asleep, she curls into a ball like a kitten, all her limbs contorted impossibly close. Her face is tranquil and relaxed. All that ambitious determination on her face gone. My guess is that she hasn't let many people see her like this. I egotistically hope that I'm the only one.

I kiss her bare shoulder and then drag myself out of bed to shower. I step out and look at myself in the mirror, thinking about my long hair and beard. I wonder if it's time to lose both. A fresh start with CiCi. New club. It's been so long since I've properly shaved, I feel like my own face is unknown to me. And my hair and beard has been like a security blanket for me; I've found most people avoid me with both, like I'm a bit too unapproachable for their liking.

I brush my teeth and then comb through the tangles in my hair before throwing it up in a bun. I open the bathroom door and notice CiCi is missing from the bed. I don't worry though because I can also smell coffee brewing. I find her in my kitchen and I pause to take a discreet video of her. She has on a white t-shirt of mine that hits her mid-thigh, her dark hair in messy curls down her back. "Ocean Eyes" by Billie Eilish plays from her phone speaker. She's standing at my stove, cooking away, doing pliés and using the oven door as a barre. She lifts her back leg and does an arabesque and then moves to an attitude. When the music swells, she holds the spatula in one hand and runs towards the living room jumping and doing a splits mid air like she's floating, a perfect Grand Jeté.

"I didn't know you could do that," I say aloud from the bedroom doorway. She startles at my words and then blushes red, walking quickly back to the stove and flipping the French Toast.

"Yeah," she says scratching her neck with her back to me. "Do you want butter and syrup on your French Toast? Or maybe powdered sugar? Do you have any?"

"Sunshine," my voice comes out as both a plea for an explanation and a gentle hug for comfort because ballet seems to be a sensitive topic for her. When she doesn't continue I decide to open up to her to see if it helps. "Did you know I wanted to do ballet?"

"I've seen you do ballet, Harry. You're quite good," she says, but doesn't turn around.

"Yeah, but before ballroom I wanted to join a ballet company. I trained and trained but it wasn't in the cards for me."

"Why?" she asks, her motions stilling but not turning around.

"I told you already, I was short until sixteen and then had a growth spurt. I auditioned before that and I wasn't big enough to do all the lifts necessary for the male dancers in the troupe."

"But you grew? Why didn't you audition again?" she asks, finally turning around to face me.

"I had met Martina by then and moved to Florence."

I watch her stare at the food she has now placed on a plate. Ten seconds go by before I approach her and pick up the plates and take them to the table to eat. She snaps out of it and follows after me, bringing two mugs of coffee with her. We eat in silence and I can see her mind processing something and I know the story is coming, she is just trying to figure out the best way to tell me.

"I wanted to be a ballerina, more than I ever wanted to ballroom dance. I practiced so much that my dad installed a barre in my room. I would force my older brothers to practice lifts with me when I was only nine years old. A.J. is six years older than me so it was easy for him to pick me up. When Zayn and I started ballroom dancing, I tried to convince him to switch to ballet. There was a company that was taking junior dancers and I wanted us to audition. He wouldn't because you had to audition alone. He said he only wanted to partner dance with me."