Dance, Even When No One Is Watching

Chapter 6

~Vivianne~

I walked up the old creaking stairs, listening for a voice, a sound. I didn’t hear anything coming from the room up above, just silence. I pushed open the door and peeked through, revealing an empty room.

I walked in slowly, frowning. Carter never missed a day to practice. I had grown accustomed to his expectant face waiting for me at the top of the stairs. He must have had some other plans, he wouldn’t just miss a chance to practice.

I shrugged, pushing it out of my mind. I didn’t need any more distractions. Carter had said that the casting directors would contact us as soon as they had made a decision, but until then, I had to continue to practice. I needed to be in top shape if I wanted to pull this off.

I worked slowly through my exercises, stretching my muscles as far as I could. I tried to focus on my body and my movement, but I found myself pausing hesitantly, expecting Carter to walk through the room, explaining he had been held back.

Two hours passed smoothly, and I found myself starting to grow weary. I had been pushing myself nonstop without so much as a minute of break to get some water. The light outside was starting to fade, warning to me head home before it grew completely dark.

I slowly drew my practice to a stop, cooling down before packing all my stuff back into my bag. I took one last look around the room, still wondering where Carter was, and the headed out the door. I would see him the next day, but until then, I had to focus on what was really important.

~

A week passed, and Carter still didn’t show up to practice. I started to worry that he had given up. Maybe he hadn’t really wanted to have anything to do with me, maybe he was just using me. I told myself that I shouldn’t care, that I didn’t like him anyways, but it wouldn’t go away.

I missed having another body in the room, another person to dance with. I had been used to dancing by myself, I had never had the chance to dance with someone else. I didn’t know the feeling of having someone else support you, someone else to push you farther and to correct you if you were doing something wrong. And it just wasn’t the same anymore.

Eventually I stopped waiting for Carter. I knew he wasn’t coming back. He never wanted to dance with me anyways. I could do just as well without him.

~

But I was wrong. Carter did come back. I walked up the old wooden stairs to find Carters familiar face waiting for me in the room. I stopped in the doorway, shocked at his sudden appearance. He looked at me with a smile and waited for me to say something.

“What are you doing here?”

I finally managed to speak after a few moments of silence. I hadn’t expected him to ever come back after a week of his absence.

“I came here to practice, what do you think?”

I opened my mouth, about to point out the days he had missed to practice. I closed it after a moment though, not really sure what to say. He was aware he had missed a week, right?

I decided to let it go, continuing to get my stuff out and prepare myself. Carter got up slowly, moving his way towards me as we started to dance.

The minutes flew by quickly. We danced in silence, moving twisting and laughing when the other messed up. Things were like they used to be. But then something changed.

I felt Carter stagger behind me, losing his step in the dance and collapsing on the floor. I twisted around, stopping my feet quickly and bringing myself to a halt next to his body. I dropped to the floor next to him, watching pain flick across his face. Worry bloomed in my stomach, causing my head to spin.