The Pointe of Love || Elriel & Nessian

Chapter 5 - I Want You

Nesta pushed her black sunglasses up the bridge of her nose as she hiked her tote bag higher on her shoulder.

Cars and delivery bicyclists were beginning to pour down the wide street, though the volume of traffic was still light, the local rush to work only just beginning. She focused her gaze up from her feet slapping against the paved sidewalk, catching sight of the Velaris Ballet Company studio peeking out beyond the Rainbow Botanical Gardens.

And, as Nesta tended to do on beautiful days when she was early, she allowed herself a moment of visual and sensory pleasure.

Ambling toward the botanical garden wall, she pushed her sunglasses up to the top of her head. She saw a butterfly floating lazily above a hydrangea bush, lovebirds and swallows chirping and singing happily into the bright orange light from the sun, now peeking above the buildings and sparkling off the Sidra and into the gardens. Running her hands along the length of the stone wall as she leaned forward, Nesta rested her elbows and scanned the expansive ornamental gardens. Her eyes traveled across the smattering of riotous colors, violets and marigolds mixing with maroon and crimson florals, peeking out from teal and sage leaves.

Elain would enjoy this view.

But Elain was always running slightly late for days at the studio, leaving Nesta to take in the garden views by herself.

Truly, she savored these solo early morning walks to the studio. Especially the Monday morning walk. Because on Mondays, Nesta would feel the anticipation of a hard week of ballet calling to her, her feet focused on the pavement as she powered toward the studio, breathing in the balmy Velaris air. And as if she could draw out the anticipation just a little longer, she would pause at the gardens, her mind going through the week, her routines, her goals as her eyes traveled the length of the ornately trimmed tropical gardens.

The studio view of the botanical garden with the Sidra just beyond... it was probably one of her favorite things about the VBC, though she would never admit it to Elain. As she danced through her routines in the studio, she would find her eye drifting to the gardens, her imagination falling into visions of herself as a fairy, flying and sparkling through a secret garden, or perhaps a desperate princess, rushing to meet her secret lover in the privacy of the palms.

Nesta spotted a pair of happy lovebirds hopping near the base of a birdbath and she smiled again.

She could sometimes understand her younger sister's affinity for gardens, though she would often tell Elain if she spent her Sundays in the studios instead of volunteering for the Velaris Garden Society, she may get more principal work.

Allowing herself another moment to pause, the sunrise warming the back of her neck as she gazed across the gardens, Nesta raised from her elbows, resting her palms on the stone wall as she stretched her leg to the side, almost as if she was already at the barre. This would be her one moment to rest because the rest of the week was going to be pure focus.

It was audition week, and apparently, the new choreographers were determined to see the dancers in action outside of a traditional audition. The next five days were going to be the audition, and Nesta could feel her competitive spirit coiling in her chest, the urge to stomp out her rivals swelling in her temples as she flexed her leg, pointing her toe down in her sneaker, arching her arm ever so slightly as she took another breath of the botanical air.

"Well fancy seeing you here." A low booming voice called out from behind her, and Nesta whirled around, her eyes squinting in the sun as she dragged her sunglasses back down over her nose.

"Cassian?" She squinted up at the tall dark man who was removing a motorcycle helmet and shaking out his long hair.

Of course the idiot drove a motorcycle. Could the male bravado get any more overt?