Dancing with you

Chapter 1, Caitlyn's POV, September 5th, 1655 words

My final motions of the routine came like clockwork as the blinding spotlights shown back over me, shielding the audience from my vision aside from the front few rows. I took a deep breath before giving my last, dramatic leap, rotating in the air and landing lightly and effortlessly with my back to the audience in a perfect fourth positon. I grinned towards my friend, Maddie, as the music faded into a smattering of applause. She smiled back as we turned to hurry offstage, preparing for the curtain call.
As the crowd began to quiet down, I took my place in the wings, Maddie standing behind me. She was slightly too far into my personal space, the few flyaway strands of ginger hair nearly brushing my neck as her breath met the side of my face.
"Beautiful job out there." She whispered with a giggling sigh.
I leaned back as subtly as I could, my shoulder gently bumping into her chest and earning another under-her-breath girlish laugh. "Thanks, Maddie. Of course, I could say the same to you." I replied, before straightening back up and looking ahead, glancing at a few other dancers. They caught my eye and sensed to stop their gossiping mutters lest they be caught by my wrath.
Then suddenly, it was time for us to run back out and give our last bows, a blur of lights and cheers that I remember practically nothing of.
It always feels rushed and unreal. Your smile hurting your face as your friends, enemies, family, lovers, and strangers clap and whistle for you. You can almost escape the hours of foot cramps from the pointe shoes, the pain of your hair being pulled into the tightest knot imaginable, the discomfort of your dress that you had to diet for a month to fit into for just five performances. The feeling of floating, of levitating up with the spotlights bright on your face and the love of everyone being given to you, is mine for a few seconds.

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But before long, I was back in the dressing room with mascara nearly smudging as I changed back into my favorite hoodie from last year's cheerleading season and a pair of faded jean shorts I grabbed quickly on the way out of the door this evening. I'm done in there as soon as possible, not giving a second thought to all of the other girls chattering away. I've always been above needing to hear how she stuck her hardest move, but I stumbled in my first dance twice on the same move, and her dress tore slightly and you could probably see her bra from the audience and that's why she was crying, blah blah blah.
Stupid, right? And that's why I never spent much time with the dance girls, when I had my own friends, anyway.
Speaking of, as I walked out through the now-empty performance hall into the warm autumn air to be met with the crowds waiting to greet their children, siblings, and friends, I saw my friends Jayce, Viktor, and Mel, along with one of my current situationships, Vi. I took a deep breath, before grinning and running over to them.
"Heyyyy! It's the star of the fucking show!" Jayce crushed me in a tight hug while announcing this to about one hundred more people than I would have liked. I laughed and hugged him back anyway, glad of how supportive he was. Once he let me go, I stumbled for a moment, before turning to the rest of my friends.
Mel stepped forward and smiled slightly. "You did brilliant! That dress looked so pretty, too." She commented, hitting me with an unintentional wave of both pride and guilt. I quickly glanced over her pale blue minidress, silver sandals, and hair and makeup to find something to compliment,
"Oh, thank you guys! Mel, that eyeshadow is peak." I gushed back at her quickly. Suddenly, I heard a gentle cough, and turned around to face Vi.
"Oh, um, hi!" I said with a nervous laugh. Seeing her and remembering the awkward events we've been through in the past few weeks unfortunately helped my anxiety start to take control of my brain, and I began talking uncontrollably. "I think your sister is still in the changing room, if you're waiting for her. She did really good, tell her that for me if I don't see her. I think it might take her a while to come out, someone was crying about a text from their boyfriend when I left, and Powder was probably one of the people helping calm her down. And also, um-" I stopped myself, gently beginning to fidget with the strings of my hoodie to calm down.
Vi looked to my friends for a moment, before shyly smiling at me. "Well, actually, I just want to say how good you did tonight..." she took a nervous breath, before continuing on in a softer voice than usual. "I have a question for you."
I glanced over to Mel quickly, aware of my reddening face. She gave me a subtle smile back, and encouraged, I look back at Vi. "Of course, what is it?" I asked, noting her shy body language and concluding that she expected me to refuse her request. Well, shit, is she in for a surprise if she's asking what I expect her to ask.
She ran a hand through her reddish-pink hair, and for a moment I imagined reaching o ut and playing with her hair with my own hand. "Will you be my girlfriend?" Her voice was loud and rushed, and she looked up to meet my eyes quickly.
I felt my face flushing. "Violet," I stepped forward, reaching out and taking her hand, "I'd love too." I told her quietly.
"Good choice, Cupcake." She grinned, before leaning in to meet my lips gently for a few seconds.
We were literally pulled apart a moment later by her little sister, Powder. "Wrong dancer, sis. Remember? You said before we left that you were coming to see me, and then when Milo made a joke about Caitlyn, you were all like "I don't even care about her, I'm going to see Powder and no one else, blah blah blah-" I laughed quietly as Vi tried to shut her up, but she seemed proud of embarrassing her sister as much as possible. I noted that her voice has undertones of jealousy and anger, and I rolled my eyes at the younger girl's immaturity.
I decided to leave them to their squabbling as I turn back to Jayce, Viktor, and Mel. "Oh my gosh..." I muttered, smiling at them.
Viktor offered a high five. "Finally!" He said as our hands met. "I told you she was gonna ask you out."
Mel sighed and teasingly elbowed him. "No, you didn't. You said you had no faith in them ever working out in the first place."
"Well, no. I just said that because she was crying and I wanted to agree with her before she shot me."
I gave them a mock-offended gasp. "What? I thought you always had the exact same opinion as me. What, you were just lying?" I said, forcing my accent to sound more snobby and clear. "I could have you executed for this, cripple."
Viktor gave me the finger, before hitting me with his cane in the leg, so I dramatically fell backwards into Mel and pretended to die in her arms. Jayce started laughing hard enough at this to also earn a whack from Viktor, which made us all laugh louder to the point where Viktor needed his inhaler to breathe, a common experience that just made everything ten percent funnier.
After a few more minutes of stupid jokes and comments from my friends, I noticed my parents walking towards us. I quickly said goodbye to the group, making promises to text them later tonight, before making my way over to my mother and father. I was greeted with a gentle hug from my father.
"Nice job, dear." Mother commented softly as my father lets go. She frowned for a moment, silently judging my outfit. "I thought we told you we wanted to go somewhere nicer for supper to celebrate." Her tone seemed calm, but underneath of it is a judgment that only someone who has known her for sixteen years like me would pick up on.
I dropped my gaze to the ground. "My apologies, Mother. I do not believe I remembered your plans for tonight, and assumed this to be acceptable attire for anything you chose to do."
She sighed quietly, and glanced to my father. "Well, as we didn't have a reservation, I suppose it doesn't matter. Shall we just go home, in that case?"
"Yes, ma'am." I responded quietly, while my father nodded to her. As we began following her, he gently placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed softly.
"I'm quite proud of you, Cait." He whispered, using my old nickname to get me to smile more.
I grinned up at him, mouthing "Thanks, Dad." He faked a gasp, pretending to be shocked at my lack of formality, before quietly laughing along with me.
We made our way back to the car in silence after that, not wanting Mother to scold us.
I felt a bit of guilt at purposely dressing casually to avoid the supper she had planned, but it was worth it. Auditions for the production team were only next week, and I need to stay in shape. Not that my mother would let me eat too much in the first place, but I couldn't take any risks. I didn't really need to eat tonight, anyway.
Plus, I probably need to FaceTime Maddie later. Gosh, she's fun to hook up with, but I need to tell her about Vi.
Probably.
Maybe.
We'll see how it goes.