Saving Garnet

Falling

"Numbers three-eleven through three-twenty!" the monitor called.

Garnet jumped up from where she'd been doing deep leg stretches. She looked down at the number pinned to the front of her shirt. Three-eighteen. 

She walked to the monitor, Sean following. The woman pinned a matching number onto the back of her shirt.

"Good luck! I love you!" Jessica exclaimed.

"Good luck, honey. I love you," her mom called.

She waved at them and found her hand reaching for Sean's.

He looked down at her, eyebrows raised.

"I'm freaking out, okay?"

He squeezed her hand and let her hold onto his. She found herself calming down slightly as a smile found its way to her lips.

The monitor led them through a set of double doors. Sean parted from her, giving her hand an unexpected squeeze, and stood at the back of the room. 

The first girl climbed the steps to the stage and the monitor made the other girls turn around so they wouldn't make her nervous. Ave Maria started playing, and Garnet was immensely glad she'd chosen River Flows in You for her ballet routine.

Finally, it was Garnet's turn. She climbed the steps to the stage and got in position, catching Sean's eye before she bowed her head.

"Good luck," he mouthed.

The smile came to her face naturally as the soft piano music started playing.

Garnet put everything into the dance, knowing she moved gracefully and nailed everything. This was her best performance of the dance yet.

The judges applauded her when she finished. When she could break her ending pose, she did a little curtsy and hurried to Sean. They ran from the room and he picked her up, spinning her around in a circle.

"You were amazing!" he exclaimed. 

She grinned, holding onto him tightly before she had to pull away to hug her mother.

She was giddy with excitement, both from the dance and from Sean's reaction.

Her mom started crying as they hugged.

"Mom," she complained, holding her.

"I'm sorry! I'm just so proud of you. I don't even care how you did."

Her own eyes filled with tears as she was passed onto Jessica. She couldn't remember hearing those words from her mother.

"How were you?!" Jess demanded.

"Best performance yet," she said honestly.

Jessica squealed and hugged her. The monitor followed a girl out of the room and called for three-twenty-one through three-thirty.

"That's you!" Garnet exclaimed.

Jessica frowned. "I'm first, Garnet. I don't want to go."

Garnet pushed her. "Go! Good luck! You'll rock it! I love you!"

They shouted encouragement at Jessica and took their seats on the floor by the doors, waiting on her to come out.

Five minutes later she ran out, a huge smile on her face.

"I nailed it," she declared.

Jazz auditions were next, followed by lyrical. Then Garnet and Jessica were both called back to learn a dance and perform it for the same panel of judges.

Garnet wasn't sure about Jessica, but she nailed that, too.

They left at the end of the day, exhausted and deliriously happy. 

A cab was waiting to take the girls shopping.

"Mom?" Garnet asked.

"Sean convinced me that you girls deserved some fun after all you've done this week."

Both girls hugged her and Sean and hopped in the car.

***

Sean lounged on the bed while Garnet unpacked all of her buys, admiring them as she moved them to her suitcase.

"These are my favorite," she declared, holding up her new leather boots. They were Marc Jacobs. And they were fabulous.

Sean rolled his eyes. "Of course you like the boots better than the original Beatles album."

"That's my second favorite!" she protested.

He laughed. "Sure."

She threw a box with a bracelet from Tiffany's at him. 

"Ow!" he exclaimed.

She laughed. "Now give that box back, please."

He threw it back, almost nailing her in the head.

"Hey!"

"What?" he asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes and put the box in the separate compartment in her suitcase.

After she was all packed up, Garnet flopped down on her bed and let out a sigh.

"What?" Sean asked.

"I am exhausted."

"Go to sleep."

"I just went shopping in New York and got the motherload after my Juliard audition! There is no way I'm going to sleep."

He shook his head. "You are weird."

"Duh. I want to be a dancer for a living. Anyone crazy enough to want that is weird."

"You do have to sacrifice a lot," he agreed.

"Growing up was the hardest. I almost failed ninth grade because I missed school so much. And Jess was my only friend because no one understood why I couldn't just go to sleepovers or eat junk food at birthday parties or skip workouts for a day."

"When did you start hating it?" he asked.

"I don't hate it. I love dance."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I know it doesn't seem like it. But when I'm dancing...I don't know."

"Go on," he told her.

She smiled. "It's like everything is right in the world. And I know that sounds weird, but that's how it is."

He smiled back. "I wish I felt that way about something. I think it's neat."

She put a hand to her chest in mock surprise. "You mean to tell me bodyguarding isn't your passion?" 

He threw his head back, laughing. "Not by a long shot." 

He sobered up. "But bodyguarding you...that's something I take seriously."

She felt her cheeks heat up as a giddy feeling came over her. She rolled her eyes to cover it up.

"Seriously," he told her. "You're too amazing for anything to happen to you."

She looked up at him, not sure what he was trying to say. He met her gaze unwaveringly. "I mean it."

She looked away, her face flaming.

"You're pretty amazing, too."

She looked up at him from under her eyelashes and saw that he was smiling. Neither of them said anything else. 

She cleared her throat. "I'm going take a shower," she declared in the awkward but happy silence.

He saluted her.

She hurried to the bathroom, a change of clothes in her hand, and locked the door behind her.

She leaned against the door and let the smile she'd been holding back come out full force.