ballet (a kavi fanfic)

deux

Her favorite flowers, crimson roses, brimmed the room as well, like stains of sweetly-scented blood against the black abyss of evening. They sparkled vibrantly, flashing thick red throughout the darkness that remained inside.

She made sure not to knock anything, of course, even though she wasn't that clumsy anymore, after years of practicing to be the perfect ballerina she could be, as she moved along the creaky wooden floor, her fingers suddenly entwining against the ebony stem as she inhaled it.

And with that, she coughed, dropping the rose back into the glassy vase, her hand abruptly holding her nose.

"Kirstie, if I would have known you were gonna smell the roses, I would have bought ones that actually smelled nice," Her mother intoned, holding back a laugh as Kirstin swiveled her head around to see her mom standing in the hall- which was usually closed up for it led to their apartment and was definitely not part of the shop- which was trickling silvery light into the raven room.

"They looked way better than they smelled," Kirstin laughed, ambling up to her mom and hugging her tightly.

Angelica Maldonado had been draped in her usual attire- a good ole pair of mom jeans and a crisp, comfy white tee- with her voluminous brown hair sprawled into a messy bun, as Kirstin bombarded her with a tight embrace, causing the mother to wrap her arms around her daughter as lovingly. Kirstin breathed in the familiar aroma of Marc Jacobs' Daisy perfume- the scent her mother practically invented as she had worn it so much- as well as the sweetness of lavender, as she glanced up at her mom's beaming brown eyes.

"You're too wonderful, Mom," Kirstin exclaimed, her heart full for her kindhearted mother, as she pulled away from the hug.

"Says my ambitious and beautiful daughter who is now living her dreams," Angelica teased, resulting in Kirstin to instantaneously scrunch up her nose in disgust.

"Oh God, don't remind me," Kirstin sighed as she headed into the bright hallway, with her mom following her in confusion.

"What do you mean, Kirst?" Angelica asked, her southern accent really kicking in now- the pair had moved from Texas when Kirstin was a freshman in high school- , with a hand at her hip as they reached the staircase.

Kirstin's hand grabbed the metallic rod as she climbed up the stairs, looking over her shoulder to explain:

"After I told you that Esther told me about me winning late in the morning, I had to run all the way to rehearsals, which was exhausting but not nearly as dreadful as what happened after."

She paused again, exhaling, "my instructor is basically a major dickhead."

     Angelica's expression grew serious as she asked, "Are you sure it's the right instructor? From what I've heard, the famous Avriel Kaplan works well with students and trains them hard but fairly."

    "You're right about the hard and fairly part," Kirstin sighed again, before continuing, "but he's a big jerk. Literally couldn't believe I'm the winner, probably because of my height or something."

"Did his mind change when he saw you dance? First impressions can be kind of different- plus you did almost come late, even if he didn't know that wasn't your fault."

     "Nope. It's just that he obviously thinks I'm too short for the job. Which is not true, 'cause I did win this. Hopefully, tomorrow he'll realize that he's overreacting about how tall I am and concentrate on actually working with me. Not to mention, he barely said a thing throughout the whole thing...which is not helpful at all," Kirstin said with a pessimistic tone, her heart hoping that tomorrow they'd actually be able to dance and work together rather than her dance in complete awkward silence.