mint; （ a. knight ）

4. olive;

"Remind me to never take another four month vacation from dancing. I literally think my legs are going to fall off." I threw myself rather ungracefully to the floor of the dance studio to remove my heels.

"I don't get why you decided to take all three classes. Especially right after each other." I was weirdly grateful for Carys' lack of sympathy for me. It was refreshing. She was right, of course, 

I shoved my heels in my dance bag, catching sight of my hair in the mirror. Yikes. "I got excited. I wanted to do it all."

"Elsie Koehler! I knew that was you!" I turned at the sound Tyler's voice from across the studio.

I stood up and threw my arms around him, laughing when he picked me up to spin me around a few times. "You know I love taking your classes, Ty!" I told him, smiling warmly at him.

"Thanks for the heads up that Ellie was coming back, Rys." Tyler directed the comment to Carys who was still sitting on the floor.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. Sue me," Carys said, shrugging her shoulders, unbothered as always.

"Are you surprised or what?" I turned to Tyler, grinning.

"I am! Holy shit!" He picked me up one more time and spun me around, which made me laugh again. "Are you gonna come back to work?"

I faltered slightly, my shoulders dropping. "I'm, uh, not sure, actually." I scratched the inside of my wrist anxiously. "I kind of left here in a hurry, which is really bad form. I didn't think I'd get another chance to teach here."

"Are you kidding? You're a great teacher and I know Noelle would love you have you back," Tyler told me. "I'll give her a call as soon as I'm done here and let you know what's up."

"You really don't have to do that, Ty."

It wasn't like me to be so discouraged but I had left quickly, without a two weeks notice. I wouldn't give me another chance, honestly. I'd proved to be a bit unreliable by just dropping everything and running.

"Don't be silly. I want to help." Tyler sighed and reached for my hands, squeezing them in his own. "Besides, we all understand why you left. Nobody is mad at you for any of that."

I nodded. "Okay. Call Noelle and then let me know what's going on. I appreciate you so much, Ty."

"I love you, Ellie Bell!" Tyler said and then hugged me tight to him again.

"I love you, too, Ty Dye." I squeezed him back.

"Are you guys almost done? Ellie has a date after this!" Carys cut in.

I kicked my leg out at her playfully, narrowly avoiding kicking her since she moved out of the way at the last second, and Tyler gasped a little too dramatically. "A date! Who with?"

"It's not a date! We're just hanging out!" I almost yelled and then turned my attention back to Tyler. "His name is Awsten. He's in this band and they're going on tour for almost a month so he wanted to hang out before he left."

"A band, huh?" Tyler asked and pulled his phone out. "They any good?"

"They're decent, yeah," I said. "They're called Waterparks."

"They must be famous. They're on Spotify," Tyler commented casually. He must've pulled their page up.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I'll see y'all later." I pinned Carys with a glare. "Stop telling people Awsten and I are dating!"

"You'll thank me later when y'all get married," she said airily. "Have fun! Call me later!"

Showering after dance class was almost as amazing as dancing itself. I couldn't believe that I waited so long to start dancing again. I hated feeling like I was being a coward, hiding away in Louisiana when Matt had clearly moved on so easily. Why shouldn't I move on, too? I got myself ready, fixed my hair and makeup, shot Awsten a quick text and then got in my car to head over to his house.