❝You're with me for life, now. No going back.❞
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It had been a couple of days since Ella had made her arrival and things were going great, for the most part. Maxie had shown her around some parts of the city, whilst Riley had been spending a lot of time with her during studio hours, and a lot of time after rehearsal, too. It's not that Maxie was jealous, though she'd never admit it if she were, she just thought it was weird how close the two girls had become, especially without the involvement of herself.
A new day called for another group rehearsal, with all thirteen dancers, bar Michelle, who was still helping her mum move down to Madison, and Amanda, who had just flown over to Sweden as per Miss Kate's request for the exchange programme.
As soon as the number came to an end, applause sounded from the proud studio head, "Great job, you guys!" She repeated the same four words she did after every rehearsal, almost like clockwork, "Take five, grab some water, catch your breath and we're gonna do it again, alright?"
"Look what just came in the mail," Phoebe bounced into the room, her face a picture of excitement and childlike joy as she held a familiar green envelope in her hands, "It's from Internationals."
Sharing the same sense of joy, Kate rushed forward to grab it from her, however, her plans were foiled as her sister quickly snatched it out of reach, giving Kate a stern look as she refused, "No, it's my turn, you opened it last time."
"So?" Kate snapped, confused as to why Phoebe was becoming territorial over a simple letter.
Giselle, who was standing closest to the two adults, sighed, obviously having had enough of their bickering, "Okay, I'll read it," She smiled, gently removing it from Phoebe's grasp as she slipped the envelope open and read aloud, "Any round that ends in a tie will be decided by a duet battle. So, who do you think our duet will be?"
"Well," West smirked, taking a step forward as he began, "You know, West and I got a pretty good duet going on, so, you know, I think we can make it work," He told the group, trying his best to conceal the laughter threatening to emerge at his own joke.
"West and you?" Giselle repeated confusedly, whilst Maxie just shook her head with a small grin, slightly amused at her boyfriend's antics.
"West and I," The boy repeated with a smile.
Elvita furrowed her brows as she looked over at Noah, who seemed just as confused, "West, a duet takes two people, it doesn't make sense."
Giselle, still perplexed as to what West was trying to get at, tried to keep the group focused, "Okay, maybe West's got a point, sort of. How about you and Maxie take the duet, it'd probably come out better if your girlfriend was involved, don't you think?"
"You know what?" West began dramatically, pointing a finger at Giselle as he did so, "You're so right, I can't believe I didn't even think of it," He broke out into a grin, placing his arm around Maxie's shoulders as she just chuckled at his nonsense behaviour.
"I think Maxie and West will be perfect for the duet," Giselle explained with a smile, "They've been dating for a while now and their chemistry is unmatched. And although James and Riley were our duet for Nationals, their relationship was very hit and miss, and so was their routine, we can't afford to have that again."
Maxie chuckled lightly, "I mean, I don't know if it'll live up to the double West duet going on, but I can give it my best shot."
"I'm actually really looking forward to doing this duet with West," The girl smiled innocently, fiddling with the necklace he'd gifted her a few weeks ago, "We haven't really done an official duet as boyfriend and girlfriend, and, if it came down to it, doing one at Internationals together would be such an amazing experience."
As the group slowly began to disperse, West turned to Maxie with a smile, "So, you wanna get this thing done after rehearsal? We could book out the studio, maybe get a couple of hours in, take breaks down in Hidalgos if you want," He added with a grin, eliciting a chuckle from Maxie.
Just as the girl was about to respond, a pair of voices from beside her caught Max off-guard.
"So, since James has band practice 'till three, I can give you a tour of the city after rehearsal's over, if you want," Riley explained to the girl beside her, spiking Maxie's interest further as her eyes landed on her old best friend.
"Yeah, that'd be great, Riles," Ella grinned, in an almost over-exaggerated manner as she moved over to link arms with her apparent new friend. The closeness of the two sparked some unknown emotion in Maxie that she hadn't felt before, or, at least, not in a long time; she had no idea how to react to it.
Stepping closer to the pair, she cleared her throat, trying to get both of their attention, "I thought I was showing you 'round the city today, El? We spoke about this last night."
Ella shrugged, hardly throwing Maxie a second glance as she smiled at Riley, "Yeah, well, it seems you're a bit preoccupied now, with that duet of yours, so Riley kindly agreed to step in. I would've been shown the same things, anyway, doesn't matter who shows me around, does it?"
"Guess not," Max felt her heart sink in her chest at the sight of what once was her best friend slowly caring less and less — it may have seemed dramatic to think that way, but for Maxie, her mind wouldn't let it go. She'd overthink about it for hours, even if the small interaction only played on Ella's mind for a few moments or less.
The girls were pulled away from their conversation by the arrival of a familiar dancer, walking back into the studio with a sheepish smile on her face. "Hey, guys," Michelle grinned, eliciting an echo of friendly greetings from the troupe, who hadn't seen her in a few days since helping her mum move back down to Madison.
"So, you're here now," West spoke up, his attention now on the situation at hand rather than whatever was going on between Max and Ella, "But are you staying or are you going back to Madison?"
The answer looked like it was fighting to make its way past the blonde's lips and a smile struggled to form whilst the silence of the room lingered within the pause. "I've decided to say here," She beamed, causing the others, bar Ella, who'd never met the girl, to cheer, rushing forward to envelop her in a group hug all of them had long awaited.
Ultimately, Michelle's heart was with The Next Step, no matter what had been going on in her home life, she felt she had to be there for the team — they couldn't be happier with her decision.
‧₊˚✩
It had been three hours since rehearsal had ended and Maxie and West had begun running through their duet: for the most part, things had been running smoothly, with one or two disagreements on the moves cracking through the hard-working exterior, the two had agreed to get themselves a juice and a snack to take a break and rekindle whatever it was that had got their connection flowing through the dance initially.
"I'll get us our stuff, you go get us a table, yeah?" West told the girl as he squeezed her hand, he knew his girlfriend, and he knew when she was stressed. Despite the already heavy pressure of Captaining an Internationals-competing team, having to create a duet to solve a potential tiebreaker, and the lack of time she had left in her schedule to allow her to focus on her schoolwork, there was definitely something else plaguing her mind.
Sitting down at one of the high chairs in the centre of the café, Maxie sighed, resting her head in the palm of her hand as she scanned the room, her eyes landing on two girls in particular. It was with a heavy heart that Maxie watched Ella and Riley from across the room, giggling and laughing with each other over chips and swapping accents.
Envy was a very ugly emotion that Maxie never liked experiencing: she liked to believe that if she worked hard enough, she could achieve anything she wanted, without needing to wish for it through others around her. And, just like many occasions before when Ella would purposefully go off with a different 'friend' for no particular reason, she hated feeling the emotion begin to bubble up inside of her.
Ella was supposed to be her best friend, regardless of whether or not she was working on a duet, she should've been able to find time to spend with Max, not go around sharing secrets and pranks with Riley that they should've been doing to make up for lost time.
"Hello? Earth to Maxie," The girl's trance was interrupted at the sight of her boyfriend taking a seat opposite her, chuckling at the way she blinked harshly as she snapped out of it, readjusting to her surroundings whilst her eyes darted away from the girls at the counter.
West, however, was quick to catch on, having already greeted Riley when ordering their food, and noticing Ella seemingly acting quite friendly beside her, now finally noticing the shift in Maxie's mood, all the puzzle pieces fit into place.
"You're jealous," His eyebrows raised, almost inquisitively, almost bemusedly, "That's a first."
Maxie scoffed, reaching out to grab the CapriSun from him, "Hey, that's not true, I'm not... jealous," the word came out as a whisper, almost as if Max was too afraid to fully admit it, "It's just weird seeing them together, that's all."
"I get it," West chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "How do you think I felt when Marcel and some of the guys from Seeds invited you, James and Eldon out for a celebratory party after Regionals? It's weird, seeing old friends get on with new ones, especially when they're from a part of your life you liked to keep to yourself."
Maxie swallowed, "Look, I'm not jealous, alright? I'm glad Riley's making friends, especially since Emily's out, and James is spending all his spare time with his band, it's good for her to finally open up a bit more."
"But?" West continued for her. He knew his girlfriend well enough to notice when she wasn't entirely satisfied with an outcome or situation.
"It just feels like I've had hardly any time to spend with Ella since she got here, it's like she's actively trying to spend more time with Riley than she is with me. And I'm used to that by now, she used to do it all the time in England, I got used to it. But by spending more time with them, she'd be taking that friendship I had away from me, too, and I don't want her doing that again, especially not with you guys," She rambled, her voice growing more unsteady with each word that brushed past her lips.
West reached out across the table, his fingers interlocked with Maxie's when they touched, and his soothing touch seemed to control her heart rate and calm her senses, "Those schemes to take your friends may have worked at Summerfield," He began, squeezing her hands lightly so that she'd look up to meet him in the eye, "But it's not gonna work here. You're the heart of our team, Maxie, you're our captain, and most importantly, you're a person for all of us to go to when we need you. Nobody can change that, not even you."
"You promise I'm not gonna lose anyone?" She muttered hesitantly, trying her hardest to believe West's reasoning, "I can't... I don't want to lose anyone, especially not you."
"Hey, hey," He rushed to reassure her, "You're not gonna lose me, ever, I promise you that." The boy smirked, unclasping one of his hands so that he could hold up his pinky finger, a type of promise he hadn't made since he'd become a teenager, "Pinky swear."
Maxie chuckled lightly at the gesture; West was overjoyed to see even the slightest change in emotion, "You do realise this is sacred, right? Once I latch on, you're stuck with me for life."
"I'll take that action if it means I'm with you," He smiled back, eliciting another chuckle from Maxie before she reached her hand forward, finishing the pinky promise across the table.
"You're with me for life, now," She mumbled, leaning further forward to place a kiss against his hand, "No going back."
"No going back," West repeated with a soft smile.
‧₊˚✩
author's note,,
cute little filler chapter while im stuck revising lolss
in case any of you were wondering when the next chapter for this book (or any other book on my page) will be up, it will most likely be after the 16th of june (since that's the day of my last exam)
as always, have an amazing day/night wherever you are, and please don't be a ghost reader
stay safe <3