Hours later, they were all packed and sitting on the small jet taking them home. Wilmer had arrived in Texas hours ago and had taken Sofia to her new dance year orientation and then went to go grocery shopping, he had texted and called her just before they boarded. Faith sat beside her, playing a game of the ipad as they began to roll across the runway.
The flight was quick and easy, both mother and child slept most of the time and later arrived at almost one in the morning. Wilmer and a very sleepy Sofia awaited for them at the airport. Sofia greeted her mother with a small hug, breathing in the scent of the much-loved woman she hadn't seen in almost a month.
Wilmer took the sleeping Faith from his fiance's arms and moved her into her car seat in the car, covering her up with a loose blanket that was on the seat beside her. Sofia also moved into the car, sitting down in her booster seat, that she believed she did not need at almost twelve years old, but her mother insisted her sat in it because of her weight of barely seventy pounds. She was cuddled up in her own blanket and back to sleep within a few seconds.
"Why didn't you just hire a sitter?" Demi asked as she hugged and softly kissed her man, resting against his chest as they watched their children in the car.
"She insisted that she come with." Demi nodded her head softly and continued to stare, she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep forever. They chatted for a few moments before returning to their car and driving to their home.
The next morning, Demi woke to the smell of her favorite tea and the laughs of her children downstairs. She grinned as she stood up and made her way slowly down the stairs. In the living room, she saw Faith sitting with her older sister on the floor playing with her much loved Littlest Pet Shop figurines. Both of her children loved them and could play with them for hours.
"Good morning." She said to her fiance as they embraced, taking the opportunity to kiss as the children had yet to notice Demi's entrance. As she grabbed a cup of tea, both of her girl's came running towards her and jumped onto her. Sofia was barely up to her collarbone and Faith just about hit her hip as they hugged her, they were both very short children, with a very short mother.
"Mom, are you coming to dance with me today? I have my audition for the intermediate competition team today." Sofia asked, the eleven-year-old was out dancing every one of the junior girls on her team last year and had been asked onto the intermediate team, but at ten, Demi felt she was too young to be hanging with the teenagers and all that came with them. Most of her friends were on the junior team anyways which ran until age thirteen, but Sofia's teachers thought she was doing too well to keep her behind this year.
"Yes, both Wilmer and I will be there because Miss Faithlyn is getting signed up for classes, finally." With her youngest turned four in March, she was able to start real dance, not toddler classes, this year.
Faith had been unaware of this and her eyes shot open, both she and her sister let out a loud squeal and danced around the room.
"Okay, Okay, calm down. You also have your last soccer game tonight and Gym starts back up bright and early tomorrow morning for conditioning." If Sofia made it onto the competitive team she would be at the dance studio four days a week, Monday, Tuesday and Friday for normal classes and all of Saturday for her solo and competitive classes. Both girls took Soccer every summer, although Sofia had missed the last month of practice, and took gymnastics Thursday nights. It was a busy week for them, but they all enjoyed it. Wilmer worked in town in his own recording studio but was still on summer vacation until September.
Demi sat with her children for a few minutes, nursing her cup of tea as they spoke about their day. Wilmer ultimately decided to go out to work for the afternoon so Demi could spend the day with the girl's, as dance was a girly thing that they all did together.
Later on, after both girls were dressed and settled on their iPad's in the living room, Demi ventured up the stairs to one of the two guest rooms where they kept binds of old clothing and toys of the girl's. Inside the closet where they kept Sofia's old clothing she pulled down a bucket labeled "Dance." Inside she found old tights and leotards, shorts and pants, shoes and much more. There were many more clear buckets filled with costumes, but those were for another day. She then brought the bucket downstairs to the girl's.
Sofia grinned and dropped her pink iPad onto the couch, running over to the bucket. These clothes were from when she was much younger, but not that much smaller. Although Demi doubted that Faith would fit in even the smallest leotard, it was fun to look through and pick out some to keep for when she gets a bit bigger.
"I remember this one!" Sofia grinned, picking up the leotard from her studio in LA that she bought. She held it up toward her, the bottom piece barely hit her belly button, it made Demi wonder where the time had gone.
With more looking, they found a few that Faith deemed hers and the box of things was carried back upstairs and the girl's were instructed to go get ready for heading to dance. Sofia put on her tan tights and her black short sleeve leotard, as instructed by the audition paper and began to pack up her bag as Demi helped Faith put on a pair of black shorts and a t-shirt, she would be buying Faith her own dance wear at the studio just before her ballet class that day.
After her bag was packed with all her shoes, extra tights, water bottle, warm up bands and things as well as anything else she needed, Demi brushed out both their hairs and braided the front, pulling the backs into tight ballet buns. Hair was done, bags were packed and all three ran out to the car where Demi strapped them both in and drove to the studio.
"I'm so excited!" Four-year-old Faith said as they entered the building. Sofia ran ahead to a group of girls she knew from the last few years, all of whom were on the Junior team still while her daughter was auditioning for the Intermediate team.
Demi shook her head at her excited eleven year old as she began to stretch out her basically boneless body. She took her four year old's hand and headed towards the office where the herd of new children being signed up for classes that morning. Several tables lined the large gym used for large group practices. Parents and children were everywhere as Demi looked around for an open spot in the lines. She smiled as she moved her four-year-old towards a blonde woman who waved her over.
"Hello there!" She said as she opened her book to a new page for them to fill out. Demi sat down and pulled Faith onto her lap, discussing to the woman that they wanted to sign her up for a couple classes. She handed Demi the paperwork to fill out for a new dancer as Faith explained to her that she was going to take some classes like her big sister and the woman smiled back at her, chatting away as her daughter talked.
Paperwork was finished quickly and she was registered into the system. Demi was given a card stating Faith was a registered student of the dance school with her name on it so she could purchase ideas in the store.
Each level of recreational classes had a different set of requirements for clothing wise, as Faith had been signed up for level one ballet and tap so she had to go and buy the appropriate dance wear for each class. Ballet required a light blue leotard with the connected wrap skirt with pink ballet tights and ballet slippers of their choice, tap required a black leotard, tan full footed tights as well as black tap shoes and recommended either a skirt or shorts of any color.
When they finished buying everything for her classes, they headed to the change rooms with her card and the package they gave her and found the set of 4-6-year-old hooks where Demi put her name on top of the hook. She had purchased her a dance bag as well as everything else she would need. Registration hours were finished and level one classes were beginning in a few minutes so they needed to quickly change, they were late to sign up because of them being a little farther out. Demi quickly dressed her daughter in the blue leotard, tights, slippers and skirt before tucking everything else in her bag, moving her towards the door to bring her to studio E to begin her ballet class to begin.
"Have fun, baby." Demi stayed for a few moments to watch the beginning of the class, took a few pictures and returned to the lobby where Sofia was dancing in the first studio. She watched her daughter from the window, snapping a few photos and soon after she returned to the window, they were lined up, the audition was almost finished. Demi turned away to look over at the window to studio E that was directly on the other side, she was just able to see her other daughter from where she sat and she smiled as she watched her shy child giggled with the other little girls at the bar.
The doors opened a split second later and she turned to see her child and the rest of the older children running out of the door, all covered in sweat and red-faced. Sofia grinned as she walked over to her mom, they had to wait until the paper was posted on the board who made it onto the team. All of the children towered over her tiny daughter, being eleven among thirteen-year-olds and it was pretty obvious she was younger.
Sofia came running over to her mother, sitting down next to her on the bleachers. She nursed a cup of ice told water as she shook her leg nervously, playing a game on her iPad as she waited for the results to be posted. As she was so deep in thought, she did not see one of the women from the audition room come from the office, her heels clicking along the hardwood floors until the other girls got up and began to move.
Demi watched her eleven-year-old run over and squeeze through the crowd just in time to see her youngest coming through the doors of her dance studio, running over to her mother as Sofia returned.
"I made it, mommy!" Sofia yelled, the young girl grinned, jumping into her mom's arms as Faith grabbed onto her legs. Demi hugged her girl's and grinned, her youngest daughter's hand on her stomach as they hugged it out.
After finishing up Faith's last class classes for the day, her 45-minute tap class, Demi brought the girl's home, let them showered, fed them dinner and off to soccer they went around 5:30. Wilmer met them at the field where Demi sat between the junior team and the mini team, Sofia on the right, Faith on the left. Wilmer sat down beside Demi in his own lawn chair, leaning down to kiss her and picked up one of the girl's water bottles, taking a big drink.
"Hi babe." He said with a smile, reaching over and held onto her hand as she smiled, answering her man as Sofia's team came running over and bent down, kissing Wilmer on the cheek as she took her water bottle from his hand, her soccer jersey hanging off her body, half tucked in, her blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail that was half falling out as sweat dripped down her forehead.
"Hey kiddo." Wilmer smiled at the girl as she drank, putting the water bottle back down when she was finished, turning to run back to the field.
"Hi dad." She yelled back as she returned to the game. Wilmer turned to look at Demi, their eyes shining with happiness, love and joy.