I woke up the next day and was immediately ready for the competition. I felt like today was going to be a good day. After I got dressed, I went downstairs to the hotel cafe. I saw Maks and Artem sitting in a booth drinking coffee.
"Morning, Boys" I say.
"Hey, Kinley" Maks says and moves over for me to sit beside him. He slid his coffee cup in my direction.
"Thanks" I say and take a drink.
"You're in a good mood" Artem says.
"I know. I woke up just...feeling good" I say.
"Hopefully some of that energy you have will help us win" Maks says.
"It will" I say and smile at him.
"Look, There's Alan and Sasha" Artem says. I turn around to see Alan and Sasha walking into the cafe. Alan was wearing his camouflage sweatpants and no shirt. Those sweatpants killed me.
"Good Morning" Sasha says.
"How's it going?" Artem asks.
"Good, We came down for some coffee" Sasha answers. "Can we join you all?". Maks and Artem look at each other. I knew they didn't like Alan, but I thought this would be a good opportunity for them to start liking him.
"Of course you all can" I answer. Maks and Artem both shot me a glare.
"Great. We'll be right back" Sasha says. He and Alan walk away.
"Kinley!" Artem exclaims.
"Why did you do that?" Maks asks.
"Oh, Come on, Do you all really hate him that much that you can't even have a cup of coffee with him?" I ask. They stay quiet. "If you guys talked to him I think you'd like him".
"Why do you think that?" Artem asks.
"I didn't think I'd like him at first either, but when we got paired up for English class we actually became friends and I don't think it's fair that you two are judging him before you know him" I say.
"She's right, Man" Maks says. Sasha and Alan return with their coffee. Artem slides over for Sasha to sit next to him and Alan pulled up a chair.
"Alan...Tell us about yourself" Maks says. "Makinley says your a cool guy".
"I...What do you want to know?" Alan asks.
"What do you like doing besides dancing?" Artem asks.
"I-I like to write...and play guitar" He answered.
"Guitar? That's cool" Artem says.
"Are you Russian?" Maks asks.
"Yeah. Yeah, When I was growing up, my family only spoke Russian" Alan says. Maks smiled and said something to him in Russian. Maks, Alan, Artem, and Sasha all spoke to each other that way for ten minutes and I couldn't understand a thing.
*****
It was a few minutes before Gleb and I were performing our contemporary routine. I was waiting backstage for Gleb to meet up with me when Alan came over.
"Hey, Kill it out there" He says.
"Yeah. You too" I say.
"I'll wait for you outside your dressing room before the results, okay?" He asks.
"Okay" I say. He walks away and Glen comes to meet me. He was wearing right black pants and no shirt and I was wearing a flowy black dress.
"Ready?" He asks. They all knew I got nervous before performing but once I got on stage I was perfectly fine.
"Yeah. I'm ready" I say. Our names were called and we took our places. We ended the routine with my forehead on his and as the song ended we kissed. The audience cheered as Gleb and I ran off stage.
"Perfect" Gleb said. I leaped in his arms and he spun me around and kissed my cheek.
"Were so winning" I say as he put me down.
*****
Our dance studio won first in every category we competed in. It was 5:30 when we finally got to go back to our rooms. Alan didn't meet me outside our dressing room after the competition. I figured he got caught up doing stuff with his studio. Jenna, Mischa, and I all went down to the hotel Cafe and got coffee. We all sat and talked for a while.
"Why didn't Witney and Lindsay want to come down?" Mischa asks.
"They found a mal" I answer.
"Oh" She says. "Where are the boys?".
"Food" Jenna answers. "They all wanted to try Texas Barbecue".
"Of course they did" Mischa says.
"Ewe" Jenna says. I look behind me and spot Brittany and Hayley walking up to us.
"Here we go" I say.
"You got lucky tonight, Palmer" Brittany says.
"Did I?" I ask with a shocked look. "Or am I just better?" I ask shifting my face into a smirk.
"We could have won" She spouts back.
"Well then why didn't you?" I ask. "If you're supposed to be 'so good' why does my studio have the first place trophy?".
"You got lucky" Hayley starts in.
"Or, Like She said, Maybe we're better" Jenna defends me.
"God, I don't know why Alan is even friends with you. You're such a bitch" Brittany says.
"I guess he's had a lot of practice. He does have to share a studio with you doesn't he?" I say. She and Hayley both gave me a disgusted look.
"Let's go" Brittany says and looks at Hayley. They walked away.
"I hate them" Jenna says.
"I-Im going up to the room" I say. I walk out of the cafe and get in the elevator. When I got off, I saw Alan walking to his room. I ran to catch up with him. "Hey". I grab the back of his arm. He turns around to face me.
"Hey" He says. He didn't smile.
"Y-You didn't meet me" I say.
"Yeah, I know" He says.
"Were you...Busy?" I ask.
"No. I just thought maybe you were off somewhere making out with your new man" He says.
"What?" I ask. I genuinely didn't know what he was talking about.
"You and Gleb seemed to be getting pretty friendly on and off stage" He says.
"What? T-The kiss?" I ask.
"Yes, The kiss" He states sternly.
"Alan, It was nothing" I say.
"Nothing? You seemed into it" He says.
"I-I wasn't into anything. It was acting" I say.
"Acting? That's what your calling it? Because I call it cheating" He says. I couldn't help but laugh at how stupid the remarks he was making sounded.
"Cheating?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, Cheating. You kissed another guy" He says.
"Are you actually mad at me for doing what I was told to do for a dance?".
"Yeah, Maybe I am".
"Okay, You do know how ridiculous you're sounding, Right?" I say. "The kiss was for our dance and it didn't mean anything".
"How many times did you do it?" He asks.
"I don't know" I answer. "We had to do it every time we rehearsed and we rehearsed a lot".
"So you've just been lying to me this whole week! " He shouts. I really didn't know where this was coming from.
"Lying to you?!".
"Yes! You never told me once that you were kissing him for your dance.You had mutilate opportunities too, but you didn't!".
"I didn't because it wasn't any of your business!" I shout back.
"It is my business!" He shouts.
"Why? Why is it your business? We're not a couple!". His face changed from anger to sadness.
"Yeah. Yeah you're right" He says. "I guess I'll be seeing you in English". He walked away before I got the chance to say anything. When I got to my room, I ran mine and Alan's conversation through my head a hundred times trying to figure out where all his anger came from. I was right about the situation. The kiss with Gleb was just acting and it didn't mean anything. Alan is the guy I want to be with and want to be kissing, Not Gleb, and Alan should have known that.
QUESTION: whose side are you on Alan's or Makinley's? and Why? comment below! love yall!