PLEASE READ!
Until like May 20th, I will be taking a break from writing due to a huge AP test coming up that I really need to study for and 'job' training. It's not that I hate writing or anything but education definitely comes before Wattpad.
I hope you all understand! :)
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“Okay, you’re in the clear. Just take it easy.”
I just stared at my doctor and waited for him to say, ‘Just kidding! You’re leg is never getting better!’ but it never happened so I got excited.
“So I can dance?”
“If you take it carefully—“
“But I can dance.”
Doctor Hunt smiled and patted my knee. “Yes, Peyton. But promise me you’re not going to go burning down sheds anytime soon.”
I gave him a nervous laugh and looked down, “I can definitely promise you that…”
I actually got to drive myself home that day. With my no-longer-broken leg, I was able to push on the gas pedal with ease.
Dancing. I was finally able to do it again after a few excruciating months of doing nothing. But like my doctor advised me, I promised to take it easy. After all this time away from it I had one thought that ran through my mind the entire way home.
What if I can’t dance now?
I don’t mean like I can’t move my feet but rather what is I’m horrible? What if my knee still makes it hard and it will be like that forever? Now I was actually really scared about getting back into it.
Only a few days have passed since the pool incident. Things were… fine, I guess, with Jace. It wasn’t awkward, there weren’t anymore almost-kissing incidents, and we were practically friends. Now Dillon on the other hand… He keeps making innuendos about Jace and I whenever a good opportunity pops up.
School was probably the biggest thing that had changed. Lindsay and Kayla were no longer friends due to the whole Jace-confessing thing. Apparently Lindsay was mad that Kayla never told her then Kayla basically screamed at her that all of it had gotten out courtesy of her.
People weren’t as fake around me and gave me genuine smiles whenever they’d see me in the hallway. To them, I was just a girl who paid deeply for the affects of rumors. Since then I haven’t heard one bad thing said about me.
Kayla and Jace on the other hand…
They got hate and took it with their heads high.
When I got home I practically skipped to my front door, happy that I was finally able to do something like that. Now that’s I’m cured I need to get back in shape so I can hopefully participate in the dance competition before winter break in a few weeks.
I got inside and did a little twirl when I saw my dance studio welcoming me in. But first things first: It’s time to get ready for the carnival.
Every year around this time my town holds its annual carnival where there is dancing, games, and stuff like that. Truthfully, it’s pretty lame but if you’re able to cut loose and act like a kid again then it’s a lot of fun. And because I don’t really have friends, I’m going with Dillon and his pals…. Including Jace.
Nothing matters though because I’m in such a good mood now. Nothing was going to bring me down.
After a quick dinner, I slipped into some jeans that actually complimented my figure because I didn’t have to worry about the cast anymore. With a jacket on as well, I met Dillon in the kitchen before we set off for the carnival.
“Okay, calm down,” Dillon chuckled as he drove down the street. I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat because I was so excited for this carnival. What’s not to like about the greasy food, the dangerous rides, and the obviously rigged games?
Well…
I don’t care about all that ‘negative’ stuff because the carnival is one of my favorite childhood memories. Also, some bad things as well that consist of puking after eating then going on a ride. Whoops.
We pulled into the crowded parking lot and as soon as we parked, I hopped out in excitement. Dillon laughed at me and we walked up to the front gate, paid for our wristbands, and went inside. We immediately found Luke plus a few others and stood by them as we waited for everyone else.
Most of the people I knew, such as Alyssa who came running to Dillon’s arms then kissed him. Gross. I can see why Dillon hated seeing Jace and I kissing back when we were ‘dating.’
Speaking of Jace, he just walked up and started talking to some of the guys that I didn’t know in the group as I consoled myself to Tessa, a girl on the dance team, to talk to. Once everyone was here I realized that I only knew a few people containing, Tessa, Jace, Dillon, Luke, Alyssa, and Sean. The rest were people that I’ve seen in the halls and such, but never knew their name.
We traveled through the fair while figuring out what to do. We finally decided on doing some rides first and then moving on to some of the games and such.
After a few rides in which we all got to stay together and not split off in pairs, Alyssa decided she wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Immediately everyone began picking partners and I saw Jace looking at me when Sean stepped into my line of vision.
“Will you go on with me?” He asked. “We really need to talk…”
I bit my lip and looked at Jace for a second before nodding at my ex. “Okay…” We walked to go stand in line and I knew that Jace was staring.
After waiting for about five minutes, we got onto the ride and Sean sighed.
“So how are you?” He questioned awkwardly while looking down at his fingers. “I see you’re walking now without any cast.”
Was this the only thing he wanted to talk about? “Yeah… I, uh, I’m okay now. My leg healed.”
He nodded once and looked out on our view of the fair as the ride went around and around. “I know I’ve said this before but I’m sorry. For everything that happened back then. I fucked up. I’m not saying this because I want to get back together because I know that that’ll never happen especially now that you have something going on that’s real with Jace.” I opened my mouth to object but he just laughed. “Don’t even try to deny it, Peyton. Now continuing, I just want us to be friends or if not that, at least acquaintances.”
“I guess I should say I’m sorry too… For the whole revenge thing. It wasn’t fair of me to pull that on you.”
“It worked.”
I smiled and ran my fingers through my hair. “I figured judging by your reactions…” I trailed off. “Now going back to what you said before. I don’t have anything going on with Jace!”
He gave me a half smile, “Yeah, right. I think you’re forgetting that we went out for a year. I know how you act around a guy that you like. And it’s pretty obvious that he likes you too.”
“I-I…” I stuttered. “I don’t know how I feel.”
“Just go for it. What do you have to lose? He likes you. He won’t hurt you. You’re the only one who isn’t going for it.”
But there’s more to that. Way more.
“I still don’t know,” I admitted. “There are a lot of things to consider if we do get into a relationship.”
“Okay but consider this, Peyton. He’d treat you a hell of a lot better than I did when we were going out. I’m not saying I didn’t like you or anything but he definitely likes you more than I ever will in that sort of context. He’s a nice guy. Just because he made some shitty decisions in the past doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s just a matter of others forgetting them or not.”
The ride ended then and we got off. I think I surprised both Sean and myself when I wrapped my arms around his torso and dug my face into his chest. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how greatly that helped me out.”
“Glad to be of service,” He grinned as we pulled apart. “So we friends?”
I sincerely smiled at him for the first time in what seems like forever, “Friends.”
Around five minutes later, everyone was off the Ferris wheel so we decided to do some games. Jace immediately caught up to me and threw his arm around my shoulder. “Hey,” he grinned down. “We haven’t talked all night.”
I thought about what Sean had said. “Well maybe I was trying to get away from you,” I teased but smiled as well to show him that I was joking.
“Who would ever want to stay away from Jace Harley?” He winked and poked one of my dimples. “So what did Sean have to talk to you about?”
I shrugged. “Stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Yeah.”
“Very specific, Pey. You’re giving me a ton of details right now.”
I smiled at him and made the voluntary move to wrap my arm around his waist so we were both holding each other while we walked. I know this surprised him but Jace smiled down at me.
By this time we had reached the games with the group. “Pick a game and I’ll win you the stuffed animal,” he told with as he squeezed my shoulder.
I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t some crappy toy that you literally have to pay like a hundred dollars to get.”
He laughed, “Good because I only said that to be a gentleman. I’m really bad at those things.”
I rolled my eyes and saw the others in the group break apart to go play different games. I turn to Jace and see him looking all around. His eyes land on something and a smile breaks out on his face.
“Come on,” He started dragging me away from the rest of the group and towards a covered area. I couldn’t tell what was going on but I heard music radiating from inside to find a place where people are dancing from ages barely able to walk to people who are near the end of their life.
“Dancing?”
“Your leg is better, right?” He grinned when I nodded. “Then let’s dance!”
He leads me inside where a band is playing some slow-ish song. It wasn’t like a dance party or a formal dance, but it was… nice. People held each other in their arms and spun around the dance floor moving to different beats.
Jace immediately grabs my hands and pulls me to his body. One of his hands intertwines with mine while the other goes to my waist. I laugh, push my body closer to his, and rest my own hand on his shoulder as we slowly went around.
“So,” A bright smile lit up his face. “What were you and Sean talking about?”
Is he seriously on this again? Oh well. Maybe I could have some fun with it. “Our relationship. I’ve decided to give him another chance.”
I watched as many emotions played out on his face within a matter of seconds. Surprise. Confusion. Anger. Sadness. I started laughing and the angry part returned. “Hey! Not funny at all.”
I shrugged and he spun me around in a circle before pulling me closer to his body than before. “I thought it was considering how caught up you are on the subject.”
“I’m a curious guy.”
“More like a nosy guy.”
“Come on, Pey! I just want to know what you two were talking about. Is that too much to ask?”
I looked at him, the slightly pouting lip to prove his point, and gave in. “Fine. He wanted to apologize for cheating.”
Jace raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe it. “And?”
“And that’s all.”
He snorted. “He so wants to get in your pants.”
“No!” I’m flustered and words are pouring out. “He thinks that I—“ I slam my mouth shut before I could finish off with ‘like you.’
“That you what?” I shook my head and an evil smile went across his face. “Sean thinks that you what, Pey?” I still refused to tell him. He quickly dipped me so low that my head was only centimeters from the ground. He grabbed my thigh and the back of my neck to steady me and leaned closer to my face. “Tell me!”
“Why do you have to be so mean all the time?”
“Why don’t you tell me things?”
Did he have to answer all my questions with another question? On the upside, he brought my back up to my feet with a spin and into his arms. The song slowly changed to a more upbeat, modern song that I knew very well. Instead of being in each other’s arms, we held both of our hands together and moved around while in fits of laughter.
I was having fun. A ton of fun. As I danced around with Jace, I forgot that we came as a group. Heck, they can go do whatever the hell they want to and we can stay here. That’d be perfectly fine and encouraged by me.
The song changed into something completely different from the previous ones. Paradise by Coldplay. The song wasn’t just beautiful, but tells a deep story behind it. I hesitantly look up at Jace to see if he wants to dance to this song and he holds out his hand, which I take.
Right off the bat, the dancing was different than the fun, carefree ones before. Most people had backed away to sway to the music. Jace pulled me to his body as we danced around the room. “Dance, Pey. Truthfully. I’ll go along with it.”
I looked at him and he truly wanted to see me dance and I wanted to too. I stopped, backed away from him in the space that had gathered around the room and no one paid attention to us. I stepped forward in two large slides and connected hands with Jace as we danced around the room in a more elegant way. People began to notice and backed off more to give us room.
The lyrics began and Jace spun me in a circle before pulling me closer than ever before to his body. His hands trailed down the sides of my body before resting on my hips. His eyes never left mine despite the people coming to watch us dance.
We connected arms again and knowing that Jace had gone through dance classes a few years prior and from dancing with him before, I knew what he could do. I could also tell that my moves were pretty sloppy due to my lack of dancing and it kind of brought me down a little bit. Of course I should’ve expected to be bad at first but with a little practice, I’ll become like I was again.
I spun out of Jace’s arms with a few twirls of my own before going back to him with a little laugh as he smiled with a twinkle in his eyes. It wasn’t the usual moving back and forth dance motion that happens at high school dances. This was actual dancing. Moving around. Footwork. The whole deal and we were executing the dance greatly because the crowd was cheering.
At one of the last parts of the song, I turned around and was still pressed up close to Jace. I went down to the ground, he slid me between his legs, then grabbed my hands, pulling me to my feet and up to his body where the song ended.
The song went into something else and everyone began dancing again. Jace and I stayed still, looked at each other with bright smiles on our faces.
“And that was just sex on the dance floor, ladies and gentlemen.”
We pull away to see Dillon clapping while the others are just staring at us with smiles. I even noticed Sean looking happy at us.
We walked over to them and I punched my brother in the arm. “Shut up. It was fine.”
“The dance was good,” He grinned. “Just… Intense too. It wouldn’t have worked with anyone other than you two.”
I felt myself turn a little red when Jace slung his arm over my shoulders again. “Well, then let’s not just stand here!” He said. “Let’s all dance!”
With a laugh, he spun me out onto the dance floor again and everyone followed. During this slow song, I put my arms around his neck while his went to my waist, pulling me closer and closer to his body.
“Are you having fun?”
I nodded. “Tons. This is the best thing I’ve done in ages.”
“Maybe because you’re with me,” he smirked.
With an eye roll, I replied to him, “No. I think because I’m finally able to dance even though I’m really sloppy.”
“Please. You were great!”
“But—“
He spun me around in a few circles then ended in a dip before bringing me back up to his body. “Really now? I may have done that but you definitely reacted. You’ll always be able to dance no matter what happens.”
“What if I lose my legs?”
He flicked my nose and I grinned. “Don’t be a brat.”
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oh! And by the way, this is the last filler chapter before things start coming to an end! I know how every chapter is going to go now :)