I've never been a morning person.
Anyone who knew me could attest that when I woke up my brain needed at least two hours and some strong coffee to start working properly.
That's exactly why, on Saturday that week, when I woke up at the sound of my sister's annoying voice calling my name repeatedly from downstairs, all I wanted to do was throwing a freaking chair at her right in the face and close her mouth once and for all.
Dramatic much?
"Kaycee! Come down, I need to show you something!" Kylie yelled again.
I groaned, stretching my muscles and starting to climb out of the bed.
I threw a look at the clock: 8:44.
"Give me a minute!" I finally yelled back, not sure if she could hear my words right or distorted.
Sighing I went into the bathroom in order to give my face and my overall appearance a decent look.
Some minutes later I finally went down the stairs to my living room, finding my sister on the couch with a big bite of waffle stuffed in her mouth.
"Morning, Sleeper..." she welcomed me, smirking.
"It's not even 9:00, and it's Saturday." I pointed out, sitting ungracefully next to her on the couch. "Did you make waffles?"
"Yep, they're in the kitchen..."
Being extremely hungry, I quickly stand up and made one step towards the other room, and therefore towards the waffles, but Kylie grabbed my pajama top and pulled me back beside her.
I groaned. "What?"
"I wanted to show you something! That's why I was calling you before." she explained, reaching for her phone on the coffee table and looking something up. She threw me an amused look. "You're so grumpy in the morning..."
"Oh, shut up..."
She laughed loudly at my bad mood.
Honestly, she had a lot to do with it, since she abruptly woke me up and then prevented me to feed myself with some much needed sugar.
Okay, I need to stop being so dramatic in the morning...
Kylie finally pressed something on the screen and handed me her phone. She had opened a Youtube video.
Three seconds in, I already recognized it. It was the "Overdose" class from last Monday. The one were Sean and I danced together as a duet for the first time in weeks.
"Tim uploaded it this morning..." Kylie explained, carefully studying my reactions.
I tried to act normal. It was just Sean and I dancing, we did it hundreds of times.
Although I knew it wasn't just that. And Kylie seemed to know too.
I reached the end of the video, unaware of how much I was biting my lips during the whole thing. I stopped immediately.
"You did really good." Kylie said casually, retrieving her phone from my hands. "Nice chemistry, total connection, emotions on display..."
I nodded, quietly.
"So... you two worked it out?"
I took a big breath. "Yes, we did actually..."
She seemed surprised by my answer and jumped a little on the couch.
"Oh really?!"
I saw a smile starting to spread across her face, so I understood she was getting her hopes up. I needed to stop her.
"Not in the way you think or hope we did..." I said, standing up. "We're good, thought."
Kylie frowned, probably wanting to ask more details about the situation, but I wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
I still needed to accept it myself, let alone explain it to someone else.
"God, I'm starving..." I said, making my way to the kitchen. "Let's hope those waffles are better than the pancakes you did last week..."
I heard her protest behind me, but I was out of her sight.
The day hadn't even started yet and I was already stressed like catgut.
-
I spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon in my dance studio, rehearsing for an incoming class I had to teach.
As often happened when I was alone, I got lost in the music and before I even knew it it was almost 5 in the afternoon.
I sighed, realizing I had three days left to finish the choreography for my lesson, having only about 40% of it ready.
Not even caring about turning the music off, sweaty and tired, I left the studio to grab a snack in the kitchen.
I walked across the living room, not paying attention to my surroundings as I was humming and replaying in my mind what little I had of the choreo.
So I almost didn't notice a figure in dark clothes sitting on the couch.
I gasped, suddenly acknowledging the presence in the room, and tripped on the carpet, landing ungracefully on the floor.
"Ouch!"
Two hands instantly grabbed my arms and pulled me up on my feet. I finally looked at the person standing behind me and my heart skipped a beat or two.
"Sean?"
"Hey... you alright?" he said, trying to suppress a laugh but failing. His hands were still holding me up.
What the hell is he doing here?
"Hem... Yeah, I'm fine! I just..." I started to mumble, taking a step back to break our physical contact. "I didn't see you there, I kinda..."
He laughed openly this time, fixing a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"Sorry I scared you, you seemed disconnected..." he said, in an almost uncomfortable way, maybe realizing what he just did.
Forming a complete sentence became the hardest thing on this planet for me.
"So, Sean, here is that thing your mother asked for. If she needs some help to understand how to use it, she can call me whenever she wants, okay?"
My mother entered the room, carrying a popcorn machine in her arms. Sean immediately took it from her, noticing it was quite heavy.
That's why he came here, then.
"Thanks Laura, I'll convey." he answered, smiling politely.
"A popcorn machine?" I asked, curious.
"Yeah, my mother invited some family friends to dinner tomorrow, and she wanted to do a movie-inspired night..." he shook his head. "Honestly, I didn't want to ask too many questions..."
My mother laughed, knowing very well Miya's themed dinners and how seriously she took them. "Well, I'm sure you'll have fun! Now excuse me, but I have two loads of laundry to take care of..."
She hugged Sean and told him to say hi to his parents, then disappeared in the garage.
We stood there in silence for a bit, him lightly tapping his fingers on the steel of the popcorn machine and me shifting my weight from one foot to another.
"So..." I said, pointing to the kitchen. "I'm gonna grab a snack and finish rehearsing."
"Working on something?" he asked, smiling.
He had always loved hearing about my choreographies. I was always a bit insecure when it came to my ideas and my vision, but he always encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and let everyone see what I was capable of. His words, not mine.
"Sort of..." I said, entering the kitchen and retrieving a bag of almonds from a cupboard. He followed behind. "Alex asked me to cover for him for this class on Tuesday. It's a dance studio just outside LA I've never been to..."
"Oh, that's great Kaycee! Do you have the choreo?"
I hesitated.
"Well, I'm working on a new piece but honestly I don't think I'll finish it in time... so I'll probably teach one of Alex's old hip hop rout-"
"Kaycee Rice!" he said faking a severe tone, not even allowing me to finish the sentence. "Don't you dare be insecure about your work!"
I chuckled, making my way to the living room again. "It's not that..."
He raised an eyebrow at me, smirking
"Okay, it's not just that..." I rephrased. "I have less than half choreo done. And the song is really different from what I usually dance to..."
Sean stared at me for a second, then put down on the couch the popcorn machine and started pushing me by my shoulder towards the dance studio.
"No way I'm not seeing this now..."
"No, Sean..." I protested, but I knew I had already lost that battle. He knew too, since we both bursted out laughing.
"Come on, don't be shy Ricebowl..." he said, entering the studio after me. "It's just us."
I turned around, finding him with his arms crossed and a smirk on his lips.
I sighed, giving in. "Alright... you brought this on yourself."
I went to the pc that I left playing on shuffle and looked for the infamous song.
"What's the song?" he asked, sitting legs crossed on the floor.
"Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode."
I pressed play and let the music fill the room, watching his reaction.
He frowned at first, probably not expecting a 90's beat. Then he closed his eyes, taking in the lyrics.
Words like violence
Break the silence
Come crashing in
Into my little world
He nodded, following the rhythm, while I just stood there motionless.
When the chorus started I realized it was a bad idea having him listen to it and eventually dancing to it in front of him. Very, very bad.
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
He opened his eyes, looking at me with admiration. I scratched my head, embarrassed.
"Interesting choice... where did you find the song?" he asked.
"Two weeks ago I was going through some stuff in the garage and I found this Depeche Mode CD in an old stack..." I said, getting nervous. "I don't know, I guess I related to this song and wanted to transform those feelings into something I could externalize."
He nodded, knowingly.
Did he figure it out?
His eyes studied me closely, but I couldn't hold his gaze. I felt vulnerable and scared, something quite unusual with Sean.
"Can you show me the choreo you have?" he asked, standing up.
"It's not so good..." I started, but he shut me up making his way to my computer and rewinding the song to the start.
"Let me judge for myself." he said smiling.
I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself. When I found this song, two weeks ago, Sean and I were in that non-talking stage after Tricia's class, so I strongly connected with it.
Now I had to dance in front of him to a song that made me think about him. Oh, and the choreography I had so far was of course inspired by him.
When did I become so monotonous?
I closed my eyes and started to move following the music.
Here and there I would stop, not having it figured it out. And right when I paused once more I felt a hand grabbing mine, making me slowly spin.
My eyes flew open, confusion spread all over my face.
"Can I help?" Sean asked hesitantly, probably unsure of my answer.
I stopped for a second. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea since we decided it was better for us to stay friends.
On the other hand, we were still dance partners. Dancing together was literally our job.
No, that's a really bad idea Kaycee. You know you have to say no. Say no.
"Okay..."
Besides, consistency is the key.
-
"Why is there a popcorn machine on the couch?" I heard Kylie ask from the living room with a confused voice. Sean stopped in his tracks and threw me a startled look.
"Oh God, I forgot!"
I guess we lost track of time. We just danced together for a bit, perfecting the routine and eventually finishing it.
Not gonna lie, I loved it.
It has been a while since me and Sean spent some time together, just dancing and joking around.
"I have to go, my mom is gonna kill me..." Sean said, putting back on his hoodie and heading for the door. "I'm sorry."
"Are you kidding? Do you realize how much you helped me? The choreo is basically done..." I couldn't help but smile widely at him.
How could I not love him?
Wait, what?
He smirked and opened the door.
"It was all you, Kayc. You just needed some... inspiration..."
Wait, what did he just say?
He waved goodbye one more time and closed the door behind him, leaving me with a strange feeling in my stomach and dizziness all over my head.
"Oh, damn..."
Told you it was a bad idea.
-
A/N
I am sorry it took so long to update! I'm on a small vacancy this weekend and I didn't have time to post.
But hey, this chapter is longer than the others and it could either be a good thing or a bad thing :P
It depends on how I wrote it. To be honest I liked how the first part turned out, but I don't like the ending...
Struggling as always.
Anyway, I'll leave now.
THANKS FOR ALL THE VOTES, READS AND COMMENTS! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
See ya!