"So, how long have you been dancing?"
Jesse tossed the hot dog wrapper, now empty, in the trash bin and took a drink of his water bottle.
He had taken me to a park near the Dark Horse studio and he had offered me an hot dog from a stand at the entrance.
I've asked my mom to pick me up later, but she was already on her way so we settled for an extra half an hour. She would have stopped to get her lunch, since we weren't having it together, and give us some time to eat ours.
"Since I was four and an half..." I answered Jesse after I swallowed my last bite of hot dog. I crumpled up the wrap and threw it away in the same bin. "What about you?"
He thought about it for a second.
"Probably since I was five or so... but I didn't really commit until I was around eight."
"Why didn't you commit?" I asked, my curious nature surfacing. Then I instantly added: "If you don't mind me asking..."
We still didn't know each other, so I didn't know if he was comfortable talking about this stuff with me.
Not that it was anything extremely deep but... who knows. Maybe he was a reserved guy, even though he seemed like a very open person.
So far he had been talkative and kind, a genuine good company. He had told me that he lived near the studio, that he was a senior at the local high school and that he was struggling to balance between study and dance.
Anyway I just wanted to make sure he was okay with me asking questions...
My doubts were soon dispelled since he smiled and shrugged, resuming walking towards the end of the path.
"Of course I don't mind..."
I caught up with him, more relaxed.
"It's not that I didn't like dancing in general, but at the time my mother was pushing me to take all these classes that weren't really my cup of tea... style-wise."
"Let me guess, she wanted you to become an exotic dancer..." I said, not able to suppress a laugh.
He grinned, throwing me a look. "Exotic dancer?"
"I could see you in a hula skirt..."
Jesse laughed, shoving me lightly by the shoulder. We had reached the end of the path were a small lake full of tiny red fishes shone in the sun.
We leaned in the wooden fence, looking at the clean water in front of us.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but they weren't exotic dance classes..." he said after a while, a smile still on his lips. "They were hip hop classes."
I turned instantly to him. "What?"
"I know... I kinda hated them at the time." he revealed, blushing a little.
"Yeah, but why?" I asked genuinely curious, since I couldn't understand how an eight years old boy could hate such a fun and cool style.
"Well, to be clear, I enjoy it now. But back then what I really wanted to do was ballet, and my mother couldn't seem to understand..." he said, shaking his head. "Or maybe she did, but since she was an hip hop teacher she wanted me to follow her path."
I nodded, seeing were he came from. "So, what changed?"
He smiled. "Well, at one point, when I was about eight, I collected my courage and said to my mother I wanted to be a ballet dancer..."
"Wow, it's like a twisted Billy Elliot story..." I said, making him laugh. "And what did she say?"
My curiosity was eating me from the inside.
"At first, nothing." he answered, irony his voice. "Then she agreed to let me take one classic dance class a week, then I negotiated to two, then three and so on, until she understood it wasn't just some whim against her teaching."
He stretched his arms against the fence, turning to look at me and smiling widely. "And now I've been studying ballet for ten years. Occasionally taking hip hop classes, like today, but as you could see yourself I'm not that good at it..."
I studied his face. It was bright and happy, just like his personality. He was a good guy for sure and weirdly his positive energy was affecting mine, which to be honest was everything but positive lately.
I smiled, mirroring his expression. "You were good today, what are you talking about?"
"Kaycee." he said, becoming serious all of a sudden. "If I was good, you were divine."
I could swear he blushed a little, so I just looked away, not wanting to embarrass him. Or myself.
"No, I wasn't!"
"You were, trust me." He said whit a confident voice, ignoring my protest.
Suddenly feeling awkward, I started walking again, retracing the path back to the entrance. He followed after a bit.
"Well, it's one of the styles I feel more comfortable dancing to... I guess it's the same with you and ballet." I said, shrugging.
He nodded, thinking about my words. "So, is it your favorite? Hip hop?"
I stopped for a moment, reflecting on his question. I loved it, of course, but was it my favorite style?
Maybe if he asked that two or three years ago I would have answered with a strong "yes". But things changed.
Everything changed when I met Sean...
"Well... not really. I guess what I love the most is mixing contemporary and hip hop, when music meets choreography and you can portray a story, deliver a message."
Unintentionally I gazed off, losing myself into all the images, the memories, that were shaping in my head.
"I agree, it's really powerful. I guess you do your own choreography then? To express that style?"
I bit my lips.
I can't seem to stay away from him...
"No, actually it was my partner who introduced me to this type of dancing..."
"Oh, he must be a good choreographer..." he said, kindly.
"The best." I stated, not even thinking about it. "He is basically a dance genius, even if he doesn't admit it."
I laughed, shaking my head.
"He really understands music, you know... I mean, on a deeper lever. I think that's why he is able to create these beautiful movements that perfectly fits the melody and the message." I said, starting to get lost again. "I love h... it. I love it."
Oh, please, no...
My back was raided by shivers, just from thinking of what I was about to say.
Jesse, on the other hand, didn't look so shocked as I probably did. He was just impressed and maybe a bit curious.
"Well, you must really admire this guy... the way you talk about him makes me wanna take a class from him..." he said, throwing me an amused look.
At that moment my phone started ringing, almost giving me an heart attack. I took it out of my back pocket and saw my mom's face lit up the screen.
"It's my mother, she must be here..." I said, turning to him.
I was a little relieved, to be honest. Not that I didn't enjoy Jesse's company, actually it was the opposite. But the conversation was taking a weird turn, with the Sean topic and all the rest.
It was time to go, before I could make it worse, like I could have done with my almost revelation.
"You should go, don't make her wait more than she already did." He told me, reassuringly. "Thank her for me, please. I could spend a great half an hour with you, so..."
I nodded, feeling awkward again.
"Hem, yeah... I will..."
I extended my hand to shake his. He looked confused at first, but then he took it, a grin appearing on his lips.
"Thank you Jesse, I had fun today..."
"Will I see you in Blackwell's class, next week?" he asked, hope in his voice.
I started walking backwards towards the entrance gate. I would enjoy another class like the one I had today.
Miss Blackwell was a bit cold, but overall she was a great teacher. Her choreographies were really fun.
Plus I would have seen Jesse again, and I didn't mind spending some fun time with him, maybe making new friends.
I nodded. "I think so, yeah..."
And with a final big smile he waved at me, following me with his gaze while I walked away.
"Goodbye, Kaycee Rice!" he yelled from the distance. I giggled in response, but my smile quickly faded.
I was thinking about Sean again.
I felt his presence haunting me, hiding behind the trees, staring at me from the distance, and he was disappointed. Angry.
You're losing your mind, Kaycee.
Probably. But I couldn't seem to help it.
-
The next morning I woke up to my sister's creepy silhouette leaning against the wall opposite to my bed waiting for me to get up.
Well, she didn't usually have a creepy silhouette, but the way she was looking at me and the fact the she had a bathrobe on with her hair all wet and messy...
Trust me, she was creepy.
"Kylie, what the hell are you doing?" I asked, all sleepy and confused. Then I rubbed my eyes, stretching a bit.
She didn't answer. She just took her phone out of the bathrobe pocket and started looking for something. I didn't like her mischievous smile.
"Kylie?" I tried again, now sitting straight. "Why are you being so sketcky?"
Apparently she found what she was looking for and made her way to my bed, shoving her phone in my face.
"Nice move, sis... he's gonna be so jealous!"
I didn't understand.
What move? Who is getting jealous? What time is it?
I focused my attention on the screen and saw a video ready to be played. I pressed the little button on the center and started watching.
I recognized the Dark Horse studio. And the girl they were filming was... me.
"So you must have already memorized the choreography since you were chatting and ignoring the review."
Blackwell's voice could be heard in the background, while the person who was filming kept the focus on me and Jesse.
Then I saw us walking to the center of the room, I said something to him and smiled. Finally the video showed our attempt at the routine.
Oh God, we really messed up big time...
"Someone took a video of your little punishment and uploaded it." Kylie explained. "And just so you know, now it's everywhere..."
I looked at her blankly, not knowing if I should be pissed or happy. You could see I was having fun after all, despite all the mistakes and the improvisation.
I gave her back the phone, shrugging. "Okay..."
She smirked again, with a sly look. "Can't wait to see his reaction... I didn't know you had it in you, little sis!"
I finally connected the dots: she was talking about Sean.
Sean and his reaction to the video.
His jealousy.
Wait, wait wait... I didn't want to make him jealous... and I was sure he wasn't. Why would he be?
"He won't have any reaction. He knew I was gonna take this class..."
She didn't look so sure, so I tried to be more convincing.
"Besides, I just took a class, I got paired up and that's it. I didn't hide I was going to Dark Horse and it's not like our partnership forbids us to dance with other people..."
Kylie held back a laugh, but not very successfully, and raised her eyebrows.
"Sure, Jan..."
And without another word she crossed the room and left, closing the door behind her.
I breathed deeply, falling back onto the bed.
It was all under control, everything was fine. She was just messing with me.
Right?
Oh damn... did I screw up?
-
A/N
Hey you! 4k views! I don't know how or why, so thanks a lot 🙏🏻
How are you liking this so far? Have you got some suggestions? I'm here to accept 'em all 😆
I've never written something like this in english, so I didn't know if I was capable of doing it. I think that what I write still isn't 100% matching with what I want to say, since I constantly need to keep an eye out for grammar. (Wanna make a guess on my native language? 😛)
But overall I'm really satisfied. Plus, is a great exercise 🙃
Okay, I've said too much... I'm going now...
See ya!
Ps: How could I forget to mention their duet on Let You Love Me last time???? It was soooooo good 😍 I'll leave the video here so we can all cry together...