Braidy takes a deep breath. "I didn’t realise you'd be here."
"You should always assume I'll be here," Toni says with an edge to his voice.
Braidy's eyes crinkle as he forces a smile. Then he looks back at me and says, "We were just on patrol in your neighbourhood and thought we'd make a quick house call to see if you're alright after last night."
"Um." I falter and glance quickly at Luke. "Okay. Yeah, I'm fine. But I'm not the one who got hit in the face."
Luke clasps his hands in front of him. "I'm fine, Cassidy. We just wanted to make sureyouwere."
"Well, thanks. I am."
Luke's face is tight and his eyes are evasive. "Good to hear."
I brush a non-existent strand of hair off my face and give a small shrug. "Kewl."
Toni presses his shoulder to mine. "Awkies."
"So," Luke pauses with his own thoughts. "Just be mindful of the company you keep." He nods once and walks back to his car. Opening up the passenger side, he puts one foot in and stops. "That's all," he says, looking at his partner.
Braidy's eyebrows lift and he gives his thighs a single tap. "Alright then. I'll call you, Toni."
"Arrest me," Toni purrs.
Braidy chuckles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Maybe next time."
We watch them drive from the house and out onto the main road before finally relaxing enough to look at each other. "What was that all about?" I ask, wide-eyed.
Toni grabs my bag and slings it over my shoulder. "Max Butcher."
"Yeah, but it just doesn’t make sense. I can't... I don’t even know what to say." Shaking my head, I stand on my tippy toes and kiss Toni on the cheek. I've probably missed warm-up already. "I don’t have time. I've got to go."
I run to the garage as Toni shouts, "Good luck!"
"What?" I stop and face him.
"With Sugar Plum." He gives me two animated thumbs up. "You'll get it."
I exhale loudly. "Thanks, Toni. You really do listen to me when I talk, hey?"
"I judge you too" – he shrugs – "if that makes it less creepy."
"Naw, and I appreciate that." I jump into my car, turn the ignition on, and scroll through my song library until I find Tchaikovsky. My mind races with thoughts of Max and Luke. A strange flutter fills the pit of my belly. I rub my cheeks and will myself to focus on the music to drown out all other distractions until after five p.m.
When I finally run into the hall, I stare straight at my locker, ignoring the girls already halfway through a sequence at the barre. I've completely missed our morning Pilates session. As Kelly offers advice, her voice breaks through the loud music playing. "Loose arms, Kate."
Sitting down on the floor, I pull my pointe shoes out and quickly pull them on.
"Relax your shoulders, Lucy," Kelly calls out, walking around the room.
I take a deep breath, stand, and join in the sequence. My arms arch backwards before sweeping forward and moving into position as though I have been here the whole time. We concentrate on our upper body, moving through five shaped positions, focusing on our lines and the elongationof our necks and décolletage. It quickly becomes me. I love the way the music and my movements seem to be one entity. It's hard to think about anything other than my body.
After several more sequences and four more hours, we retire to our small group training sessions.
"Cassidy." Kelly rushes over to me as I drink water from my bottle. I prepare myself for a tongue lashing, but she just says, "I hope you're going to audition for the role of Sugar Plum. I know you're usually Clara, but the ballet mistress and I both think you're ready for some diversity."
I breathe out fast. "Oh, yeah. I will be."
"Good." She nods and tilts her head. Her neck is long and elegant; it's as if she'd been engineered to be a ballerina. "You know the choreography inside and out. You've been distracted this last week with other things, but I know you and nothing has come between you and ballet before. Just let me know if it's something you need help with, okay?"
