They all know my love for ballet and my ambition to go to Juilliard once I graduate from high school. It’s my dream to dance for the New York City Ballet Company one day and all four of them have always been supportive of it.
So I know they’ll definitely approve of the fact that Reed helps me practice.
Sure, it takes a little convincing on my part to get him to agree because when I first proposed the idea, his exact words were, “I’m not fucking twirling.”
“Hey! That’s extremely offensive,” I told him from the stage. “Ballet isn’t just twirling. There’s like a hundred different things,techniques, that you do –”
“Well, you can call it whatever the fuck you want. I’m still not fucking twirling.”
I stood there, staring down at him in his seat in his favorite third row, all sprawled-out thighs and large chest, masculine and stubborn.
And gorgeous.
In that moment, I hated how gorgeous he was.
“I can’t believe that you won’t help me. I can’t.” I threw my hands up in the air. “And for what? Because ballet threatens your masculinity? That’s it, isn’t it? You think twirling will make you less of a guy. You think twirling is feminine. Meanwhile, you don’t even care that chivalry is dying. That you’ve killed it. You’ve killed chivalry, Roman. Today. Right here, in this auditorium. And this is a crime scene.Crime.Scene.Murder. So –”
I went quiet when he stood up and started to walk toward me.
Before I knew it, he’d crossed all the rows and, putting his palms on the edge of the low-rising stage, lifted and swung himself onto the stage in one smooth motion. Just like that.
Without breaking a sweat or even taking a breath, he approached me and I asked, “What are you doing?”
“Showing you how chivalrous I can be.”
“What?”
“Usually I don’t mind being the bad guy, but I don’t like to be accused of crimes I haven’t committed. So if you want me to twirl, I’ll fucking twirl and save you from distress and be your knight in fucking armor.”
“Knight in shining armor,” I said as soon as he finished.
He narrowed his eyes at me dangerously. “What?”
“You said knight in fucking armor. But it’s knight in shining armor.” I peered up at him through my eyelashes. “So you’re my knight inshiningarmor.”
“And if you want to be rescued, Fae, you need to start talking really soon and tell me what the fuck you want me to do before I change my mind.”
And since then, he has helped me with my routine.
He has lifted me, assisted me with jumps and leaps.
He’s made me better.
Surely if I tell them all of this, they won’t hate him, will they?
They can’t.
I mean, yes there’s this rivalry and years of hatred between him and Ledger, years of them sabotaging each other on the field and at practice just to have the top spot.
But can’t they move past it?
Can’t Conrad see that Reed isn’t as selfish as he thinks he is?
He’s so much more than just a villain.
He’s an amazing big brother. A protector.
A guy who keeps his promises. First by apologizing to Ledger that night, and then, by not even looking at another girl.
