“Good morning, everyone!” The sound of Francesca’s voice makes us look around. She walks briskly into the room. Her gaze lands on me, and a smile appears on her face. “Nice that we’re all here again.”
I swallow, because all at once I have a lump in my throat. Instead of answering, I nod. Francesca goes through the choreography fortoday’s lesson and sends one pair after the other to the center of the room.
“Zoe, Jase, you’re next,” she says at some point.
Jase holds out his hand to me. I give him mine, and my heart leaps. As usual.
“Ready?” he asks as we take position.
I nod, and he lets me go, putting his hands on my waist. His grasp is firm and secure as we begin to move. Familiar. Just like his steps. And mine.
Our movements are soft and flowing, in harmony. We go through the choreography, and every turn, every jump, and every step is perfect. For the first time.
I smile as Jase lifts me, and I feel incredibly light. Free. I’m dancing, and it’s the way it should be, the way it always was. It hurts and it heals. I engage my body and my heart, and I’m sore, but in the best possible way. Because I’m doing what I love. And Jase is all around me: behind, beside, lifting and holding me. He helps me not to lose my balance. We’re a single unit, fully in sync, and my heart pounds with joy while my body works. It’s hard work, and the steps are difficult. More difficult than usual. But we can do this. I know what he’s going to do before he does it. I know when he’s going to hold out his hand, when he’s going to guide me, when he’s going to turn me, and when he’s going to let me go.
I don’t hesitate as he wraps one arm around my waist and grasps my thigh with his other hand. I reach for his shoulder, bend one leg while I stretch the other upward far behind him. He bends his supporting leg and leans over my arched upper body, and we remain that way for a moment, breathing heavily.
Sweat covers my skin, making the long-sleeved leotard stick tome, and my whole body glows with adrenaline and pure joy. Jase kisses the sensitive skin just below my neck before he straightens us up again, and my feet find the floor. For a moment, I lean against him and return his gaze in the mirror, ignoring the fact that we’re not alone, because this moment belongs to us.
He smiles again, and so do I. Right now, everything is totally perfect.
Epilogue
Jase
It’s the last school day before vacation. We’re lying on my bed with my laptop in front of us, a cheesy Christmas movie that Zoe wanted to see flickering across the screen, because tomorrow is Christmas Eve. But I’m not really focused on it.
“Hey,” Zoe says, taking my hand. “You don’t have to worry about the scholarship, I’m sure of it.”
I shrug, because I don’t share her optimism, even though she’s been trying to convince me for weeks. Because things have been good. Very good. Since Zoe came back, everything has been so much easier and so much better. Especially the pas de deux. We make a damn good pair, but I don’t know if it’s enough. If everything I’ve done over the last few months is enough. Maybe I could have done more.
“Youreallydon’t need to worry.” She nods emphatically, looking extremely sure of herself.
I want to believe it too. I really do. But the possibility that I won’t get the scholarship still looms over me. “We’ll see. Pearson said he’d let me know before the performance.”
“Then he’d better hurry. It’s in two hours,” Zoe says with an eyebrow raised, then gets off the bed. I want her to come back to bed with me because I immediately miss the warmth of her body.Her closeness. I want to have her with me as often and as close as I can. But before I can ask her, she says, “We should start getting ready now, shouldn’t we?”
She holds out her hand, and I let her pull me out of bed. “You don’t need two hours to get ready, and I definitely don’t.”
“I know. But if Peason wants to talk to you first, you should be ready. So come on.” She kisses me gently and then pushes me toward the bathroom.
The suit I picked up from my parents’ house two days ago is hanging in my closet. It was the first time we saw or spoke to each other in weeks. It was... okay. Zoe came with me, and we left quickly. I’m not ready to have a proper conversation with them yet. They don’t like it, but they accept it, and that’s all I can ask.
“Do you think they’ll come?” she asks. Of course she’s noticed that I’m staring at the dark suit longer than necessary.
“Maybe. But I don’t think so. Lia’s not dancing today, and neither am I. There’s no reason for them to come.”
“Maybe they want to see you. And Lia too.”
“Maybe,” I say noncommittally, but I don’t believe it. I don’t know if Iwantthem to come either. Seeing Dad would just stress me out.
Zoe sizes me up for a moment, and the look in her brown eyes is hard to interpret. Then she nods and drops the subject.
An hour later, I’ve been ready for a while, and Zoe is just slipping into her dress when there’s a knock on my door. Zoe looks up in surprise. “Is he really coming to your room to tell you about the scholarship?”
“I doubt it,” I reply, zipping up Zoe’s dress and opening the door.
It’s not Pearson waiting in the hallway but Camille. She looks just as stiff as she did on the day she brought me to Pearson so he could tell me that my tuition fees weren’t being paid anymore. My heart twitches anxiously.
