It only ended in my heart being broken and the guy galloping away on his white horse with anyone else butme. I needed to get it through my head that girls like me never ended up with the guy. Period.
Ethan furrowed his brow as he leaned in. “And how do you know who I’m looking for?”
I scoffed as I wandered over to do barre and lifted my leg. I needed to stretch or I was going to feel it tomorrow. At least under the protection of my hoodie, I didn’t have to worry about Ethan getting an eyeful.
But when I glanced over at him, his eyes were nowhere near south of the border. Instead, he looked quite amused as he studied my face.
I glared at him and then shrugged. “Because eventually, guys like you always come looking for girls like her.” I leaned over my leg that was propped up on the bar. I could feel the stretch in my hamstring so I leaned closer.
“Wow. You’re really flexible for someone who doesn’t dance.”
I glanced over at Ethan to see him staring at my leg. Worried that he was staring a little too long at my many flaws, I dropped my leg and turned so he was now at my back.
“You know who is really flexible? Bianca is really flexible. She’s won the academy’s highest award three years in a row.” Great. Now I was babbling. And about Bianca. Why don’t I just set up a romantic dinner for them and call it quits?
“Bianca?” Ethan asked. He sounded more confused than certain and that caused me tolook over my shoulder at him. Just as he met my gaze, I felt myself fall. I yelped and stumbled, bracing myself for the floor.
But it never came.
Instead, two very strong arms wrapped around me and I was suddenly weightless. My body stiffened when I realized, Ethan had lifted me up.
Oh no. Ethan hadliftedme up.
I scrambled and pushed against him, desperate for him to put me down. It was one thing to guess my weight by looking at me. It was a whole other thing to verify your guess by holding me.
In my flailing, Ethan seemed to pick up on the hint and grunted as he lowered me to the ground. Once my feet were firmly planted, I straightened my hoodie and glared at him. He studied me with his eyebrows furrowed.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
My cheeks burned as I decided to drop to the hardwood and keep my stretching to a place where gravity couldn’t betray me.
“I’m fine, why?” I asked.
Ethan glanced around and then sat next to me, wincing on his way down. I studied him, wondering what that expression had been.
Once he was situated, he glanced over at me. “What?”
“What’s with the wincing?”
He pulled one leg in while extending his other leg, just like I was doing. I giggled as I watched him lift his arms over his head and lean to the side.
His face flushed as he straightened and shot daggers my direction. “I’m—it’s just that I’m dying here. I’m so sore that I can’t even make it down half the field. Which for the quarterback, is a bit of a problem.”
I nodded as I pinched my lips. I’d expected that. “I’m guessing you didn’t stretch after, did you?”
Ethan cleared his throat. “Not really into stretching.”
I nodded as I stood and moved to stand behind him. I lifted his arms over his head and then pushed on his back so that his hands were nearly touching his feet. He groaned as I pressed into his shoulder blade harder.
“Stretching is important. For any sport,” I said as I let up on his back and Ethan sprang back into place.
He nodded and then switched his legs and attempted the stretch on his own. He barely made it to his ankle. I shifted my weight and pressed my knee into his other shoulder blade.
“You know, for someone who doesn’t dance, you sure know a lot about it.”
There was a tugging on my heart with Ethan’s words. It took a lot of effort to remind myself that I was not born to be a dancer. That it just wasn’t written in my genetic code. And for the most part, I could accept that. That dancing was just going to be a hobby for me. Nothing more.
But there was something to the depth of Ethan’s voice. Or the way he spoke about me anddancing like it was a no brainer that allowed my soul to think, for just one moment, that he could be right.
