Page 58 of With You

I nod, turning to give him a quick smile, which he reciprocates just as fast.

“I’m a little nervous,” he admits with a shy huff of laughter.

“How come?”

“Just feels weird to dance in front of them. Weird that it’s not just us anymore.” He shrugs, shaking his head as he places the phone next to the speaker, his hand gripping it.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this side of River before. He’s always so confident, overly at times, that I can’t understand why he’s suddenly worried.

“No matter who’s watching, whether we’re on a stage in front of hundreds of people, or in this studio with our friends,” I cover his hand with mine, our bodies blocking the action from the others. “It’s always just us, River.”

I lace my fingers with his, curling my fingers into his palm so I can give him that reassurance.

“It’s just us,” he repeats back to me, his face more relaxed than it was just a moment ago, that nervousness washed away with just a few words, and a simple gesture.

“We’ve got this,” I tell him, squeezing his hand before I let go. “Evie, can you come over here and start the music for us?”

I’ve barely turned to look at her before she’s already halfway across the studio, bounding toward us to take up her role.

“Let us get into our positions, then you can start it,” I explain, passing the phone to her so she can take her seat again. She returns to Zena’s side, wide grins on both of their faces. River moves to the centre of the room, and I follow after him.

I step in front of him, taking up our starting position with his hands on my waist, my right leg outstretched to the side while my left rises en pointe. He grips on to my waist, his fingers drumming against my skin as he settles himself. I can feel the rise and fall of his chest behind me, as he holds me a little closer than he needs to. I close my eyes, blocking out our audience of five as I match his breathing, every exhale and inhale we take as one being together, while we wait for Evie to start the music.

Once we hear the first note, our bodies move, executing every move perfectly just like we’ve practiced so many times before. In this moment, we’re no longer the River and Amelie that our friends know. We’re Romeo and Juliet, living out that swooping-in-your-stomach feeling of falling in love for the first time, that terrible unease that comes with overthinking every action and reaction. We’re two star-crossed lovers, our lives intertwined long before I even knew it. We’re just a boy and girl in love with each other.

River spins me into him, bending his knees as he lifts me with one arm so my back rests against his shoulder, but something goes wrong and we both drop to the ground in a heap. My limbs are tangled with his as I lay on top of him, his face contorted in pain as he clenches his teeth together.

There’s a panicked yelp followed by impossibly fast words.

“Oh my god, are they dead? Someone call an ambulance.”

“Dear lord, Grayson, haven’t you seen people fall over before?” Damien responds, and I can almost hear his eyes rolling.

The music continues to play as I remain on top of River, my hands reaching up to hold his face.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Forget about me. Are you? Did I hurt your ankle?” He shifts his head out of my grasp in an attempt to look further down our bodies.

“I’m fine,” I reassure him.

He took the brunt of the fall, and I’m still unsure what even caused it. This has never happened to us before, and although he was nervous, this doesn’t seem like performance jitters.

“My knee locked up, I couldn’t stand properly,” he explains, tipping his head back against the floor.

I finally push myself off him as our friends gather around us, Evie and Zena checking that I’m okay before turning their attention to River. Damien kneels beside him, their faces close as they talk quietly. I sit back on my heels, my chin quivering as the realisation of what just happened hits me. River hurt himself, and it’s because of me.

I must have angled myself weirdly on his shoulder, not balanced my weight enough, and that’s why he couldn’t stand. Maybe deep down I was nervous about performing in front of people, showing what we’ve been working on to others for the first time, and I’m the reason we couldn’t do it well enough.

Layth crouches next to River, pressing his hand against River’s knee as he hisses before clenching his jaw. He continues moving his hand, feeling the joint and muscles around it, before he says something to River that I can’t hear over the pounding of my heart.

Zena comes back to my side, sitting next to me and wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

“Layth’s had a couple of injuries in his time,” she gives as an explanation for his actions. “He doesn’t think it’s anything serious, River probably just needs to ice it and stay off it for a few days.”

“He’s okay?” I ask her, scared to say anything else for fear of bursting into tears.

“He’s okay,” she reassures me, rubbing her hand up and down my arm. “You were amazing up until that point. You dance so well together. What you’ve done is magical.”