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More Than Dancing
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All Grown Up Losing Her Already
JesseI knew that, eventually, I was going to have to let go of Audrey. This night had cemented that fact in my mind more than anything else. Of course, she had flat-out told me, right from the start, that she was only here for six months, and only because her director had told her that she had to take six months off from her dance academy. I had never even expected her to actually be here for six months.Her impending departure was nothing new, but at the same time, it up to now had just been some nebulous thing off in the future. Something that I dreaded, sure, and something that we probably needed to talk about at some point. But it was something that I knew I still had time to tackle.Tonight, I wasn’t so sure. Tonight, it felt like I was losing her already.It was all to do with that dance of hers.First of all, it had shown me that her ankle, although not fully healed yet, was definitely on the mend. She hadn’t wrapped it before dancing, and even though I knew it was a workout s
All Grown Up It's All an Act
Jesse“You’re so sappy,” Audrey said, but I could tell that she wasn’t unhappy with that.We lay there quietly for a while longer, until I felt like I could doze off right there on the couch, uncomfortable as it was since I couldn’t stretch out and since it wasn’t really meant to fit both of us like this.I finally sighed. “I guess I’d better get you home, huh?” I asked her.“I guess,” Audrey agreed with a small sigh of her own. “I kind of wish I had my own place so that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting home. But I don’t want Mom to wonder where I am or if I’m all right. Nor do I really want to tell her that I’m, you know, sleeping with you. I’m sure she already knows, but it’s not the conversation that I want to have with her.”“Yeah, but if you had your own place here in Aberdeen, then you’d have to stay,” I pointed out, trying not to sound too wistful as I teased her about it.She was quiet for a moment, and I knew that she was considering how to answer that.“Just a joke,” I
All Grown Up Unexpected Phone Call
AudreyI woke up early Tuesday morning to the sound of my phone ringing on the nightstand. I frowned as I groped for it. I had just peered at the screen when Annabelle’s pillow hit me from the other side of the room. “Seriously, put that thing on silent before you go to bed,” she grumbled before rolling over and curling toward the wall.“Sorry,” I whispered, getting up and bringing the phone out into the hall with me. It was still early, but I felt surprisingly awake. And there was no way I wasn’t taking this call. The name that I’d seen on the screen? The director of the Global Travelling Dance Academy of Performing Arts.My heart thumped in my chest. Was he calling to tell me that they had found a replacement for me? That they no longer needed me in Paris, and that I should start making other plans?Of course, when I thought about the other plans that I might make, my mind immediately leaped to Jesse. I tried to remind myself that that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to go back to Pa
All Grown Up Three Weeks
AudreyThe director continued, “Of course, this will all be up to the doctors and the trainers. You’ll be required to check in with them after every training before you ever set foot on stage for a show. But if your ankle really is doing as well as you say it is, then I think it’s about time that you took one of the lead roles.”“Thank you,” I said breathlessly. In my head, I was already thinking about all the training that I would need to do here over the next three weeks so that I wasn’t an embarrassment when I returned to Paris. At least I hadn’t been out for the full six months. Things would come back quickly, I was sure. I would just have to make sure that I stuck to my diet and kept working out at my studio during the day.It would give me something to do, and I was grateful for that. Things would finally start to feel normal again.“Is three weeks enough time?” the director asked. “I don’t want you to rush your recovery. But we could really use you. The next round of shows star
All Grown Up Running Out of Time
JesseI smiled at Audrey as she made her way through the crowded bar to get to me. Gabby’s was packed tonight. Something to do with the drink specials. It still wasn’t my favorite place, especially not when it was this busy, but Audrey had asked if I wanted to join her, and there was no way I was saying no to that.Besides, it was about time that we went out in public again. Things had been great between us lately. We saw one another nearly every night. Most of our time together was spent either back at my place or at her dance studio, though, and although that lent itself to a certain other sort of fun, it was also nice to see her dressed to the nines and grinning at me across the crowded space.“Hey,” she said, hopping up on the stool next to mine. She looked around. “Man, it’s busy in here. I mean, Annabelle said that it might be for a Friday night, but I kind of thought that she was kidding. Who are all these people?”I laughed and shrugged, happiness welling up in me just from se
All Grown Up Selfish
JesseNot only that, but I liked seeing how relaxed she got the longer she was here in North Carolina. Every day she seemed to smile a little more and laugh a little more easily. I wondered if anyone in Paris ever got to see her like this, and I liked to imagine that they didn’t. I liked to imagine that Audrey reserved this for me, that it was the culmination of our long friendship and our current intimacy.Maybe I only wanted to know that she was going to miss me as much as I was going to miss her. I knew that was pretty foolish in and of itself, though. She was going to be busy when she went back to Paris. She would have new dances to learn, friends to catch up with, a dozen things vying for her attention. If she got bored, she was there in a bustling, cultural metropolis with a dozen types of entertainment right there at her fingertips.Unlike here in Aberdeen, where it would just be me, myself, and I. I couldn’t work hard enough at the hardware store to forget about her now, let a
All Grown Up Get A Room
JesseI exhaled, imagining the expressions on the stiff faces of some ballet directors. Yeah, I couldn’t imagine that going over very well. At best, they would probably be confused. At worst, they would think she was mocking them or something. Wasting their time.She definitely wasn’t wasting my time. I couldn’t get enough of her.We danced and sang until we were breathless, then headed back to the bar, where Annabelle was just wiping her hands on a rag. “Hey,” she said brightly. “You guys having fun out there?”Audrey collapsed dramatically on a stool. “Water,” she requested, and her sister laughed, filling the order and then pulling a beer for me.“Thanks,” I said, taking a healthy sip of it. I was hot and sweaty, but I felt stupidly alive, a grin on my face as I looked over at Audrey, who grinned right back at me.“Ugh, get a room, you two,” Annabelle joked. She glanced over at her coworker. “Hey, I’m going to go on my break, okay?”“Sure thing,” Mark said, nodding at her.Annabell
All Grown Up He Doesn't Know
AudreyI couldn’t help feeling nervous about the fact that Jesse was coming over. I had been on the fence about actually inviting him. I didn’t like lying to Mom, though, and she had told me that I should ask him. As for picking a date for him to come over, well, it wasn’t like I had that many days left. My flight was already booked, and I would be back to Paris in less than two weeks.I still could barely believe that. Of course, I was ecstatic about the fact that the director not only wanted me back far sooner than the six months that he had originally given me, but that he also wanted to give me a lead role, to boot.The more I thought about it, though, the more nervous I made myself. It wasn’t just about losing Jesse, either. Had I been training enough? Did I still look enough like a ballerina, in spite of the few pounds that I had put on while I was back here? Would I be able to work all of that off? Would I be able to handle the role that the director wanted to give me? What wou
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