Chapter 13 An Uncertain Turn of Events
A re you and your friend going to be home for dinner?
A smile slipped onto my lips as the word ‘friend’ jumped out at me in Ethan’s text. He’d been considerably nicer to Gabe after he learned that he wasn’t here to sleep with me, and even more so, that I wasn’t even his type.
I typed back a quick message to Ethan letting him know that we’d be rehearsing late and would have to miss dinner. Tossing my phone back in my purse, I made my way back to Gabe standing center in the dance hall. It was just us two and the studio—almost like old times.
“From the top?” Gabe nodded, running the back of his arm over the beads of sweat shining across his hairline. We’d been at this for four hours so we were both a little tired and a little sweaty with a lot more work ahead of us.
The competition was less than five months away.
We’d changed our entire routine two months before I left New York, meaning we had roughly three months of practice with this piece with a three week break in between. That wasn’t enough. We’d rehearse until our heels bled and Gabe knew it too. He knew it was necessary to win.
Thank goodness getting AIM Dance Studio on our side went as quickly and as smoothly as I hoped it would or else Gabe and I would be out a rehearsal space tonight.
We met with the woman I spoke with on the phone a couple days ago when we arrived late this morning after a night of gossiping and little sleep.
Lucky for us, she took us in gladly, and we’d been rehearsing ever since.
I ran back over to my phone and pressed play on the song I’d chosen for this routine. The song that spoke to the tattered pieces of my heart that were still drenched with betrayal.
Soft piano notes drifted into the air, each one sinking down on my soul until it sunk so far, I’d lost it completely within the words of the song.
This song, the lyrics, the melody cried with a familiar sorrow weaved into its notes and captured my body in a way that I’d never known until this routine.
I danced without thinking about dancing.
My mind took a backseat to the music that overpowered my body as it moved and swirled and bled out in heartbreak.
Usually, dancing brought me joy and a release from my own emotions.
With this song and this dance? That’s when I felt the pain the most. Every second of music that passed through my body was another second I let myself feel the hurt that had been put inside me against my will.
For four minutes and seventeen seconds, the heartbreak was as real as it was the night it happened.
Gabe’s touch, his fingers, his body against mine were memories of Jonah clipped in and raw.
His hands around my waist were mine and Jonah’s first date, as he held me as we overlooked the city we both loved on top of the Empire State Building.
Gabe’s hands around my ankles as he dragged me along the floor were Jonah’s hands, grabbing at my legs the first night he learned how ticklish I was and refused to relent.
And as Gabe moved our bodies along the floor until I was on top of him, straddling his waist and looking down at him, I remembered back to the first night Jonah and I made love. Each movement was a memory and more painful than the last.
With the memory of our first date came the self-ridicule of how foolish I was for believing anything he said to me that night.
The fond memory of Jonah’s tickling was lashed with the reality that that was the only time he’d ever done that.
He’d discovered something he said he loved about me and yet, never made me laugh like that ever again.
The night that Jonah and I first made love would never come without the after thought of me wondering if the first night that he and Hannah made love was while he and I were still together.
I’d bet my life that it was.
Every memory was tainted with his unfaithfulness, and as the music grew, so did my resentment.
Gabe and I rehearsed this dance for another two hours before a sight in the corner of the room caught my eye mid-dance.
Ethan leaned against the doorway into the rehearsal hall, one ankle crossed over the other with a white bag clutched in his hand. My body caught itself in the spin it was doing into Gabe’s chest, stopping in the direction of Ethan’s surprising presence.
“Hey. What’re you doing here?” Slightly winded, I ran over to my phone and paused the music.
Ethan pushed himself off of the doorframe, heavy boots echoing across the hardwood as he strolled into the room. “Monica and I thought we’d bring you some dinner since you said you’d be rehearsing late.”
Quirking an eyebrow up at him, I steered my gaze behind him in search of my sister.
“She’s in the car,” Ethan answered my unvoiced question. “Got a call from work on our way here and you can discern the rest for yourself.” The added irritation to his voice formed a pinch of pity for him through my heart.
“Aw.” I took the bags of food that he handed me and smiled back up at him. “That was really sweet of you guys. You didn’t have to drive all the way out here.”
Ethan shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “It’s really not that far.”
“Hey man!” Gabe jogged over, his adorable tuffs of curly hair bouncing as he ran. Ethan greeted him as well before Gabe’s eyes fell to the food in my hands.
“Is that all for you?”
Playfully, I pulled the bag of food in closer to me. “Maybe.”
“Look, I’ve seen you eat about a million times before and I know for a fact that you couldn’t put away even half of what’s in there.”
“You don’t even know what’s in here.”
“I know I wanna eat it.”
“It’s pork chops and sweet potatoes,” Ethan chimed in.
Gabe’s eyes went comically large. “I definitely want to eat it.”
“Okay, fine,” I laughed, handing the bag of food off to him. “Go. Eat.”
Air rushed around my face as Gabe landed a swift kiss on my cheek before running off to the other side of the studio where his stuff was to eat. I chuckled softly as I watched him go, happier every moment that he was here with me.
“The dance looked good, by the way.”
My attention drew back up to Ethan, and I looked at him over my shoulder.
“Yeah? How much did you watch?”
An impish looking grin twisted Ethan’s lips, though he didn’t meet my eyes. “A few minutes.”
His stare swirled with something teasing, and I didn’t have enough energy left from dancing to wonder why. I was in luck because in the next few seconds, he revealed exactly why without my having to ask.
“You know.” Ethan came in closer, so close that I could feel his presence pressing against my back. “You might wanna be careful. From what I just saw, you might be in danger of turning your friend straight.”
“What?” I exclaimed, keeping my voice low as I tried to fight down my laughter.
“Oh yeah.”
Craning my head back to fix my eyes to his, I said with certainty, “Absolutely not.”
Ethan cast his eyes above and away from me, pulling his mouth to the side.
“Just trust me.”
Okay?
“The dance really is impressive,” Ethan broke the moment to comment. “Though, it definitely seems like you’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting.”
“What? I don’t lift Gabe. He lifts me?”
“No, I—” Brief laughter cut him off as he closed his eyes, pinching his fingers overtop the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t mean literally.”
“Oh…”
“Just seems like his part is easier than yours.”
“Not really. He has to conserve a lot of his energy for the lifts.”
“I’m just saying. I mean, even I could do most of what he’s done so far.”
At that, I had to laugh. I didn’t mean to, but I had to, even as I saw the offended expression mount on Ethan’s face.
“You don’t believe me?”
“Even if you think it looks easy, I can promise you it’s not.”
“I could do it.”
Nodding, I turned my attention back to Gabe on the other side of the room. “Sure.”
After a few more minutes and playful comments about his dancing skills, Ethan left Gabe and I to finish up our rehearsal.
Monica never did come inside to say hello.
* * *
Another two hours and buckets of sweat later, Gabe and I wrapped up rehearsing for the night and said our goodbyes next to our cars outside of AIM. He promised he’d be back soon, knowing there was no way I’d be coming to his neck of the woods.
On the drive home, all I could think about was my bed and a shower—not in that particular order.
My sweat had become a second layer of skin and I couldn’t wait to scrub it off before crashing into my bed and sleeping until the aches in my body woke me up early the next morning.
As weird as it might be, I actually really loved the aches.
Unfortunately, as I parked my car against the curb in front of Monica and Ethan’s house and stepped out, the raucous noises seeping through the cracks of the front door spoiled the fresh night air and my plans for a peaceful night.
Walking up to the steps of the quaint home, the voices inside became louder and the anger in them much clearer.
“I honestly don’t even understand why you’re so angry right now, Ethan.”
“Because!” Ethan’s rage cut through the night like a slashing whip, forcing a sharp gasp to suck between my teeth. I shouldn’t be listening to this. I should just get back in my car and turn the radio on loud.
“Because this always happens. I’m mad because I’m not even surprised that it’s happening now.”
I should have left and gone back to my car. Instead, I sat down on the steps leading up to the front door and listened.
I’m only human after all.
“It’s my job , Ethan. You can’t be mad about what I have to do for my job or else you’ll be mad all the fucking time.”
“I am mad all the fucking time!” Ethan exploded, and I gripped my fingers around the chilled edges of the steps to stabilize myself against his blast of ferocity.
Listening to him now, I never thought I’d hear him sound so…
unhinged. Ethan had so far been composed, confident, and occasionally a pleasant goofball.
Never had I ever thought I’d hear him so enraged.