He Did Ballet |Virgato|

Chapter 4: And looks up at the man that he turned down

It's not necessarily a shock when Chris doesn't show up at the café the next day but Joel still doesn't have to like it. He miserably pays for his own tea, and just shrugs at the barista who asks where the brunette man in the leather jacket is.

Joel tries to tell himself that it's for the best, that without Chris showing up everywhere he can actually focus on his dancing, on pushing himself a little more in preparation for promotions, but if he's honest with himself, it's just making him more distracted. He looks for Chris everywhere subconsciously, turning if he catches a glance of messy brown hair or a pair of platform Docs on the pavement, and checks his phone every time he gets a notification, sagging in disappointment when each time it's not Chris.

"You're a nightmare," Erick says, one night in their kitchen as Joel throws down the pan he's drying in favor of checking his phone which has just buzzed. It's an email and Joel tosses it back onto the counter with a huff.

"What do you mean?" Joel says nonchalantly, continuing to dry the pan.

"You kissed the man, immediately told him you should have never gone out, haven't apologized at all, and are waiting for him to talk to you?" Erick says dryly, rinsing a glass under the tap.

"Fuck off," Joel says, putting the pan away and picking up a plate. "I'm not waiting for him to talk to me."

"You literally run to grab your phone every time you get a notification," Erick says. "I've never seen you move that fast and I've watched you do several series of quadruple pirouettes."

Joel glares at Erick. "It's better this way."

"Keep telling yourself that, babe," Erick says, rolling his eyes. "I'm going to Richard's in a bit, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Can you-" Joel starts then quickly stops.

"Can I what, Joel?" Erick asks, folding his arms.

"If you see Chris," Joel tries again.

Erick raises his eyebrows at him.

"Just see how he is," Joel mumbles.

"I'm not fucking spying on Chris for you, Joel," Erick says flatly. "If you want to see how he is, maybe do us all a favor and ask him yourself."

"But you tell Richard things about me which Chris finds out," Joel whines.

"No I don't," Erick says with a frown. "I haven't breathed a word about you since you lost your shit about it. I refuse to be the middle man here."

Erick leaves the kitchen and Joel groans. He decides he needs to get out of his head a bit tonight, and texts a guy he knows who is the owner of a studio space. It'll mean trekking back into central but he can't spend the evening in the apartment on his own, he'll go insane.

He puts the last of the plates away and grabs his bag and hoodie, arriving at the door to leave at the same time as Erick.

"You decided to come with me and see him face to face?" Erick says disbelievingly, opening the apartment door and closing it behind them when they've both stepped through. "And you didn't think to change out of your tights first?"

Joel pulls a face at Erick as they head towards the main door of the building. "I'm going to the studio," he says in a huff.

"Of course you are," Erick says rolling his eyes. "Good, that means I'll only have you moping next to me until we get to Stockwell."

"I don't mope," Joel says grumpily. He's not moping. 

He's not.

"Joel, if you looked up moping in the dictionary, you'd see a photo of you; tights and all," Erick says snorting.