HeartBLOOD

Chapter twenty

Alec's breathing was heavy as they finally took a break- rehearsal has been going on for hours and by now everyone was exhausted. "We'll run it again in five!", Valentine yelled. Alec longed for his water bottle as he let his gaze wander around the room. Despite the freezing temperatures it was unbearably hot in the studio as the sun shone brightly and burst right through the training room's huge window front, illuminating the shiny dancefloor. Sweat ran down his spine and his forehead which one couldn't even see because his top was completely soaked already. Simon and him haven't talked since yesterday but thankfully it wasn't awkward. He understood that he hurt him and that Simon probably needed time, but he just hoped that their friendship would manage to recover from something like this. When he looked to his side, Maia looked stressed. The smile she usually wore on her face so proudly had vanished. "Hey, are you okay?", he asked a bit worried. Her movements weren't fluent and she seemed untypically clumsy. "Yes, sure.", she smiled and took a deep breath, ready for trying the turn she had been working on again. "You seem off.", Alec replied and grabbed her by her wrist. "I'm not off, I'm stressed out.", she spat and jerked her hand free. Frowning, Alec let her go. This was unlike Maia in every respect. "Hey, have you noticed something wrong with Maia?", he asked Raphael. "She has been weird those past days, right?", Raphael replied and Alec nodded. "She said something about being stressed- is there some audition I forgot about?" "I don't think so, no.", Raphael said, "But I am glad you approached me, because I had a feeling as well. Should we try talking to her after class, maybe?" "Definitely.", Alec sighed and got back to the barre- sorting out friends drama during Valentine's ballet class was rather risky. Besides, he had a solo to keep.

"Hey, Maia, can we talk to you?", Raphael approached her after class when she was about to just take off. "What is it? I need to hurry.", she snapped. This was so unlike her- of course everyone had a bad day sometimes but Maia was not the type of person to act this distant and sensitive. "Listen, you seem weird and it has been that way for a few days.", Alec tried to approach her more calmly than he did before, "We're just checking in, we're worried." "Don't you have anything else to worry about? I'm good, I already told you.", she spat and walked away without finishing the conversation. When Raphael returned Alec's confused gaze it was obvious to the both of them that something was not going the way it should. "What do we do?", Alec asked and scratched the back of his head- Maia had always been there for him, no matter how hard he tried to push her away. Now it felt like it was his turn to do the same for her, even though he had no idea how to do that yet. "I have no idea.", Raphael sighed, "But Maureen might. We said we'd facetime tonight anyways, I could ask her then?" "That'd be great."; Alec sighed, "Maybe she's less clueless than we are." "Let's hope so.", Raphael smirked.

Raphael had switched to a navy blue sweater and had set up his phone, looking at it proudly. He was going to facetime Maureen in a few minutes and he was trying to at least have a pretty backround by cleaning his and Simon's room. Before he was finished, his phone vibrated and Maureen's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, you!", he smiled and greeted her. "Hey! How is it going?", she replied and her face lit up brightly. "It's going fine, actually! You know, the usual grind, now with the Nutcracker coming closer the tension is clearly rising." "Well, that's great isn't it? I mean you're a soloist, that's what you always wanted, didn't you?", she asked which upon he nodded. "No, you're right, it is what I wanted. But like everything, it's bittersweet. I just can't fully enjoy it right now, Maia has been acting weird and there's some tension between Alec and Simon." "That sounds atypical.", Maureen exclaimed in surprise and he could see a frown form on her forehead, "Are they fighting about Isabelle?" "They're not fighting.", he sighed, "There had just been a bit of an unpleasant situation with the alternate-choosing. It's not dramatic, they'll be fine. It's Maia I'm worried about- she usually is so easy going but right now she seems so tense. Alec and I are trying to get her to talk or to be there for her but we just can't figure out how." "Just go to her room the other day, just sit with her, give her a hug, get her some snacks. She'll open up eventually but you can't force it- that never works with Maia, Just show her you want to be there for her." "Alright.", Raphael sighed, "We can certainly try. But anyways, enough of our drama- how are things going at the clinic?" "Remember when I told you that my biggest dream used to be dancing on a huge stage in front of thousands of people? Remember how I used to dream of that?", she asked and Raphael nodded. "Well, I haven't dreamt of that ever since I started working here. This is all I wanted, this is all I ever needed. I am dancing, but not for myself. I am dancing for others, helping them accept themselves and get to know their bodies from a new perspective. Actually, all of them are making progress! A girl in my class actually gained two pounds ever since she started dancing- I just feel like I am making a change, like my work matters." "It's because it does.", Raphael smiled, "And I am so proud of you. Some dreams are better off just being dreamt." "And some things are too great even for a dream."