Stray Hearts // Charlie Gillespie

33

"Flight One-Oh-Nine to Orlando." I heard over the speakers. We were on our way to Nationals. The whole team is flying out there a day early.

Charlie is flying out later tonight to watch. It's hard being here without him because my nerves were shot.

But at least I had Ethan, Austin, and Grace here. Grace and I are going to be rooming together.

I had a row with Ethan and Austin, and I talked to Charlie the whole time. We texted, and it was one of the only things calming me down.

Hunter told me, Ethan, Grace, and Austin how important the Nationals were.

He didn't say who exactly, but there were important people in the crowd.

So none of us can't screw this up. After the five hour flight, we get to Orlando. We sign into our hotel, put our things away, and head to the arena.

We were going to go practice before tomorrow. Charlie's not going to get here til later so I'm barely going to see him.

We practiced the dance for what seemed like forever, and Hunter felt like it was good. He even wanted to go over the trio, which went perfect.

Nothing happened for the rest of the night. So, Grace and I went to sleep early. But the sound of the alarm woke us up.

We groggily get up and gathered our stuff. Today's the day. We've been practicing for this day for months.

And I was proud of us, either way. We walk down to the lobby where we were meeting everyone.

Hunter was doing a headcount as Austin and Ethan came to us. "You girls ready?" Ethan asked sweetly.

That's what I always loved about Ethan, he was always sweet. We get to Nationals, and there's a ton of people here.

Hunter signs us in as I yawn. They were going to do solos, duos, trios, and then groups. It was going to be awhile before we go own stage.

We have a room to ourselves, so everyone starts doing their makeup. Everyone but Austin, Ethan, and I are getting their clown make up on.

We have to get our trio outfits and makeup on. I straightened my hair and did my makeup. After, we practiced our dance.

Someone came into our room, looking official. "Your trio, Instead, is up next. We need you to come to the stage."

I didn't realize it was that soon. Hunter walks with us to the stage, but went to the crowd. I could tell he was stressed.

But it helped me stay calm. I grabbed onto the boys hands and squeezed. "Good luck you two." I say as we wait for our que.

"We got this." The people got done and walked off the stage. They called our song name and number.

We unlocked our hands and walked onto the stage. I tried to focus on my breathing and the steps.

As the music starts, we start dancing. It all came naturally. It's like we flowed together. It was a three minute dance of them fighting over me.

At the end, I'm looking at Ethan. He pulls my chin up, cups my face, and kisses me. There's some hoot and hollars, which don't bother me.

Austin took my hand and took me off the stage. We had to rush off the stage so we could put our makeup on.

Everyone else had their's on and we walked in to a bunch of Jokers and Harley Quinn's. Grace came over to help.

I didn't care who saw me, I changed in front of everyone. "How did the trio go?" Grace asked while putting my wig cap on.

"Perfect, it went smoothly." It took us about thirty minutes to get everything done. Hunter came in here so we can practice.

Half of my performances are done. We practice while we can. And before we knew it, it was time to get on stage.

We waited by the side and watched the other team. They were super good, which put me on edge.

But I believe in us. When they get done, everyone claps and cheers. All the guys go out there and stand in a circle.

Ethan puts the baseball bat in front of him. "Give it up for Loyalty Dance team!" There were cheers. This is it.

The music starts as the guys start dancing. "Harley! Anybody seen my Harley?" We heard over the speakers.

The guys went to the side to take their jackets off. Austin stayed as he mouthed the words. I run out there and mouth out the next words.

"If you think I'm just another dumb blonde, the jokes on you." The music starts right away as I dance.

Austin takes his jacket off as everyone comes on the stage as we start to dance. It felt good to do this in front of people.

Austin gets in between Grace and I as we bend over. Ethan flips over us perfectly. We continue to dance as Grace grabs the bat.

She acts like she hits Ethan as he falls over. "I thought you loved me." The voice over said. We then all line up like a pyramid.

Austin and I were up front as we danced in sync. But as everyone danced behind us, I held Austin.

I positioned myself so I could him at a certain angle. Ethan comes running at us, and flips off of Austin's chest.

He lands right on beat causing everyone to cheer. We keep doing our thing as Austin stands in the middle.

"Knock knock, Gordon." We hear as we stood next to our partners. I was with Ethan and we started slow dancing around Austin.

We then stopped to do another part, which caused me to run up front. I had a solo so I started doing it as everyone adjusted themselves.

Austin was in the middle again after my solo and I backed away. We all danced in sync, which I was proud of.

We were now halfway through our dance, three minutes to go. We all got closer as Ethan was in the front.

"Every time I'm in the street, I hear yacht, yacht, yacht, yacht." By the fourth yacht, Austin flipped Ethan, landing him right on the beat drop.

Everyone cheered which made me feel good. We danced more in sync as Austin goes further up. He does a death drop as Ethan flips over him.

And now it was the slower part with the Microsoft sounds. We did everything in sync as it slowed down.

But a few seconds later, it sped back up. Austin acted like he threw someone off the stage as us girls took the jackets off.

I was burning up in this. Austin, Grace, and Ethan were up front as they were killing it.

Ethan went down and did some spin moves as I replaced Grace. We all danced, Ethan, Austin, and I up front for the last minute.

Four of us bent down so they could flip over us. The song came to end while we looked into the crowd.

I walked up to the end of the stage, Ethan's arm wrapped around me. I looked out into the crowd, still in character and out of breath.

I catch my favorite hazel eyes. He was sitting there with all my friends, clapping and cheering.

I had no idea they were coming. It made me feel better that I had everyone's support.

They're amazing.

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These are the dances I described so if you wanna watch it, you can.