Lend Me Your Heart

Nineteen

“Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all, but lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall. Lend me your eyes I can change what you see, but your soul you must keep, totally free.”

Those were my favorite lyrics in the entire universe after I realized how much they resembled my relationship with Zach. It just made dancing along to them that much more enjoyable, and this time I wasn’t as nervous. It was the last of my performances that Zach would ever see, so even though I knew it’d have to be perfect, I was confident after practicing it so much. And it was perfect. When it was finished and all the roses had been thrown, Alexa came up on stage and, using her headpiece, made an announcement to the entire audience.

“Please congratulate Layne Davis for being the only junior in Dance Workshop to ever complete three solo dances in one year.  You’re performances were amazing, Layne, and I look forward to working with you next year,” she said to everyone while keeping her eyes locked with mine. A big smile appeared across my lips as I gracefully walked towards her with open arms and engulfed her in a giant hug. When the crowd was finished with their applause, I walked offstage with Alexa, ignoring the glares shot at me from the other senior dancers. I understood why they were angry with me. I mean, I wouldn’t want a sophomore to steal my limelight, but I guess since I was the thief in this situation it was okay to flaunt what I had.

“Well,” I heard a voice say from behind me. I spun around to see Zach and my smile immediately got three times bigger…if that was even possible.

“Damn,” he finished, his eyes wide. “It was perfect.”

“I know,” I shrugged, walking past him to get my bag.

“When did you get so full of yourself?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“When I decided my dance had to be absolutely flawless if I wanted to impress you,” I said, making him blush a little.

“You’re always flawless to me,” he said softly, kissing my cheek as we walked out towards campus. “Let me carry your bag.”

Ever since Zach and I had gotten back together, he’d been extremely nice to me; offering to do things for me, taking me out, spending lots of time with me, etc. His excuse was that he wanted to be the best boyfriend ever after hurting me so badly, so I obviously didn’t argue. I handed him my bag and thanked him as we silently walked towards cottage. The tension was unbearable. It was our last day together before graduation and we weren’t even talking. I knew it was because we were both feeling bittersweet, but I didn’t like it.

“Zach,” I said suddenly, my voice breaking the unbearable silence.

“Yeah?”

“Just…” I started, taking a deep breath. “Just fucking kiss me already.”

So, in the middle of campus, surrounded by parents that had flown from all over for graduation, Zach dropped my bag and put his hands on either side of my face and kissed me like it was the last day on earth. Then, someone clearing his or her throat interrupted us. I turned my head easily away from Zach, expecting to see one of my friends, but then was shocked to fond Mike, my mom, and my dad standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

“What the fuck are you doing with this dick again?” my brother sneered, making my mom frown.

“I trusted you with my daughter,” my dad spat, pointing at Zach.

“Oh, Layne,” my mother whispered in disappointment.

“Calm down!” I said to all of them. “Please. He apologized to me.”