HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[2.32] do you love me?

[2X32]

{During preparations for the semi-finals round, Maxie and West tip-toe around their feelings, and the dance comes to a devastating end.}

❝There is no difference between you talking to him now and you talking to him last week. You both liked each other the same then as you do right now, so why make it difficult for yourself?❞

      The majority of the troupe were on the Nationals stage, taking advantage of the free time officials had given them to work out spacing and perfect their semi-finals routine. Since Maxie had won the fourth round, The Next Step would be competing against Joanne Chapman's School of Dance.

"I'm getting kinda nervous because Joanne Capman's is really good," Eldon admitted with a worried tint to his voice. "They're really clean and really up to date with their style."

"But," Riley began, giving the camera a look of relief, "I am still happy we don't have to go up against LOD... yet."

Working through the basic steps of the routine, Maxie couldn't help but feel nostalgic as she looked across the sea of empty seats, ready to be filled by eager audience members for the final days of the competition. Even though she had only completed her solo a day beforehand, the rush of serotonin standing on the stage once more has given her was still prevalent.

As the minutes passed by, the empty silence being filled with whispers amongst dancers and scuffled shoes making their home on the stage floor, Max found herself continually making eye contact with West across the stage, causing her to blush furiously as she remembered what had happened between them after the small group dance. Her heart would race a mile a minute merely thinking of the kiss and she would quickly avert eye contact to try and cover her fluster from the other dancers, making West chuckle under his breath at her nervousness.

It was weird, the way she was acting. She had felt this way about him for quite a while now, to be honest, but her feelings had never been as strong as they were in that moment, only confusing the British girl even more.

Maxie had only ever been in one relationship before; back home in England. She and a young boy in her year five class had gotten 'married' on the playground at break time after his proposal the day before, only for Max to then divorce him at lunch break the same day after growing bored of their two-hour relationship. So, if it wasn't obvious enough, she didn't have that much experience.

The only time she had gotten insight into a proper teenage relationship was through her friends, James and Eldon, but that was always through the male's view. She would never have any idea how the girls they were dating felt. That was one of the many reasons Maxie had missed England — at least there she had girlfriends that she could talk to about that sort of thing. Whereas here, she doubted either Eldon or James would be of any assistance to her.

Pulling her phone out of the pocket her mother had taken the initiative to sew into her joggers — even though Maxie had argued that there were two perfectly fine pockets in her jacket — the girl decided to message the only two people she felt she could talk to about this.

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