Left or Right

Chapter 44

.Riley.

I sat outside by the edge of the pool with a glass of cocktail in my hand, Michelle perched down beside me while the two of us laughed together just like old times. 

All the girls were hanging inside the jacuzzi and pool, chilling while the boys were lingering around the outside pub, drinking while perched on top of stools in nothing but a pair of shorts and unbothered summer shirts.
It was extremely hot, the sun scorching from above us but it was the kind of atmosphere I'd been longing for ever since I went away. I've been missing summer nights like these.

"I've missed this. You so should have been here when the whole team all went to a waterpark nearby. You would have made it a lot more fun," Michelle says, making me scoff, turning to face her as we splashed our feet in the water.

"How would I have made it more fun?"
"Because then a certain lover boy of yours wouldn't have had his head buried so far deep into the ground," she mocks, nudging my arm whilst nodding her head towards James who had just made his way back out from the building, a look of concern written over his face. 

His eyes meet mine when I look at him and I offer him a small smile whilst biting my lip, thinking he was about to make his way over here, but for whatever reason, he chooses to ignore me instead and sighs, making his way around the pool to head over to the guys.
Not what I was expecting at all... 

"That was odd," Michelle mumbles, raising an eyebrow as she faces me, sipping her cocktail through her straw, looking just as confused as I did. "Has something happened between you two?"

"No," I whisper, looking back at James worriedly. "We were perfect earlier... I don't know what's happened."

"Go talk to him, Ri," she urges me, causing me to sigh and haul myself out of the pool, drying my legs quickly with a towel before sliding my feet into my sliders, making my way over to him. 

He was laughing with the boys but as soon as I get to them, I sit myself down on the free stool behind his with enough of a dramatic sense to get the boys to turn away so James could focus on me. 

"Hey," I say softly, making him smile at me even as he gets his phone out, distracting himself with it, only making me furrow my eyebrows further. "James, I'm talking to you," I tell him rather sternly.
He still continues to stare at his phone, texting someone on it, acting like he couldn't hear a word I was saying. 

I hold my breath, thinking of the one thing I could have possibly said to get his attention before I take his free hand from off the counter in front of him to place on my knee.
"Babe?" I whisper, hoping he would listen to me. 

And then he finally does, looking at me with worried eyes.
"What's up, Ri? I thought you were having fun with Michelle."

"I am but... you basically ignored me just then," I say to him, rubbing my hands over the back of his palm, stroking his skin gently. "Is everything okay? Who were you talking to?" 

He softens at the sound of my words and shakes his head, turning his phone over before placing it down front-first, making me raise an eyebrow.
What was he doing on his phone?

He looks at me with his usual smile and takes both of my hands into his. "Everything's okay. I'm okay, you're okay, we're okay," he reassures me, making me breathe and slowly nod my head, despite the ounce of disbelief swarming my head.

"Are you sure?" I ask, looking deep into his eyes so I knew he wasn't lying to me.
"I'm sure."

"Okay," I mumble. I look down at our linked hands while he stroked his thumb over the metal of my rings and then he sighs, looking over me, clearly able to tell I was overthinking things again.

"Go and have fun with Michelle, okay? I promise you, everything is just fine," he tells me as he reaches forwards to kiss my forehead. "I love you," he reminds me.
I close my eyes, inhale and exhale, his words putting a smile on my lips. "I love you too."

. . .

The following day was the biggest day yet. We had the semi-finals and the finals together all in one night and to say the atmosphere around here was getting a little tense was more than an understatement.

The rival teams were definitely showing us their competitive side right about now and it was time we learnt to challenge it.

A lot of the girls, namely Stephanie and whoever chose to follow her, had been starting up their own dramas with whoever they bumped into from different countries around the world but I'd been trying my best to stay out of it.
We had bigger fish to fry than to worry about how 'ugly a costume style looked'.

James still seemed to be avoiding me but I wasn't quite sure why.
He was talking to me sure, but he wasn't being his usual self. Anyone would have been able to see that from the way he kept himself distanced from me rather than have his arm around me in some way. 

I didn't mind it, obviously, because it meant I could have some space - but like Michelle had said previously - it was odd.
I couldn't understand the point he was trying to make or the purpose or what he was even up to. None of it made much sense.

"Okay everyone," Kate calls out, causing us all to look away from France who were currently on stage and we make our way back to her instead, huddling around her in a circle.
"I believe Riley has a little team huddle to lead," she says with a smirk, looking towards me while I stared at her in surprise. 

Along the way with all this side drama frantically taking place, I'd forgotten I had taken up Giselle's role of dance captain.
It was something we had all just left behind and forgotten about, but I guess this was my last chance to show them what sort of a leader I could have been if only I had been given the chance at the right time.

"Okay, guys," I speak up, feeling James's hand slither around me to lightly place on the small of my back, encouraging me that little bit more and making me feel much more whole than I had done a few minutes prior. 

"I know we've had a rough season but it's all come down to this, okay. This could be the last time we ever dance together as a team and I don't know about you, but I don't want all of this drama to overtake the one thing I cherish the most, which is dance. I want us all to go out there and own it. Perfect it. To it to the best of our ability. We're going to go out there and crush it and we are going to take it to the next step," I say with a smile at the sound of my pun, making the others laugh lightly. 

"What are we going to go out there and do?" I ask them all, before they all dive their hands in to the middle of the circle, following my lead.
"Take it to the next step," they all repeat at once before we all raise our hands up and start hugging each other, just as France's dance comes to an end. 

"We've got this," I tell them all. "I love you guys, even you, Stephanie," I call her out, making her roll her eyes playfully. "You're all my home."
"And you're our home too, Ri," Michelle says back, hugging me from the side which makes me laugh, holding onto her arm.

"Nicely said, captain," James whispers into my ear just as we were about to go on, but even despite the playfulness in his tone, something still wasn't right about it.

I don't respond but I let him give me a subtle hug. We hadn't all this time for nothing. We've been working towards a goal and we were going to achieve it.

"Please welcome to the stage, The Next Step!" the announcer calls on, making us all exchange places with France's team as we get into our starting positions.

The moment the lights darkened while we stood across from France's team, I already knew who had won this round.
I wasn't one to brag at all but I could tell when we had done well and I knew that this time around, we had done amazingly.

"Moving onto the finals is... The Next Step!" the judge cheers us on.

I wouldn't have expected it to be any different.