Left or Right

Chapter 46

.James.

Heading back to our dressing rooms, I followed Riley into her one, only making her roll her eyes at me through our reflections in the mirror positioned in front of us.

"Riley, we need to talk," I say to her while the rest of the team lingered around outside. I place my hands on her hips from behind, trying to get her to turn around in my arms but she shakes her head instantly, pushing me away.

"We?" she questions harshly, looking me dead in the eye. "There is no "we" in this, James," she spits, making quotation marks with each of her two fingers.
"You've been distant all of today and yesterday on that stupid phone of yours. And then suddenly you're acting all smitten and clingy? You can't even tell me what happened with you and Eldon!"

"Riley, I'm not doing anything wrong, I swear-"
"You swear?" she scoffs, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Yes. I swear."

"Look, I understand I'm a lot, okay," she begins to start off, making me soften, sighing. "I'm a lot to handle. I'm bruised. I have scars. I've been used by Nate. I'm just the left-overs of the person I once was but I'm not her anymore and I haven't been since I left to go to Montreal in the first place. I understand if I'm not enough for you-"

"What? Ri, this has nothing to do with anything," I say, taking a step closer to her, only for her to take one back, feeling like it was happening all over again.
We were departing. We were leaving each other again... And it's all because of me.

"If you don't want me anymore just say it," she mumbles, glancing down towards the floor where her gaze settles.

The fact she wasn't looking at me right now was enough to tell me that this wasn't her talking. She wasn't okay with this. This isn't what she wants and she doesn't want me to leave her.
This entire time, all she's needed is someone who will stick by her no matter what and I promised her from day one that I would be that person. Always.

I shake my head, stepping closer while her gaze stayed still, not switching to look at anything else.
As soon as I'm close enough, I place my hands down on the dressing board behind her, just hovering by either side of her body, our breaths mixing together.

"I want you," I whisper to her, just loud enough for her to hear.
I needed her to hear it. I needed her to know her worth. That she's not just left-overs to me. She's still the beautiful girl I fell in love with inside and out.

My hands draw closer to her palms until I tangle them together with hers so our fingers became interlinked.
"Just you, Ri," I continue to whisper. "You, okay? No one else."

Lifting her head back up, she looks at me sceptically.
"Why?" she mumbles, making my heart break slightly.

I take hold of both her hands, staring directly at her.
"Because I love you. You're the one I want to be with so believe me when I say I haven't been doing anything you might think I have, okay? What I've been doing is for you. You're my priority, Riles," I say, causing her to slowly nod her head.

She continues to stare at me shyly even as I press a light kiss to her temple.
"Do you believe me?" I ask gently.
She looks into my eyes after raising her head and then she nods once more. "I believe you," she whispers lowly, letting out a small exhale.

I smile, nodding at her before taking a step back. "Let's go and crush this, okay?" I say, making her bite her lip but nod at the same time.

"At least let me get changed first," she sneers, pushing me back as I roll my eyes at her, exiting to head into my own separate dressing room opposite, listening to the light chuckle that leaves her lips as I made my way out, but I'm pretty sure when I leave, it turns into nothing but a sigh.
She still wasn't sure if she could trust me or not, meaning I had to work on this fast to make everything up to her.

. . .

Stepping on stage this time, I think both of us felt a lot more confident. As we made our way to the centre, we let go of each other's hands and dropped them by our sides, getting into our starting positions.

We had come too far for us to go home now. We'd been working on this routine non-stop until it reached its absolute perfection. We couldn't just let it slide as something "on par".
We had to win. We just had to.

The crowd applauds our entrance, everyone on the team huddled around by the wings of the stage, still in the remains of their costumes from the last performance, wearing their uniform tracksuits on top of it.

I look at Riley from where I was stood as she looks at me and then we give each other a subtle nod with a brief smile before turning our backs to each other, waiting for the music to start.

Once the dance comes to an end, Riley and I take hold of each other's hands and move to the left-hand side of the stage, taking in the view of everyone cheering and clapping around us, including the applause coming from the rest of our team. 

Kate gives us two thumbs-ups from where she was stood on the sidelines and as we stood beside each other, catching our breath, Riley moves closer and rests her head on my shoulder while my hand slithers around her waist.

 It all came down to this - our duet. Whether we won or not was depending on us two. But whether we had won or lost didn't matter to me. We had come this far and we had done it together. Midway through the dance season, I didn't even think she would be here for the two of us to compete together yet here we were - stood side by side wrapped up in each other's arms.

"Crushed it," Riley whispers to me, making me chuckle as I pull her closer to me.
Things between us right now may not be the smoothest sailing due to all the secrecy but things will become crystal clear soon enough. It's only a matter of time before the truth comes to light.

Sweden's two duet partners make their way onto the stage across from us, the two of them holding hands a similar way to how Ri and I had been previously.
They looked smitten with each other and I wouldn't be surprised if they were dating too.

Standing on stage in limbo like this had to be one of the most nerve-wrecking parts of competing but the tension only seemed to increase this time around since it was the finals. The final round. The truth-teller. 

Everyone was kept on the tips of their toes, waiting to hear what the final verdict was but time seemed to be dragging like it was taking forever. 
Until the dreaded silence comes to an end.

"The winning team of Absolute Dance Internationals this year is..." the spokesperson begins before taking an extremely long pause, keeping everyone guessing. 

I look down at Riley for a moment, noticing how she was shaking and fiddling with her fingers again.
This was a lot for her which is why I don't step away but I keep her held close to me, not letting go. 

"The Next Step!" he exclaims, and immediately it seems like all the windows in the room were breaking. 

Everyone screams and shouts, cheering us on while I lift Riley up, spinning her around in a spiral in the air.
Her arms fling around my neck while my arms wrapped around her waist and I pull her in for a long, passionate and overdue kiss. One that had no reluctance or doubt within it at all. 

As the rest of the team rushes on stage, they surround us and join in, hugging us from every angle before I take the trophy in my hands and hold it way up high for the world to see. This was our trophy. 

We were the Internationals champions. And I did it with Riley.