Scandalous Love

28. | Riley

James and I arrived at the studios early the next morning. We'd left the hill and quickly passed by his to freshen up, get ready and grab something small to eat before making our way there.

We had been working on our duet for the competition Kate had signed us up for, for the past two hours and everything was slowly getting down to pat.

I was getting a little tired but I wasn't about to tell James that. We had to get two routines perfect before next week so right now worrying about myself and my own problems going on should be the least of our concerns.

"How about one more run through then we take a break?" James asks me, his breaths becoming a brief pant as he spoke.

I bite my lip and nod before we get into our starting positions to run through our recent choreography once again. Somehow the song couldn't link more to what we were going through at the moment.

We'd selected it when we were out late last night and James had gone through a bunch of songs on his playlist. This one just seemed fitting and natural for us to move to.

We reach the end of the duet and I reach onto my tiptoes to fling my arms around his neck securely.

He smiles, hugging me back. "That was good. I think it's getting there, it'll be perfect with just a few more tweaks," he says and I nod in agreement.

We separate and I grab my blue zipper hoody to pull on over the top of my tight top but just as James and I grab our water bottles, about to head out, we reach the double doors to be met with the one girl I really didn't feel like talking to right now.

Things felt okay now that I wasn't busy stressing about them. I didn't want her to change that and stress me out even more.

"Well isn't this nice. First she replaces me as the duet for Nationals and now she's replacing me in the annual duet competition?" she inquires. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks James straight in the eye, licking her lower lip with a hint of seduction.

I look down, cowering away slightly. I just wanted to get out of there to spend my break with James without any disruptions - did she really need to start getting herself involved again?

"We've been through this, Beth. Maybe if you were a better dancer you would actually be given a shot."

James places his hand on my back before wrapping his arm around my waist. "Come on, Ri," he whispers to me even though he was still glaring at Beth. "Let's go."

We walk straight out of there and head towards the café downstairs together. It wasn't like one of the posh cafés you would find on North Side but that was to be expected.

It was pretty grubby and even the drinks machine was broken. There were two servers upfront but the food wasn't fresh like it would have been if we were on the other side of town.

James gets me a blue raspberry slush and a muffin anyway and I thanked him for it before we took a seat at our own separate table in the corner.

"So..." I begin to speak up, watching him as he bit into the vanilla cake he had brought for himself. I bite my lip, fiddling with my hands which were displayed above the table.

He raises an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to finish my sentence, and I sigh.

"What's her deal?" I breathe out, dropping my shoulders, making him stop eating for a moment to look at me.