Rêveries

Chapter 74.

January went so much quicker than I thought it would. Charles went to Maranello for some work stuff and then he went on a training camp where he prepared for the upcoming season. He had asked me to come, but Evie and I were too busy with the dancing. We were getting closer and closer to the competition and we had finalized the choreography and had moved on to perfecting it.

We had no coach, meaning we had to get the little details by recording ourselves over and over while trying to find those little things we needed to fix. Since we recorded the videos we thought that we might as well share our process, so we posted some videos of the dances and exercises we did, which made people excited to know that I was getting back into dancing, this time doing something I'm actually really good at, and also that I'm bringing Evie with me.

I made it my mission to be as strict as possible to really get Evie back into professional dancing. I wanted her to get to that competition and realize that she can come back to the point scoring competitions, not just stand-alone contests. She could travel around Europe for it if she really gave it her all.

No matter what I told her to fix, she did it without whining even once. She nodded, she worked on it and she got better and better. I saw it on her face that she loved every second, even when I made us dance until we couldn't breathe, doing the choreography over and over again. She loved it, and she enjoyed herself. It was the time when her mind went somewhere else, not focusing on anything other than herself and the movements to the music. I loved seeing her like that, because I know the feeling of finding your way back to the thing you love.

Evie had no idea about the apartment, as Charles and I had decided to surprise people with it when we're completely moved in, but I was dying to tell her. When we passed stores and saw things I thought would fit into the apartment, I was fighting the urge to tell her about it. But I had promised Charles not to, so I kept my mouth shut.

I had gone back to the house, since Charles was away anyways, and I wanted to really appreciate the last few weeks I had in the house. Of course we had told Pascale and my parents. They had more questions than I knew how to answer, and my dad kept asking me if I knew how to deal with the finances while my mom kept making sure I knew how to do laundry, clean different spots that might be a little tricky and such. Pascale kept coming into my room with new stuff that she said we might need at the new place, even though she wasn't completely happy with me leaving with him. He's twenty two years old, he's expected to move out. Apparently, I'm not yet.

During the last few days in the house before we got the keys, when Charles was still on his ski trip, I was starting to pack the things I was bringing to the new place, like my clothes and personal stuff I wanted, Pascale came into my room. She stood in the doorway, silently watching me as I walked around the room gathering stuff that I put into boxes. She let her eyes travel around the room that was slowly getting less and less personal and then she looked down at the boxes. She looked at some of the things I've packed, like a framed photo of Evie and I from the summer break 2018.

"Quand Charles fait la course..." When Charles is away racing, she started as she carefully put the frame back into the box, "et si tu te sens seul... tu viendras ici, n'est-ce pas?" and if you feel lonely... you'll come here, won't you? she asked, looking up at me with sadness in her eyes.

"Oui bien sûr," Yes, of course, told her as I nodded, smiling up as I walked up to her. She was leaning on to the doorframe and she tried to not look sad, but she did.

"Mais je sais que tu as Evie... alors même si tu ne te sens pas seul..." But I know you have Evie... so even if you don't feel alone... she said, struggling to keep her smile up and her voice was starting to break. She looked like she was going to cry any second and it hurt me to the point where I could hear my own heart breaking. "Peu importe l'heure qu'il est... tu peux toujours venir ici. Je me sentirai mieux juste en sachant que tu es à l'étage," No matter what time it is... you can always come here. I'll feel better just knowing you're upstairs, she says as the first tears slips from the corner of her eye, but she quickly wipes it away.