Open Floor

OF - Chapter 1

Credits to ames2002 for editing this chapter for me! Thank you so much ames2002!

I hope y'all enjoy reading this story! :D

Chapter 1

I've been crying almost all day. It's been a month now since J-Lo's, A.K.A. Julius Lautner’s, accident; yet he's still unconscious. I'm starting to lose hope that he will ever wake up. Our practices always end up unfinished, calls keep coming in on our studio land line asking about how Julius is doing, or are we going to perform, or this or that. Those phone calls only make things worse for me. Julius has been like a big brother to me; though he's only a few years older; seven years actually.

I never really thought this day would come so soon, nor did I ever expect it to be like this. I just don't get it. Maybe its my fault he was driving so fast; what if he was speeding so he wouldn’t be late picking up my younger brother Troy and I from the studio?

Shit, what if it was because I hadn’t answered his calls earlier that day? Maybe he thought I was in some kind of trouble, again.

What if...

"Hey Telly, time to go home!" Troy called out from the front door of our studio.

I ignored him, which was very unlike me. Troy is my younger brother, and one of the people I care most about.

"Telly, we gotta get home, unless you wanna walk in the dark."

A few seconds later, I felt someone’s arms wrap around me. "C'mon now baby girl, Julius ain’t here to drive you home today," I heard a familiar voice whisper in my ear.

I looked up to see that it was Kennedy, the only black dude in our crew. Anger stirred inside me.

"How dare you talk about J-Lo like that! How could you just wander up and sit by me saying ‘Julius ain’t gonna be here’ ?!” I unbuckled his muscular arms from around me, stood up, and grabbed my bag and tumbler from the table by the door.

"I didn't mean it that way baby doll! I'm s-" He stopped mid sentence, ducking to avoid the tumbler that was flying right towards his head. I didn't stay to see how much damage I had caused, all that was on my mind was getting home and then going to the hospital to check on Julius.

I made my way outside to where Troy was waiting, and pulled him towards the road, neither of us said a word for quite a while. When we turned onto the street leading to our village, Troy finally broke the silence.

"Sis, I need to focus on school," he admitted.

I cocked my head. This was not a surprise, Troy had big plans for his future. “Of course you do Troy.”

He raised his eyebrows. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be?" I asked.

"Well, I might not be able to rehearse with you anymore," he admitted sheepishly.

"We ain't gonna have rehearsals anymore Troy." I snapped.

"Wh-why not?" He asked, slowing his pace as he looked at me.

"Dude, we just lost our dance instructor. What do you expect?” I asked without looking at him.

"So we’re going to let that stop us from winning?" He asked, his eyes wide.

I hesitated for a second, afraid to answer his question, "Yes," I felt tears welling in my eyes.

"Telly wake up! The crew doesn't revolve around Julius!" He stopped walking and grabbed my arm. I shook it off and continued walking, he caught me by the arm again.