The Forgotten Ballerina

One

The sun peeks through my window, into my eyes and onto my skin. I finally get up to Marissa still asleep in the other room. My first instinct was to wake her but I've known her since forever and she loves her rest.

Instead, I made some breakfast for myself, then got my makeup on and put my clothes on. I took my headphones and put them in my ears, and listened to some music. Marissa's door swung open and she got ready in a world record timing.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" She yells. "I didn't want to get beaten up this morning." I reply. Marissa rolls her eyes and continues doing her hair. "You could get up earlier, set an alarm." I say.

"You don't even use an alarm, Lilly." She scoffs. "The sun wakes me up!" I smile. She packs her bag and we get on our way. "Can I drive this time?" She asks.

"Sure, but you better not crash my car." I say. "No promises." She jokes. The traffic is the absolute worst. After what felt like hours, but was only 20 minutes, we finally arrived at our studio.

I opened the door for Marissa and we walked into one of the rooms. We stretched and class started. Our instructor came in and told us about a competition we were doing. Marissa was excited because when we go to shows or performances she is always on the stage.

She is probably one of, if not the best dancer our company has. Her turns are perfect and her pointe is beautiful. The thing is, I am the most left out dancer.

"For one of our numbers, we will be doing a Black Swan versus White Swan duet." Our instructor announces. He puts up two pieces of paper, one to audition for White Swan, and one to audition for Black Swan.

"I'm going to audition for both." Marissa says. "So you can play both parts? That's new." I said. "Well what about you? Aren't you going to audition?" She asks. "Probably not. I won't get either part. There's no point in even grabbing the pen in the first place."

She gives a slight nod and we go to the barre. Class finishes and we go to the dressing room to change into normal clothes. "Lilly, are you not auditioning?" A girl asks me. "No, I don't think I'll get anything." I reply.

"At least try. You're not as bad as you think you are." Marissa chimes in. "It's worth a shot." She says. "It's really not." I say quietly. We get dressed and head out the room. "Where do you want to go eat?" I ask Marissa.

"Cafe again?" She says. I nod excitedly. We drove down to the cafe right by our apartment. "Hi guys, I'm Cameron, I'll be your server this evening." A tall boy with dirty blonde hair came up to our table.

"What can I get started for you." He asked. I look over to Marissa so she can order for me. "She'll get a lemonade and I'll have a water, please." She says. "Coming right up." He replies.

I smile as he walks away. "Oh my god." She mumbles. "What?" I ask. "You think he's cute." Marissa says louder. "Hush! I do not!" I whisper. "Come on, Lilly. Your posture straightened up as soon as he walked up to our table. It's ok to have a crush." She pursued.

He comes back with our drinks. "Water for you, and Lemonade, for you." He paused. "Are we ready to order some food?" The waiter asked. I look over to Marissa again. "A caesar salad for me and a caprese sandwich for her." She orders. "Not a talker. Got it." He laughed and went to get our food.

"I wanted some soup." I said quietly. "Oh, I'm sorry you always get the sandwich. I didn't think you wanted something else." She apologizes. "You can go up to him and ask for it." Marissa responds. "No!" I yell.

The whole building stared at me. I smiled awkwardly and thankfully, everyone went back to their, now quiet, conversations. "It's fine. I'll just eat it." I whisper. She laughs for a second and then our food comes out.

"Salad and Sandwich." He says while handing it to us. "Thanks" She says, then gestures for me to thank him. I nod at him and smile. "Still not talking? That's alright, I'll take it as a 'thank you'." He smiles back.

I finished first so I could get out of the cafe as soon as possible. Marissa was halfway done. She had to have been doing it on purpose, she always finishes before me. "Could you hurry up?" I say.

"Calm down. We have time, he'll come around soon." She winks. "Not funny." I reply. "I know. I'm being serious." She says, smug. I roll my eyes and they wander to Cameron who is back with our check.

"Here you go." He says laying it down on the table. Marissa checks it and then looks at her wallet. "Can you go ask him for separate checks?" She asks. I sigh and get up. He's facing the wall talking to a chef.

He turns around and he looks down, right into my eyes. "Could we get separate checks?" I asked softly. "Yes, of course." He smiles and I turn back around.

"Wait!" He stops me. "Yes?" I mumble. "I need your names for the check." He replies. "She's Marissa and my name is Lilly." I said. "That's a pretty name, It's like the flower." He grins. "A flower named Marissa?"

He laughs and shakes his head. "No, Lilly. I'm saying that your name is pretty." He says. "Oh. Thank you." I blush. "You're welcome, check will be coming soon."

I went back to my table and almost immediately sunk into my seat. "You took a long time." Marissa says. "He needed names for the order so I told him, and then we got married!" I joked. Her eyes lit up then realized I was joking. "Whatever. Swing and a miss." She says.

Cameron comes back with two different checks and takes the one that was paired together. "Alright guys, sorry for the inconvenience. Here's the correct ones." He smiles at us. "Thanks." Marissa says. I nod at him.

We leave the cafe and get in the car. "Do you want to talk about it?" Marissa asks. "No." I say.