The Forgotten Ballerina

Six

We get inside the cafe and go sit down at a table together. Cameron opens up to me about things he's experienced in NYC so far. He's already had a life. I haven't. I couldn't focus when he talked. All I thought about was how he was living and I was just existing.

"Are you listening to me?" He asks, interrupting my thoughts. "Oh, uhm, of course I am." I say, confidently. "Then what did I say?" He questions. "You- uhh, I don't know, but you kept talking about how amazing your life is in New York, and...whatever." I mumble.

Cameron furrows his brows, tilts his head, and raises one eyebrow. More of a look that says 'go on' instead of confused. My eyes fluttered and I looked around the room trying to find something to look at. Besides him.

There was a moment of silence, before our food came out and we didn't really talk until I was done eating. He wanted to let me finish before we talked, so my food didn't get cold. I eventually finished.

"Where do you want to go next? I can take you to the studio or I can just drop you off at home?" He asks. "Can you take me home? I need some rest." I reply. "Yeah, of course I can." He says. "Are you sure?" I ask.

"Absolutely, I'm not working until this afternoon." "Thanks." I say. "Let's get you home." He jokes, but not really. We go back to his car and as we're approaching a stop light, he brakes harshly.

"Woah!" I exclaim. He holds him arm out across my chest to protect me from flying through the window and all I can do is look at him in relief. "Are you okay?" He asks, looking back at me. I nod and take a breath.

"I'm sorry, I promise I'm not trying to kill you or anything, this traffic is horrible and I wasn't paying attention. I didn't even see that stupid light change!" He rambled. "It's ok. I'm fine." I said to calm him down, but I really was fine. He was overwhelmed.

Cameron keeps driving and he seems ok now. We get to my apartment and he parks right in front of the entrance outside. "Thanks for taking me home, I owe you one." I say. "I'll hold you to that." He smiles.

When I get back to my room, Marissa is sitting inside on the couch with a glass of wine and seems to have just turned around from looking at the window. "I knew it. Why don't you tell me these things?" She yells.

"What the hell are you on about?" I reply. "He comes into our apartment, escapes through the window so I don't notice, which I did. Then you decide to hitchhike to ballet, which you didn't even go to!" She says.

"Next thing I know, I'm watching you leave his car. Did you text him or something to pick you up? Where would you guys have gone? Why did he even notice you when there's a high possibility that you don't remember his name? Huh?" She continues.

I scoff and roll my eyes. "His name is Cameron. Do you think I'm an idiot or something?" I yell. A knock at the door. "I bet it's that boy again." Marissa mumbles under her breath. "He has a name!" I shout.

I opened the door and it was that boy. "You left your stuff in my car." He says, nervously. "Oh, thank you." I take my things and he waved at Marissa. She ignores him and goes to her room. "Sorry, she's in a mood."

He smiles and says goodbye. I shut the door and immediately scream to Marissa. "Really?! You get mad at me because I don't pay enough attention to him and then you straight up ignore him?" I scream.

"You just want to have a fairytale life right? Right?!" I yell out to her. "Not gonna happen!" I say. "Not going to happen." I whisper to myself.