dancing in the stars (ballerina x singer wlw romance)

chapter seventeen

WILLOW

A loud roll of thunder pulled me from sleep at the same time my alarm goes off. I rub my eyes with my fingers trying to adjust my eyes to the daylight coming from the windows. Tossing off the covers, my bare feet hit the floor, and I reach for my phone to turn the annoying sound off.
Rain pattered against the windows, lighting lit up the room and my first thought of the day comes to her.
Summer must be scared.
My fingers move fast to her chat and I stop as I read our last conversation, four days ago, knocking me back to reality. I haven't seen or heard from her in four days. The last message is from me, telling her that I arrived okay, she left me on read.

My heart twists at how I left things with her, she deserves better than that– than me. I leave my phone in my bed before I stand up to do my morning routine. Wondering if Maya is already up, she probably is. Without Summer, these past days, I've been taking a lot of shifts at the diner with Maya but I barely see her at our dorm or school. Has she seen Summer in class? Would it be wrong if I ask her?
Thirty minutes later, I glance at the clock hanging from our small kitchen area.
7:23 a.m

"Rise and shine, sunshine." Maya's back is to me, moving around in the kitchen before she places a mug in front of me.

"What's this?" my brows furrow.

She tosses her pink hair behind her shoulder. "Coffee. It's good, I tasted it."

I wrinkle my nose. "You never made breakfast for me. We usually go out."

Maya shrugs, a soft smile spreads on her lips. "You're supposed to say thank you."

I chuckle, wrapping my hands around the hot coffee. "Thank you, May. You're the best."

"I know." she smiles, taking a seat in front of me. "Had to make something, it's raining and it's so cold– I didn't think you'd want to go to the coffee shop."

"It's okay," I say after taking a sip. "I'm so tired, I needed this."

"Yeah, you've been up late last night." she narrows her eyes at me. "Homework?"

I shake my head. "Just writing stuff."

She gasps, her pale face lighting up. "Did you stay up late talking with your new friend Summer? Gosh, I still can't believe you met her family. I hate you."

"She's not my–" I sigh, lowering my head with a shake. "I haven't talked to her in days. I literally was just writing things."

She tilts her head with a frown. "You haven't talked to her? Why?"

Because I'm a piece of shit and every time I open my mouth near her, I hurt her. "I have the song, she heard it, now it's her turn to invent some sort of choreography."

"And you haven't seen her." it's more like a statement than a question but I shake my head anyway.
She hums, raising her brows before lowering her eyes to the coffee in front of her, getting lost in her thoughts.

"What was that look?"

"What look?"

"The look you just– What's wrong?" my voice shakes without me noticing.

She chews her bottom lip and taps her fingers on the table with a long sigh. "It's nothing. I just think it's weird that you haven't talked or seen her in days. We share like four classes together and she wasn't in any of them."

Maya shrugs like it's nothing but my heart sinks to my stomach when I hear her.
She hasn't been in class in days? Why? Summer is not the type of person to skip classes and she can't drop out– not when the showcase is hosted by the University. A weird feeling settles in the pit of my stomach and refuses to go away. I tell myself she must be busy with her Dance Academy but it doesn't feel right.
What if something happened to her? I don't even remember seeing her sister at school– I never did but since I started working with Summer, Aurora was everywhere and I haven't seen her these days. What if she's hurt? What if she decided to drop out, just like that, because of what I said? This doesn't feel right.
I reach for my phone, ignoring the texts from my mother and I open Summer's chat again.