Twisted Past

Chapter 9

P.O.V. Alex: 

The ride to Vermont always did something to my stomach, and I hated it. Especially now, when the only face I have been seeing in my dreams lately is Anas. I really didn't want to. I only wanted Ava, for the love of God; she is the woman I was getting married to in less than a week.
Raoul was excited to come back to Vermont. I could understand him, truly. I would if I wasn't nervous about maybe running into Ana again. She loved Vermont as much as I and Raoul did when we were younger. Maybe she didn't anymore after all the history. Every time I drove here with Ava, I always defeated the impulse to go to the studio. It was an old little house. Kind of shabby, if I was honest, but the three of us always went there as kids when we wanted to train a couple of steps. On my last trip there with Ana, it was just the two of us, and Ana just graduated from college. We visited this studio after years again. The roof was broken, and it was in pretty bad condition. She loved it, though; she was circling around herself and told me about her vision excitedly. One day, she wanted to earn enough money so she could renovate this studio and make it a summer dance camp for kids. Though she always wanted to be a professional dancer, she dreamt of passing on the love of dancing to children, like my mother. She adored her. My mother always treated Ana like her own daughter, and she always knew that we had a crush on each other. Even though we were just kids then, She told me this in a letter I received when I was twenty-one.
Now, every time I come with Ava, I try to avoid the area of our summer house and the studio. They had too many memories, too many pictures, too many home videos, too much of everything, too much of the life I tried so hard to forget. And now. Now everything comes back as fast as lightning.

"Are you excited to go back to the summer house?" Ava asked Raoul.
"Yeah, especially now with Emilia and Andrey. It's crazy; I haven't been here in over six years, and now I'm back with a whole different life." You and me, man.
"So if this was your summer destination, then Alex must have a house too, right?" Ava looked at me with curious eyes.
"I sold it years ago." I answered that question before I could even think about it. Raoul gave me a dirty look, and I already knew what he was thinking. 'Why are you lying about this?' No one except me and Raoul knew that I owned that summer house too. Our parents bought it together when they were just out of college. Me and Ava never had to book a hotel here. But it's just too hard—too many memories, too many pictures.
"Hey, Ava, can I ask you a theoretical question?" Oh no, what is he planning?
"Of course."
"Theoretically, if you find out that Alex is pretty different with a lot of history you don't know about, would you still want to get married to him?" Now I was the one giving him a dirty look.
"Uhm... So if that would happen, I would like to get to know the real him before we get married, sure."
"Another theoretical question. What if he never shows you that part of him, or like, years after you get married?" What the fuck are you doing, man?
"Uhm... I don't know. I wouldn't be happy about that." She thinks a bit, then she continues, "I would think he didn't love me enough to show me the real him, or maybe he didn't trust me enough." Raoul gave me the 'See' look. Damn, this man annoys me. For the rest of the drive, I could only think about Avas answer. I didn't really look where I was driving; I just automatically drove to the summer house. Raoul and Mila got out of the car with Andrey and told us that we would see each other the next day. Then I drove myself and Ava to our hotel.
The house was big and beautiful. It's remarkable that it stayed in the condition we left it in years ago.

After we put our clothes in the drawers, I told Ava that I was going for a walk. I was still kind of cold with her after our last spat. Maybe it wasn't fair, but what she said that day really hurt me. She just nodded. I opened the door and waited, but she didn't say anything else, so I left.

I walked the same path; I had always walked with Raoul and Ana when I was a teenager. The sun was still shining. I just had to see it. I was ready to. I didn't care if I saw Ana. I just wanted to see what that studio turned out to be, or maybe, who knows, maybe it was still in the same condition. The studio had a roof now—a shabby one, but it was still a roof. The condition hadn't really changed, but it wasn't worse. I would go in. Deep down, I wished to see her again.

P.O.V. Ava:

Right after Alex left, I called Stella. Jules and Bridget were already there. Christian found a place where we could see into Ana's studio. There was no place inside the building because, apparently, she was living on the upper floor. It was a two-story building. So me and Stella went to accompany the other girls. Ana was a beautiful woman with long, wavy brown hair. On her head was a hut. She had a beautiful figure, with great curves in the right places. I hated her, even though she is a sweetheart. Ugh, why did I feel this way?

Ana turned on a song and started dancing. The music was unique and kind of hot. My eyes were glued to her when Stella was trying to get my attention to a guy that just entered the studio and slowly took his jacket off. I couldn't believe what I saw next. Alex started dancing with Ana, doing the same moves as her. He took her by her hand and swirled her into his arms. Dropped her, not on the floor, but that one dance move, and moved her up again. Then they were gliding in one direction, then in the other. On the floor, then up. Then he grabbed her hat, hid his face, and moved backwards while she moved in his direction. They performed perfectly. Alex performed perfectly. Wait, did he actually know that Ana was here? Why did my heart squeeze in pain seeing them together? Gladly, we could hear them talking, if they would. The music stopped, and they stood opposite each other.

"I can't believe it." She put her arms around my fiancé's neck. I almost wanted to scream at her to take her hands off my future husband.