Drawing the Line

Chapter 16

The upbeat pop music blasted through the speakers around the dance studio as five young boys were dancing to the choreography of their new single. They were a new unnamed group that hadn't debuted yet but were scheduled to in the upcoming months. Their company had hired the talented Yuki as their choreographer.

He stood at the front of the room with his arms crossed and his thumb holding his chin. He paced back and forth as he kept a careful eye on all their movements. The song finally ended for the fourth time, and they all sighed as they laid on their backs panting. After hearing nothing, some of them held their heads up to look at him but he was still staring blankly with no change in facial expression.

"Yuki?" One of the boys named Jesse called out to him but there was no response. He shrugged his shoulders as he looked to his bandmates. Another one named Oscar stepped towards him and waved his hand in front of his face.

"What? Oh, did the song end already?"

Oscar nodded and gave him a puzzled look.

"Teach, you okay? You seem to be out of it lately. Is it because you're trying to figure out how to tell us we suck..."

"No Oscar, no! You guys are great, there's just a small personal problem I'm trying to work through. I'm sorry for making all of you work so hard. Tell you what, why don't we take 30 so you guys can rest, and I can clear my head."

They all readily agreed while Yuki stepped out of the room and up some flights of stairs. He pushed open a door and a cool breeze welcomed him as he stepped onto the rooftop. All the tension in his muscles were released as he looked over the rail.

He took a deep breath and tried to clear his head, but he couldn't. It was too clouded. The truth of the matter was, until he faced it head on and decided, he wouldn't be able to focus on anything.

He rummaged his hand through his hair in frustration and yelled out, something he had been doing a lot lately.

His mind told him to do the smart thing and quit before things got out of hand, but his heart said otherwise.

"Oh common, if she felt anything close to what I was feeling, it would've already happened by now..." he mumbled.

He decided, at this very minute, that once he left this rooftop, he was going to go back to living his life as if nothing ever happened.

"Em, why did you have to steal my heart..."

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Joel was finishing the finishing touches on a proposal he had been working on when his phone rang.

"Hey Cam, what's up?"

"Joel! Are you free today?"

"Yeah, I just finished."

"Do you want to join me and Rylie for a swim today? It's nice out and my parents are heading out."

At the mention of her name, he paused before saying yes.

"Sure, I'll pass by her house so I can pick her up."

"You know where she lives?"

'Crap!'

"Uhh, yeah. I was driving by one time and saw her walking in. It was pure coincidence."

"Oh...okay. Every time I ask her, she dodges the question, but I guess it's not a big deal after all. Thanks Joel, I'll see you soon!"

Cameron hung up and Joel sighed as he fell back into his chair.

Oh my god, he almost ruined everything. Why did he offer to pick her up? The mention of her name made him think of her and he just blurted it out. He snapped out of it and headed out of the office.