Loving So Hard

Chapter 17: Tie Breaker

James's POV

We were up early the next morning and down at the arena. All of us had the day off kinda since today was just for female solos. So Giselle was the only one dancing today. Hopefully.....

I sat with A-Troupe in the audience, Riley to my left, her hand in mine.

"First solo of the day, Giselle, from The Next Step!" The announce said and the audience clapped, (A-Troupe cheered loudly) as Giselle took to the stage in her black solo dress.

"She's doing incredible..." Riley said quietly, halfway through Giselle's solo, leaning towards me. I nodded.

"Yeah she's killin' it. She's sure to win," I said. Riley smiled, turning her attention back to the stage.....

~~~~~~

"And now, facing The Next Step in the solo category.... Sweden!" The announcer said as Giselle's competition took her place on stage. A-Troupe watched nervously as she began to dance. And to be completely honest, she was... Pretty amazing. She was doing moves I've never seen done before. I glanced over at Riley, both of us sharing the same worried look. Maybe Giselle wasn't gonna get this win as easily as we thought....

Suddenly the Sweden soloist stumbled and took a second to recover. It was almost a slight help of hope....

~~~~~

"The judges have come to a decision.... The scores between Canada and Sweden have been tied. The winner will be decided by a duet battle. We will be taking a 30 minute break and will return with the battle to decide our winner, thank you," the announcer said. I shot a look at Riley and we both got out of our seats, and A-Troupe followed us. This meant that Riley and I would be doing our duet for the tie breaker. I held Ri's hand as we rushed back to the dressing room.

Riley's POV

I was pacing back and forth in the change room, in my duet dress, and my hair and make up done, waiting for James to come out of the bathroom, so we could go to the wings. But I was so nervous. James and I haven't practiced our duet in four days. I meant what if it wasn't clean enough? Or what if we messed up? The Next Step would be going home and it would be all our fault.... I just hoped that didn't happen....

James cane out of the bathroom in his costume and came over to me.

"Babe? You seem nervous? Why are you pacing so much?" He asked, placing his hands on my shoulders and massaging me. I sighed.

"I'm just worried that we'll lose," I admitted. He turned me around and looked at me,

"Don't even worry about it Ri," he said, "Even if we do, we've come this far, and hey, look at it this way, everyone will get to see the amazing duet we've made. I mean... babe, you choreographed it. All those people out there will see YOUR choreography. Be proud of that and don't worry," James explained and pulling me into a hug. I smiled. His pep talked really helped.

"Ok..." I breathed out. Just then Kate came in.

"James, Riley, it's time to go," Kate said, waving us over to her. I exchanged a glance with James before following Kate out the door and backstage to the wings.

James was holding my hand. We were about to go on.

"And now we have The Next Step up next for the duet battle," the announcer called. I took a deep breath, smiling at James and we took the stage.

I listened as the music began....

James's POV

Our duet ran smoothly, not a single mistake. We were absolutely flawless.

I was heavily breathing with Riley in my arms. They were wrapped tightly around her. She held me just as tight.

"I love you," I heard her say into my chest over the audience cheering. I smiled,

"I love you too," I said back and we pulled out of our hug as the Sweden duet came out and stood on stage with us. The judges walked out with the trophy and stood between us. I held Riley's hand tight in mine as we nervously stood there, waiting our fate. If Sweden won, then that was it.... It would be over. I took a deep breath. It now. We can't be cut now. We only had 3 more rounds left....

"And the winner of the duet battle, deciding the solo win, the team, moving on to make solo's is..... Canada! The Next Step is moving on! Congratulations," the announcer said and both Riley and I gasped. She was smiling from ear to ear and nearly jumping. The judge handed us the trophy. I held it high above us, but Riley didn't care. She was too busy grabbing me right and crashing her lips to mine. I moaned against her lips, slowly lowering the trophy as u wrapped one arm behind her and kissed her back, hard.

"God I love you so much," she said against my lips, over the dying cheers of the audience. Suddenly the trophy was taken from my hand and I pulled my lips from Riley, seeing West and Max holding it. And all of A-Troupe around us, pulling Ri and I apart, and everyone was hugging us. I glanced at Riley, who had completely forgotten about the kiss and was jumping up and down over the win with Giselle. I grinned slightly and turned, hugging my bro's and some of the girls.

As we were carrying out trophy off the stage I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around, seeing Riley there with a smile. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. I did the same to her. I smiled as I kissed the top of her curled hair. She looked up at me and connected our lips. I relaxed slightly and kissed her back, lovingly. She parted her lips and I took the opportunity to slip my tongue in. Soon our tongues were dancing around each other's mouths. But all to soon someone cleared their throat and we pulled out lips apart, still in each other's arms.

"Well... Now that we've finished for the day, thankfully with a win, and that Riley and James have stopped swallowing each other," Kate began, with a slight chuckle to herself, "I say we all head back and clean up. I'm treating you guys to dinner tonight," she added with a huge grin and all of A-Troupe cheered. I wrapped one arm around Riley's waist as we all walked back to the change room... All happy about our victorious win....

AN: stay tuned. Things are about to heat up a whole lot. 😏