Meadow Valley book series- Everything's changed

Chapter 56: Dance injury

     Ana had such a busy week, there was not much time for her to play around or get distracted by Zach. She had to focus on her dancing and went to the studio every day. There was only one more month before Ana had to fly back down to Miami for her dance recital and big audition. So far David's little talk with Ana in the car had seemed to have put things in perspective for her. David had made sure to personally drive his sister to the studio as much as possible and even dragged Adam along with him several times.

     Ana was not able to see Zach but he made sure to call her every single night. Sometimes the two of them would talk for hours and one night Ana barely got any sleep. Their friendship was beginning to grow even more and the more Zach spoke with Ana on the phone the more he was falling in love with her. Even though they couldn't see each other in person they still spent plenty of time texting, sending snap chat messages and seeing each other via FaceTime calls. The two of them talked about what they were going to do at the Founder's Day Festival, their first official date.

     Ana hid most of her late night conversations with Zach from her family, especially David. At first she wanted David to protect her from Zach but now she wanted to be with Zach. Ana knew that David wouldn't understand and try to stop her. So she kept her phone conversations a secret from him. She asked Zach to not tell anyone either. She explained to him that her family was a bit overprotective and would not approve of their late night phone calls.

     One of the days that week David was unable to go with Ana to Lexington. He had asked Adam to take his sister. Ana could tell that Adam was acting a little distant with her and had suspected it was because of her friendship with his brother. Adam even made a few comments a couple of times, asking Ana what was going on between his brother and her. Ana told him that they were just friends and nothing was going on between them, he wasn't all that convinced.

     Adam was a really good guy and Ana never thought that he was interested in her before until now. Ana started to think that maybe Adam was a little jealous or something of Zach and her. When Ana first moved to Kentucky she had a crush on Adam but blew it off because she thought he wouldn't date a younger girl like her. That's when she met his younger brother Zach and he was equally as charming and cute as Adam.

     While they were at the studio Cristov had pulled a muscle in his shoulder. He was unable to lift Ana and practice one of their tricks. The doctors had told him that he needed to rest his shoulder for at least one week. Ana was upset and didn't know what they were going to do. There was only three more weeks until they needed to leave to Miami. Sergio had suggested that they get a substitute partner just to practice the lifts with Ana. Cristov was still able to practice the rest of the dance with her. He just was not able to lift her or put any pressure on his shoulder. Adam could tell that Ana was deeply concerned.

"I could help?"

"What? How?"

"I'm strong and they can teach me how to do the lifts. Right?"

     Adam looked at Sergio and Cristov to see if his suggestion was plausible. They looked at each other for a moment and then looked back at Adam. Noticing that he was pretty muscular and it could possibly work out.

"We give it a try. If it doesn't work then we find someone else." Sergio insisted.

"No!" Ana pleaded.

"What are you afraid of? That I might actually be able to do it?" Adam teased.

     Ana tried to look back at Sergio and insist that it was a bad idea. Sergio was strong headed and once he made a decision it was set. Ana gave in because she knew that they were all against her.

"Whatever you do. Don't drop me."

"I'd never drop you." Adam gave her a quick smile.

     Sergio started to drill both of them. Forcing them to do the trick over and over again. At one point Adam had to remove his shirt because it was causing Ana to lose her grip when she grabbed his shoulders. They were both exhausted from all of the hard work. Adam did learn quickly and was very strong. Sergio was happy with the choice and insisted that they continue to practice later when they went home. He wanted to make sure that Ana knew how to do the move tomorrow.

"Tomorrow when you come to the studio we will all practice the dance together. Ana and Cristov you will dance together and Adam you will step in only on those two parts with the lifts. Make sure you are both ready tomorrow so we don't have to waste any more time practicing those moves with only you two. Understand?"

     Sergio was tough. He expected his dancers to pick up choreography immediately and didn't like to waste any time. He didn't like the fact that he had to take the entire hour teaching Adam how to properly lift Ana in the tricks. He expected his dancers to work overtime learning their moves on their own time. Ana looked at Adam as they were leaving and apologized for Sergio's demanding ways.

"I bet you had no idea what you were getting yourself into right?" Ana joked.

"I certainly have more respect for you dancers now. But I'm no stranger to hard work." Adam smiled.

     Ana had almost forgotten how cute Adam was. He had this quiet subtle charm about him. Very different than his brother.

"Are you sure you are going to have enough time to practice with me today? I mean we might need to practice for a few hours."

"Yeah. I don't have any plans the rest of the day. Where should we practice? At your place?"

"Yeah that sounds good."