The Art of Dancing in the Rain

Chapter 9

"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive." --Merce Cunningham

Chapter 9

The day went by slowly after I got home. Nothing seemed to come up.

My eyes would glue to random objects, and then back to the math problems and then back again. I have a serious staying concentrated problem.

I picked up my phone.

"Hello?"

"I need some help." The voice led me to believe it was Barry.

"Be there in a sec." I raced around the house pulling on a decent shirt and changing into some jeans.

I was there in record breaking time. The whistle of the cars engine signaling its trip had ended.

I moved around climbing up the ladder the same way I had before, but the window was shut. I muttered many words. None of them bad of course.

To the front door like a normal person I guess.

Barry was the first to greet me. Grabbing my arm and racing me up the staircase and down a empty hall.

"I did something." He squealed enthusiastically. That was never good.

"What did you do?"

"Well it starts with a backstory." He coughed and did some choral practice before preceding mumbling a 'sorry.'

"So there was this ghastly girl some red head chick named Tiffany that was signing up for the dance recruit thing they have going on. And they were all like 'oh she can dance pretty good,' when the girl just looked like a chicken flapping around and doing weird hand motions. They only liked her because she was pretty. So...before they could decide I was all like nah ah sweetie your not getting that part you suck." Don't think otherwise Barry's not gay. He's 100% straight he just had more sass than the average male.

"And then a couple of the girls they agreed, but the boys who liked her face didn't. I mean she was something, but after that dance I didn't even notice it anymore." I gave him a look.

"So getting along with the story. I told them I know a phenomenal dancer, who's not only one of the best I've seen, but she's also super good looking and free most or all Saturdays."

"Barry!" I whined. This was so embarrassing. I felt like he was trying to get someone to date me.

"Please don't tell me you gave them a name." I groaned rubbing my head.

"Nope, but I did give a specific one an address."

"Which one?" I growled although it sounded more like a hungry kitten.

He laughed rubbing his head sheepishly.

"I gave it to him." His face turned scarlet as he said it. What could the male have done?

"No! Are you out of your mind?! I'm not joining them. I'm not talking to them. And I'm definitely not letting them in my house...I can't believe you."

"He pressured me ok. I told him you probably wouldn't want to do it. And he said you just needed convincing and I thought he was over it, but then in the janitors room. He locked me in there and swore he would give me a black eye if I didn't tell him a name or address. So I guessed it would be better to give an address since, the complex you live in has so many rooms."

"So the moral of the story is if men threaten you, you give them my address."

"Not only that. I also think my straightness is wearing off. Because the thoughts I was-"

"Barry TMI dude! TMI!" I said blocking my ears as he smiled.

He gave me one last look before leaving.

"He might come tomorrow or today. He seemed persistent to find out whether or not I'm bluffing. And said he would give me two blacks eyes of I lied...So I'll need you to cover for me next week if anything happens." He saluted me as I saluted him back. He was a brave man, a brave man with a big mouth that got both of us into trouble, but nevertheless brave. Brave and stupid.

I still couldn't understand though. If he knew in the end he'd end up with a black eye why not get one instead of two?

He probably has a plan. Great.

I was walking home, since my demented car didn't want to budge. The clouds were clear, the weather people's promises of a sunny day seemed so true, and then Mother Nature decided to screw us all over.

The studio was a good distance from my apartment, but I walked with no other choice. I had no clue where the buses headed and getting home later wasn't what I needed.

I felt truly unsatisfied with life when a speeding car passed me by and my clothes became officially soaked. Drenched in dirty rain water.

I was walking on the side of a road. You know those big roads with cars going both ways. It was how I headed home in my car. And I may or may not be a little psychotic.

The car behind the one that splashed me reversed back and onto the grass the windows opening.

He really needed to stop helping me so I could hate him already.

"Need a lift?" The rain seemed to get heavier and heavier. I didn't want his help though, I already owed him so much.

"No." I grounded out monotonously.

Harder and harder it rained. Lightning was beginning to strike, it wasn't until it struck a tree nearby I really noticed the terrible luck I was in.

It wasn't till I was walking towards the tree. He noticed how lost I was. How lost I could be in such known situations.

"Are you crazy?" By now I was less than 10feet from the burning tree the familiar smell filling my nose as it started to envelop me. I coughed repeatedly. My head pounding as I fell forward his arms finding my waist and lifting me up over his shoulders. My eyes never moved from the burning tree. It couldn't.

What could've been. I could've been burning alongside it if he hadn't stopped my walking, a pure coincidence and it would've ended it all. I still wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

My thoughts were bad though, always bad. I don't know when we got home, but I do know he took me inside laying towels on the bed and then putting me down. Eyeing me as my head started to clear up, the water and aspirin he gave me seemingly helping.

"It seems like I'm always saving you." He said cracking a small smile. His hand guiding my hair out of my face.

"I'm sorry about that. You don't have to next time." I yawned sleepily.

"I like being the hero for once." He laughed bitterly. I didn't realize how much I hated his sad laugh until this moment.

"Why?" I asked warily.

"Someone has to switch things up."

And he left. Left me. My perfectly broken hero. Gone.

He brought confliction to me like he always did. Broke me down and then tried to mend me. He was a villain in the eyes of the public, but deep down he was right he was my hero.

My hero. I just wished he could always be that way.