Dancing in your eyes

Chapter 4

When I read valeries note I'm so shocked that I don't even know what to say. "Roses are red, violets are blue.

Its been so great to get to know you.

Only five hours have gone by that I've met you, and I can't wait to discover more about you.

Here's to new beginnings, new friendships, and new opportunities. I now get to live my dreams. Join me on this journey James." #Val ❤️

"Well, what do you think?" Valerie asks, excitedly looking back and forth between me and her quote on the wall. She's biting on her bottom lip so hard I fear she might unintentionally draw a little bit of blood. I look over at her speechless, not being able to think of a response. "Honestly, its very.... My voice trails off as I try to think of the right word I want to use. "Moving. Inspiring even. I dig it, a lot. Especially the part about me" I say, looking over slightly chuckling and giving her a huge smile. Her smile grew bigger by my reaction. "Do you really like it? I understand if you think its a bit random, I just thought it'd be different to add- "Why would I lie?" I interject. Did she really have to question whether or not if I liked her quote? Because the truth was that I loved it. She chose to write it about me when she could've easily wrote about anything else, yet she still wrote it about me. She curiously studies my face and hesitates for a moment before answering.

"I never said you were," she playfully shoots back. "Thats true." We both share a laugh and an awkward silence consumes us for the briefest of moments. We turn to our right and watch as everyone else mingles in groups, while others write down their individual quotes, and some who are still waiting to complete the sign up sheets. I bring my attention back to Valerie.

"Valerie, all jokes aside, I love what you did with your quote. As a matter of fact, I think its the best quote written on these walls," I say giving her a cocky smirk. "Well duh. It should be. I pretty much wrote it about you." "Can't say I blame you. Who wouldn't want to write about all of this," I say, looking down and dramatically motioning to all of my outward appearance. "Totally!" She blurts, eyes wide, sarcasm obviously all in her tone. Then, out of nowhere Alexandria suddenly finds her way over to us. I'm surprised to see John isn't with her. More than likely he had figured out a way to get rid of her during the earlier hours of the tour guide. "Whats up baby sis? Where you been?" Her eyebrows furrow together and she gives me a perplexed expression. "Where have I been? Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you," she retorts. "Really? Well we haven't been looking for you," I say, and Valerie burst's out in laughter, cupping a hand over her mouth. I don't even try and hold back my laughter and join in with Valerie, laughing up a storm, more than what is necessary. But I immediately feel bad when I look over to see Alexandria with her arms folded across her chest, dogging me and Valerie. "Shut up, you're so rude," she says, rolling her eyes and shoving me off to the side as hard as she can. I lose my balance for a split second and then stand upright again once I regain it. "I'm just kidding Alex, jeez." "Whatever. I'm going back to my dorm so enjoy each other." She turns her back on us and leaves without another word. "Alex, come on sis. I'm just playing. Don't be like that." She doesn't respond. Instead she keeps on walking further and further away from us. "Alex! Wa-" "I think it'd be best to let her cool off for now," Valerie adds, holding a firm grip on my arm to prevent me from going anywhere. Her touch immediately causes me to stiffen up but I try to relax so she doesn't notice this too much. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She let's go of my arm when she feels me unstiffen. When Alexandria is no longer in sight Valerie speaks up. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed so hard like that," she murmurs, disapproval written all over her face. "No, don't worry about it. I'm the one who shouldn't have said anything. She obviously took it to heart, I know she did." I shake my head and heave a sigh. She doesn't say anything else so she offers me a sympathetic look and lowers her eyes to the ground. I didn't want her thinking this was her fault when its really my own fault for acting like a jerk. I needed to find Alexandria later on and apologize. "She'll get over it, she always does." I hoped she would, anyway. Valerie's eyes search mine as if she's skeptical of what I just told her. "You sure?" She raises an eyebrow. "I'm positive," I say confidently, adding a smile to make it more believable. "Lets hope so. The last thing I want is to get on her bad side." "I'm pretty sure the one on her bad side right now is me." She chuckles. "Thats for sure."

Rubbing the back of my neck, I change the subject and ask her what classes she's signed up for. "Oh, uh, I signed up for ballet, hip-hop, and contemporary dance," she exclaims. "I enjoy all genres of dance but ballet will forever hold a special place in my heart. I started when I was four so it's definitely where I'm most comfortable but I'm always open to learning a little bit of everything." She flashes me another one of her beautiful smiles and I have to stop myself from getting lost in her eyes. Ballet. Hmm. It wouldn't of been my first guess looking at Valerie but then again you should never judge a book by its cover. "Ballet huh? Thats honestly really impressive. You might just have to teach me the proper way sometime," I say, as I try my best attempt to copy the image of a ballerina dancer, tippy toeing across the room. Once again Valerie is laughing her ass off the same way she was earlier when Alexandria was here. She's shakes her head at me, clearly unimpressed. "Try a little something like this." I step back and watch her as she spins gracefully and elegantly across the floor. She tilts her head back, and her arms follow her legs, working perfectly together to create the most beautiful of turns I've ever seen in the world of ballerina dancing. I swear she has to be an angel sent from heaven above. When she stops spinning, she comes to a halt slowly beside me, making sure to take a bow right after for added affect.

Stunned, I stand back in awe with my jaw all the way open. But then I close it instantly, embarrassed, realizing that its not the most flattering thing to do in front of her; even though trying not to drool over her is nearly impossible. I say the first words that spill out of my mouth. "Wow, I didn't know you could dance like that. You were amazing." Her cheeks flush a bright red color and she shyly turns her head away from me, but I can still make out the smile that wants to form at the edges of her lips. "For real. You made that look like nothing. Everything about it was impeccable." She rolls her eyes and shifts her attention back to me. "Oh stop. I'm sure you've seen that done a million times before," she giggles, practically disregarding my comment. "You know what, I probably have, but not the way you just did it. That was something else," I say sincerely. Ballet might've been the least interesting form of dance to  strike my fancy, but if it's Valerie dancing, it may very well just become my favorite. Gosh I need to stop, I sound like a damn creep.

She casually thanks me and proceeds to ask, "What about you? I want to know what classes you signed up for mister." She points her nose up at me and her big blue eyes stare right through mine as she patiently waits for me to answer. I find this to be incredibly adorable since she is a few inches shorter than
me. "Well, I think it's safe to say that neither of them consist of ballet," I joke. " Clearly," she remarks, in a sassy tone of voice.

I chuckle and say "Anyways, I signed up for hip-hop, solo/group dancing which is basically a combined class that teaches a variety of techniques focusing on both areas, and then I signed up for street dance." There's a sparkle that gleams in her eyes as if she's totally taken aback by my answer. "Oh," she raises an eyebrow, "that's different." I hope thats a good thing, I think to myself. But because I can't tell what exactly she meant by it I go on, "Different, in a bad way? Or..." I trail off, waiting for her to finish for me. "No  silly, I mean that in a good way. I like it. Its good to have variety, to explore what you like and don't like. The freedom to be able to express yourself through the art of dance. Thats what this is all about isn't it?" Her eyes innocently wander over my facial features and I feel extremely nervous all of a sudden. I figure she's only trying to read me but maybe she's also checking me out. If that is the case I certainly don't mind. I get the impression she's probably just as nervous as I am because she averts her gaze to study over the rest of the room and the people in it. "I couldn't agree more," I say also averting my attention to focus on the features of the room and the people that consume it. I glance over at the clock by the door and see its already past two thirty. The day is still young so it's no wonder why there is still so many people flooding in and out of the several rooms throughout the academy. I truly feel so blessed to be here enjoying this day.

I felt even more relieved to know that Alexandria and I successfully made it through the auditions. I would've felt so guilty had she not gone through but thank god she did. The best part about this whole day is that everything is going a whole lot better than I expected, and the fact that I've managed to cross paths with such a beatiful soul like Valerie was icing on the cake.