Bound to You

Chapter 16: Rage

“Oh my GOD, I hate girls.” Darcy snapped as she roughly threw a pair of shorts into her small duffle bag. After Rydel had shown her the Twitter trend the night before she’d immediately gotten on Tumblr to try and figure out what was going on. Turns out, it was the interview she’d done with Ross for HollywireTV the night of the Captain America 2 premiere. Some of the fans had taken her comment about being closer friends with Maia than with Laura to be a dig against Laura. Thankfully, the majority of the R5 fans had immediately jumped on the enraged fans for being immature and taking her comment in a negative way. But it didn’t change the fact that she had accidentally turned a small portion of the fanbase against herself. She knew Sean would be absolutely furious. Riker was lounging casually against the doorframe of hers and Rydel’s bedroom. He was watching Darcy with a slightly amused expression on his face. “Darcy, calm down. It’s not a huge deal. You’re never going to please 100% of the fans. It’s just something we had to learn early on.” He assured her. She shook her head as she pulled a tank top out of one of her drawers and tossed it into her duffle bag as well. “Well I don’t like it. I still hate girls. I hate being a girl. Why couldn’t I have been born a guy?” she snapped bitterly. Riker laughed and crossed the room to sit down on the edge of her bed. “I don’t know about that. I think I prefer you as a girl.” He joked. She allowed a small grin to break out across her face as she tossed a pair of shoes into the bag and zipped it up. She slung the strap over her shoulder and turned to face Riker. “I’m packed. Now where exactly are we going?” she asked. He shook his head as he stood and began walking towards the door. “It’s a secret.” He said mysteriously.

**

Darcy looked eagerly out of the passenger side window of Riker’s car. He still wouldn’t tell her where they were going. She didn’t recognize the part of L.A. they were in at all. Which wasn’t all that surprising; she hadn’t ventured out much in the city beyond where Ross took her. “Is this the part where you take me to a secluded warehouse somewhere and kill me?” she asked ominously. Riker laughed as he turned down another narrow street. “Don’t worry, murder is not on my agenda today. Besides, I’m not quite finished with you yet.” He winked at her playfully as he pulled her car smoothly into the parking lot of a large studio. At least it appeared to be a studio, of some sort. “Where are we?” Darcy asked curiously. Riker hopped out of the car and walked around to open her door. “One of my favorite places in the world.” He replied as she stepped out onto the concrete. She followed him up a set of stone steps that led to a large, glass-front building. The sign hanging above the doors simply read ‘Rage’. She stepped inside and was instantly greeted with an all-too-familiar smell of floor polish and sweat. She grinned. “Is this what I think it is?” she asked eagerly. Riker nodded as he led her down a long hallway. “It is. This is the dance studio we all danced at when we first moved out here. We don’t have much time to dance anymore; I think I miss it more than anything.” He commented. Darcy nodded as she followed him down a second winding hallway. They passed different rooms as they went, some with opened doors so she could see inside. The ages of the students inside progressed as they moved along. Young, five year old ballerinas in one room. Preteen hip-hop dancers in another. “I know what you mean.” She said wistfully. “I had several dance classes a day when I was back at Julliard. But I haven’t been able to practice at all since I moved out here. I’m probably so out of shape.” She complained. He glanced back at her over his shoulder. “I don’t know, that bikini looked pretty good on you yesterday. I’d say you’re still in pretty good shape.” He said simply. Darcy felt her cheeks flush. He’d been looking at her? Not that she could complain, she’d been checking him out a fair amount too. He finally stopped in front of one of the numerous studio doors and knocked twice. A brunette male, who appeared to be about thirty, answered after a few seconds. “Riker, what’s up?” He greeted him. Riker nodded and stepped into the room, gesturing for Darcy to follow. There were several others in the room, some male and some female. They appeared to all be around hers and Riker’s age. “What’s up man? This is my friend, Darcy. Darcy, this is Jase. He’s one of the instructors here.” Darcy waved and flashed him a friendly smile. “Hello.” Jase extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Riker told me a lot about you when he called. A lot about you.” He teased, smirking at Riker. Riker’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink as he gestured to the room. “Anyways. This is one of the advanced classes here at the Rage. I figured since it’s been a while you can just join them today and get back into the groove.” He offered. Darcy beamed. Her worries about Laura and Maia and the whole situation with the fans in general was the farthest thing from her mind. Dance had been her first real love and her true passion all along. As much as she loved acting, dancing truly had her heart. She bounced excitedly from foot to foot as she glanced back and forth between Riker and Jase. “Oh my gosh! Okay so…what first? What kind of- wait, where can I change??” she asked quickly. Jase gestured towards the door they had entered through. “Down the hall to the left. It’ll be on your right.” She squealed excitedly and threw her arms around Riker’s waist. “Riker, thank you so much!” she gushed. She stepped back quickly and stretched up on her toes to peck his cheek before skipping over to the door. Once she stepped out into the hallway she stopped for a moment and rested her back against the wall. She hadn’t intended to kiss Riker just then. It had only been a friendly peck on the cheek, same as she’d given to both Ross and Rocky numerous times. But with Riker…she wasn’t entirely sure exactly where they stood friendship wise. Or where they stood beyond friendship. Although she’d try to explain his gaze from the day before away as just being petty jealousy, or any other innocent emotion, she couldn’t deny that there was just something about the way he’d looked at her. There was just something there between them in general. What that was, she didn’t know for sure.