Destiny

Chapter 2

Letting out a chuckle as I closed my bag I exited my dance class. Dance never failed to put a smile on my face no matter what we had been doing in class. Everything about dance made me happy from the music, to the costumes, and especially the choreography. I love how when you dance you can tell an entire story with absolutely zero words. You could express any emotion from love to anger and sadness with a simple flick of your wrist or bend of your back. My favorite was when you let a song consume you as you improv and feel the very meaning of it in your core. The moment when you stop focusing on the world around you, people's judgments, your insecurities and let the music and your body take over. I always thought souls were real and when a person danced without any fear of judgement or anything holding them back, that's when you could see a persons soul. For a moment you can see who a person really is by the way they move to a certain song. To me personally dance always had a freeing effect. When I can put on a certain song and forget about life for a few minutes, instead focus on floating across the floor from one movement to the next, I love it...I feel untouchable.

Now I was walking to the class for the subject I was minoring in, Psychology. My major is in dance. As usual I walked with my head held high, eyes straight forward. "Never look down Ava. Looking down shows weakness and weak people get attacked." My mother's voice rang through my head like a siren. She told me that when I was still a terribly shy eight year-old. She was always looking out for me, trying to make sure I was prepared for the real world, that I'd be safe.

I just wish I could've kept her safe...Maybe then she'd still be with me instead of six feet underground back home in Scotland. God I miss her so much, she'd always be up early so she could watch the sunrise, and stay up late so she could watch it set as well. It was a wonder she was never tired and had so much energy all the time. I miss her laugh, her smile, her comforting hugs, and her incredible cooking. Mostly I miss the way her eyes would light up and she'd get a skip in her step whenever she would work on her artwork, art was her favorite thing to do. Whether it was drawing, painting, or even just randomly splashing paint on a canvas because "why not?". She was so amazing at it to, it's a wonder I never picked up her talent. My mom tried teaching me so many times but I could just never quite get it. Eventually though we discovered I could dance and dance became my art. It's become one of the few ways I still feel connected to her. Well, that and watching the sun set. I've tried watching the sun rise but I am not a morning person at all.

Unfortunately, I was also too lost in my memories of my mother to notice the three dragons flocking their way towards me; and it wasn't until I collided with the one in the middle that I snapped out of my thoughts. I would have fallen to the ground had my reflexes not kicked in and I grabbed his shirt pulling myself into his warm chest to steady myself.

As I pushed myself off him and started to walk away I heard him mutter "Watch where you're fucking going next time." Of course being the sarcastic smart ass I am I couldn't let him walk away from that comment so I responded "Then maybe next time don't walk like a flock of douche birds."

At this him and his friends turned around and my eyes connected with a pair of stormy grey ones. They flashed with recognition before he masked them over with an emotionless expression. Weird...He then said "How about you grow a couple brain cells and step to the side next time barbie."

"Wow...how original." I tried to hide the hurt in my voice. Being blonde got me made fun of back in Scotland because everyone around me had either black, brown, or red hair. To include my parents, gosh my mom was such a stunning red head and my dad had incredible deep brown locks, it was a mystery how I was born blonde. But none the less "barbie" was the favored name. Although instead of letting him see the hurt I looked him dead in the eyes and responded "Well, as long as we're pointing out things we should work on fixing about each other I should let you know that your dick is part of your body not your personality so try keeping the two separate some time."

I heard his two friends trying to stifle their laughter behind him but he just glared at me, slightly halfheartedly though if I'm being honest. However instead of dwelling on it I flashed him my best smirk before turning around and heading to my psychology class. I smiled at my professor as I walked in and took my seat in the middle of the room. Mrs. Jones is a cool professor and I really like her. She's probably in her early forties (I'd say) so she's still very much in tune with my generation and our weird jokes which just makes her even better. Not to mention she's really smart when it comes to psychology. I'm happy I got her instead of the other professor they had here. I've heard a lot about Mr. Scott and none of it is good because he's some cranky old man. After class I grabbed my bad and started to head back to my apartment since I had no more classes for the day. When I got back I made a quick meal and took a nap. I didn't wake up until I heard the loud blaring screeches of my alarm clock going off right at five. I almost forgot I set that before I left for college this morning knowing that when I got back I would probably eat then sleep because I tend to do that a lot.

However tonight I had work at seven which means getting up at five so I could take my usual thirty minutes to get out of bed (or what felt like thirty minutes...), re-do my makeup, leave at six and make the thirty minute walk to my work. Although today I didn't wear any makeup so that meant putting some on. Tonight I opted for a blue smokey eye with glitter and a maroon lipstick. I knew tonight would be an easy night for me so I threw on some black shorts, navy tank top, a pair of cute ankle boots with a small heel, and some jewelry. It was a nice night tonight, clear sky, full moon, and only a slight breeze. As I walked I bopped my head up and down to my playlist, my mood had risen considerably since my encounter with the neanderthals earlier today and I couldn't wait to get to work and see some friendly faces.

Since you're probably wondering, I work at a club as a bartender and dancer. But I'm not a stripper, this is a burlesque club, so there's no poles or nudity just risque dancing. Although tonight I was just bar tending. As I walked into the club the smell of alcohol hit me and I resisted the urge to cringe. Three years I've been working here you'd think I'd get used to the smell but every night it still managed to get to me a little...I walked behind the bar and set my bag down as Jason one of my coworkers walked over to me.

"Hey A, how you doing?" he asked with sincerity as he gave me a hug. I knew he was referring to my downer mood lately so I gave him a shrug and small smile before responding "I'm doing alright. What's it like tonight?"

"It's okay, not too packed. A few weirdos have come in though so be careful okay?" he was so much like a brother to me and I appreciated it so much.

"I think I'll be able to handle it thanks." It was at that moment I heard someone call for me at the end of the bar. When I got to where he was sitting I saw it was a guy probably in his early thirties, suit, not too bad looking but not my type for sure. He eyed me up and down like I was a piece of meat and he was looking for food.

I tried not to visibly shudder as I rested my arms on the bar, "Hello sir, what can I get for you?"

"I'll just have a beer...and maybe you, what time do you get off sexy?" I rolled my eyes at that one not caring if he saw or not.

"One beer coming right up." With that I turned around, cracked open a beer, and quickly gave it to the man before going to help others. After that my night passed by pretty quickly and uneventfully, except the occasional guy trying to hit on me, but I'm used to it. In my line of work you have to be fairly tough to handle some of the unsavory characters that you cross paths with.