Shattering Me

14~ the Private Performer

Pic of Kyle Cane above ^^

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Julie didn't honestly consider herself a busy person. If she wanted to, she could have spent the entire weekend chilling back at home with her brothers and sisters. She could spend five hours a day watching paint dry every day after school. But she didn't want to.

She enjoyed being consumed by the trivial and unnecessary, the parts of life that made it worth living.

So, when she got a call from her bestie, asking if she was near the school he'd so graciously decided to join her in, her answer was swift. Of course she was already at the school. When he told her that something had happened and Kyle had disappeared, she immediately agreed to help search. Hell, she would have volunteered to make wanted posters and start a massive student search party if she didn't find him in the very first place she looked.

All she really knew about Kai ele' Cane, was that he danced and went by name Kyle. So it wasn't surprising to find him in one of the department's practice rooms. Her blonde instinct told her something was still wrong, however, so she texted Ryan before entering.

[To Superboy: I found your boy. Dance room 1A. Moving in to engage now.]

Yes, she had officially decided on the perfect nickname for her best friend. Much to his chagrin, she called him her chocolate Superboy.

From the way Ryan had described the situation, she had kind of expected to find Kyle in distress or something. Yet, he was just practicing like always. Some old classical music was playing through the room as she snuck in to watch. The two had gotten to know each other a little better over the last few weeks, but she had never seen him go at it.

As the music strung its tune, Kyle acted independently. Raised high on the tips of his white ballet shoes, he went along to some invisible instruction. Twirling carefully when the routine demanded, dropping low as if compelled by gravity, springing back up in refined defiance. Julie was actually awed by his performance.

She did have friends in the department, but none moved like Kyle. She hadn't seen someone pull off such graceful precision and make it look easy the way that he was doing it.

The room was lined with floor-to-ceiling windows so that the dancers could see their own movements, but Kyle wasn't looking. His eyes weren't even open.

Minutes passed by and sweat began to bead along his forehead, yet he never opened his eyes enough to notice that he wasn't alone. The music stopped, but he didn't. Julie realized right then that he had been ignoring it from the start. "What are you dancing to? She finally asked.

He'd been in the middle of a quite bow when his head snapped around so fast that he threw himself off balance. She saw two quick tears escape from their prison when his eyes finally shot open. "Julie? What are you doing here? How long were you watching?" he flailed, clutching his ribs with one arm.

"I was in here when you walked in of course. I can't believe you didn't say hi to me!" she bawled. The poor boy still hadn't learned his lesson about dealing with Julie Ortega.

"I'm so sorry, I-I wasn't thinking. I...was just practicing, you know?"

"Alright, I'll forgive you if you tell me what's wrong," she said casting a gentle smile.

Finally, Kyle caught and said, "Rye sent you. He's probably pissed because I left him to clean up alone."

Julie patted the space on the bench next to her, beckoning him to have a seat. She didn't know any of the details of what happened, but she remembered Ryan's voice being distinctly more worried than angry. Though his voice typically sounded a bit angry no matter what he said.

Kyle sat and wiped his face with his shirt, giving Julie a quick glance at the lean muscles underneath. There were quite a few bruises, but that didn't hide the toning that he kept hidden. Of course, she had to whistle as a sign of respect.

"I was just stressed out or something. I messed up last night and then a little girl blew up Rye's house because of me. I just came here to-"

She held her palm up to stop him mid-sentence. "Hang on, you're going to have to explain that in more detail."

He explained his idea to take the Krag brothers out to eat last night and how they ran into a gang that apparently used a little girl to deliver a bomb. To her credit, she took it in stride and let him talk without interrupting. The little blonde loved a story too much to interrupt a good one.

She asked him if it was okay for him to be up and about after something like that and he just said, "It feels like I'm back home when I'm dancing. Funnily enough, I have just as many bruises to show for it."

He got about and started strutting onto the dance floor. Julie couldn't help but notice that the boy had some very appropriate curves going down his frame. Strong legs and a slim waist. Tall and refined when he raised himself up into a stance. If she hadn't spent so much time thinking about guys like Carman Krag, she probably couldn't resist the cuter and less masculine variety like Kyle Cane.

"What happened," a voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"Damn it, Superboy! I thought I told you that you're too big to be sneaking up on people like a ninja," she growled in a very Ryan-like manner. He was rubbing off on her. In reality, she knew that he had probably just walked in too fast for her to notice, but it was still irritating.

"But Julie...fine, whatever. Just tell me what happened," he said quietly. He didn't want to reveal himself to Kyle just yet, so he sat down beside her. She filled him in just as quietly.

"I'm supposed to be protecting him. He should have told me that he was coming here," Ryan growled.

"Why? In case you haven't noticed Superboy, he's not a little kid. That right there," she waved a hand dramatically in the dancer's direction, "is not the body of a child. You don't treat me like that, and he's a few months older than me. So what's the problem?"

Ryan didn't have an answer for her. He scowled at his reflection in the far wall mirror and then glared at the silent dancer.

There were times when it was hard to change his opinions of someone. People didn't change for no reason. When Ryan looked at the dancer, he could still picture the idiot standing on the side of the bridge. He could still feel the rain and hear the deadly cold voice as it rambled on about glass at the bottom of the sea.

The way Kyle had spoken made him so mad that he could throttle something. Yet, watching Kyle dance with his eyes closed made that anger take a back seat to something else. Something stronger and more irritating.

"It doesn't matter. Right now I'm expected to keep tabs on him, and that's what I'll do," he growled and rose to his feet. In two quick steps, he reached his charge and put a hand out to stop him.

Kyle recoiled in shock and opened his mouth to say something, but Ryan was done with the situation. The berserker bent low and threw him onto his shoulder with one quick scoop. "You've got cleaning to do," he growled.

Julie watched with wide eyes as her friend carried his roommate out of the room screaming, "Noooo!" and pounding on his back as if he was being dragged down to the seventh pit of hell. Then she smiled to herself and rolled onto the floor laughing.

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The picture at the beginning is one that I found and edited to fit. Comment below if you agree with Julie's opinion that Kyle is filling out pretty well and hit that vote button if you enjoyed the chapter.

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