Staying Hidden

Friday Nights

The rest of the week was dance, dance, dance. I didn't go to Grace's, I made sure my schoolwork got done, and only went home when I had to. As John and I got more excited, we wanted to stay at the studio longer. We even made a few Instagram videos and kept teasing fellow dancers about our dance.

The assignment wasn't due for another two weeks at this point, but John and I have always been overachievers when it comes to dance. We were currently in the dance studio, tweaking the parts we danced together.

"Okay, so we'll step," he stepped to his left, making me step to my right. "And then I'll twirl you," I spun out and came back in. "Then we'll come close and break apart when he says 'try to deny it as much as you want.' And on 'want' you let go, do your thing and by 'Cause sooner or later' you come back and... Figure something out from there. Sound good?"

"Sounds amazing," I said. "Wanna water?"

"Sure," he said and I tossed him a water bottle I brought.

He opened his water and we sat on the hardwood floors of the studio. I attempted opening my water bottle with my hands, but resulted in using my teeth. Don't judge me.

"You'll ruin your teeth," John said.

"I don't care. You don't need pretty teeth to be a dancer," I shrugged.

"Hey, so, I feel like we've been working real hard. And I feel that we deserve a break," he said.

"What's your point?" I asked.

"Gary's having a barbecue and invited us to go," he said.

Gary was this guy John met freshman year. They were like... Two bros, I guess? I met Gary a couple times. Nothing seemed to be wrong with him, so I had nothing against him.

"Okay, fine. No beer and not too late. I really wanna perfect this dance," I said sternly.

"I know. I do too," he said and hugged me. "Now go change and I'll meet you in my truck."

"Okay, fine," I stood and went into the dressing room adjacent to the studio.

I unzipped my bag and rummaged through it, seeing what all I had in here. I'm that girl that if I go to Grace's with a packed suitcase, I usually don't unpack. I just go through it and find what looks cute. I found some shorts and a pink shirt. I ran my fingers through my hair and checked myself with the mirror on my phone. Once I decided I didn't look completely hideous, I walked out and grabbed John and mine's mess.

Mr. O'Connor was standing at the front desk and I smiled at him.

"What's going on?" He asked me.

I shrugged. "John's taking me to Gary's barbecue."

"Who barbecues at five o'clock?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Lots of people, I would think."

"Well, have fun. See you tomorrow?" He asked.

I nodded. "Thanks, Mr. O'Connor."

I went to John's truck and he was on the phone. I tried to be sneaky about it, but wasn't successful. John smiled at me and mouthed "Gary" to me.

"Well, hey, man, Vanessa just hopped in the car, so I'll talk to you when we get there. Okay, great. Yeah, see you in a few."

-5 minutes later-

We got to Gary's and went up to where he was moving something around on the grill. As I got closer, I saw it was hotdogs.

"Hey, what's up?" Gary hugged John. He looked at me and offered up his arms. I hugged him and smiled.