A Collection of Stories

One Year

Over the next month, Tobias and I grew close as friends, and just friends. I would spend every day helping him with the routines, spending our free time and lunch together. All of my brothers thought I was smitten with this guy, and I would tell them they’re wrong.  But they’re not; I’m falling for this guy, and I’m falling hard. I tried to shake it off and convince myself that we’re just friends and that’s all we’ll ever be. So once a week, I would spend my time with this girl named Nikki. She was a girl about my age, very beautiful and talented. She wanted to become a dancer like I was. I was helping her when I wasn’t with Tobias or Eric or any of my other brothers. She learned routines fairly quickly, always asking for more.

About a couple of weeks in, I learned some disturbing things about her. She would smoke at least half a pack of cigarettes a day and she slept around. That would normally deter me from keeping her as a friend, but she was the first girlfriend I’ve had in years. I didn’t know what to do. Nikki had asked me to come meet this guy with her. She said his name’s William and that he had seen us dancing. I was uneasy about it because it might lead us to his room, or something illegal. Tobias must have noticed because I seemed less focused when we practiced.

One day as we were walking to lunch, he stopped me and turned me towards him. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear as he looked at me. “Ana, what’s up?” He asked as I looked at his eyes. I shrugged, running a hand through my hair. I wasn’t wearing much, just my leotard and one of Eric’s sweaters. Tobias moved closer to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Talk to me, Ana, please.” He murmured, looking me in the eyes.

So I told him what was going on. I told him how nervous I was and how I really didn’t want to have sex with a guy I didn’t even know. When I finished, Tobias didn’t say anything, he just stared at the wall behind me. After a few moments he finally looked at me, brushing his fingers through my hair. “Knowing you, not going with this Nikki would eat you alive. So I suggest that you go with her and be careful.” He murmured. I nodded and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight. He hugged me back and kissed my forehead.

“Come on, I’m starving,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the cafeteria.

~

After lunch, I left Tobias and went to find Nikki. She was in the dance studio like she said she would be. When she saw me, her face lit up. I smiled and walked over to her, leaning against the bar.

“So, his name is William and he wants to show us some of his music.” She said, so giddy I thought she would fly to the moon. “He’s gonna take us back to his studio and play us some music live! And then maybe he’ll put a recording on and we’ll get to know him better.” She said in a dreamlike state. I bit my lip and nodded, playing with my sweater.

“I can’t wait,” I said cheerfully. She squealed in delight and bounced around on her toes. I smiled and swallowed down my nervousness. I’d do it with a stranger if it made Nikki happy. “When are we meeting him?” I asked.

She grinned at me, twirling her hair between her fingers. “Ten minutes,” She said, looking me over. “Time to make you look noticeable,” She murmured, grabbing my wrists and pulling me over to a chair. She pulled the hair tie out of my hair and undid my sloppy French braid. She mussed up my hair and pulled the sweater down to reveal one of my shoulders. She ran over to her bag and grabbed a pouch, taking out make-up and running back to me. She applied it skillfully, grinning at her masterpiece.

“I don’t even recognize you, Ana.” She murmured, pulling me to my feet. She turned around when we saw a figure in the mirrors. She squealed and ran towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek quickly. “Will, this is Ana, Ana, meet Will.” He smiled at me as I came over to them. William wrapped an arm around each of us and led us to his studio. It wasn’t so awkward until he put on a recording. He started leading us over to a couch and kissing us both. My head started spinning after that, the rush of things were just overwhelming to me.

~

William pulled back and smiled at Nikki, brushing his fingers over her bare shoulder. I sat up and pulled my clothes on, telling the two I had to go. They probably didn’t hear me. That was fine with me; it’d feel awkward if they did. I felt violated and nasty. That may have been the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. But I’d never let Nikki know that, she was so happy. I walked out into the hallway and started dancing down it. I just wanted to forget what happened, dancing helped a lot. I pushed myself to go harder, doing things I hadn’t done in years. I stopped at the end of the hall when I heard the faint sound of shutter clicks. I turned around and saw a guy, about Eric’s age, with a camera. He had longish brown hair and glasses. From what I could see, he looked ripped and gorgeous. God, I hope he’s gay.

I walked over to him and ran a hand through my hair. He looked up from his camera and smiled. “You’re really good dancer,” He said, scrolling through his pictures. “My names Hunter, by the way,” He mumbled.

“Ana, why were you taking my picture?” I asked. He told me it was for one of his classes on action painting. “So you’re a painter?” I asked.

He looked up at me. “No, I’m an actor. Painting is my hobby.” He said. I nodded and ran a hand through my hair again. “You want to get something to eat?” He asked, giving me a cheeky grin. I smiled back and nodded. “Race ya,” I said as I took off. I heard him laugh and take off after me, easily catching up. I quickly took my flats and sweatpants off and sprinted ahead of him. He grumbled sprinting faster, unbuttoning his flannel as he did.

“So we’re playing that game, huh?” He shouted, pulling his shirt off to reveal his defined muscles. I bit my lip and forced myself to stop looking at his chest. I pulled the sweater up more and slapped my butt. Hunter chuckled and ran faster. “Not into girls, honey,” He said. I grinned and sprinted to the cafeteria. Hunter caught up to me and picked me up, slinging me over his shoulder. I laughed and held onto him.

“Do you have a boyfriend,” I asked him, knotting my fingers in his waistband. Hunter stopped running and set me on my feet. He wrapped an arm around my waist and tucked me into his side.

“No,” He admitted sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the floor as we walked into the cafeteria. I leaned up and kissed his cheek, mussing up his hair.

“What if I told you I know a guy who’s single and very gay?” I said, smiling at him. His face lightened up which made me happy. He started asking me about Eric, what he was like, what his name was, how old he was, everything about Eric.

“When can I meet him?” Hunter asked as we brought our trays filled with food back to an empty table. I sat down and looked around until I saw my best friend walking in.

“Now,” I said, waving Eric over. He grinned and jogged over. He was wearing a black tank top and jeans, along with a blue beanie I made him. I got up and threw my arms around Eric, hugging him before turning to Hunter. “Hunter, this is Eric Pierce. Eric, this is Hunter Marks.” Eric smiled at Hunter as he stood.

Eric wrapped an arm around me as he looked Hunter over. “You sure do know how to pick ‘em, Ana.” He murmured. Hunter blushed and looked at his feet, unsure of what to say. I took Hunter’s hand and pulled him closer.

“You two kids have fun. I’m gonna head back to my room.” I said, kissing both their cheeks before heading off toward my room. I wrapped my arms around my waist as I made my way into the hall. I kept thinking about Tobias; how it felt when he touched me, his smile, and the way he moved when he danced. He was making me crazy. I’m so stupid for telling him we could only be friends, but that’s in the past and I just have to live with my decision.