The Dancer | Wattys2018 | COMPLETED

4 - Falling

His green eyes watched her, carefully.

Madison walked in with Alessio, who in turn, wasn't letting his eyes off Sebastian.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Sebastian said, breaking away from Madison's gaze and turning to Alessio, "I swear if I knew, I wouldn't have asked her to come, so I hope you don't mind."

Alessio turned red, "She's just a friend." Madison almost smiled; it was funny seeing Alessio embarrassed.

Sebastian exhaled nervously, loosening up a bit, "And here I was thinking we were going to have a punch-up." He laughed a bit, the nervousness evident, "Tyler's the fighter, not me."

Madison forced a smile, "Great. So you're not the guy who slashed Alessio on the head. Cross one name off the list." The sarcasm was too much and Sebastian looked up at the bandage on Alessio's head, scowling.

"Why would you suspect me?"  He frowned.

"The attacker had green eyes." Alessio said. Madison genuinely believed Sebastian wasn't the person who hurt Alessio. But who else could have?

Sebastian shrugged, "I caught the bus here and have been here since school finished."

'Wait," Alessio said slowly, "Marcus is the one who owns the mechanic store. With, uh..."

"Austin." Sebastian filled in for him.

"You guys are all brothers!" Alessio announced in realisation.

"Aha yeah. Austin and Marcus run the place. Tyler and I are still in school." Sebastian said.

Alessio smiled, "Sorry for suspecting you. It definitely can't be you or your brothers. I mean, why would someone like you be looking for Madison?" Alessio chuckled and Sebastian joined in with a weak smile, clearly confused at the situation.

"Should we start?" Madison broke in, eager to dance and see how good Sebastian was.

Madison hadn't danced since the death of her parents. For the first few weeks, Madison could barely even get out of her bed. She couldn't eat, was hospitalised and had sessions with a therapist, and so she lost a lot of weight, especially muscle, so she knew she was definitely weak to dance. 

But she would try anyway.

Madison peeled off her jacket and had a camisole on underneath. She was also wearing leggings, which would be fine to dance in. Sebastian must have already changed earlier, because he was wearing loose black pants and a black singlet.

Madison diverted her eyes and took of her boots, "You do ballet?" She asked Sebastian, trying to make conversation.

He nodded, "That and argentine tango."

Madison nodded, impressed. She walked over to him, "Where'd you learn?"

"My mom taught me." He said quietly. Madison looked at him for a few seconds. He looked upset and angered, Madison obviously knew why, but she didn't want the conversation to continue on in that direction.

"I might be a bit weak. I haven't danced in a while." She said, changing the subject.

Sebastian nodded, "You only do ballet, right?"

"Yeah." Madison said, "Maybe you could teach me the tango then."

He smiled, "Maybe." He turned around to the speakers, flipped a switch and a string of piano notes flowed through the room. He flipped another switch and the track changed to more upbeat, tango music.

"Which one then?" He asked. Madison just wanted to do ballet for now and leave learning the tango for later, so he changed the track back to the piano notes.

They began in their starting positions, and soon, they were dancing across the studio, effortlessly and beautifully.

Alessio watched in awe as their bodies moved in sync with one another, the pace was perfect, and it seemed almost relaxing.

Strange, dancing with Sebastian. Madison had never danced with him before but it felt as though she had been dancing with him for years now. They were following the basic, standard routine, nothing too complicated.

Sebastian held Madison by the waist and lifted her up.

She had never felt so alive.

He put her down gently and they continued. But when it came to the end of the dance for Madison to do the final arabesque, her leg, weak and unused for weeks, collapsed underneath her.

Sebastian caught her right at the end, obstructing the fall from being any more serious than it already looked to be.

Madison sat there for a few seconds, waiting for the pain to register.

And when she felt it, she regretted ever coming here to begin with.

***

The cast on her leg felt too tight. And itchy. 

God she hated these things.

She had broken both arms before, at different times, as well as an ankle and now her leg.

She looked over at Alessio from her position on the edge of the hospital bed. He was reading the medical report for her leg. He had driven both her and Sebastian here, since Sebastian had caught the bus to school and the studio, and left his own car at home. "You'll be alright." Alessio said.

She grit her teeth, "Easy for you to say."

He pointed to his bandaged head while still reading, and she grumbled. His was probably worse.

Sebastian pushed through the curtains, handing Madison a pair of crutches, "They said you're free to go home now."

Madison held the crutches and then stopped, putting them down slowly. "Alessio, we can't go back to the apartment. Not with this leg, your head, and that blade-slashing psycho."

Alessio bit down on his lower lip, "We have no choice, Madison. We can call the police and-"

"-We have a spare room at our place." Sebastian offered, "It's a very quiet street. Whoever it is that's looking for you, won't find you with us. And if they do, we're pretty decent when it comes to defending ourselves."

Madison looked over at Alessio, "You good?" She didn't mind the sound of this. Four strong brothers, Alessio, not to mention her crutches which most likely could knock someone over if she had the opportunity to hit them, to protect her.

"Whatever you want, Madison." Alessio said, folding the report.

Madison's hazel eyes found Sebastian's, "We'd love to accept your offer, thank you."

Sebastian just smiled.