Anger Issues

seventy seven

Austin

"How should we do this?" I asked. "Noah said I can use his laptop," she said, reaching for it. "We can look for songs and see what's good," she explained.

"Why not try something we've already done?" I suggested. "Are we allowed to do that?" She asked. "Nobody said we're not," I shrugged.

She nodded. "Okay, what do you have in mind?" She asked. "Um.." I started thinking.

We named a few songs, disagreeing to the majority of them, until I remembered one.

"We can do the choreography to Slow Motion," I said. Her head perked up. "That was one of my favorites," she smiled, bringing up the song before standing up.

We moved some furniture to make some space, when she played the song.

We started off good, but I was in so much pain. It was hard for me to do the majority of the moves, especially because we were in the advanced class, so it was harder.

"Fuck," I muttered, messing up a step. Jess stopped the music. "Are you okay?" She asked. "Yeah, I don't remember my entire part," I said.

"Try again, maybe it'll come to you," she said. I nodded as the music played from the beginning.

I was doing good, and was fighting off the pain well. I did my best not to show it, and I think I was doing good.

As soon as the "slow motion" part came on, I screwed up. As I shot my arm out, my body flooded with pain, making me stop. Jess didn't notice, so I continued with her like it didn't happen.

By the next verse, I had forgotten the choreography.

"Nothing?" She turned to me. I shook my head. "Alright, let's try something else," she walked towards the laptop.

"What about Don't Let Me Down?" She suggested. "We can try," I nodded.

I wanted to try, but I knew that the one handed handstand move I had to do would be an issue. I wasn't sure if I was able to stretch that much.

Jessica

We were doing good, but once Austin's handstand game up, he had a harsh landing.

As I turned to him, his hoodie was slightly lifted up, exposing what looked like a really dark bruise.

I paused the music as he stood up, ready to start over.

"Lift up your shirt," I said. "What? Why?" He asked. "I saw a bruise," I told him. He shook his head. "It's nothing, let's try again," he said.

"Austin," I tilted my head. He sighed, before pulling off his hoodie and lifting up his shirt.

The majority of his torso was bruised up. Some were darker than others, but it all looked painful.

My mouth genuinely fell open at how painful it looked. Walking closer to him, I gently traced the marks.

"Is this from the party?" I looked up. He nodded his head.

Another thing to add to the list that was my fault.

"Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?" I asked. "Because it's not, I'm fine," he said, putting his shirt back down.

I looked into his eyes, not knowing what to say. I just felt so bad, so guilty. It was almost like every fight he got into was because of me.

"Babe, it's fine," he said, cupping my face and pecking my lips. "Let's try something else," he said, walking towards the laptop.

Not knowing what else to say, I nodded and went beside him as we continued looking for songs.

"All We Know?" He suggested. "I don't remember that one," I shook my head. "Alright, what about.."

—

Austin

After so many dances and so many failures, the sun was setting and we were exhausted.

"We need to keep trying," she said. "You need to relax, babe," I said. "We just need to know a song so we can actually move on with the process. We can't get a group together if they don't know the choreography," she said.

She sat on the floor with the laptop in front of her. Taking the immediate opportunity, I laid my head in her lap, closing my eyes as she scrolled for more songs. Her hand was softly pressed against my neck, with her thumb slowly stroking my cheek.

"Jess," I called after a bit, opening my eyes. "Yeah, baby?" She answered, her eyes still glued to the screen.

"I'm so tired," I said. "One more time, okay? We just need to know what we're gonna do so we can get people together," she repeated, glancing down at me.

I closed my eyes again, thinking of possible solutions.

"What Do You Mean?" I suggested. "What?" She asked. I let out a soft laugh. "The Justin Bieber song. We can use that dance," I explained.

She gasped in realization. "You're right. Do you remember it?" She asked. I nodded. "I believe so," I said.

"Alright, let's try," she softly parted my cheek. I groaned, not wanting to do anything.

"Baby," she called. She leaned down, softly pecking my lips. Groaning, I got up, pulling her up by the hand.

This dance, unlike the others was successful. We got through it, but something still seemed off.

"What was your favorite dance, babe?" Jess asked. "Any dance we did to Justin Bieber's songs, they're always the best," I said, drinking some water.

"Oh damn," she smiled at me, pulling up another song. "What?" I asked. "I think I found the one."