Blue 2

Chapter Thirty-Two

The rest of the week flies by in a flash. One minute I'm laughing over lasagna with Blue, my father, and aunt Lyra, and the next I am waking up the following Saturday. When I wasn't at school or at the dancing company, I was practicing my choreography. Be it silently in the corner of a train, or on the corner of a sidewalk, or in the spare room we've been slowly re-designing into a studio. Anywhere I had space and my headphones. This is my first big job at this company. My future in the dancing world practically depends on if I fail or succeed. No one wants to hire or be an agent to a dancer who messed up at her first dancing gig, especially at the event I'm performing at.

I swallow my nerves and carefully untangle my legs from Blue's. He's snoring loudly and reaches for me as I stand up, but I replace my body with my pillow. As usual, he snuggles it close and breathes in my scent, a relieved smile melting on his face. I smile and tighten the bedsheet around my chest, blushing at his bare back and unruly hair. We may or may not have celebrated today with sex last night. I'm a little sore in between my legs, but the burning passion lingering in my veins outweighs it. A pot of hot coffee and an even hotter shower will do me good. I should wake Blue up, but he's grumpy in the morning and I want to shower before he tries to convince me to fool around before getting ready. Like Tuesday morning when I had to get ready for school.

The freedom of showering without waiting for someone accidentally tugging at the curtain and making a pot of coffee in my own kitchen while looking at the breathtaking view from my apartment is exhilarating. Having my own space where I can do anything and be myself one-hundred percent feels better than I could have ever expected. Sharing this with Blue only intensifies its greatness. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had never fallen for him. I'd still be dancing, still be studying, still feel utterly lonely when I'm alone. I had my father and aunt growing up, and other relatives that made me feel loved—yes. But I never had a mother to turn to for advice. Or a single person who understood me and made me feel truly alive, like I wasn't just going through the motions. And now, because of Blue, I feel liberated and finally settled into the person I was meant to be. I'm happy, and it's all thanks to him.

Smiling to myself, I finish my cup of coffee then put it away in the dishwasher. I walk back into the bedroom to find Blue sleeping, his feet dangling off the bed, his head pressed against my pillow. I shake my head, not surprised. He sleeps like the dead, unless my phone alarm goes off. He turns into a grumbling zombie then. I toss a fallen pillow at his butt on my way to the closet to get my outfit for today, but he doesn't budge.

"Get up, Blue. I want to arrive at the airport an hour before our flight. You know, like every other person does. You're going to have to sacrifice some Z's for this one morning," I say and grab plain black underwear and bra out of the dresser. As I shimmy into my jeans, I heave a sigh at my lazy boyfriend. I know he heard me. I don't want to miss my flight, thus ending my dancing career before it even began.

"Blue!" I hiss and walk over to wake him up.

I bend down to pull the pillow away from him when a faint pinging noise coming from Blue's phone snatches my attention. I pick up the phone off the bedside table and swipe my finger across the screen, but it requires a password. A sign that I shouldn't go through his phone. I have no reason to anyway. I won't start a fire I could easily avoid. I move to put his phone down and go back to waking his lazy bones up, but another pinging noise startles me, causing me to drop his phone.

Oh no. Please don't have a crack, please don't have a crack...

I slowly pick his phone up but don't turn it over in fear of the screen being smashed. He got it not too long ago, after he destroyed his last one at the lodge. Ripping the band-aid off, I flip it over in my palm. No crack.