Pirouette

10: No Good

• Trigger warning in this chapter •

Fiona had thought a lot about Adam's words yesterday.

How he had told her she worked better when she was angry or annoyed with him and that it made her forget her fears for a moment. If that was true, were the next two weeks going to be insanely difficult with him driving her up the wall with his personality?

She couldn't decide whether or not she should feel happy or if she should be dreading this. After all, Adam hadn't showed her he had any boundaries of his own yet.

Coming into the DanceDec after school, Fiona sighed and prepared for a hectic day. If Adam was bringing his fullest, she was going to need to be on her top game as well.

The weather in New York continued to be scalding hot, and even inside the air conditioned studios, Fiona felt the warmth preen on her skin. She looked around and wasn't surprised when she found Adam in the foyer, standing upside down on his hands with his legs in the air.

A couple of guys were standing around him, familiar faces that Fiona recognized from the dance circle yesterday. There was Dimitri, Kalo's dance partner, Twitch, the guy with the sick body moves, and then a last guy she hadn't caught the name of. The were all laughing and messing around while eating a few snacks.

It was then Fiona saw something. Adam's loose blue top had slid down to his chest and revealed most of his toned stomach. And there, right on his left side was a large, purple bruise, staining his light skin.

Fiona barely had time to process what she had seen before Adam noticed her. He shot her a big upside-down grin, his face red from the blood streaming to his head. "Hey, princess! One second, just having a tête-à-tête with gravity!"

With a last grunt, he then flipped down to the ground again and got up, earning a few claps on the shoulder and handshakes from his buddies. He then grabbed his bag and turned towards Fiona, coming up with his usual smile.

"Alright, so are you ready for another day? Christ, this heat is burning me up from the inside out," He shook his head as they started ascending the stairs together, heading for their studio. "I can't imagine what it's like for you guys. Black attracts more heat, you reckon that counts for skin as well?"

Fiona couldn't concentrate on his usual amount of verbal diarrhea. She couldn't stop glancing down at his stomach, thinking about the size and color of that bruise.

She didn't get many bruises herself, but if she did, she never noticed on account of her skin tone. Adam's light skin had vividly displayed the bluish, half-purple bruise on his stomach, though. It had practically glowed. There had been no doubt as to what it was, but how it had gotten there was the far more interesting question.

"That's quite a bruise you got there," Fiona spoke up, just as they entered the studio and dropped their bags. Adam turned around with a raised brow and looked at her confused. She nodded down at his stomach.

"What? Oh, this?" He lifted his shirt and shot a grin towards his injury. He then shrugged nonchalantly. "I was trying out a new move and got a bit too enthusiastic. Don't worry about it," He chuckled and smoothed his shirt down again. "I get plenty of those daily. I play wild." He finished with a cheeky wink.

He turned towards the stereo while Fiona pursed her lips and started her usual warmup routine. She didn't know why, because Adam was the most open person she knew and she should have no reason to, but for some reason she wanted to doubt his words. She couldn't think of a single dance move that could give a bruise like that, but then again, he was a lot more vested in dance than she was. Maybe he had tried to do some weird belly flop onto the ground and bruised his stomach.