Meet Us at the Barre: A Series of SAB Oneshots

parents

"Let's take a deep breath." Ben rubbed Emmie's back as she stood in the wings.

Her gaze rested on the empty stage, it was obvious that she was spaced out, thinking of something else. Emmie's breaths came out shallow, not like she couldn't breathe, it was almost like she was choosing not to take a deep breath.

Emmie let out a dry chuckle, shaking her head. "Do you even know what today is?" She turned to face Ben.

"The SAB Workshop Showcase?" He smiled gently.

"Yes, but my parents are coming." Emmie stated.

Ben's smile fell. "Oh." He knew that Emmie had always had a strained relationship with her parents. "But, they've seen you dance hundreds of times!" Ben tried to make the situation brighter than it really was.

Emmie's parents were both professional dancers. That basically meant she was constantly being corrected on every little thing that she did. It was exhausting.

"If I don't nail that pas de basque section, I'd probably never hear the end of it." She mumbled.

Ben shook his head. "Don't think like that. Just go out there and dance, because you love to dance, and you dance beautifully."

"Thank you, Benjamin." Emmie smiled gently, pressing a lipstick covered kiss to his cheek.

"Hey, what did we say about calling me by my full name?" He chuckled, quickly wiping at his cheek to make sure she didn't smear any pigment onto his skin.

"Shut up, you love it." Emmie joked. "Okay, fine, I know you don't love it, but you love me so..." She giggled.

"That I do."

~~~~~

"Abigail." Mark whisper-yelled down the hallway. "Abigail Clayton." He spoke her full name when he didn't get an initial response.

"What?" Abby turned around, walking down the hallway, closer to Mark.

"Where's Emmie?"

Abby frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Mark ran his hand up the back of his head, not caring that his nicely gelled back performance hairstyle was getting messed up. "Her parents walked out at intermission."

Abby's jaw dropped slightly. She quickly went down the hallway as fast as she could in her near-dead pointe shoes. Once arriving at Emmie's dressing room, she was relieved to see Katherine sitting in there with her.

"You saw them?" Katherine asked.

Emmie wiped a small tear from her eye. "Ben did. He told me he saw them leave at intermission."

"Oh, Hon, I am so sorry." Katherine coaxed.

Emmie shook her head. "It's fine, it isn't like I didn't expect something like this."

"You shouldn't expect that."

"I just don't know what they didn't like so much about it." Emmie sighed.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I watched you, you were perfect. There was nothing they could not have loved."

"Thanks, Kath." Emmie smiled gently.

"I'll stay with you, since I don't have anyone to greet, yeah?" Katherine nodded.

"Thanks." Emmie responded quietly once more.

Both students started to clean up by taking off their makeup and returning to their warmup clothes, so that they would be comfortable when Peter totally gets on them with a novel of notes about how to make the next Workshop Showcase better.

The two girls made an effort to talk about anything but ballet. They talked about the new album that Taylor Swift was about to drop, and about a specific lipstick shade from Tarte Cosmetics that Emmie was saving up money for.

The conversation about said lipstick was cut short when Emmie's phone chimed.

Mark: hey, come out to the stage when you're done. There is someone here who wants to see you.

Emmie sent back a reply, but turned to Katherine before leaving. "What if it's my parents? Who let them back here?!"

Katherine shook her head. "Calm down, you know none of those security guards would let parents back here without authorization. You'll be okay. Just go, I'll be right here."

Emmie nodded, pulling on a hoodie. It was quite a silly look: a hoodie over her leo and tights, her hair still perfectly slick, yet she had no more wild makeup on.

She slowly left the dressing room, crossed through the wings, and stepped onto the stage.

"What are you doing?" She laughed, staring at Ben, who stood center stage with his arm behind his back.

"Making up for how your parents acted today." He stated, swinging his arm around to the front of himself, revealing a baby bouquet of white roses: Emmie's favorite.

~~~~~

WELCOME TO THE FIRST EVER SAB SATURDAY!