Meet Us at the Barre: A Series of SAB Oneshots

alyssa greene

"When did you sneak away?" Abby asked, gently patting Mark's back. "Game night's still going on. I'll put you on my team. We could own the entire Monopoly board together. That sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

Mark simply sighed, laying his head down onto the table, against his folded arms.

"Doesn't it?" Abby asked once more, this time more hesitantly. The redhead pulled a chair out from under the table and sat beside Mark.

Mark sat up, running his hands over his face with a groan. He looked over at Abby.

"My mom...she found my dad." Mark stated, now looking down at the table, obviously finding the checkered tablecloth fascinating. "On FaceBook or something."

"That's great, Mark!" Abby half smiled. "Why're you so sad about it?"

"Because she got him to come to the show." He sat back in his chair. "Ma is convinced that if Dad sees me for the whole five minutes I'm on stage in that one corps scene, he'll have his bags packed and will be moving back in the next morning."

Abby took a deep breath. "Don't you want your dad to come back?"

This is where Mark was conflicted.

See, his father was the man who taught him how to tie a tie at age six before he went on stage for his first time ever. His dad's was the first program little nine-year-old Mark scribbled an illegible signature onto. His father was the one who snuck him into his first R-rated movie at twelve years old.

But at thirteen, it all came crashing down.

His father was the man who told his Mark and his mother that he'd be home for dinner, but he never came. His father was the one who missed Mark's tenth birthday because he "had to be at work". His father was the man who broke Mark's mother's heart.

And he could never forgive him for that.

Thirteen was also the year Mark escaped his own mini hell and joined SAB. He thought that a ballet school in New York would be his saving grace. And it was his dream, so it was.

He'd be lying if he said he never thought of or talked about his father. Heck, he has a picture of them together framed in his apartment.

But he doesn't know if he wants to see his mother go through that again. He remembers coming home for the holidays about a year later, seeing a newfound hole in the wall (that was hidden behind a picture frame), and waking up in the middle of the night and seeing his mother struggling to open a bottle of wine as she sobbed. That was their first Christmas without him.

"I...I don't know, Abby. And I also don't know what Dad seeing Giselle is gonna do about it."

Abby frowned. "Sweetie, I'm not sure if seeing Giselle will make him come back, but I am positive he'll be so proud of the man and the performer you've become." Abby kissed Mark's temple.

The small action made Mark's heart flutter, but he'd never admit it.

"Thanks, Ab." Mark half smiled. "Now, how about that Monopoly game?"

~~~~~

"Because your mom's convinced if you're perfect, your father might come back."
-Alyssa Greene, The Prom

Hey, kids! I might write a part 2 to this!