Ballet And The Beast

Chapter Nine

Two weeks after Mason and I's heart to heart and we've been spending every little bit of spare time we have together. I've been eating at least one proper meal per day and we've been running together constantly. Going to the gym with the others has been a Thursday evening tradition and overall, I'm feeling great. On top of this, I'm leaping higher and the dizzy spells have become much less frequent. The only thing I am struggling with is the slight weight gain.

"You ready Brookie?" Alice asks as she pokes her head in my door.

"Yeah just putting my trainers on." I smile and head towards the door. As we go to leave, my phone rings and I tell Alice I'll meet them at the gym.

"Hi dad, how are you? I'm just about to head to the gym." I say, hoping he'll be quick.

"How's it going there?" He asks with little care in his voice.

"Yeah really well thank you." I reply, wondering why he's pretending to care.

"I spoke to Kai earlier, he said you seemed distracted during your shoot. That's not good enough, it's your mums name you're putting on the line here. If you can't focus on your work and uni at the same time then this isn't going to work." He tells me as if I've committed a crime.

"Seriously dad? The shoot went really well. You know what Kai's like, he just wants to cause drama." I respond in a bored tone.

"I'm not happy Brooke, you should be honoring your mum not tearing her memory down half assing a shoot and flirting with the photographer. How much private studio time have you done?" He questions and there's no point even telling him how many hours. Mum wasn't even a model for god sake so I don't know what my shoot has to do with her and as for studio time, I've been having a private session twice a week.

"Not enough apparently." I growl down the phone before hanging up. He always has a way of dampening my mood. No matter how hard I try, I'm never good enough to be mums daughter anymore.

I throw my gym bag over my shoulder before heading to join the others, placing a false smile on my face.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." I jump on the treadmill next to Chase. Time to get back on track.

"You haven't missed anything exciting." Chase responds as I up the speed and and incline slightly. I decide it's time to push Alice and Chase together a little and get him checking her out.

"I love your leggings Alice, they make your butt look great." I wink and tilt my head towards Chase letting her know what I'm doing, earning me an eye roll. Once I've said it, I can't help but notice how true it is. Alice has an amazing figure and she doesn't even have to try that hard.

"Thanks babe." She winks, probably secretly thanking me. Out the corner of my eye, I see Chase checking her out and let out a mental cheer. They really need to man up and get together.

"Right then guys, let's get to the real stuff." Mason states as he flexes his muscles. He really does look good and I try my best not to stare. If only I looked good enough that he'd look at me in that way.

We go through a full body circuit with burpees, weights, squats, bicycle crunches and chess press. Two hours later and we are all exhausted, however I can't help feeling like I could do a little bit more.

"Oh shit, I need a big fat burger and my bed." Alice breathes out with her hands on her hips.

"That's a good shout, takeaway night?" Chase asks the rest of us and we all agree. No thank you.

"Sounds good to me, I'm just heading to the toilet and I'll meet you guys in the club house." I suggest before running to the girls toilets, an attempt to get away from them.

After five minutes or so I head back out and begin my second workout. I sit down on the rowing machine, mentally preparing for exhaustion. I'll show mum that I can work hard for her and prove to dad I can be like her.

Although I don't want to let Mason down, I don't want to let mum down even more. Plus what he doesn't know can't hurt, right? I'll just say I was feeling ill and went back to my room after.

An hour or so later, I stand up but feel the dizziness set in stronger than usual. I lean against the wall for a few moments to catch my breath then see Mason walking straight towards me.

"Fuck." I mutter to myself once I realise there's no escape.

"You look exhausted." He states with a poker face, making it difficult to read what he's thinking.

"I just thought I'd do a little more while I'm here, nothing too strenuous." I tell him while attempting to look composed and not like I want to collapse in a heap on the floor.

"Bullshit." He exclaims after peering over my shoulder to see the workout summary. "What the fuck Brooke?" He questions, starting to get angry.

"I'm sorry." I mumble, looking down at the floor. He blows out through his cheeks, shaking his head.

"How much do you weigh?" He asks and I debate lying to him. It's embarrassing giving him the truth but he'll probably be able to tell if I lie.

"Six stone exactly." I state while looking anywhere but at him. A tear starts to roll down my cheek at how stupid I must look.

"If that's not six stone two by next week I'm going to have to get you professional help." He states and walks himself round in a circle, running his hands through his hair in a stressed manor.

"I'm trying Mason." I start to defend myself. "It's not a habit you can just break straight away." It's probably no use telling him this, he looks pissed. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in front of a stranger talking about my problems. Not to mention how much hate I'll get in the media for being 'mentally unstable'.

"I know babe, I just can't stand seeing you this way." He wraps his arms around my hot, sweaty body and I lean my head on his chest.

"Are you hungry?" He asks and i go to shake my head out of habit then realise that actually, I'm starving.

"A little." I admit, not wanting him to make me eat too much. "Haven't you already eaten though?" I question, feeling guilty that he'll have to sit through a second meal. On top of that, I really don't want him staring at me eating.

"I'll never say no to food." He chuckles and takes my hand, leading me out of the gym.

We head back to the clubhouse and sit on the sofa while we decide what we're going to eat, along with the others. While they're debating different foods, I feel my eyes flutter shut and sleep overtake me.