Soar // Hamliza

• chapter 16 •

• Eliza •

During the times that I'm not at school, studying, or visiting Alexander, I've been trying to find more time to dance lately.

Sometimes it's kinda of hard to navigate through everything that's going on, and I find myself drifting away from dance and putting on my pointe shoes less and less. It's not that I don't like dance anymore, don't get me wrong. I love dance and I always will, that hasn't changed. It just seems silly to be spending time in the studio when I could be talking to Alexander or trying to improve my 92.5% in physics.

However, I try to trick myself into dancing sometimes. I remind myself that I bought new pointe shoes with Peggy a few weeks ago and that I need to break them in, or that my turns or my flexibility will start to suffer if I don't get back to practicing more often.

So here I am, done for the day with homework and studying, no visits with Alex for today. I'm in my studio wearing a deep blue, velvety leotard with dark mesh sleeves. A Yumiko - a little on the pricey side, but the quality and beauty of the leotard was worth it. I laced up my pointe shoes, tucking the ribbons in before standing at the barre and doing some basic warm-ups.

Before I knew it, I was in the center of the room, practicing turns before moving into a variation I had been learning. I was practicing an Act 1 variation from Giselle. It wasn't awful, definitely not the hardest variation I've done. It wasn't overly fast, and the turns were so fun and pretty. Those hops en pointe, though... those were killing me today.

I ran it over and over again, setting up my phone to record myself to see what I looked like. Every time I ran it and watched the video, there was something new I needed to fix. Better facials, cleaner turns, turning out all the way, keeping my legs straight.

I went until I could practically perform the piece in my sleep, even closing my eyes during one run just to see what would happen. It wasn't my best, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting.

Finally, I had settled on a run that I thought was as close to being perfect as I thought I could get. I made sure to save the video on my phone and quickly did some cool-down stretches before taking my pointe shoes off and going to take a shower. I'm sure the rest of this side of the house was glad that the variation music had ended after quite a while of me repeating and restarting it.

My cold shower felt especially nice today, after all that moving and sweating. Peggy called me just as I got out of the shower, telling me that Angelica and her were about to leave for dinner and asked if I wanted to go. I told them yes and quickly threw on an oversized blue crew neck and some leggings, barely having time to brush my still-wet hair before running out the door and hopping in the backseat of Angelica's car. I didn't even know where we were headed.

Before I knew it, we were pulling into the Olive Garden parking lot. Ah, the smell of endless breadsticks washing over me as we walked in made me feel at home.

We settled in at a table and ordered some drinks before Angelica began talking.

"So... we're actually here in a string of events leading up to something and we wanted to have fun with you. We know how stressed you've been lately and as your sisters, it's our duty to try to cheer you up and make you feel better. So our first task is to get dinner here, and then we'll take you to the next place." She said. Ooh, surprises! Usually I didn't always like surprises, but I was looking forward to a night with my sisters. We hadn't had a girls night in a while.

The waitress came back with our drinks and a basket of breadsticks before taking our orders. As soon as she left, we began to attack the breadsticks together, the task of garlic salt and butter filling our senses.

We talked and laughed over dinner about everything on the planet. I spent time trying to actively connect more with Peggy, and after our mall trip a little while ago, I could feel the bond beginning to strengthen. My insides felt like they were glowing every time we would laugh together. We probably looked like crazy people here.

We paid the bill and Angie zipped out of the parking lot, heading to another mystery place. We pulled into my favorite little old-fashioned diner. I put my hands to my heart in excitement as we got out of the car. This place brought back so many good memories - so many good memories with Mom.

I felt a pang in my chest as I thought about all my moments here with Mom. I hadn't been back here since her death, and I was almost afraid to walk inside and see something different than the way it was the last time I was here with her.

Good for my heart, luckily nothing was different. Everything was exactly the same as the last time I had been here. The shiny black and white tiles on the floors, the pink and white booths, the records organized on the wall the same way that had been last time. The counters were still their bright chrome and the jukebox still played it's usual hits.

Without even realizing, I walked over to the booth that Mom and I always sat in. I sat down on my side, and my sister moved into the other. I ran my hands over the table, looking all around and breathing in the scent of French fries and malted shakes.

We ordered some sundaes, but Angie ordered two instead of one. I wasn't sure what that was about until the waitress brought them out and Angelica set the extra one next to me.

"For Mom." She said. I felt tears well in my eyes and I buried my face in my hands, letting myself cry into the big sleeves of the sweatshirt I was wearing.

"No, no, we didn't want to make you cry!" Peggy said, reaching out to grab my arm. I wiped my face on my sleeves and shook my head, sniffling.

"No, it's okay. It's good tears, that just... just reminded me how much I miss Mom and how I wish she could be here with us right now." I told them with a tiny smile. They nodded and we ate our sundaes, leaving the last one sitting there in honor of Mom.

"Okay, Liza, we've got one more surprise for you. Well, two." Peggy told me as we drove away from the diner.

"Alright, do I get to know what they are?" I asked. She nodded and turned around.

"Okay, we won't look at you but you might want to change. There's a bag in the backseat with a dress and some shoes, and some makeup if you want some." She told me. I nodded and found the bag on the ground by the seat next to me, slipping my sweatshirt off and putting the dress on before sliding my leggings off. It was a really pretty dress, a blue so light that it was almost white, with thin straps. I put on the shoes before grabbing a little mirror and applying some mascara and blush. That was good enough, right?

I brushed my hair and put it halfway up, finishing just in time as Angelica pulled in to our last surprise. We were at a theater, people headed in. I couldn't see the sign for what it is that we were seeing.

"So we were inspired by hearing you practice earlier, so we bought some quick tickets to see this show..." Angelica told me as we walked towards the entrance. I looked up at the sign to see that the New York City Ballet was performing Giselle. I squealed in excitement. I had never seen the whole thing performed live before. I loved seeing ballets.

I watched the company perform in awe, their talents out of this world. I started to imagine myself on stage with them, dancing and leaping and being part of this all.

Maybe this is what I wanted to do?

a/n: awww fun sisty times! will eliza join a prof company when she's out of school or will she go for something else? what do we think?