The Next Step Season 8

8 - Two of Us

"Okay, Heathcliff, let's go," Richelle announced to her dance partner as she entered Studio A, where he was stretching.
"Alright, so what concept are we going for?" Heath asked. In the past, Richelle had found herself ignoring the emotional side of dancing. But she had recently discovered the beauty of telling a story through dance, and she had already been thinking about an idea.

"So I was thinking we could be two rivals and that are constantly butting heads and trying to compete with each other, but then their hate turns to love," Richelle explained. "I really think it would work for implementing different styles and having them contrast. What do you think?"

Heath thought it over.
"Yeah I think it's great. We could start very hiphop and use a lot of mirror work, and then become more lyrical by the end, with plenty of lifts."
"Yes! Exactly what I thought," Richelle smiled as she agreed.

Over in Studio 1, Piper and Ethan were rehearsing their dance, but Ethan was getting frustrated as he noticed that Piper wasn't paying anywhere near enough attention.

"Hello?" Ethan snapped, exasperated as he waved his hand in front of Piper's face. "That was your cue! You're not paying enough attention!" Piper looked apologetically at her partner.
"I'm sorry, Ethan, I've just got a lot on my mind. Do you mind if we take a break and pick this up in a couple of hours? I really need to sort something out, and once I have, I'll be able to fully focus on our duet."

Ethan felt sceptical.
"Okay," he said reluctantly. "But you better be back here by 4pm, because then we will have an hour to brush up on our dance before we have to perform for Giselle."

"Thanks, Ethan!" Piper shouted behind her as she flew out of the door.

Piper ran out into the street and manically waved a cab and hopped in. She was in there for around thirty minutes before it pulled up outside a small suburban house.

She walked up to the door and knocked, a familiar face answering.
"Hey Piper," the woman said, smiling. "Thank God you're here. He's upstairs." Piper returned the smile as she took her shoes off and made her way up the stairs.

When she entered the room, it was dark, and she could barely make out the tall figure lying on the bed.
"Finn?" He turned to face her, and as he sat up, Piper noticed his face was more sad than she had ever seen it. The sight was enough to break Piper's heart into a million pieces.

She immediately made her way to him, wrapping her arms around him. He leant his head over into her chest as Piper stroked his hair.
"I really wish you called me back, Finn," Piper whispered. "All I wanted to do was be here for you."

Finn removed himself from Piper's embrace and looked at her.
"I know, and I'm sorry. I just needed some time alone to process that I'm off the team. That I wasn't good enough."

Piper placed her hands on his face and looked him dead in the eye.
"Finn, you listen here," Piper said. "You are an amazing dancer and you are good enough. There were just a lot of dancers at that audition, and you ran out of luck. Please don't put yourself down like that."

Piper shook her head and continued,
"Listen, we'll find another team for you to dance on and you will be so successful and you won't even-" Her words were cut off by Finn's lips touching hers. The kiss was gentle, and it was at least a minute before they broke apart. Piper grinned as she looked up at Finn.

"I really like it when you kiss me instead of just telling me to shut up." Finn smiled back at her, grateful for how much she cared about him.
"Can you stay and just lay here with me for a while?" Finn asked.
"Of course." Piper whispered.

Finn laid down and Piper curled up next to him, his arm around her and her head on his chest. Neither of them needed to speak for them to know how happy they were in that moment.