Grace

Nine

Grace

"One, and two, and three, and four," Mrs. Woods chants, but I can barely hear her over my racing thoughts. Not like I really need to. We do the same movements we've been doing for the past two years. It's programmed into me at this point.

My knees bend, my arm reaches out, and then my eyes lock with Oliver's. He gives me a small smile before looking away and deepening his grand plié.

Ever since we'd been partnered up for the pas de deux in our upcoming performance of Sleeping Beauty, he's been weird.

I'm not sure why, considering it's not his first time dancing with a girl. He's only been with our company for two years, but he came with a pretty amazing track record.

Oliver Burke began dancing at age three, has performed in over one hundred recitals and has been trained by so-called well known teachers in the industry, according to Mrs. Woods.

So yeah, he's a pretty big deal around here. And besides that, he's actually attractive and if anyone should be nervous, it would be me. But I'm not.

I mean, not really.

"Demi plié, demi plié..."

I take deep breaths as my feet and body move without much thought. And besides not thinking about my movements, I stop thinking about everything else too.

My eyes fall shut, the music drones out to a muffle. Like I'm under water, almost. I'm floating. I'm nothing. I'm no where.

Just breathing and being.

And then Reece's face appears in the dark foggy nothingness of my mind. His smile, his stubble, the way he swoops back his hair before he sips his beer.

"Gracie," he says deeply, warmly.

"Grace."

He gently runs his hand down my cheek, down my jaw, my neck. At my shoulder, he twirls a curly strand around his finger and leans closer.

"Grace?"

I bat my eyes open. Everyone's walking away from the bar, the music has stopped, but my body is still going through the motions it knows best.

"Warm up is over, honey. You alright?"

I glance at myself in the mirror beside me, then back at the group who've all dispersed into clusters around the room, chatting and giggling as usual.

"Yeah...I'm fine, Mrs. Woods."

She narrows her eyes at me, but doesn't push the issue. It's not the first time she's caught me zoned out in the middle of class. "Ten minutes, Grace."

I don't like breaks. I just want to dance. I want to be in that state of calm. In that state of nothing, and stay there for as long as I can, because once I'm home that's all gone again.

I pick at my fingers a moment before deciding to play normal and wander over to Trinity and the rest of the girls she hangs with in class.

They're nice girls, but there's a bit of a disconnect for me. Conversations never go deeper than mutual agreement on aching feet or how easy or difficult a new routine is.

"Gracieee," Trinity drawls out my name, reaching for my arms before I've even met the group. "Falling asleep during warm up again?"

"I was not falling asleep." I touch my forehead with the tips of my fingers. Me and Reece may have stayed up late last night.

Me and Reece may have woke up on the opposite ends of the couch to his alarm blaring on the coffee table this morning.

"I was resting my eyes."