Page 69 of Falling With a Spin

The laughter quiets down and we sit there as the silence wraps around us. I don’t know how to deal with these feelings. The anger, sadness, and confusion run through me. They are flooding my thoughts, and when I think I'm going in the right direction or beginning to feel like I'm myself again, I get hit with a curve ball. It throws me off track, and I find myself back at square one.

“Look, I don't know what my brother did. But I do know it was coming from his heart. I can tell he cares about you a lot. He doesn’t talk about his relationships, but when I asked him about you, he wouldn’t shut up.” The break in my heart widens, and all I want to do is run and never look back.

“He hurt me by doing this,” I wave my hands around the studio. “After I told him why I couldn’t do it anymore and that I was fine with it.” My voice cracks, and I swallow the sob that threatens to leave me.

Aubrey looks at me, but I don’t see sadness or pity. I can’t quite pinpoint it, maybe understanding?

“But are you?” She asks, tilting her head, and I go to speak, but she holds her hand up. “Hunter likes to fix things, but more than anything, he loves hard. When you get that love from him, he will do anything to help you be the best version of yourself. Even by overstepping.” She reaches over and takes my hand in hers, and squeezes it. “Don’t give up on him. If you need time, take it. He’ll respect it but don’t shut him out. Let him catch you when you are falling. Have him hold you while you’re crying. Let him be what you need.” She stands up, dusts off her tights, and walks towards the door.

“How do you know he’ll do all of that?”

“Because you don’t want to see what he’ll do to the people that hurt the ones he loves.” Her voice trembles, and she turns around before walking out the door. “I hope you stay here to dance. Even if you don’t think you can do it.”

I’m not sure how much time passes as I sit here before getting up, pulling up the Spotify app once again and pressing shuffle.

As the music plays through the speakers I ready myself into position for the first time in two years.

Chapter 25

Emma

“1 2 3 4”

“1 2 3 4”

“1 2 3 4”

I repeat t as I glide across the dance floor. It’s only been a week since I’ve been coming to the studio, and I already feel like I have never left. As if I have been stuck in a nightmare for the last few years but then reality hits me. A sharp pain travels to my knee, and I clench my jaw to distract myself from the pain. It doesn’t start right away. It comes on about two hours of dancing, even with a few breaks here and there that I take. Most days, when I leave here I'm limping and end up on the couch with an ice pack. Repeating the process the next day.

When the music stops I drop to my hands and knees, head hanging low. My breathing is heavy as I lean back and massage my knee to subside the pain. When I came home after the first day, Taylor was waiting for me in the living room with my favorite bottle of wine and some take-out food. She kept telling me how proud she was of me that I took this step. But the only thing I could think of was Hunter and what he would say to me right now.

The ringing of my phone pulls me from my thoughts, and I peel myself off the floor, slightly limping to my bag. I pull it out of the bag and the name that flashes on the screen makes my blood run cold.

Taking a deep breath, I press accept and bring the phone to my ear. “Hey, Caleb.”

It’s been almost two months since I last heard from him.

“Well, hello stranger, how have you been?” His deep voice comes through the phone, and my chest aches at how much I miss my best friend.

“I'm doing okay. How have you been?” I start walking around the room, stretching out my knee. If I don’t keep it moving, then the pain will cause it to stiffen, and the work I’ve been doing will go out the window once again.

“Pretty good as well.” Voices in the background catch my attention, but before I can catch who it can be, I hear a door clos,e and then it’s quiet. “I was calling to see if you wanted to get lunch today?”

His question halts me, and I stare at the pink and white wall in front of me.

“Um y-yeah.” I clear my throat. “Yeah, we can,” I say, hoping my racing heart isn’t heard through the phone.

“Sweet, when do you want to meet?”

I bring the phone away from my ear. It’s already noon?

I got here two hours ago and it doesn’t seem like enough time to leave, even though my body is telling me differently.

“There is this Diner near the school. I can send you the address, but give me around an hour, I just need to finish up what I'm doing. Is 1:00 pm okay?” I walk back towards my bag, pick it up, and head for the door.

“Yeah, that sounds perfect. I can’t wait to see you, Em.” He says before hanging up the phone.

I double-check that everything is good before turning the lights off and walking out the door.

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