Page 135 of The Breaking Pointe
I half smile.“I told Colton that I love him.”
“And? I’m confused as to why that’s a bad thing, Noelle. Did you scare him away or something?” She lightly jokes.
I purse my lips, ignoring her attempted humor.“It’s bad because he didn’t say anything.I told him that I wasn’t upset if he had nothing to say, but what if I really am?”I ask myself, more than I’m asking her.“Not to mention, he was probably still in a state of mass confusion when I said it.I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore.”
Annie resorts back to a serious state. “So then tell him it hurt your feelings. Clearly it did. Tell him that you expected more. Colton is an understanding man, from what I see.”
How do I make him tell me he loves me back so I don’t
have to cry of embarrassment?
“He does understand. I know he does. The issue is, I don’t understandhimsometimes. And right now, I can’t pry,” I say, staring into the macchiato. “It’s like he’s been hiding this entire world from me—and everything in that world has made him close off any and every chance at emotional connection. He finally opened up to me, and I refuse to ruin it by forcing him to say something he doesn’t one hundred percent feel.”
Annie looks down, taking in my words, then looks at me again. “What if you ask his brother? Steven? Or his dad?”
I quickly shake my head. “I don’t think Steven would know that much.As for his dad…he passed away.With recent events, I’ve been wondering if it’s more about commitment. We just recently became official. What if it’s me, Annie?”
“Okay, okay, enough. You think too much, Noelle. That man is obsessed with you—and not like Daniel’s weirdass.I was iffy, at first, but after seeing you and him at Friendsgiving…he proved me wrong.It’s more than like. More than infatuation,” she confidently proclaims.
I sigh, flipping some hair out of my face. “I asked him to come with me to Chicago,” I mention.
Her face lights up. “Yeah—what’d he say?” “Yes.” I smile back weakly.
“See?”She giggles.“He wouldn’t have said yes if he didn’t at least feel close to the same. Men won’t do all that for no reason.” She shrugs, picking up the mug and taking a sip.
My lips curl to the side, fearing the worst.“I hope you’re right,” I mumble.
* * *
I wrap the cream colored ribbon around my ankle as I tie my pointe shoes—making sure they’re identical.When I finish, I stand up straight and take my hand to the heavy, red curtain, pulling it to the side to see the auditorium seats filling up with familiar parents and other people I’ve never seen before. I put fliers on nearly every corner, hoping that I could at least round up enough donations to send the girls away with something to keep them going after all of this is over.
The fliers were posted in busy areas of the city.That means one thing:
Daniel could be here in this room.
I’m still so scared to face him.Everyone has probably forgotten about him, but not me.He’s always watching,and I can unfortunately feel his gaze, secretly prowling for me from the shadows. He’s been too quiet recently. I want that, but after everything that’s happened, I know his plan. He does this before he does something extreme to get my attention.Unless Cole said something to magically make him stay away, I doubt he’ll be hiding for long.
I close the curtain, feeling a tug at my skirt, and look down to see one of my students neatly put together in a tiny snowflake outfit.
“MissElle?”Hertinyvoiceflowsuptome.
“Kait, what are you doing, honey? You should be with the other girls. It isn’t safe to walk around alone, remember?” I look down at her, smoothing her hair back softly.
“I’m scared,” she says, as if it’s a secret.“There’s too many people.”
I press my lips together and kneel to her level. “I’ll be out there with you. You’ve done this a lot of times, now.”
“But those times were only with you…now there’s every- one else.”She looks down, holding her hands behind her back.
“Hm.” I nod, agreeing. “You’re right. But y’know what— everybody gets scared sometimes. Even me,” I out myself, lifting her chin with one finger.
“But you always dance in front of people,” she says. “And it’s scary. Every time. But you wanna know what I
do when it happens?”
Shenods,lettingherhandsfalltohersides.
“I pretend that the only people watching me are my mommy and daddy. I pretend that it’s just us. Family only. The goal is to make them proud, right?” I ask her.
