Summer Intensive (Summer Kisses! YA Short Story) (3 page)

"What if you run from me at this point in the music–" he played
the song for
a few seconds then stopped, "
and I give chase and catch you?" The look Travis gave me made me think that he wasn't just t
alking about the dance
.

T
he heat
of a blush
r
o
se up my neck and into my cheeks. "I'm not sure I want you to catch me."

"Then I'll turn away and dance on my own. I could throw in a
pirouette à la seconde, grande,
and you could stop and stare at me with your hands on your hips, then you could chase me." Travis' smile mess
ed
with my concentration.

"As if." I rolled my eyes then did a double take. "
Can you do that?
A
pirouette à la seconde, grande
?" I asked in disbelief.

"Can I do that? Of course I can. Watch." He jumped up and
executed
perfect spins.

How did
he
go from clumsy jerk-off to amazing
ly
w
onderful?
If anyone would have told me a week earlie
r that I would be sitting here cr
ushing
on
Travis
after the most incredible kiss
, I would have thought they were on crack.

My head was spinning.
Travis sat down next to me and grinned like a little boy who
'd
just won his first video ga
me. I couldn't help but laugh
.

"That was awesome," I said.

"Thanks."

He squeezed my hand,
and
,
for a moment
,
I could feel my heart
beat
puls
ating
through me.

"It's getting late.
I'll walk you back to your dorm,
"
Travis said.

We changed shoes
,
gathered our
bag
s and headed out the door.
Chanie and Brian followed. As soon as we reached the girl's dorm, I turned to tell Travis goodnight, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the two lovebirds behind us.

We walked aro
und to the side of the building
where
Travis took
my bag from me and set it alongside his
on the ground then pulled me into a knock-me-off-my-feet kiss.

I took in a deep breath of air
as
we parted. We looked into each other's eyes, just star
ed
for a moment before
he pulled me into a hug and held me there. I liked being in his arms
with
my head rest
ed
against his chest.

"What are we doing, Travis?" I whispered.

"I don't know, but I like it. I like
you
." He pulled bac
k and looked at me then smiled
.

I couldn't help but laugh. This whole thing with Travis was crazy, mixed-up,
and completely
unexpected.

"I like you to
o
," I said.

He kissed me again. His lips were soft
,
and sweet
,
and
he
made me want more. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed
my fingers through his thick
, dark curls. He tightened his hold around me and ran his hands up and down my back. We kissed like that for a long time
,
then we just held each other.

"I wish I could stay right here, but we both need some shut eye if we are going to be any good for classes tomorrow." Travis stepped away and ran his hand through his hair. Then he picked up his bag, kissed me one more time,
and
turned to go. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."
I was in a dream
like trance all the way to my room. I plopped on
to
my bed and sighed, then giggled,
and
screamed into my pillow.

***

"It's not going to work." I put my hands on m
y hips and gave Travis my best
you've-lost your-
mind
look.

"It will w
ork. Trust me." He imitated
me with his
hands on hips
and his best puppy dog eyes
.

"I have an
aversion
to broken bones. Let's just do the lift and leave it at that." I walked over to the iPod and hit play. The music keyed up as I got into position.

I could tell Travis was annoyed with me, but
,
really, he was nuts if he thought I was going to let him swing me around like a monke
y
swings
in a tree.
I could just see myself
landing on the floor
and
my body crack
ed
open
with
blood
splattered
all
over the dance studio
.
It wasn't a pretty picture.

I tried to pretend that Travis was another partner, someone I wasn't
crushing
on
,
but it was impossible,
es
pecially since he
had to
touch me in order for us to dance
.

We moved tog
ether in a perfect
sequence
across the floor–
spinning,
leap
ing
, mov
ing
apart, and c
oming
together again.
It was as if we were one in the dance.

It wasn't like this two years ago.
He
wasn't like this. All of this mushiness was going to my head.

Thinking about Travis caused me to lose my concentration on the steps and stumble, but
he c
aught me, and
,
instead of continuing the dance, he turned me towards him
and kissed me.
I was positive
I'd j
ust died and gone to heaven.

As his mouth moved
over
mine,
I melted like chocolate in the hot
sun. He tightened his hold on
me and p
lunged his tongue into my mouth before h
e broke the kiss
.
"Trust me, Marianna. Lift, roll, swing, land. We can do it."

I pushed on his chest to move
away from him. "Are you trying to seduce me into getting what you want?"

His smile nearly knocked me on my butt –
again
.
I could
have
stare
d
a
t his sexy smile
forever, except that I wasn't
going to let him win. "It's not going to work. I'm not going to do it."

"You will if you love me." Travis
grinned from ear to ear, and
kissed me again.

I almost fell for it.

Almost.

I knew he was joking.
"Really? Seriously? Well, I don't love you. I'm not even sure I like you right now.
" I poked him in the chest with my finger, then went over to the wall and slid down to the floor.
"
I think I liked you better
when you were a bumbling jerk.
Why can't you just give it up already?"

He sat down next to me. "Because
,
it will be spectacular. What are you afraid of?"

"Oh, I don't know...broken bones and my blood spilling all over the studio floor."

Travis put his arm around me and pulled me close to him. He smelled musky and sweaty, and something about it made me want to crawl into his lap
;
but
,
of course, I didn't do that.

"I promise I'
ll catch you." He kissed me on
the top of my head, and it made me not
want to dance anymore. I just wanted to sit
t
here with his arms around me.

I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths before responding to him.
"Okay, but
,
if you drop me, I'm going to kick your ass."

Travis
moved his arm from around me, then jumped up and he
ld out his hand. I was hesitant, but I took it.
He gave me a quick kiss, hit the play button, then we got into position. A
t first, e
verything
was going well
,
then I started to feel sick inside right before he lifted me into the air.

I flew, but
,
when it was time to roll down
,
I lost my nerve and grabbed
onto
his shoulder.

Ballet is risky business. I've suffered broken toes and ugly feet. I'm not afraid of a little pain, but I am scared to death of falling.

It's stupid, but I can't help it. Falling totally freaks me out.
Travis dropped me before.

I rolled
in
what seemed like
slow motion
. He grabbed me around
my waist
by one arm, but he stumbled and
,
together
,
we went down. I fell on top of him, but I reache
d out to brace myself and broke my fall
with my hand.

I cried out
in
pain
.

"Are you okay?"

"No." I rolled off of him and sat on the floor.
"I think I broke
my wrist." Tears streamed down my face. It hurt like the devil.

"Let me take a look."

My wrist was already tu
rning
shades of
green and purple
,
and it made me furious
. "This is your fault. I told you it wouldn't work!"

"You'
re the one who grabbed my shoulder. You didn't roll.
" He stood up and offered his hand to me, but
I
refused to take it.
"
Come on.
We need to go get that iced
,
"
h
e
said as he
gather
ed
our things.

I sat on the floor and cried. "You promised you wouldn't drop me."

"
Look, Marianna. I hav
e my part and you have yours
. I was prepared to catch you, but you changed the movement at the last minute and caught me off guard.
I'm sorry.
" He threw his ballet shoes into his bag and shoved his feet into a pair of loafers. "Let's
just
go."

"Some things don't c
hange. You're still a jerk."
I
sp
a
t
at him
.
I was hurt and angry that he
'd
pushed it. I didn't want to do the roll
in the first place
.

"You're right. I'm a jerk. What does that
make you?" His face was red, and
,
now
,
we were both mad. At the moment, I didn't care.

"I don't know. What does that make me Travis?" I slipped my ballet shoes off and threw them at him.

"Nice."

"Whatever,
"
I hollered.

"You're acting like a child, Marianna," Travis said.

I got up, went over to my bag,
and g
rabbed my slippers out of it. Putting them on with one hand
was kind of tricky, but I managed. I grabbed my bag and started walking. Travis followed.

We didn't speak to each other
on
the way to the infirmary.
I was torn between wa
nting to grab his hand and wanting to
give
him a piece of my mind.
I stomped out of the studio and down the long hallway to the outside doors.

My plans for the summer were screwed. They didn't include Travis or an injury. I probably should have sucked it up and acted more mature about the whole thing, but I just didn't care. I was hurt, and I was mad.