Summer Intensive (Summer Kisses! YA Short Story) (4 page)

The
scene
that popp
ed repeatedly
into my head was
the
reality
of it all. I was letting a boy get to me. He
made
me crazy. My emotions tumbl
ed
over a cliff.

I needed to step away or risk crashing and burning. "You know, I'm really fine. It's probably just sprained. You can go back to your dorm."

"I don't want to leave you," he said.

"Please
,
just go, okay? I need some space
right now."

"Yeah
, s
pace. I get it, but I'm not going
to g
o
until I know you're okay, Marianna."

"Suit yourself."
I made my way into the infir
mary with Travis behind me.
The physician's assistant diagnosed a sprain
ed
wrist and p
laced
a wrap on it. My wrist would heal, but I wasn't
so sure about my heart
;
I was certain
it had just cracked a little
.

***

"How's your wrist?" asked Travis.

"Sprained," I said. I walked over to my bag, sat down on the floor, and put on my ballet shoes.

"At least you can dance," he said.

And
,
this was the sum total of our conversation.
We were both quiet in class
and
never whisper
ed
to each other while
we a
wait
ed
our turn.
Afterwards, we went opposite directions to our bags. I left with Chanie, and Travis left with a group of girls.

I tried to block out all of my confus
ed
feelings, but it was harder than I
had
imagined
it would be
.

Chanie and I went to the salad bar across the street
for dinner
before we headed back to the dorm.
Brian was in bed sick with a
fever, so she
was unable to
rehearse her choreography project.

"Hey Marianna, Chanie!" called Alyssa, one of
the other dancers in our group
. "Do you want to go to the mo
vies tonight? A bunch
of us are meeting up in the rec room in an hour
then
walking to the theatre. It's five blocks away from here."

"I'm game," said Chanie.

"You go ahead. I'm pretty tired. I think I'll crash," I said.

"You're not meeting up with Travis?" she asked.

"No. Not tonight."

"But the choreog
raphy demonstration is tomorrow.
I c
an't believe Brian is sick. He'
s dancing tomorrow –fever or not."

"S
lave driver," Alyssa laughed
. "Are you sure you don't want to go? I'm ready for a break and some fun."

"I'm ready for some sleep, but thanks anyway." I made my way to my room and fell acr
oss the bed at the same time
my phone dinged
.

It was
a text
from Travis.

r u coming

I groaned and set my phone on the bedside table. I was half asleep when it dinged again.

where r u

I put the phone under my extra pillow and
turned away from it. My stomach
hurt
almost as bad as my wrist
. I wiped a tear from my eye and tried to go sleep.

Ding.

Another text. I hesitated for a moment then rolled over and yanked the phone out from underneath my pillow.

we need to practice

I set it on the bedside table.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

I turned my phone off and cried myself to sleep.

***

"Where were you last night? I waited for over an hour. I texted you and called, but you never picked up."

"My phone was off. I was asleep." I turned away and started warming up for class.

"The demonstration is today," said Travis.

"I know that."

"We needed to practice. We still haven't gotten that one part down."

"You lift, I roll, you catch me, I swing around you and land on my toes." I did my froggy stretch to help with my turnouts.

"So
,
do you trust me to catch you?" Travis sat down next to m
e. He was so close I smell
ed his scent
. We didn't to
uch, but I fel
t
his body heat.

I looked down. What could I say?
Sometime
,
in the middle of the night, I
woke up and thought about the real reason I was angry. I was mad at myself, but I took it out onTravis. I
realized that if
I intended to dance in the professional world, I had to have confidence
in
my partner. Giving someone my complete trust was a scary thing to do, but I'd made up my mind to try.
"Let's just do it, okay?"

"What changed your mind?" asked Travis.

I chewed on my lip–my way of hesitating. I didn't want to admit the truth, but I knew that I had to. I couldn't stay mad at Travis forever when it was really my fault. "I'm afraid of falling. I hate it. It's like how some people are scared of heights."

"You're a great dancer, Marianna. Don't focus on your fear. You need to trust yourself
,
and me.
" Travis grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. I lik
ed the feel of his hand on mine –all warm and tingly.

We sat on the floor at the front of the studio to watch the other
dancers. Two
other instructors came in to watch and judge our performances. Each couple drew a number to decide the order of the fifteen dances.
Travis and I drew the last number.

Chanie sat down next to me and whispered, "Brian is here, but he still feels bad and has a low grade temp. I'm kind of worried."

"Brian won't let you down," I said. I
prayed that Travis wouldn't
let
me
fall
.

The music started as Craig and Natasha took the floor. Her
pirouettes
were amazing. A bit of jealousy settled into my chest.

I watched as couple after couple danced.
Everyone was really good. Chanie and Brian rocked, but
,
when they were done, Brian was ready to collapse.

Then our turn came. I took some deep breaths before we began.
Into the zone.

The music started
. We flowed across the floor. Every movement was precise. Our eyes connecte
d
,
and he flashed me a hint of a smile
.

The moment came for the lift. I flew through the air. His strong hands held me up as he tu
rned.

It was time
.

For a split second, I faltered, but I rolled. This time he caught me, but my moment of hesitati
on made it seem awkward.

We'
d never tried the swing around.
I should have met him the night before. We should have practiced. I should have trusted him.

He swung me around him just like he said
he would
,
and it worked. Relief washed t
hrough me as I landed on my toes
. No broken bones or blood.

I knew the wh
ole thing was kind of messed up. It wasn't perfect. We
were
sloppy. I put my whole
being
into the end of the dance in
an attempt to make up for our shortcomings. The music ended
,
and we took our bows
.

The instructors stepped out of the room to discuss their decision.
My heart pounded in my ears.

"You did it," Travis started to touch me
but pulled his hand back down to his side
.

"I'm not broken or bleeding, but I still messed up."

"Yeah, it was a little o
ff, but the important thing was that we did it, and it was kind of cool
." Travis sat down next to me.

I didn't say anything. We both just sat there.
E
veryone else
chatter
e
d
around us.
I don't think either of us knew what to say –at least
I
didn't know what to say.

"What is taking them so long?" asked Chanie as she plopped down next to me.

T
he door opened at that moment
,
and e
veryone got quiet
.
Nervous tension crackled
like static
in the air.

"This was a
very difficult decision," began
Mrs. Lipinskii
.
"
Your pieces were some of the finest I've seen in all of the years I've taught at this intensive. The body of talent here is quite amazing, but we can only choose one couple to perform their dance at the informal
showcase
. We have
selected Craig and Natasha.
"

Natasha squealed. The other kids clapped and chee
red. My heart sank.
Travis re
ached over and squeezed my hand
,
then we both clapped along with the other kids.

I took a deep breath and fought the tears that wanted to spill
over
. It took everything inside of me to plaster a smile on
to
my face and give Natasha and Craig a hug. They were amazing. I knew that. Natasha had that rare talent that would eventually launch her into super stardom. Craig was the guy I had my eye on before
Mrs. Lipinskii
partnered
me with Travis.

"Can I treat you to lunch?" asked Travis.

"I'm not hungry."

"We need
to talk, Marianna." Travis grabbed my hand. His
large
,
warm
palm
dwarfed mine.

"About what?"

"About us."

I
pull
ed my hand away, turned around, and grabbed my bag. I didn't want him to see the
runaway tear
I swiped, so I started walking, but
Travis fell into step with me.

"There's no
us
, Travis. We are here for one more week, then we go home to California and New York." I didn't stop walking.

Travis
followed me for a few minutes before he
grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. I rolled my eyes and gave him my best annoyed look.
"What?"

He lo
oked at me for a long moment. "We live in the same world. We will see
each
other again, and there's texting and email and Skype and Facebook."

"And d
on't forget prom. I'm not going to prom with a picture of you in my purse." This time an errant tear escape
d
. Travis brushed it away with his thumb then pulled me into his arms.

I dropped my bag and wrap
ped my arms around him
while I made
a wet mess of his shirt. He rested hi
s chin on top of my head
as he ran hi
s hands up and down my back.

We
stayed like that for a
while
. "You're not in my plan, Travis. I'm not ready to have a guy in my life.
Dance is my life
."

"You weren't exactly in my plan either, Marianna, but I'm crazy about you. I know we can't date like normal people, but we can make the most of the time we have left here, and stay in touch
after we leave
." He kissed the top of my head.

Then he kissed my temple and cheek and nose and mouth. Our mouths came together like l
ong lost lovers
. We kissed for a long time.
If I didn't need to come up for air
,
I think
m
y mouth
could have been
attached to his forever, but we had to part.

"Why does this have to be so hard?" I asked.