Bianca looked perfect. I mean, despite the classes, I still didn’t know much about ballet. But she looked the part. All rigid lines and mind-blowing balance. But in my eyes she paled in comparison to Collette.
Of course, my opinion mattered to no one. Certainly not to Juilliard. But I couldn’t help but note that while Bianca looked perfect—she had none of Collette’s passion. Her expression was hard. Determined. She didn’t get that dreamy look that Collette got whenever she danced.
She looked… Well, she looked kind of miserable.
Nothing at all like Collette.
“Dude, don’t tell me you have a thing for the ice queen now.” Ryan’s voice jarred me out of my daze and I turned to see him sliding down the mirrored wall beside me so he was sitting next to me with his legs sprawled out.
He seemed comicallylaid back compared to the nervous, high-strung dancers in this room and it took me a moment of staring at him before I fully registered that he washere. At the academy. On a Friday morning. When he should have been at school.
“Ryan, what are you doing here?”
He gave me a lopsided grin. “What do you mean ‘what am I doing here?’ My best friend is about to audition for Juilliard. Did you really think I wouldn’t come here to cheer you on?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t really given it much thought either way. I’d told him about the auditions yesterday—I’d told him my plan. But I’d also told him that the only reason I was doing this was for Collette. “She’s not going to show,” I said. I kind of hoped that by saying it aloud, the idea would finally sink in. Like maybe if I openly acknowledged it, I’d stop waiting. I’d stophoping. I’d stop looking at the door like some pathetic puppy dog.
His expression was sympathetic but he didn’t try to argue the point. Which was good. I didn’t want anyone to give me false hope and that’s all it would be.
“Her loss, man,” Ryan said.
I swallowed hard. That thought didn’t make me feel better. It only made my heart ache on Collette’s behalf. It would be her loss. She was the one who’d be missing out on a chance to go after her dreams. She’d be the one choosing to live with her insecurities and fears rather than take a leap of faith.
It would be her choice to go back to her old life of dancing alone, after dark…without me.
I let my head fall back against the mirror with a thud.
Nope, knowing that it was her loss definitely didn’t make me feel any better. Her loss was my loss. And if she didn’t show today, I’d be losing her for good.
“I don’t know if I can do this, man.” I said it quietly and for the first time in maybe forever Ryan didn’t have a snarky comeback or even a lazy smile. He was one hundred percent serious when he turned to me.
“You’re already doing it.” He shrugged. “You showed up. That’s all anyone can ask. You showed up for me and the band last night and you’re showing up for your girl today.” He nudged my arm with his elbow. “I’m proud of you, man.”
The silence that followed was awkward. Ryan and I weren’t big on emotional moments, and I had no idea how to tell him that his words meant a lot.
Ryancleared his throat loudly. Way too loudly. Loudly enough that a certain prissy blonde took notice.
Bianca stopped mid-dancing to glare over at him. “What areyoudoing here?”
Ryan leaned closer to me. “Ten bucks says I can get the ice queen to smile,” he said, his cocky smile returning.
I moved to say something, but Ryan had already made his decision.
He gave Bianca a smirk—one that always made her face redden and her glare to deependuring dance class. “I came to cheer you on, sweetheart,” he said with a wink.
She narrowed her eyes in a frightening glare before turning her back on him and launching back into her routine as if he’d never interrupted.
Ryan leaned over with a loud stage whisper. “She loves me.”
I shook my head with an exasperated huff of air—the closest thing to a laugh I could muster. “Yeah, you really have her wrapped around your finger.”
He was grinning for real when he turned to me. “Hey, you might not have gotten the girl, but at least one good thing has come out of all this.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
He nodded toward the door, which I’d been successful at avoiding since he sat down. “You finally stood up to your dad.”
I whipped my head around to see…my dad? Shock had me staring with wide eyes as he entered the little studio, glancing left and right with a look of unease that spoke volumes about how out of place he felt.
