Easy.
Untethered.
Impossible to pin down because she liked it that way.
But lately, that version of me felt less like freedom and more like a really pretty disguise.
Because the truth was, I didn’t feel fearless the way Darcy had said.
I felt behind.
I felt uncertain.
I felt like a daughter my parents had to explain.
My chest tightened before I could stop it, and suddenly, I was back on the sidelines three weeks ago — spotting my mom and dad in the stands, my heart lifting so fast it hurt. And then later, in that sterile hospital room, still high on adrenaline and pain and humiliation, watching the expressions on their faces as the doctor talked.
Concern.
Sympathy.
That soft, careful kind of disappointment people wore when they were trying not to make you feel worse.
And more than anything… pity.
Like this was exactly the kind of thing they expected from me.
Of course, Emily got hurt.
Of course, Emily’s little passion project blew up in her face.
Of course, Emily was almost thirty and still chasing glitter and halftime lights and a paycheck that could barely cover rent.
I swallowed hard, hating the truth of it all.
I was too much of a mess to be taken seriously, too impulsive to be trusted with something real, too all over the place to ever become someone a younger version of me would actually look up to.
And maybe that was why Braden’s question had lodged itself so deep under my skin.
What if you taught?
Because for the first time in a long time, I hadn’t laughed at the idea of something that had roots, that would be settled and final and sure. It would mean a home and a steady routine and young dancers who depended on me.
It scared me, but it also made me lean in.
It made me hope.
And hope was a dangerous thing when you weren’t sure you deserved the life you wanted.
“Shit,” Marcus murmured, his frown focused on his phone.
“What happened?” Darcy asked.
“I hate to be this person, but… can we turn on the game? We’re down by three with two minutes left in the fourth and we have the ball.”
Darcy and I blinked at each other, hesitating only a moment before she sprang into action turning on the TV while I all but climbed into Marcus’s lap to see the little update he had pulled up in the search engine.
Once the game was live, we all settled into the couch, curling up with a blanket spread across our laps. Marcus was chewing his nails, but Darcy laid her head on my shoulder, a soft calmness washing over her and right into me.
