My Kind Of Perfection(EDITING)

65. Dysfunctional

"Afternoon, ladies." I call as I walk into their house. "Where are y'all?"

"Kasey. Please!" I hear from down the hallway.

What are they arguing about this time?

I walk down the hallway and see Dakota kneeling down and talking through the crack in the door.

What the hell? "Hey. What's happening?" I ask her, leaning a shoulder against the wall.

Dakota looks up at me in surprise. "Oh. Hi."

"Leave me alone, Kota." Kasey yells from the bathroom.

Wait. What? Is she- "is she crying?" I whisper.

"Stay out of this, JT. Trust me."

"I don't understand."

"You wouldn't." Dakota sits back on her heels and looks up at me.

"Babe, what happened?" I call through the door.

"What are you doing"-sniff- "here?" She calls back.

"Um, you invited me....like an hour ago." I stare at the door, confused. "You were happy...you went to go see your studio.."

She lets out another sob and Dakota slaps me. "Ow!" I flinch. "What?"

"The problem IS the studio!" Dakota sighs.

"What? What happened?? I thought it was finished!"

"It IS finished, but she went to go workout and check it all out, but it became a thing...some of the construction guys were still there, and-"

"I swear if some asshole touched her..." I nearly shake with anger at the thought of her getting hurt again, like that time at the club...

"Can you let me finish?!" Dakota huffs.

"Sorry. What happened?"

"She can't do a flat split." Dakota interrupts.

"A what?"

"A flat split. You know when you do a split, and you touch the ground..."

"Um, sure. And she used to be able to do that?"

Dakota rolls her eyes dramatically. "Of course. Back when she was training for school, she could do anything."

"She can spread her legs far enough for me..." I mutter to myself. Dakota slaps me. "HEY! I didn't mean that in the way you thought I meant that."

"Sure."

"I don't see why it matters. If she's not going to that dumb ballet school..." I shrug. "She doesn't need to be able to do the same stuff."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, JAKEOPHER." She hollers from the other side. "I've lost everything I have worked on for the last 16 years!!"

I turn to Dakota wide-eyed. "She started dancing when she was THREE?"

"Yeah. This is a big deal, JT." Dakota sighs. "She's done this closed off thing before, and you can't get her out."

"Yeah, well we can't just leave her here." I sigh. "Kasey, just please come out." I try.

"How am I gonna teach others if I can't even dance?" She sobs.

"Kase-"

"Don't bother. Do you know the stress she's under? I've been through this before, and there really ain't anything you can do." Dakota looks at her nails.

"Try me." I turn back to the door. "Baby please come out and talk to me."

"No! Go away!"

Dakota shrugs helplessly and I rack my mind.