Lead & Follow

En l'air

Part 1: Lead

Tenth Movement, En l'air

En l'air

[ahn lehr] In the air. Indicates: (1) that a movement is to be made in the air; for example, rond de jambe en l'air; (2) that the working leg, after being opened to the second or fourth position à terre, is to be raised to a horizontal position with the toe on the level of the hip.

(From abt[dot]org)

🖤🤍

Your feet dangle below you as the plastic seat you cling to rockets up into the air. Admittedly, the height you achieve isn't as impressive as it felt when you were kids. 

"If this thing breaks …" murmurs the boy beside you fretfully as his sandal-clad feet drag against the sand. His swing-set form is best described as tentative ; the both of you are fully grown adults, and he, in particular, is rather vertically-endowed. 

You swing as if you seek to make a 360 degree loop of the rusty metal frame, and with the wild abandon of someone whose head likely won't smack the poles if you fling yourself too far. 

Cove, on the other hand, is not quite so confident. He watches you go with the assumption that eventually the chains will snap, and he'll have to be alert to save your life.

" Relax ," you emphasize as you roll your eyes. "Remember that time Lizzie, Shiloh, and I crammed into one seat and stood on this flimsy strip of rubber?" 

"You, Lizzie, and who ?" Cove repeats with a confused expression. 

"Y'know, Shiloh !" you exclaim as if you can't believe he'd forget. "That kid in the bucket hat who followed Elizabeth around like a lost puppy!"

The hat rings a bell, and his memory draws up a hazy image of a snotty brunette in a sky blue hat. "Oh, right. That kid."

"Yeah," you nod fervently, and you're pleased that you don't have to put in any more effort to jog his memory. "Anyway, one time, like, all of us hung off of this one swing and it still didn't croak."

"Where was I?" Cove challenges. When he thinks of his younger self, it doesn't seem in-character to have turned his nose up at such a reckless venture.

"Your arm was still in the cast!" you remind him, more than a little exasperated. "You probably wouldn't have hopped on anyway, though. You and Shiloh were always at odds."

Yep . That sounds like me , Cove thinks. His swing has come to a wobbly halt, and his fingers trace the faint outline of a scar up the length of his forearm. 

"You were almost as stiff with him as you are with Baxter," you murmur. Your swing loses momentum, and you turn to look at him. Ocean blue and [e/c] meet like the waves which crash against the sand. There it is, finally. The elephant in the room.