Lead & Follow

Chassé

Part 1: Lead

Fifteenth Movement, Chassé

Chassé

chassé

[ sha-sey]

noun

("to chase")

a gliding step in which one foot is kept in advance of the other.

🖤 🤍

You're following Baxter down a windowless hallway on the third floor of the mountain lodge when your phone chimes. 

You stall for a moment in the empty space to check your phone, and Baxter, ever the gentleman, waits for you. 

1 new text from Madame President 🙄👑!

Madame President 🙄👑:

_________________

Call me as soon as you get in, nerd.

The Moms are demanding pics.

Be safe. ❤️

_________________

You leave your elder sister on read, and shove your phone back into your pockets. 

Seriously , you bemoan as if you're not going to comply as soon as you can manage a spare moment. Don't they have anything better to do?

"Everything alright?" Baxter asks as he steps closer to you. His face expresses genuine concern, and you feel bad for making him wait. Ever the gentleman, when he walks it's with more than just his own suitcase dragging behind him.

"Yep, sorry," you retort, and your mouth pops on the 'p' sound. "My parents put my sister on recon duty already."

"Ah," he nods. "If it's any consolation, I suspect my mother will be of the same mind."

You shrug, "They say misery loves company."

When the two of you finally reach your rooms, your emotions are a chaotic mixture of nerves and comfort. It's nice that he'll be so close, because you're not used to traveling much without your family. However, the proximity is also a bit intriguing.

"What was that?" you query once you realize that you've been too stuck in your own head to notice Baxter talking.

Though he's posed a question about your opinion of the accommodations, he's no fool. The way your eyes have flickered between his door and your own, and the implications of your pensive look, are fairly obvious.