Breaking Point

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When Jennifer got to the dance studio, she was relieved to find it empty. She checked the time and saw that it was a little after two o'clock in the morning. Jennifer walked over to the stereo across the room and plugged her phone in and started stretching to the music that was playing.

Several hours passed, and Jennifer was sweaty and tired, but she couldn't stop dancing. Little did she know, Justin was peeking in the doorway, hidden in the shadows, watching her complicated dance moves, from hip hop to ballet to contemporary to the combination of ballet and contemporary, to a combination of all three. When her last song ended, and a song perfect for the mambo came on, and she started doing the four step count by herself. That's when Justin decided to come out of hiding.

Since she had her arms in position and her eyes closed, it was easy for Justin to slip into her arms. She gasped and opened her eyes, then gave a breathy laugh when she saw Justin's smiling face.

"I thought you were asleep." Jennifer said quietly, staring at the floor as her and Justin danced across the studio floor.

"Well, I woke up after a very weird dream, and since you weren't there, this is the first place I looked." He joked, and Jennifer shook her head, but smiled.

"Well if you knew where I was, why did you come looking for me?" she asked. Justin gave a breathy laugh.

"I was worried about you. I had a dream you were hurting in the worst possible way, and I couldn't get to you in time. It was torturous." He replied, causing Jennifer to blush and look down again.

"Well, I'm flattered that you were so concerned. And maybe I'm a little flattered that I was in your dream." She said, and they both laughed. Justin naturally led her around the room, spinning her when needed, and dipping her occasionally. Jennifer's eyes widened in surprise and scrutiny. "You know the mambo?"

Justin laughed, and spun her around again. "Yeah, I also know how to shoot webs out of my wrists andclimb walls without rope." He said, and Jennifer let a giggle slip.

"That's good, I'm proud of you. Now you just gotta perfect your lifts, and you'll be able to say that you can mambo, shoot webs out of your wrists, climb walls without a rope, and lift your partner up over your head." Jennifer said, and Justin laughed again.

"My lifts are fabulous." He said, and Jennifer playfully rolled her eyes at him. "They are! Watch." And with that, he grabbed Jennifer by the waist and lifted her above her head. Instead of balancing straight like she taught the girls, Jennifer kept her body straight, her legs in a plie position, and looking down at Justin, her eyes wide in shock and she giggled.

When Justin finally put her down, she giggled again. "Well, your lifts are pretty fabulous, I'll admit it." She said, laughing. Justin laughed along with her and tucked a stray hair that escaped her messy bun behind her ear, causing her to blush.

When the song changed, Jennifer quickly pulled away from Justin, remembering Selena's threat for the first time since she woke up, something she was never able to forget. Justin scunched his eyebrows at her in confusion, but she didn't meet his eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, grabbing her by her wrist and spinning her around to face him. Jennifer bit her lip and looked down, but Justin lifted her face by his chin. "What is it, you can tell me." Jennifer shook her head and unhooked her phone from the stereo.

"I'm supposed to stay away from you. Obviously I haven't been doing a very good job of that." Jennifer said quietly. Justin held onto her wrist, and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Who told you that? Did Selena tell you that? Tell me the truth Jennifer." He said, and Jennifer bit her lip and reluctantly nodded. Justin sighed angrily.

"Well, she's out of here anyway, soon. Scooter already set up her flight and everything. She's leaving tomorrow-today." He said, and Jennifer looked up at him.

"Is it because of me? See, this is the exact reason why I didn't want anybody to know anything! Because they start to pity you and... and..." Jennifer's voice trailed off, her anger vanishing as soon as it appeared. Justin was shocked. This was the first emotion he'd ever seen Jennifer show besides sadness and the occasional happiness. After getting over the initial shock of Jennifer's outburst, he walked over and enveloped her in a hug. Jennifer gasped, but eventually returned the hug. So many emotions flitted through Jennifer so fast it made her confused.

"Come on, before Maribelle wakes up and becomes convinced I killed you or something. I don't think she appreciates my existence very much." Justin said after he pulled away and Jennifer let out what seemed to be a combination of a laugh and sob and Justin wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked out, shutting out the lights as they left.

When they were safely back in the room, Jennifer got in the shower, still a huge bundle of emotions. She was confused as to why Jeremy would tell her what he told her in her dream, she was glad that Justin was finally nice to her, she was mad and embarassed that everybody found out about Jeremy, she was furious that Anna had the audacity to tell her Selena her deepest secret, and she was sad, always sad.

"Don't dwell on the fact that I'm gone." The sentence bounced around in Jennifer's head, as she tried to get her emotions together as she washed her hair.

When Jennifer got out and got dressed, she saw that it was five o'clock in the morning. She yawned, and suddenly the three hours of dancing caught up to her and she was exhausted. Justin was in the room, on his phone, and Jennifer timidly laid on her bed with him sitting at the edge.

"I gotta go see Selena off, and talk to Scooter. I'll be back." Justin said, standing up. Jennifer nodded and he bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek, which surprised her. Justin smiled shyly and turned out the light before opening the door and walking out. Jennifer stared wide-eyed into the darkness before her, shocked at Justin's actions. She couldn't help but to feel guilty, and wonder about Jeremy's reaction.

Because that small act of affection, caused Jennifer's heart to race and butterflies to form in her stomach, a reaction she hadn't felt in almost a year.