Breaking Pointe

Chapter Fifteen

Arabella woke to her phone going off and groaned. it was a text from Tyler. Can you celebrate today?

Sure. Later. She responded and pulled the comforter back over her head to sleep for a few more hours. Tina always gave dancers the day off after an audition. It was one of the few nice things she was known to do.

She heard her dad leave around 8:30. She still hadn’t told him the good news, but he hadn’t asked. Work, work, work...

About 11:30 she finally rolled out of bed and headed to the refrigerator. She put a few pieces of fruit in a bowl and turned on the TV while she ate them slowly. The longer she took to eat, the less food it took to make her feel full. 

Curious, she stepped on the scale. She had gained a pound since the day before. Unacceptable. She went straight to the elliptical and ran for an hour, burning off that fruit and the extra pound.

When she was done she flopped back onto her bed and laid there for a while. Arabella fell asleep again from exhaustion. So much for a day off.

The doorbell rang, waking her up. She rubbed her eyes and stretched as she opened the door.

“Lazy day?” Tyler asked, grinning and chipper.

“Mmm...” she responded, sleepy. She leaned into his arms, hugs were her favorite thing in the world when she was tired.

“You gotta wake up, baby, we have stuff to do” he looked over her outfit. She was wearing an oversized tee shirt and extremely short pajama shorts. Even in her sleepy state she blushed.

“Why were you up so early?” she half-asked half-groaned and rubbed her eyes again. 

“Habit. I always had to get up early to feed the horses back home” he responded, following her as she wandered back toward her room.

She stopped. “You had horses?”

“Still do. The hands are taking care of them while we’re here.”

“I’ve always wanted to ride horses” she admitted, attempting to brush out her hair. It just wasn’t going to happen without conditioner.

“Well if you’re ever in Kentucky...”

“Wait. If you moved here why didn’t you sell your place in Kentucky? Are you going back?” she asked, panicked.

“Not any time soon, darlin’” he chuckled and kissed her forehead.

Arabella grabbed a towel and some different pajamas and hopped into the shower. The hot water woke her up and felt great on her sore muscles.

She put her pajamas on and went back to her room where Tyler was lounging on her bed. She rolled her eyes at him and picked out an outfit, taking it to the bathroom to change. She wasn’t sure where they were going, so she decided on cute-casual. Her yellow floral circle skirt and slouchy white crop top fit the occasion perfectly.

Arabella kept her blow dryer in her room, so she went back there to dry her hair. When it was almost dry she arranged it into a single braid down her back. “Ready!” she announced and he whistled. 

A few minutes later they pulled into his driveway. “What are we doing here?” she asked.

“Celebrating! My mom and my grandma are making dinner.”

“They didn’t have to do that!” she exclaimed, a knot forming in her stomach. She couldn’t afford to eat a big meal, she had just gotten the part. She knew she was going to have to lose weight to prepare for the show.