The Bad Boys and the Fighter

6

""Tired?" Victor's voice shook me from my sleep exhaustion induced gaze.

I slowly turned my head back towards his direction.
"Not in the slightest."

He turned back to his iPod to find a song. He knew I was lying, but also knew better than to argue. "I need to perfect this routine for my Juliard audition."

There were several seconds of silence in his mix before music start playing. It was an Olivia Rodrigo song.

"You're going to get in," I assured as he latched his hands onto my hips.

Doubt swam in his eyes, an expression I had never seen him wear before. Curly black hair dripping in sweat poked out from underneath his white baseball hat.

"I don't know..."

"Is that why you haven't said anything to your brother about the audition? You don't think you'll get in?"

"Juliard's a competitive school, Ariel," he lightly scolded.

"And you're a competitive person. If there's one person who could get in, it's you."

We finished dancing his routine in silence. Victor let out a curse with every little misstep. "Again?"

I nodded breathlessly, knowing the routine would never be perfect enough for him, no matter how many times we practice. So, we danced it again, and again, until the sun began to peak through the half closed shutter blinds.

We rushed into the locker rooms to take the showers since I had to go to school and Victor had to talk to Rubio. I fished out the clothes I had stuffed in my bag the previous night; black leggings and a black athletic long sleeve top.

"So, what're you gonna say to him?" I asked Victor.

He glanced over his shoulder at me as he slipped on his sneakers. "I don't know what I even could say. 'Hey, I really like you and want to date you but I can't?' Like what am I supposed to follow up with as the reason?"

"That you plan on attending Juliard in the fall and you don't want to have a relationship in college."

"But he knows that's not true. We already spoke about that."

I slipped on my own shoes and slung my bag over my shoulder. "Have you tried the truth?"

"How do I tell him I have AIDS? He'll have a million and one questions that I'm not ready to answer yet."

Though I remained quiet, Victor knew I agreed with him. I was no stranger to the dark secrets that could haunt a persons soul. Despite this, however, I was an advocate for taking control of your life.

While exiting the locker room, we were met by four familiar faces. Tyler looked overcome with exhaustion as he laid peacefully on the floor sleeping, while Carlos, in fetal position, played Candy Crush on his phone next to his friend. Cole and Jeremiah stood in the corner by the punching bags speaking in hushed whispers.

Jeremiah was the first to notice our presence. "Oh thank God," He groaned, "you two were taking forever. You ready for school?"

"What the fuck are -"

"-you doing here?" I finished for Victor. "Can I not have some privacy?"

"You do. In fact, you just had eight hours of it," Cole responded. His tone was clipped, and his hair was tousled. Sleep exhaustion looked like it was winning a battle with him.

"We were worried fucking sick about you," Carlos declared as he scrambled to his feet. "You can't just go disappearing in the middle of the night!"