What A Lie Looks Like | ✓

1.10: sephine

"Does he really have to be here?" Carter casts a look towards Hayes, who is slumped in the corner of the studio, clearly bored out of his mind.

"Do you really have to keep dropping me?" I mutter under my breath, rubbing the forming bruise on my hip from when Carter dropped me a few minutes ago. I'm sure Hayes would much rather be anywhere else but here, yet he still asked if he could come and watch us rehearse. I only agreed because Carter has been pushing my buttons majorly the last week or so, and we were still unable to get the lift down.

"What?" He asks, and I groan. He wasn't supposed to hear me say that.

"What?" I feign confusion back, and Carter sighs. "Look, I'm sorry, but we've been working on this lift for practically two weeks, and the competition is next weekend. We still don't have it down! Is there a problem that I'm missing, or is this just a waste of time?"

"Let's just try it again from the top," He suggests. I motion to Hayes, who presses a button on the remote that he's in charge of, and the music starts once we're in our starting positions.

The routine is in much better shape than it was when we first started, but I'm still not sure we can place, especially if we can't get the lift in the beginning down.

This time it's almost as if he's afraid to touch me. Carter wraps his arm around my torso and lifts my legs up, so I'm almost going over his shoulder before throwing me up lightly. I rotate slightly, preparing myself for the wooden floors to greet me again. But he secures his arm around my back, and my feet hit the floor as they are supposed to. My hand grips his and my other arm braces to pull myself up before I turn. Carter supports my upper body by holding onto my stomach before spinning me into a standing position.

I breathe a sigh of relief after finally getting the move down. I think that if I'd tried it with Ollie, we would have struggled with it at first, but it wouldn't have taken us weeks to get it down. It's a tricky move, but Carter is lacking the experience and personal connection that Ollie and I had.

We finally make it through the entire routine, and I have to admit that it's not bad now that I know we can complete the lift without me falling.

I look up at Carter, grinning widely as I try to regain my breath, and he offers me a hand to help me off the ground. "That was awesome," he breathes, and I nod agreeing with him.

"What did you think?" I ask, turning to Hayes, and I almost laugh at the look of shock on his face.

"I heard you were pretty good, but I didn't know you were that good."

My cheeks flush because even though I know I'm good, it's still nice to hear it come from him. "Should we just end on that good note?" Carter asks, and I nod.

"Better to celebrate our success for a night and then pick up again tomorrow morning." I wait for Carter to complain and say that he won't be able to make it because it's too early, but instead, he agrees.

"Sounds good, meet here at five?"

"You got it." At least Carter seems like he wants to be here now that he knows we can get it down. I walk towards Hayes, and he offers me my water bottle, which I gladly accept before taking a seat on the floor.

"So, where did you learn to dance like that?" He asks curiously, and I chuckle.

"Bayard's program is one of the best in the country."

"Then why leave?"

I tense up thinking about Ethan and everything that happened, "Benson, you know I don't like talking about it." Hayes stares at me, trying to read my face, but I push myself up, not giving him a chance to reply. "You can head out now if you want, I'm going to stay because I have to do some work on my solo."