Chapters: Stories on Sean & Kaycee

Let Go Part 5

6 months, 3 week, and 6 days.

He stopped avoiding her.

Or at least that's what Kaycee assumed because they started seeing each other more often in classes. Not all the time and definitely not planned, but often enough. She stopped posting her schedule on the kitchen fridge, and her mom stopped asking too.

They started talking again.

Small talk when he'd set his bag down next to her. Tidbits of conversation between dances and breaks. A friendly goodbye when they'd part in the parking lot. It was still nothing close to what they used to be, but it was a start. She's known him since they were kids and memorized him as partners for half a decade. But now she felt like a tourist, rediscovering her favorite city for the first time. She marveled at things she already knew and missed about him, and still found new gems to love.

Each conversation, no matter how short or shallow, left a giddy buzz in her chest that made her crave more and more. But Kaycee remained patient. She gave and took very little, watched him with measured control.

Some days, he walked on eggshells around her, keeping things short and safe. Other days, he was more open, giving more of himself than he meant to, accidentally slipping into who he used to be.

As much as it hurt her to see him swing from one to the other, she knew it was nothing compared to the civil war in his mind. She saw the battle in his eyes, in the way he drank her in but held her at arm's length, to have her close but not touch, afraid of getting burned again.

So Kaycee took a deep breath and pressed her hand to her heart, conjuring up her armor of memories, reminding herself of why she was hanging on in the first place.

Look at her! The universe gets bigger.

Kaycee's smile makes rainbows.

I'll keep the light on.

I could do this all day, any day.

After Nika's class, Sean and Kaycee took their usual walk to the parking lot where he bid her farewell with a polite smile and nod. It was one of those guarded days where he said very little and barely looked at her.

But as she drove out of the parking lot, she spotted Sean standing on the sidewalk, looking down at his phone.

Curious, she pulled up to him.

"Hey," Kaycee called out as she rolled her window down. He jumped at the sound of her voice, then laughed at himself when he realized it was her. "What're you doing?"

A light pink blush bloomed on his cheeks. "Waiting for my Uber."

"Where's your car?" Kaycee asked, furrowing her brows.

"With my mom." Sean replied, scratching the back of his head. "Hers had to get fixed so I let her borrow mine."

The second the words left his mouth, they both knew what Kaycee was going to say. For a moment, she had half a mind not to say it, to just leave him there instead of risk being rejected. But in the end, she couldn't do that to him, knowing that he would never do that to her.

"Are you headed home? I'll drop you off." She offered, fingers tapping the steering wheel nervously.

A smirk slowly crept its way across his lips, like he knows how ridiculous her offer is. "Kayc, you know your house is like 2 hours the other way, right?"

Kaycee groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Just get in." She said, already unlocking the doors. "I'm not leaving you out of the street."