Turning point | Sean and Kaycee

09 - I could see you in a hula skirt...

"So, how long have you been dancing?"

Jesse tossed the hot dog wrapper, now empty, in the trash bin and took a drink of his water bottle.

He had taken me to a park near the Dark Horse studio and he had offered me an hot dog from a stand at the entrance.

I've asked my mom to pick me up later, but she was already on her way so we settled for an extra half an hour. She would have stopped to get her lunch, since we weren't having it together, and give us some time to eat ours.

"Since I was four and an half..." I answered Jesse after I swallowed my last bite of hot dog. I crumpled up the wrap and threw it away in the same bin. "What about you?"

He thought about it for a second.

"Probably since I was five or so... but I didn't really commit until I was around eight."

"Why didn't you commit?" I asked, my curious nature surfacing. Then I instantly added: "If you don't mind me asking..."

We still didn't know each other, so I didn't know if he was comfortable talking about this stuff with me.

Not that it was anything extremely deep but... who knows. Maybe he was a reserved guy, even though he seemed like a very open person.

So far he had been talkative and kind, a genuine good company. He had told me that he lived near the studio, that he was a senior at the local high school and that he was struggling to balance between study and dance.

Anyway I just wanted to make sure he was okay with me asking questions...

My doubts were soon dispelled since he smiled and shrugged, resuming walking towards the end of the path.

"Of course I don't mind..."

I caught up with him, more relaxed.

"It's not that I didn't like dancing in general, but at the time my mother was pushing me to take all these classes that weren't really my cup of tea... style-wise."

"Let me guess, she wanted you to become an exotic dancer..." I said, not able to suppress a laugh.

He grinned, throwing me a look. "Exotic dancer?"

"I could see you in a hula skirt..."

Jesse laughed, shoving me lightly by the shoulder. We had reached the end of the path were a small lake full of tiny red fishes shone in the sun.

We leaned in the wooden fence, looking at the clean water in front of us.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but they weren't exotic dance classes..." he said after a while, a smile still on his lips. "They were hip hop classes."

I turned instantly to him. "What?"

"I know... I kinda hated them at the time." he revealed, blushing a little.

"Yeah, but why?" I asked genuinely curious, since I couldn't understand how an eight years old boy could hate such a fun and cool style.

"Well, to be clear, I enjoy it now. But back then what I really wanted to do was ballet, and my mother couldn't seem to understand..." he said, shaking his head. "Or maybe she did, but since she was an hip hop teacher she wanted me to follow her path."

I nodded, seeing were he came from. "So, what changed?"

He smiled. "Well, at one point, when I was about eight, I collected my courage and said to my mother I wanted to be a ballet dancer..."

"Wow, it's like a twisted Billy Elliot story..." I said, making him laugh. "And what did she say?"

My curiosity was eating me from the inside.