flying • james and riley

| chapter thirty |

dance enabled her to find herself
and lose herself at the same time

RIGHT NOW, THE A-TROUP DANCERS were dancing to a piece that Raelynn choreographed for Regionals. She was thinking of using that as their final dance, but she knew better than that. She needed to focus more on the other dancers. Ever since she and Alfie started secretly dating, her mind hasn't been focused on the dancers.

"That was great, guys." she applauded once they ended in their final positions. "Just a few tweaks and I think we'll be ready." The dancers grinned. "Why don't you take a break while Alfie and I work on our duet?"

As they left, Raelynn walked to the centre of the room, smiling broadly at the man that made her cheeks heat up every time he smiled. "Shall we go through it once?" Raelynn nodded, agreeing. Just as they were about to get into their starting positions, Piper entered the room, her face falling when she saw the two.

"Hey, Piper." greeted Raelynn cheerfully. Piper didn't even look at her. She just grabbed her bags and stormed out. "That was...something," she said, furrowing her brows at Alfie who just shrugged. "Whatever, let's continue."

They were practising on perfecting their jumps. They needed everything to be smooth, to flow just like waves. The two locked hands and with a nod, Alfie pulled her up with Raelynn bending her legs to gain more power. She managed to jump onto his shoulders, balancing herself.

"We did it!" she cheered, holding onto Alfie who made sure she wouldn't fall.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Riley questioned as she stepped into the studio. Raelynn's eyes brightened, her heart beating faster, pumping both blood and love through her veins. However, that was all mistaken for love for Alfie.

"Yup." The brunette grinned before jumping up, holding her breath and waiting for Alfie to catch her, who did so easily. As they stared into the eyes of each other, everything was spoken in their silence. I'll always catch you.

Riley narrowed her eyes, disliking her girlfriend being close to someone that wasn't her or James. "Are you guys all good on your duet?" she said, breaking up their embrace.

"I believe we are," Alfie spoke for them, smiling warmly at the shorter brunette. Never did he glance at his ex-crush. All that mattered to him was the girl in front of him. Oh, how he couldn't wait to take her back to his country and, possibly, name her his queen.

"That's...good." An awkward silence fell upon them like a blanket, suffocating them. Raelynn bit the inside of her cheek while Alfie averted his eyes to the side of the room. "I'll just go," Riley said, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth once it became weird standing in silence.

Raelynn stepped forward. "Riley,"

"Don't worry. I've got to go meet the girls downstairs anyway." Raelynn watched her walk away, her heart throbbing in pain. Is being with Alfie even a good idea?

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Raelynn was laying on the floor of Studio A, stretching her sore limbs. She was by herself. Riley had gone home for the day, along with the others, while Alfie had gone to check up with Piper. He was worried that he did something wrong to her because she wasn't acting the same around him. Hearing footsteps, she turned to see Piper walking towards her.

Seeing the angered look on her face, Raelynn became concerned. "Are you alright?"

"No. No, I'm not alright," she repeated, her eyes narrowed and her voice wavering.

"What's wrong?" Raelynn asked, looking up at her boyfriend's little sister. "Did someone do anything to you? Was it Alfie? I know he went to see you, but I didn't know why -"

"I know what you did." Raelynn furrowed her brows.

"What do you mean?"

"I know about you and Alfie," Piper admitted, her eyes brimming with tears. "I saw you two kiss." Raelynn inhaled deeply, shocked at the news. Her mind was still processing her words, but her body was reacting to it already. Tears began to well up in her eyes, giving off a glossy look.

"Piper, I can explain." she tried, standing up shakily.

"How could you do that?" Piper cried, hurt and betrayed that the person she looked up to as a role model committed such a horrible act.

"Piper, you don't understand -" she tried to reach for her, but the younger girl jerked away from her.

"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed, glaring at the brunette.

"Piper, please," she begged, her lip wobbling. "Please don't tell James or Riley,"

"You." Piper pointed at her, hatred and anger in her voice. "You're going to tell them." Raelynn gulped, licking her lips. "Otherwise, I'll tell them." With that, the brunette left the studio, leaving Raelynn to her thoughts.

A single tear slid down from her warm, butterscotch eyes, followed by another one, and another one, until soon, a steady stream of salty tears flowed its way down her pale cheek. Raelynn blamed herself. She could only imagine what would happen if James and Riley found out. She knew that it would break them and she didn't want that. Not while Riley was stressed from her job and James with his competition.

Her tears released the sadness and sorrow that has been held inside of her for all this time but still, she did not make a sound. She was too sad to cry out or wail, she just stood there as still as a statue while the magnitude of her loss swept over her. At the same time, Piper, from outside the studio, let out a heart-wrenching wail, a series of blatant tears followed that. One would ask: Is it better to rack your body with noisy sobs and let the world know of your pain, or to slowly release your emotion within yourself with silent tears?