Inhaling Alongside You✔️

Chapter Ten: Still Pains

"What have I told you about tears?!" He screeches, storming into the waiting room.

I hiccup quietly, trying to look him in the eye through blurred vision.

"Speak! I know you can hear me Jesse!" He snaps, his voice booming in my face.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I thought I could win" I whimper through hiccups.

"Jesse..." He sighs, actually seemingly calmer.

"I know you worked hard, but working hard won't be enough. You have to eat, sleep, and breathe dedication for dance. That's why I'm hard on you because the world will be much more gruesome." He reasons, gently lifting my chin.

"I'm proud of you. I am. Keep that chin up princess" He smiles, wiping my lone tears from my cheek.

Finding a clearer vision, I manage a smile.

For the first time, I feel as if I won. Never has he been so genuine, it makes me want to work all the more, just to have another moment like this.

My first father daughter moment.

Relapsing from the pleasant memory, I lightly pat my forehead with my hand towel. I have been working with Mister Sanchez as an official member of his assemble. I've been practicing nonstop on every step, every turn, every pose. I work it until it's perfect. That's what I was taught as a young girl.

My father was harsh with words. He could snatch the smile off your face and step on your pride, like an helpless ant against the shoe of an human. He'd bagger me about missing the slightest step, not hitting target as I should."That step could cause you your career Jesse! Do it again!" He'd screech from the other side of the studio.

My father may have been cruel with words, and even sometimes wrong in direction, but he taught me so much. He taught me the ways of a strong dancer. Not only how to be a strong dancer physically, but mentally and emotionally.

"You have to feel the music in order to convince your audience. If you are faking it, they will know" He would warn, if I claimed defeat. The hardest thing about my relationship with my father, was that he will never see his words reign through my success.

"Jess? Jess?" Michael shouts in my ear, shaking me violently.

Lifting my head from my passenger window, I glance around the limo in confusion.

"You kind of blanked out, during your rehearsals, so Mister Sanchez called for Bill to come pick you up. I was worried, so I tagged along. Are you alright?" He asks, stroking a piece of my hair back into my bun.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine. I fainted? I don't even remember that" I sigh, rubbing my temples.

"Well according to Mister Sanchez, you were blanking out a lot, until you actually just didn't respond. Are you sure you're okay? You know I can call a doctor in a matter of seconds" Michael apprehensively offers.

"Yes. I'm fine babe. Really" I convince honestly.

"So where are we on route to?" I ask, before he could protest my answer.

Leaning back into the cushions of the limo, he runs a pair of hands through his curly locks.

"Frank Dileo called earlier. He wants to talk business"

"So why am I going?" I question, removing my pointe shoes.

"Because you will be my sanity. I get real frustrated in these meetings. Plus, Frank likes you, so he will play nice" He reasons, stealing my hands.