"brady," pressley called, lugging behind her suitcase, "plane buddy?"
"sure," i agreed, scanning my ticket and walking through to the corridor.
"are you excited, nervous?" she asked, falling into pace beside me.
"both i guess," i shrugged, "first solo. you?"
she laughed shakily, "fine. a little anxious though."
"i'm sure you'll be fine," i assured, adjusting the strap of my bag. it was a little weird that pressley was talking to me so much suddenly. we were on good terms, but i didn't really...have conversation with her.
---
mikki
"can i sit with you?" gia asked, pointing at the seat beside me.
"sure," i said, grinning, "how do you feel about your solo?"
she sighed. "i haven't done jazz like this for ages," she admitted, dropping her bag on the ground, "i feel like abby gave hannah a competitive, good, lyrical solo, and i get cheesy smiley dances."
i bit my lip. i got what gia was saying, but at least she got a solo, right? that's got to be better than nothing.
the rest of the trip went by pretty smoothly.
"kids, get some stretching done," abby commanded. gia unbuckled her seatbelt and began her stretches, ignoring the dirty looks that came her way.
"what do you think about the group dance?" she said, doing an oversplit between the seats in front of us and behind us. luckily they were savvy, hannah, tricia and erin.
"i think it's amazing," i gushed, taking off my headphones, "i know it might be a little touchy, but you guys dance it so well."
"it would've been better with you in it," gia pouted, coming back down.
"aww, thanks."
"you know what?" gia said, glancing to her right, "i think brady has a crush on you."
i whipped my head around to look at brady. he grinned and i returned it with a double thumbs up. i turned back to gia.
"what makes you say that? we're best friends!" i protested. she just shrugged. i rolled my eyes and put my headphones back on. she pulled them off.
"mikaedy," she hissed. i groaned and snatched them back, mock glaring at her. even though i couldn't hear her, i could tell she was chanting the word over and over in her mind.
gianina paolantonio, i am 100% sure that my best friend does not have a crush on me.
---
brady
i nodded as pressley finished her monologue about miami. if i was honest, i wasn't listening to a single thing she was saying. i was going through my solo over and over again in my head.
"it's beautiful," i said vaguely, "sorry press, i'm just a little..."
"are you ok?" she asked, sounding anxious.
"yeah," i said, running my fingers through my hair, glancing at mikki. she turned around just at that moment. i grinned at her and she gave me a thumbs up. i turned back to pressley, who looked away out of the window.
---
mikki
"let's go! brady, your solo's up first, go out there, and i want you to win, ok?" abby demanded, slapping the arm of her wheelchair. i raised my eyebrows. no pressure brady, i thought.
everyone went out, us girls to the wings and the moms to the audience.
"next up we have brady with ptsd," the presenter called. i gave brady one last hug as he stepped out onto the stage.
i thought it was incredible. he sold the story, had great technique and every step was deliberate. as the final notes faded, there was a huge cheer in the audience. i threw brady his water bottle as he came panting offstage. it hit him squarely in the chest and fell to the floor. i burst out laughing.
"sorry! you did amazing!" i called, choking with laughter. he stuck out his tongue and began chugging water.
"i would have preferred a simple, 'well done brady', and not be hit in the chest with a water bottle," he retorted, but he was smiling. gia nudged me hard in the ribs.
"gia," i wheezed, "what was that for?"
but i thought i knew from her ear-to-ear grin.
hannah went next. i thought it was beautiful. she had great fluidity in her movement and she gave her heart to the music. but i thought the technique was half-hearted. i knew how much it meant for her to have a solo because she was so quiet and always seemed like an underdog. so i hugged and congratulated when she came offstage.
two down. last one to go.
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the oc speaks: hi my name is mikki and i'm only talking because the author says she's boring and doesn't want to make you fall asleep with all her random notes.
