“You’re getting the hang of it, actually.”

“Don’t you lie to me Henry Lau, I look like an aquatic seal struggling through tar.”

“… Do you ever actually listen to yourself talk, or do you just start and hope it ends well?”

“You are changing the subject and, so help me God, I am not in the—You know what, I give up! There’s no way I can do this!”

“Bree, come on…”

“No!”

Henry’s shoulder slumped as his head raised towards the ceiling, his eyes closed and a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He had been practicing by himself in the dance studio when Bree came by to see him, even though it was mostly because she was bored and couldn’t think of anything else to do. She had been previously sitting in a corner watching him practice the dance to “U” when she stood up and announced that she wanted him to teach her. He wasn’t sure at first, but teaching her would mean that he would be focusing on the movements more throughly and that began to sound like a good idea the more he thought about it. She seemed a bit uneasy when she asked—Maybe she didn’t really mean to ask him?—and seemed to be horribly self conscious of herself, she wouldn’t even turn in the direction of the mirror to watch her movements.

She actually wasn’t bad, she picked up pretty quickly and her movements would be very fluid if she practiced more, but it was impossible to tell her that. Every time he complimented her on how well she was doing, she would just stumble over her words and begin talking about how awful she was which would make her incredibly stiff and awkward as she tried to dance. He wanted to shake her roughly to try and make her stop doing that, but that wouldn’t really help the situation whatsoever.

“Bree, seriously, you’re doing very well! If you’d watched yourself in the mirror you’d see that.”

“I’m not doing that Henry, I don’t want to watch myself stumble over all the steps and look stupid.”

Henry’s eyes softened for a moment as his voice came out in a gentle whisper. “You don’t look stupid Bree, you’re doing fine.” She wasn’t looking at him; rather, she was looking at the floor and refused to move at all from the spot she was standing in. Henry felt overwhelmed for a moment as he watched her, he could even feel his heart throb while she stood there looking down dejectedly. Bree had always been hilarious, she’d always been full of laughter and wit and ideas, but Henry had never noticed this about her before. She seemed so self conscious and fragile in front of him now, she seemed so small, she seemed so… fragile. He’d never felt so insignificant in his entire life. He didn’t like feeling that way either.

“Look, thanks Henry, but I think I should probably go—”

“Bree.” Henry could feel his heart swell when she looked up at him with those expressive, vibrant stormy blue eyes. He wasn’t sure of what he was doing anymore, but all he knew was that he hated to see her look that way. He hated it more then he’d ever hated anything before then, more then he’ll ever hate anything again. “Bree, you know how great I think you are, right?”

Bree rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips indignantly. “Yeah, cute, Henry. Don’t lie to my face, come on. I’m gonna—”

“Bree.” He tried to sound serious, tried to sound strong, but the noise was weak even to his ears. Her eyes quickly shot in his direction upon hearing his tone of voice, she almost seemed afraid in that brief moment before he used every ounce of courage he had in his body. “Bree, I-I think… I think you’re wonderful, I think you’re funny, I think you’re witty, I think you have an uncanny ability to always say what you think, to say things that I wished I had the courage to say but never enough to actually say it. I think you are one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, I think you’re kind…”

“Where is this coming from?” Henry had used all of the courage in his body to say these things out loud, he didn’t have enough to spare to chance looking up at her face, to see the look she was giving him. He kept his eyes on the ground, he kept his heart on his sleeve.

“I hate when you look so sad,” His resolve was diminishing, he knew that if he didn’t get all of this out immediately then he would never get it out again. “I hate when you look so self conscious, when you look around and only see the bad things in you. When I look in your eyes, I can tell that you can’t see all of the things I see, all of the things that… that…

“All of the things that make me adore you.”

He couldn’t breathe, he refused to look up from the floor and he even contemplated running out of the door for a moment. Running as fast as his legs would take him, maybe farther, just far enough to not see the look on her face, far enough to forget that he had just told her the one thing he said he never would. He felt like the biggest fool in the world, like—

Gasps hit his ears like thunder, and the small sound of water pattering against the floor was like a hurricane sweeping around him. He suddenly forgot all about courage, about fear, about potentially scaring off someone he cared so much about and looked up immediately.

What he saw was Bree’s shock stricken face and tears pouring down her cheeks.

He slowly stood up completely straight while he watched her, he wondered if all of the oxygen had been from the room because it was horribly hard to breathe. He wanted to take it all back, to say he wasn’t serious, but he couldn’t do that because… all of it was true. Every last word, every small breath, everything was true. And he said it, he said it so she could know that someone saw how wonderful she really was. So that she knew.. that he wanted her to know those things.

“Bree.”

“Are… Are you lying to me?” Henry’s heart dropped for a moment as her face took on a distinct kind of sadness that he wished he’d never have to see displayed over her beautiful face ever again. “Oh G-God, is this a joke?”

“No, I…” He didn’t know what to say anymore, he’d already used up all of his courage telling her what he did before… But, he needed to get through to her. “I hate when you think that you aren’t as amazing as you really are, I can’t stand that look in your eyes, Bree…” He strode forward using all of the willpower in his body to propel him forward, his legs felt like jell-o and his heart felt like lead in his chest.

“I think you’re an amazing dancer, an amazing person, ok?” Her eyes looked like the ocean from wear he was standing, so close to her body. He lifted one of his hands to rest against her cheek, his finger delighted themselves in the soft expanse of her hair and, for a moment, he honestly felt free.

“You have no godly idea…” Henry’s eyebrows scrunched as more tears poured down her face. “How much I adore you.” Henry could’ve sworn that he had gone blind for a moment, that he had died the moment she said those words to him. Emotion clogged his throat and he almost didn’t trust himself to speak, he gave her a heartwarming smile before he leaned down and placed an open mouth kiss onto her temple gingerly, his heart felt lighter then it had ever felt before.

“I think I might have some idea.”

Henry decided something in that moment; yes, this was what real freedom felt like.