[CHAPTER TWELVE]

Andrea played absentmindedly with the glass of water sitting on the table in front of her, not bothering to listen to Ryan’s jokes. She had heard them before, and even though she knew that she would love them just as much and would laugh just as hard as when she first heard them if she listened, she just didn’t have the patience to pay attention tonight.

Instead, she sat silently in her seat, alone at a table, listening to everyone around her laugh, clapping when they clapped, and fiddling with her phone.

There were only reasons she had even agreed to come to Ryan’s show tonight. One, the venue promised to provide a free dinner for her and Ryan. And two, she hadn’t gone out at all in the past week, except to get food and to go to work.

Her phone vibrated, telling her she had a text message. She already knew who it was from, and also knew that, though she didn’t want to admit it, it was one of the reasons she hadn’t left her apartment except when necessary.

            “How’s Ryan doing?”

It was a text from Jay; one of the few she had gotten that day.

It had been two weeks since the competition and the excursion out for Korean food and a movie, and Andrea was back to being annoyed with Jay.

But for different reasons than previously.

She wanted to be able to say that she was indifferent to him, since that would mean that she just didn’t care either way about him, but she was annoyed with him about the fact that she couldn’t bring herself to not care. She hated when he texted her, only because she couldn’t ignore that she did get excited when she got a text from him, and was even more angry with him for making her annoyed that he hadn’t made an effort to see her since the night of the competition. Instead, she would get random text messages from him, sometimes at really weird hours.

She wanted to ask him where he was, what he was doing and why he hadn’t bothered to see her, but she wasn’t his mother, sister or girlfriend, and she was supposed to hate him, anyway. She had no right to ask.

But she couldn’t stop herself from wondering.

She also couldn’t help but wonder why she even cared. She had been convinced that dating anyone wasn’t worth the amount of time and emotion that was spent on it, especially when it could go into something like dancing instead.

Plus, given the mess that was her relationship with the members of what was now his crew, dating Jay didn’t seem likely, healthy, or a good idea altogether. The members of your crew were your family, your friends, and your advisors. And jay’s crew members already didn’t like her, so they definitely wouldn’t let her date their leader. Andrea knew this.

But you’re not supposed to care, Andrea thought as she stared at the text message. Why are you falling for someone that you’re supposed to hate?

Andrea gasped, and then groaned and collapsed into her seat. She had finally admitted to herself. She was falling for Jay. It may be against her will and better judgment, but it was happening.

“I sound like I’m in a Jane Austen novel,” Andrea grumbled aloud, causing the older woman sitting at the next table over to shoot Andrea a disapproving look. Andrea would have usually fallen back into line with that look, but considering that they were at a comedy show—her friend’s show, to be exact—and not at one of the Bard’s plays, Andrea figured that it was appropriate to shoot the woman a look of her own, which Andrea promptly did.

The woman gasped and looked severely taken aback. She turned to the woman next to her, no doubt to gossip about the insolent young girl dressed in baggy sweats and a t-shirt with a low-hanging baseball cap covering her eyes that just stuck their tongue out at her.

Andrea rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the text message.

            “Killing them, as usual,” she sent.

Andrea, to distract herself from the wait for a text back, listened to Ryan tell a particularly funny joke about a friend of his and the many things that had happened to them to make them afraid of heights, and the pranks he would pull on said friend to mess with them about that.

Everyone laughed when he was finished, of course, except for Andrea, who didn’t like being the of a popular joke. Ryan, as the laughter continued, looked at Andrea with a smirk, which Andrea returned with the second time she had stuck her tongue out that night.

She didn’t see if Ryan retaliated with a face of his own though, because her phone vibrated, distracting her from the show again.

            “What are you doing tomorrow?” Jay’s text read.

Quickly, Andrea texted back that she was working all day. The practice time that she was taking to spend time working with her crew meant that her work hours had become long chunks of time during the week, instead of a steady, regular schedule. Tomorrow, she actually taught three classes, starting at eight in the morning, and then would clean and man the front desk in between each class until close. Usually, she didn’t mind the work, since she enjoyed what she was doing and where she was, plus it gave her time to get close to the owners, who allowed her to use any free studio for her and her crew on the days that she wasn’t working.

            “Could I come stop by?” Jay’s next text read.

Slightly curious, Andrea texted back that he could. She hadn’t seen him in a week, and though she couldn’t help but grimace at how excited she was with the prospect of seeing him, she couldn’t help but wonder why he wanted to see her now.

-           -           -           -

“Maybe he’s going to propose!” Ryan suggested as he spun around in the desk chair he was sitting on.

“Ry…” Andrea sighed with a shake of her head. She was trying to organize the filing cabinet behind the front desk; something she had been threatening to do ever since she figured out how unorganized the owner of the studio was. “You’re being a pest.”

“Pests can be good things though,” Rose pointed out as she leaned on the opposite of the desk from where Andrea was working. “A lot of parasites actually provide benefits to their host bodies that they need to survive. In return, the parasites get to survive too. It’s called a symbiotic relationship.”

“Yeah!” Ryan cried, pointing at Rose to emphasize her point. “I’m not entirely sure I like being called a parasite, but that’s what you and I have! A sinbol…”

“Symbiotic relationship,” Rose prodded.

“That,” Ryan conceded.

Andrea looked at her two best friends, giving Rose a glare as Ryan continued his spinning. She may not have much of a sense of humor, but Rose was really smart when it came to science. Really, if it hadn’t been for her, Ryan would still be stuck in sophomore Biology.

“No,” Andrea told Ryan. “You’re just being a pest.”

Ryan shrugged but continued to spin. “My idea about Jay is legitimate, though.”

Andrea rolled her eyes and reached out, grabbing his chair by the top of the back, immediately stopping Ryan’s motion, causing the man to nearly tumble out of his seat.

“Get out,” Andrea told him and Rose. “Before he gets here.”

Ryan rubbed his head as he stood up, obviously more than a little dizzy. “You mean we can’t stay t owatch the meeting between you and your boyfriend?” he asked once he had recovered enough to walk—with the help of the desk—over to Rose. “What if he does propose?” he asked. “You’re going to feel horrible for sending your two best, most loyal and lovable friends away.” He looked at Andrea with a pout, which Rose copied.

“Okay,” Andrea sighed tiredly, leaning on the desk to get closer to her friends. “One, he’s not my boyfriend. Two, he’s not going to propose. We’re just going to talk. Three, if he did propose—which he’s not—I would not feel bad if you two weren’t there. And four, when did I ever say that you guys were my most loyal and lovable friends?”

Andrea smirked when neither had an answer and stepped away from the desk.

“Fine,” Ryan spat, acting like he was annoyed an hurt. Andrea knew he was just playing around. Nothing seemed to faze him. “Come on, Rose,” he continued, turning towards the door. “Let’s go get some food that Dre would be jealous to miss. Maybe…Korean?”

Andrea smiled broadly, but turned back to the filing cabinet without reprimanding Ryan.

She heard the front door of the building behind her open, and Ryan cry, “Careful, Jay! Dre’s in a bad mood!” before the door shut behind him and Rose.

Andrea chuckled quietly to herself, wondering how she ended up with friends like them. They eased each other constantly, and joked about how one wasn’t necessary to the other, but at the end of the day, she knew that she could call them at any time for anything. Ryan in particular.

“Why are you in a bad mood?” a voice suddenly said from behind her.

She spun around to see Jay, probably the only person to ever sneak up on her as many times as he had. He was in jeans and white t-shirt today, and Andrea tried to ignore that he looked good, but it was proving difficult. “Oh,” Andrea gasped, a little startled initially.

He must have walked in before the door shut behind Ryan and Rose, which meant that the departing comment that Andrea thought Ryan was simply making to the universe had actually been directed at Jay himself.

“I’m not in a bad mood,” Andrea continued. “Ryan’s just…being Ryan.”

Jay laughed lightly and walked closer to the desk Andrea was standing behind. Even though he hadn’t known Ryan for very long, he knew the man well enough to understand Andrea’s comment.

Andrea walked away from the filing cabinet and toward the desk, but stayed on the opposite side of Jay’s. “I’m actually doing fine,” she added.

Jay smiled and played with the ends of the papers advertising the different classes the studio taught that were sitting on the desk. Andrea couldn’t help but notice that something seemed different about him today.

He didn’t say anything for a while, and he didn’t meet Andrea’s eyes. He just looked down at the ads, so Andrea asked, trying to break the ice, “Thinking about joining a class?”

“Hm,” Jay hummed, finally picking one of the flyers up. “Do you teach any of these?”

“Beginning Ballet and Intermediate Hip-Hop.”

“Whoa,” Jay said, looking really shocked. “That’s quite a range of genres.”

Andrea looked down, slightly embarrassed, not sure it was really all that much of a deal.

“That’s awesome,” Jay told her, putting the flyer back down. Andrea studied his face, trying to figure out if he was teasing or not.

She could tell he wasn’t, so she smiled. “You should take the ballet class,” she teased.

Jay snorted and shook his head. “No thanks. That’s definitely not my strong point.”

“That’s why you should take it,” Andrea suggested. “Just think how your limits would expand if you could breakdance and do even a little ballet.”

Jay continued to shake his head with a smile, but he didn’t say anything. Andrea was getting more and more curious about why he wanted to see her. Obviously it wasn’t too urgent, since he wasn’t rushing to talk. Really, he looked nervous.

“Do you want to get lunch?” jay asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Oh…” Andrea answered quietly. “I have to man the desk…” She wanted to be able to go, since she was so curious, but she couldn’t sacrifice her job. She wasn’t that curious.

Jay made a face that told Andrea that he didn’t like the situation even more. “This’ll be weird then,” he said quietly, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Huh?”

Jay grimaced. “I’m, um… leaving LA for a while,” he told her.

“Okay…” Andrea prodded.

Jay laughed again, more nervous. “Oh, God, this is definitely not going to work.”

Andrea was now curious, confused, and a little worried. He was obviously uncomfortable. Or nervous. Or maybe both.

“I…” Jay started, visibly trying to find the words that he wanted to use. “I guess what I want to know…” Jay said, “Is if it would be possible for you to not go out too much while I’m gone?” By the end of his question, Jay was talking so fast, Andrea was grateful that she was able to understand him.

After processing the question, Andrea could feel herself turning red, and she could see that Jay felt really embarrassed. He wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at the floor, but his ears were slightly red.

She felt like she was back in middle school, when guys and girls were still trying to figure out how to appropriately interact with each other. And really, that was sort of what was happening. Jay and Andrea, though one side may not know it, had a difficult friendship, so interacting was done differently than usual.

“Uh…sure,” Andrea answered as quickly as possible. She knew that he was uncomfortable, having to come find her, at her work, to ask her something that he wasn’t comfortable doing, and she knew that if their positions were switched, she would want as quick an answer as possible.

She tried not to notice the sigh and obvious relaxation from Jay, but she couldn’t help it. To diffuse the rest of the tension, she asked, “Where are you going?”

“Up to Seattle for a little while,” Jay answered, finally comfortable and back to making eye contact. “And then other places for work.”

Andrea nodded appreciatively. “And when do you get back?”

“A couple of months,” Jay answered, a sly smile playing on his lips.

Guessing that Jay was smiling because he thought she had asked because she wanted to count down the days until he got back, she said, “Good. My crew should sweep up at the battles around here, then.” She couldn’t help but smirk at him as she straightened the papers on the desk.

Jay’s face changed to one of amused shock. “Enjoy it while you can then,” he shot back, grinning. “Because we’ll just come back and kick your asses like earlier.”

Andrea scoffed. “Please, you aren’t kicking anything right now.”

“Ten minutes, Dre,” a new voice, one belonging to the female owner of the studio said, coming from the doorway leading to the dance studios. The owner smiled at Jay when he turned around, thinking that he was a prospective client that Andrea was trying to talk into taking a class.

“Yes, ma’am,” Andrea said. She waited for her boss to leave before she turned back to Jay. “When do you leave?”

“Tonight,” he answered quickly, as though he had been suspecting the question.

Andrea stayed silent, sensing that there was something else that Jay wanted to say. She was proven correct when Jay sighed and said, “I’m really sorry for bothering you at work. And for not seeing you earlier. I’ve been so busy with all kinds of stuff. I just really wanted to ask you that before I left, but I had no time.” He laughed lightly, trying to keep the nervousness from creeping in again.

“Don’t work too much,” Andrea told him, the trained, polite side of her making an appearance.

Jay sighed. “I have to…for now. Maybe down the line I won’t have to, but for now, I just need to prove….” Andrea had been listening intently, sensing that his words were loaded, but Jay suddenly stopped talking, then reoriented himself with a shake of his head. “You know what? It’s not important. Just know that I have to work hard for a while, and that I have reasons.”

“Okay,” Andrea said, shrugging to make it seem like she wasn’t nearly bursting with suspicion. “But don’t let too much get you down. Take it from me, letting things get to you, no matter how horrible they seem, is not the way to deal with something. Just stay positive.” Andrea grimaced. “I sound like a Public Service Announcement, don’t I?”

Jay chuckled. “Yes, but a damn good one. Thanks for the advice. And I’m sorry you’ve had to learn that the hard way.” Oh, how hard Andrea wanted to laugh, seeing as he was one part of why she had to learn what the best way was to get through the worst of times. “I’m learning now,” he continued. “But if you need to talk, just call or text.”

“Don’t worry,” Andrea assured him. “I’ve got an entire herd of male dancers to cheer me up.” She bit her tongue, trying to keep from laughing at both her comment and Jay’s reaction.

At first he was shocked, but then, when he realized that she was joking around, trying to make him feel better, he laughed, the loudest he had yet. And he gave Andrea her favorite smile; where his eyes seemed to almost disappear, he was smiling so hard. “Go warm up,” he cried, still laughing.

“If you say so,” Andrea sighed, walking around to the entrance to the hallway leading to the practice rooms. She turned to see Jay at the front door. “Have fun in Seattle,” she told him. “Try not to spend too much time in the Sun.”

Jay shook his head, still smiling. Andrea liked seeing him smile. It was infectious.

“And you try not to rely too much on those male dancers of yours,” Jay told her, only partly teasing.

Andrea was going to shoot another comment back at him, but before she could, he had turned and left, waving good-bye over his shoulder.

Thanks for reading/subscrbing~!

So, I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I really didn't realize how LONG this chapter was. Plus, between school ending and the massive storms systems going through my area, it's been difficult to find time to write on a computer.

Time for a Shameless Promotion Author Note! I have a new story, starring Dalmatian [mostly one of their rappers, Day Day], in a We Got Married story. -----> "The Western Couple"