[Chapter THIRTEEN]

“So what does that mean?” Bre asked as she bent over and touched her toes as she stretched.

“I have no idea,” Andrea replied with a sigh, knowing that she was being truthful. She touched her toes as well in her own stretch.

Lizzy groaned. “I hate when guys do that! It’s like they don’t know what they want.”

“What do you mean?” Andrea asked the fellow dancer, switching to a different stretch. The three girls were taking some time away from the male members of their crew. Of course, given their occupations, they ended up at Andrea’s work, in a vacant practice studio, dancing, talking and laughing.

For Andrea, she really had had no idea how much she needed or even wanted to have some girl friends until she met Bre and Lizzy. With them in her crew, Andrea felt more comfortable around everyone and less outnumbered than when she had been in a testosterone-filled crew.

Really, she hadn’t had any girl friends since high school. Apart from Rose, the girls Andrea had gone to school with were all too into themselves to get to really know anyone except their stylist. Andrea knew that if it hadn’t been for Ryan, she probably would have ended up the same way. Not because she wanted to become a self-entered, overly-tanned Barbie doll, but because that seemed to be the only way to be.

Having a guy best friend did, as Andrea found out, have its perks, but it also had put Andrea at a disadvantage. She had gone through high school without anyone to really talk to about guys. Maybe if Ryan were gay, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but since Andrea was reminded by hoards of women every time she went out with Ryan that he was, in fact, not gay, she was left with no one else. Rose didn’t talk to many people, including Ryan and Andrea, so she didn’t really help.

Lizzy and Bre, Andrea was quickly finding out, were quite the social butterflies. They were shy, but if you started a conversation about something they were interested in they’d bite and run with it.

Right now, they were discussing Andrea’s relationship with Jay. She hadn’t talked to anyone about her meeting with Jay, including what he asked her to do (or rather, not do). Except for Bre and Lizzy, no one knew anything. Not even Ryan knew, despite his many, desperate attempts to get Andrea to talk. Somehow, Andrea though that denying him any information had only made Ryan believe even more so that Jay had proposed, despite Andrea’s denials.

But she trusted Lizzy and Bre with the information. Plus, they had no idea about Andrea’s history with what are now Jay’s dancers, so they had an objective opinion about Jay, much unlike Ryan.

Lizzy sighed as she switched to a different stretch as well. “There are just some guys that don’t want to ‘label’ a relationship,” Lizzy continued. “That’s when I get out, because that really means that they just don’t want to commit.”

“But remember, Lizzy,” Bre pointed out, “Jay and Andrea have only known each other for less than six months. It would be weird to demand a label from someone you haven’t even known for that long, let alone whatever time it took for them to want to date the other.” Andrea turned red. She was still uncomfortable with the idea of people knowing that she liked Jay, but somehow, these two had figured it out pretty quickly. “Besides,” Bre continued, “He’s travelling. He’s in a tough spot. He likes Dre, and wants to date her, but maybe he’s too shy to ask Dre how she feels.”

“That could be,” Andrea said thoughtfully, finishing up her stretches. “I don’t really know where we are in terms of a relationship anyway. And I’m really conflicted about him.” She wasn’t sure if she wanted Lizzy or Bre to ask why she was conflicted. One part was glad they didn’t know. It reduced the rival feelings that already existed between the two crews. If everyone knew, everyone would just hate each other, and though Andrea had been convinced a few months ago that that was what she wanted, now, she wasn’t so sure.

But instead of asking why, Bre asked, “Do you want to date him? Don’t think about conflicts. If you and he were just two, uncomplicated people, would you want to date him?”

Andrea thought about it, but she couldn’t figure herself out. “I don’t know,” she finally said, sliding to the floor.

“Why” the two other girls asked, sliding to the ground next to their leader. They were now sitting in a small circle, stretching long since forgotten.

Andrea sighed and played with the laces on her shoes. She really didn’t want to tell the whole story. It would take too long and create more problems.

“It’s kind of like…Romeo and Juliet.” Andrea told them, cringing at her own analogy.

Bre squealed. “How romantic!”

“Not really.” Andrea was almost laughing. “Yu do know how the play ends, right?”

Bre made a disapproving face, but nodded anyway. “The whole committing suicide thing?”

Andrea nodded slowly. “But…” She was trying to find the right words to describe what she really wanted to be compared. “I’m not really talking about suicide, professions of love, or talking in rhymes. It’s like….like the families. Jay and I…hate each other, but then there’s that Romeo and Juliet element, and we don’t hate each other at the same time….I don’t think I’m making any sense…”

“Jay hates you?” Lizzy asked, clearly confused.

Andrea shook her head in response. “It’s more like…we don’t trust each other. I feel like he’s keeping things—or something—from me, and I know I’m keeping things from him.”

“And you can’t just talk to him about this?” Bre asked, falling backwards to lie on the floor, as though it would help find a solution to her leader’s problem.

“Nope.”

Lizzy sighed. “Well, think about it this way: which is more important to you in the long run? Is it Jay or the things that are keeping you two from actually getting together?”

“Oh, nice one, Liz!” Bre cried, giving her fellow dancer a high five from where she lay on the floor.

Andrea laughed at the two of them, but Lizzy’s question hit home. The wheels began to turn…

Thanks for reading/subscribing~!

A really, really small update, I know, but I've been gone for a while, so I decided to at least give you guys this, instead of dragging it out by writing a really long chapter.

Updates should come more frequently now...