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Vanessa practices her Sleeping Beauty solo in the mirror, she quickly extends her leg in the air , then almost crashes to the floor until her teacher Madame Hytes makes a swift movement and catches her.
Vanjie’s face was soaked in tears, the girl’s heart thumps in her chest when she feels the familiarity of the arms wrapped around her, She exhales deeply then looks up
"Madame, I didn’t see you there, sorry " she immediately apologizes then the tall blonde nods her head, and lets her small waist go then looks at down at the short brunette who was panting heavily, quickly wiping the tears away with the sleeves of her leotard
"What’s the matter vanjie? " the taller woman cups the Latina’s jaw, searching her face for an answer but can’t find it. Brooke always hated seeing her students upset, but seeing Vanessa crying made her heart break a little.
"Nothing, just in my head a little. What if I ain’t good enough for the lead, Brooke? "
"Vanessa, dear. I’ve taught you for years, I know what you’re capable of and this isn’t it. You’re one of my best students, You wouldn’t even be considered for the lead if you weren’t good enough. Have you even stretched today? " she questions raising a brow, the short girl’s brown doe eyes widen even more, then Brooke shakes her head already knowing the answer.
"Of course, always so eager. I know you’re passionate and very dedicated but you know how important your body is, Especially in ballet. You need to have more Patience, little one. You’ll injure yourself if you continue like this"
"I know, sorry. "
She lays on the floor then spreads her legs, and begins to fully stretch this time. Madame stands there watching her every move, then finally nods her head with approval when she’s almost done stretching.
" Vanessa, I’m going to test you. Please stand "
"On what ? " The older woman stares into her soul with her piercing green eyes until the petite girl stood up obeying her request.
" Jeté "
Vanjie gets in position then suspends her weight onto the tip of her toes, she effortlessly leaps into the air landing on her feet.
"Fouetté, prends ton temps "
"Je ne me précipite pas"
Vanessa responds in French and rolls her eyes, then takes a deep breath then places a foot flat on the floor, she extends her leg out to touch her supporting knee and begins to expertly twirl.
When she comes to a stop Madame Hytes smirks then nods her head "Good girl, I’d like to see a Plié next, please, this is a test to see if you remember " the blonde watches her every move closely.
The tan beauty nods then quickly turns out her legs, Vanjie aligns her pelvis and evenly distributes her weight on both feet making direct eye contact with the older woman .
She makes sure her whole foot grasps the floor. The small girl lengthens her torso and straightens her legs pushing the floor away from her.
"Bien, Arabesque. " Vanessa easily stands on one straight leg and extends the other being sure it was perfectly straight, she sends her a dimpled smile then Madame flashes her one back as well.
"You know this is all easy, right? I can do these in my sleep. Im a dancer, once I get it, I could never forget it "
"Then why was your balance off then? "
"I have perfect balance, I literally dance on the edge of the rooftop.. I just didn’t stretch" the tall woman’s green eyes widen and she takes a deep shaky breath.
"Here we go. Oh m- "
"Vanessa, that’s very dangerous. Make it your last time going up there, I thought the maintenance man was crazy when he said he saw footprints. There’s absolutely no railing or enclosure , you could fall "
"Your man should look into that, If y’all dont want anyone up there, why the hell is the door always open then? Huh? "
"I’m going to look into that as soon as possible, let’s continue. Last thing Pirouette"
"Finally, you turned my practice into a fucking bootcamp" she paced herself then quickly does a pirouette impressing the older woman.
"You did a beautiful job, as everyone knows Im pretty hard to please but ever since the first day you walked in those doors you haven’t stopped pleasing me. Well done, Vanessa "
"Thank you, I learned from the best" the Latina smiles then looks up at the blonde who suddenly began blushing at the returned compliment.
Vanessa makes her way back over to the bar, Madame comes behind and straightens her leg, then places a strong hand under the girl’s thigh.
"You’re so tight "
"Brooke Lynn, don’t start " Vanjie says then puts her leg down backing away from the bar. The blonde grabs her arm before she could walk away, yanking the Puerto Rican to her and whispering in her ear.
"Its Madame when we’re here, sweetheart " She grabs a handful of the shorter girl’s full round ass, the blonde places a searing kiss on Vanessa’s neck then proceeds to pepper more all over the skin.
With her other hand she easily pulls her lover’s thick hair out of the ponytail, letting it fall free and frame her beautiful face.
"Brooke not here, what about your husband? He could walk in right now "
"Vanjie, I only married him for the visa, you have my heart. Chérie, have you thought about what I said about Paris? " the blonde takes Vanessa’s hands into her own then gently pecks each hand, gazing into her eyes.
"B, my mother would flip out if I just dropped everything and moved to Paris. What about what I want? You have your career, but what about mine? "Brooke’s face drops then she shakes her head.
"Ness, we can figure that out. You’re fucking amazing, if anyone skips over you they’re blind or stupid. " she shrugs and runs a soft hand over Vanjie’s long black waves then cups her face.
"Brookie, that’s your dream not mine. I have so much to do here, I can’t just up and leave. I got the lead and have worked my ass off to get it, I’ll be damned if I let another bitch just be given what I earned. "
" V, you’ve had tons of solos, since when is Sleeping Beauty way more important than us? " she drops Vanessa’s hands then backs away in annoyance.
" Stop acting like a damn child, I never said that"
"But you wanted to, Baby we could go start a new life. Just me and you, we dont have to hide and be a secret anymore . “
"I know, I want nothing more than to be with you, But cmon you know I just cant just drop everything and go. That’s crazy, be realistic Brooke Lynn"
"I wish i was enough to change your mind. "
"Don’t do that, you are enough. Our situation is just so difficult . I just don’t know what to do" Vanessa shrugs her shoulders, Brooke sniffles then clears her throat.
" Tomorrow meet me at my apartment 11 am with your bags or we will never speak ever again. " a tear falls from the blonde’s green eyes then tears began to fill up the brown ones staring back at her.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Brooke Lynn? An Ultimatum? Grow the fuck up. You’re already successful, what about my dreams? You’re being selfish "
"If you love me like you say you do, you’d come. "
"No.. if you’re so in love with me like you claim you are, you’d want me to do what I love and support my dreams. I’ll let you know what I decided tomorrow"
"Okay"
Vanessa stands on her tippy toes pecking the older woman’s lips, then puts her oversized sweater on then picks up her bag, she turns around to look at Brooke one more time and walks out of the door.
***************************
It’s the next day, the time is 12:30 and Brooke holds Vanessa’s red hoodie to her chest inhaling the smell of her perfume as tears ran down her face. The blonde called the Latina ten times but she didn’t answer.
Everyone from the dance company including her husband Trevor called her all morning looking for her, but the only person she wanted to see and hear from right now was Vanessa.
The blonde rises to her feet, then makes her way to the door, when she opens it then she looks down the hall to see if there was any sign of Vanessa, just as she’s about to close the door, she sees something sparkle on the mat.
It was the ring she had gifted Vanessa for her birthday, with a folded up note underneath, even more tears roll down her face when she sees her hand writing.
" 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰, 𝘐𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥- 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢 "
It felt like the wind had been knocked out of Brooke, she held the note tightly. After she’s done reading, she comes back inside then throws the ring at the wall, the blonde rushes over to the mirror and punches it twice.
She looks down at her bloody hand and the shards of glass, In that moment she realized tomorrow never came.