Monday morning, Fiona was in a rush to get to school. She had overslept again and had to hurry through her whole morning routine. Breakfast was out of the question.

"Oh, honey! Don't forget your lunch," Her mom called from the kitchen as Fiona rushed towards the door. She reluctantly halted and turned around.

"Oh, right..."

Her mom came up to her with her lunch bag. She smiled at her, and Fiona tightly returned it. "I feel like I hardly see you these days. You're always so busy running about."

"It's the audition, mom," Fiona reminded her and grabbed her lunch. "I'm rehearsing."

"I know you are, but it better not be affecting your school. I want to see your report card this week," She told and gave her a sharp look. "Anything below C's and I'm putting a curfew on you."

Fiona felt a hit to her stomach, like a cramp of angst catapulted from her throat to her abdomen. If she got a curfew, she couldn't dance... "Mom!"

"No discussions," She warned, then snapped her finger. "Off to school now, don't miss the bus."

Sighing and clenching her fists in frustration, Fiona left and rushed down the street.

With all the extra work she and Adam had been doing, she hadn't had much time to study. She wasn't a bad student, but she could maybe have done more for her grades lately. It all just didn't seem that important when the auditions were two weeks away.

Again, Fiona felt a sudden suck in her stomach. The pressure was building and it was making her want to vomit. If she failed both school and botched her audition... then it all would've been for nothing, and she would have nothing to fall back on.

Taking a shaky breath, she decided to get some homework done today during their breaks. Even if just a few minutes here and there, she would do her best to get it crammed in.

She wasn't sure she could survive disappointing both of her parents. 

~~~

After school, Fiona arrived at the DanceDec to find a booming blast of music coming from one studio alone. Usually there were twelve different kinds of music playing from all the studios, but today it all seemed to be coming from just one. Fiona frowned and looked up to see everyone piling into the largest studio.

"There you are! Just in time!"

Fiona turned and found Adam rushing up to her with a grin on his face. He grabbed her arm and wordlessly started dragging her along with him.

"What's going on?" She asked when they rushed up the stairs, Adam and everyone else clearly worked up about something.

"It's dance circle time," He told and grinned as the people around him met him with hollers and quick clasps on his shoulder. It was like he knew everyone there.

"What's dance circle?" Fiona enquired.

Adam turned and broadened his lips into a full grin. "Remember when we first met? The shopping cart, the whole dance-thing?"

Fiona nodded. How could she forget? She thought that was him and his crew, but now after getting to know him, she realized they were just his friends here from the Dec.

"We do a dance circle every Monday," He told, now wedging them through the hoard of people who were also trying to get into the studio. The music was so loud, he almost had to shout to mask it. "We all gather around in a circle to dance our asses off! If you're invited into the circle, you gotta bust!"

Fiona widened her eyes as they finally made it into the studio and joined everyone else. Adam got them a good spot in the circle, which Fiona now saw was a literal circle that people had made where in the center there was a clean space of floor. It reminded her of fight club, except instead of fighting, they were going to be dancing.

"How does one get invited into the ring?" Fiona nervously shouted to catch Adam's attention over the boom of the music.

"You either get invited by the current dancer, get pulled in or you take the circle yourself!" He shouted back. His lips split in a grin when the music suddenly changed and someone whistled loudly. Everyone cheered and Fiona guessed it meant the circle was open.

She wasn't surprised when she saw Kalo step into the circle as the first and made some gestures with her hands to get the crowd pumped up, even more than it already was. Everyone cheered her on and Adam even whistled loudly. Kalo then turned on her foot, and like that, she was in the zone.

Fiona had never seen anything like it; It was like a zoo, all of them acting like wild monkeys, roaring and shouting and acting like buffoons for the person in the center. Kalo owned the circle and showed off her multitude of dance skills with some freestyle and hiphop infused steps. She had the circle for almost a full minute before she walked up to someone in the crowd and smirked and pulled at his shirt, dragging him into the ring.

"That's Dimitri!" Adam shouted to Fiona who watched as the guy, Dimitri, took the circle with a smirk and let Kalo take his spot by the sideline. "He's her dance partner!"

Dimitri had a European look about him, but his footwork was otherworldly. His style was very much infused by street dance and Latin style. He had short black hair and a subtle goatee and seemed to love the attention just as much as Kalo. He worked the crowd up as well before taking the floor with his moves.

It went on like that for a while. Fiona watched as person after person was invited or dragged into the circle. Only one guy took the circle, and after seeing him dance, she didn't blame him. Fiona dropped her jaw when he laid down on the ground and started spinning and making these almost electric jolts with his body. He was the fastest dancer she had ever seen.

"That's Twitch!" Adam shouted. "His real name is Joe, but everyone calls him Twitch. I don't think I need to explain why!"

Fiona watched as Twitch got up from the floor again and took a stride around the circle. He made these twitches with his body that somehow looked cool in a way Fiona never could have imagined. She guessed he had found his trademark.

All of these people in the room seemed confident and happy. The ones who took the floor all danced like they owned it and everyone else as well in the room. They were masters of the dance floor, yet none of them had been professionally trained. They all came from the street like Adam, and just like him, they danced like it was the only thing that made the dark go away.

Fiona could relate to that, and yet when she danced, she still didn't look like this. And a cold feeling in her stomach was beginning to tell her she never would.

Fiona was just about to turn to Adam to ask if they could leave, when Twitch suddenly stopped in front of Adam. He clasped his shoulder and practically shoved him out there, making Adam stumble into the circle with a big fat grin. Everyone seemed to double their noise as he then straightened out his posture and brushed off his shoulder with a little goofy smirk.

And just like that, the Adam Fiona remembered from the first day was back; The wild, uninhibited 'zero-fucks-given' Adam who danced like his soul had no limits when he stepped on to the floor. He spun around and bust out more moves than Fiona could remember him teaching her. She watched him spin around on his head, his cap looking like a propeller against the floor before he jumped to his feet and swung around again.

The grin on his lips was the definition of happiness.

The music was upbeat, but Adam kept up with it and laughed when the girls and boys whistled at him. And then—just because he could—he made more of a fool of himself by dancing like any cliché teenage movie would have a pop girl dancing when the music switched.

Everyone laughed and whistled as Adam danced around like a flimsy gay parody, before shaking his head with a grin and waving his hands dismissively. He then walked up to a person in the crowd and yanked them in.

Fiona frowned. She seriously couldn't understand him sometimes. He both loved dancing so much he never looked happier than when he was out there on the floor, yet he still didn't take it seriously when he had the chance to show everyone what he could do. She wasn't opposed to a little fun, but nobody danced as great as he did and didn't have any aspirations in life to pursue it. He had to know he was talented, so how come he spent his time here goofing off?

These were the thoughts going through her head as Adam worked his way through the crowd, towards her. He was sweating, but he still wore the same grin he wore on the dance floor. When he came close enough, he swung a sweaty arm around her.

"Wanna get outta here?"

Fiona nodded, and then let Adam lead them out of the thick mob, his hand taking hers by pure instinct. She lowered her eyes to the action, watching how his palm fit comfortably in hers. Sweaty, but comfortably.

Breathe.

They made it out of the studio and down the hall to their booked studio. Everyone was still gathered for the dance circle, so nobody cared or noticed that the two of them slipped away. Adam opened the door and routinely walked up to the stereo.

"So, what are we in the mood for today?" He asked, humming thoughtfully as he scrolled through his phone. "If you're still interested, we can work on those boundaries of yours?"

Fiona swallowed and remembered the feel of his hand in hers. The feel of his hands on her body yesterday. Everywhere. Feeling her. If they were going to work on her boundaries, there was going to be a lot more of that today.

Breathe. Breathe. Focus.

Fiona felt slightly dizzy, her nerves spiking inside her, but shook it off and blamed it on the heat. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Adam who awaited her response patiently. "Let's do it."

"Fuckin' A," He gave her a slow smile and then let his phone drop to the stereo as music started pouring through. It was slower, more sensual, with a bit of Latin feel to it. "Let's warm up and get to it then."

Warming up became nearly redundant seen as both of them were already dripping sweat from the heat. Adam who was wearing loose gray sweatpants and a red top was sweating through the fabric of both. Fiona herself who wore her usual leotard and cropped leggings was feeling the heat too. But in her case, the heat felt more internal than anything.

"Push against me," Adam held on to her hips as he guided her through a new choreographed slow dance, which included a lot of grinding and hands-on action. Fiona couldn't focus on her technique when his hands moved down to her thighs. "Stop turning out, this isn't ballet. Use your hips and push back against me."

Pushing through her discomfort, Fiona squeezed her eyes shut and tried to control her breathing. She couldn't do it. She couldn't... grind against him. It was too much.

"Alright, come here," His hands slid up to her waist again, clasping the most narrow part of her body. "Let's try something else. Just lean back against me. Relax your body against mine."

Fiona kept trying to breathe but found this no easier. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend he was a wall or her bed or something – anything other than what he really was; A dance partner who was touching her and leading her body into a pliant submission.

"It's alright," He whispered. As Fiona tried to lean back, she felt his chest and arms catch her. He was warm, and it almost felt like she could feel his heartbeat through her shoulder blades. "Now move when I move. Just follow my lead."

She kept her eyes closed and then felt as he slowly rocked his body from side to side. He started from the hips, his hands sliding down to hers again and making them follow his movements.

"That's it," His voice was right near her ear, breathing calmly against her rapid pulse. "Now put your upper body into it. Move, Fee. You got it."

She tried to move, but her body wouldn't obey her. Her hands started shaking, and it didn't help when she felt Adam's hands slide up her waist again, reaching just below her ribs.

– That was the final push.

Fiona snapped away from him and felt as her body shook. She was trembling all over, like ants crawling on her skin, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't push through it. Push through the fear. "I-I can't."

"You can, Fee," Adam voiced behind her. She heard the music stop while she wrapped her arms around herself and sought into her mental space of peace in her mind. Inhale, exhale. In and out. Breathe. "I know it's uncomfortable, but you just have to get used to it."

That was easy for him to say. Maybe he could prance down the hallway in revealing tights like it was nothing, but most normal people had problems with intimacy. Fiona felt vulnerable and outside her comfort zone, not to mention all this time, they had mostly danced side by side. Not together, like a couple. She was back to that day again, when he danced her through the pas de deux. Only this time, it was ten times worse and he wasn't annoyingly humming.

"Tell me what's going through your head when I touch you," Adam inquired, his voice coming closer. Fiona tried to block him out, but he kept coming closer. "Is it because it feels sexual? It's normal to feel uncomfortable dancing close at first, but you just have to get over the hump. No pun intended."

He was making jokes while she was trying to avoid having a mental breakdown. Fiona scoffed and shook her head. She was right. She would never be able to dance like the rest of them. "I can't do this."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Because what?"

"Because!" She shouted. She didn't want to answer his question, didn't want to tell him the last time she let anyone close, they died before her eyes while she was doing what she loved. How every step she took felt poisonous and like she didn't deserve to do them. How if she had never asked her dad to help her dance, maybe he wouldn't have...

"Is this where you run out on me?" Adam spoke right behind her. Fiona sucked in a breath when she hadn't realized how close he was standing. He couldn't be more than a foot away. "I won't block the door this time."

Angrily gritting her teeth, Fiona was just about to take him up on his generous preposition when she suddenly felt his hands grip her waist again. She jolted away like electrocuted. "Don't fucking touch me!"

"Then talk to me!" Adam yelled back. She spun around in shock when she had never heard him yell like that before. Or at all.

Shaking his head, Adam looked away and then walked away from her. He walked up to her bag and wordlessly dug through it until he found what he was looking for; her NYC ballet pamphlet.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" He asked and held the flyer up. His voice was angry, yet there was something else inside it as well. Frustration. "You want to be a professional dancer and I'm trying to help you, Fee, but to get to there from here you have to meet me halfway. I'm trying, but if you won't let me guide you through whatever's going on inside your head—"

"It's none of your business what happens in my head," Fiona snarled back, putting up all her defenses. "I asked for dance tutoring, not a damn therapist."

"Dancing is therapy!" He threw the flyer away and stalked up to her, the frustration clear as day. "Goddamn it, Fiona, dancing is supposed to feel like freedom of the body and the mind, but you lock up every time I tell you to move. What gives?"

"Leave me alone," She retreated and turned away to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

"You won't let me touch you. You think I'm going to hurt you?"

"No."

"You think I'm trying to cop a feel?"

"No!"

"Then why are you afraid of me touching you?" He shouted. "Talk to me! Goddamn it, Fee!"

Fiona shut her eyes and felt the tears well over. She wanted to shove and scream at the sensation spreading inside her. It was like acid, ripping at her vital organs. Most of all she wanted to break down, once again seeing her father's face flash before her eyes right before he fell to the ground, dead.

"Shit," She then suddenly heard Adam whisper behind her. He sighed deeply and she then felt him move closer, carefully this time. "I'm sorry, Fee. I didn't mean to push. I just... I need you to give me something so I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with you. I can't read your mind, and you won't let me read your body. Help me help you, Fiona. Please."

Fiona dried her eyes and shook her head. She wanted to. She really did. He wanted to help her so much, but the problem was, she didn't even know how to help herself. She thought if she just kept pushing through and pushing the feelings down... "I can't, Adam. I just... can't."

"You keep saying that, yet you haven't run out on me yet," He pointed out. She slowly turned around and saw him lift a little smile onto his lips. "We just need to find a balance, yeah? Don't lose hope yet. There's still time. Have faith."

Fiona lowered her eyes and took a deep breath. Faith was not something she had a lot of these days, but with Adam... he really seemed like he did. There were 14 days left to practice before the audition. If nothing, then she could always bail and try next year...

"I'll never ask for too much, I promise," He said, his smile growing when Fiona sighed and then took another deep breath. "Just all that you are and everything that you do."

She lifted a brow when his grin broadened. "Everything that I do? What exactly is that?" Run out? Quit? Disappointed the people who loved her?

"Look, I don't really need to look very much further," He said, walking closer. "I just know I don't want to have to go where you don't follow me."

Fiona now seriously frowned. "What does that mean?" Where she didn't follow him?

"I won't hold this passion back again," He said and gestured between them. "But you can't run from yourself, princess. There's nowhere to hide."

"Wait... are you fucking—"

"So don't make me cloooooose one more doooooor!" He fell to his knees and theatrically lifted his hand in the air towards her. "Cause I don't wanna huuuuurt ya anymoreeee!"

Fiona rolled her eyes and spun on her foot, turning away from him. Of course he couldn't be serious for even one full minute... "You fucking asshole."

"Stay in my aaaaaarms, if you dare!" He shouted and got on his feet again, following her when she went up to her bag to grab it. She was so done here. "Or must I imagine you there?"

She was already on her way to the door when a pair arm warm arms suddenly wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. Fiona gasped, but then stopped breathing when Adam's voice lowered near her ear.

"Don't walk away from me, Fee. Please."

His voice sobered and Fiona turned her head slightly to feel his breath on her cheek. He held her softly against his body, but the strangest part was... she didn't feel nervous anymore.

Gulping, Fiona felt as his hands came to her hips, pulling her even closer back against him. She swallowed hard a second time, but this time the nerves she felt in her body were completely different. For one, they stemmed from another part of her anatomy.

"You're bravest when I annoy you," He then whispered in her ear, and she thought she heard the smile in his voice. "Because you forget all about being nervous when your attitude comes out. I think I know how to do this now, princess. Do you trust me?"

Fiona considered his words. She realized then he was right. Somehow, she always felt less anxious when she was annoyed with him, maybe because when he was being silly, it all felt less... serious. She got out of her own head and focused more on managing being around him without slapping him twice on each cheek.

She wondered if that's how Kalo had survived being his friend this long.

"Okay," She whispered, feeling Adam's smile broaden in her peripheral vision. "On one condition."

"No more singing?"

"No more damn singing."

He chuckled and then stepped back, swatting her ass. Fiona jumped and shot him a glare, one which he returned with a smirk. "I'll just have to compensate then."

And with that, he turned towards the stereo and put the music on.

• • •

Whitney, you've done it again.