NEEDLESS TO SAY, NAOMI MORGAN COULD NOT BELIEVE ASPEN CAME BACK. Naomi spent her entire morning convincing herself that last night's stunt would forever mark the day she last saw the Riverside Dance Academy. After all, they came here—when they should be rehearsing— just to check on her and she disrespected all of them to their faces. Naomi knew Mr Carson and she knew the Academy; there was no medicating a cut so deep. Naomi decided to brave the consequences of her action. She wanted to feel bad, but it was as if there was no room to hold such an emotion.

But, in less than 24 hours, Naomi heard the unrecognisable pattern of footsteps ascend her staircase before her door opened much too hesitantly for it to be anyone in her family, a hushed voice above all things creeping in. Aspen stepped inside the room slowly, hair down, hand clutching her bag and disgust painting her face. Then she saw her.

"Oh my god!" she breathed. "You scared me. What are you doing just lying there?"

Naomi didn't budge. "This is my room." Those were the first word's she'd uttered since she spoke to William the night before. In the past week, they had somewhat made it a habit to talk each other to sleep. With him, Naomi didn't feel the terrible things swimming in her chest, snapping for her heart. It was as if they didn't exist and neither did her parents or herself or the world; somehow being near him made everything that seemed so pressingly relevant, meaningless. She hoped it was the same for him too.

"Well, your room smells horrible," Aspen's eye caught the untouched breakfast, "You need to throw those out." She visibly went at ease as she continued to examine the space. She looked up and down the naked walls. "I have to admit, not what I was expecting from you at all, Naomi."

"What were you expecting?"

"A life-sized cut out of Diana Vishneva over there, maybe your ten-year collection of pointe shoes strung up on a wall."

Naomi smiled at the irony. "I prefer Misty Copeland and the pointe shoes are in my closet."

She shook her head. "Alas," Aspen Letterman took longer strides in Naomi's room and let go of the strap of her handbag to her cock her hand at her waist, "you prove to me once again, that you are just as pathetically predictable as I expected."

She knew her hair was untamed and pitiful in contrast to Aspen's sharply flat-ironed hair, but Naomi sat up anyway. "Once again? What's that supposed to mean?"

She seemed to not have heard her. "How're you holding up, with everything?"

Naomi shrugged a response.

Then Aspen asked, "Do you feel any pain?"

And Naomi replied, "No."

The air grew heavy. "That night in the rain—"

"I remember." If she was to be honest, she couldn't forget.

"Yeah, I'm just sorry about— well, everything." Neither of them said anything. "God, I feel so stupid," the words fell out of her mouth like a ball that was too heavy. "All of us do, actually. I think we all knew that after Jessica died, something was going on with you, but we thought it was grief you know? I guess none of us took you seriously enough. But all that plus, your parents. That's a lot, Naomi." Somewhere in there, Naomi was sure she heard Aspen's voice crack, either that or it was the struggling effort of her own words trying to break out from her throat. "We should have noticed and helped you, or something. We're sorry. All of us at the Academy feel like absolute shit. We almost didn't go through with the ballet after what happened yesterday."

Her eyes popped. "What?! Why?!"

Aspen looked at her incredulously. Then she said slowly, "Naomi, look at you. You're—"

"What? Look at me and what?!" The words were all falling out before she could catch them. "I assumed you'd all be damn happy that I left. Especially you. The lead is all yours now, right?"

She huffed and narrowed her eyes. "I dropped the lead. And to think I did it in honour of your ungrateful ass."

"Well, that's your loss," she grumbled.

Aspen inhaled and exhaled like an active volcano. A crippling amount of silence befell the both of them but neither showed any signs of leaving. "Is that why you're not dancing right now? You dropped out of the ballet?" Naomi guessed slowly.

Aspen looked offended. "I don't care if you'd died, Naomi, I would never drop out of a ballet for you." Another pregnant pause. "I switched roles with Samantha so now I'm playing your classic, overdone evil Queen, Queen of the Wilis,"

"How fitting."

She folded her arms. "You know what, Naomi, you're a lot meaner when you're sad."

She didn't bother to tell her that she had been sad for a very long time, instead, she asked, "So how are you here?" ignoring the smile tickling her lips. "Shouldn't you be rehearsing?"

"I asked Mr Carson to give me a day off so I could come to see you. We're all worried about you, Naomi."

Naomi couldn't recall a time when Mr Carson ever gave anyone a day off, including himself. "And he gave you?" Aspen nodded casually. "Wow, so much for 'Riverside has something to prove this year'," she parroted.

Aspen's reply was simple. "Like I said, we're all worried about you."

Mrs Morgan met them at the doorway. At her side, stood Ben, his usual smile a little sadder than normal, but bright, nonetheless.

"Jesus, Yellow. In here stinks." Aspen nodded her head knowingly as if she was receiving some sort of recognition, but Naomi's eyes didn't move off Ben. After inspecting the room, he looked back at her and smiled, as if she wasn't injured in some serious way and had actually showered in two days. Especially after yesterday, he came here. She finally felt the guilt from it floating in the centre of her chest as if it was waiting to be acknowledged.

"I'll be right back, Naomi, lunch is almost ready," Mrs Morgan said, then she looked at Aspen and Ben, "And don't worry there's enough for everyone." She smiled the signature Morgan smile and exited the room as unfamiliarity sauntered in. Ben came to sit on the edge of her bed, "I was just talking to your mom and it sounds like she's being really involved, I'm glad." Naomi swallowed back the sentence that would tell him that they were fighting and decided to tell him later. Maybe when Aspen wasn't standing there watching them. "When she told me that she's using the one month vacation her job gives her to stay here and take care of you, I knew you were in good hands."

Naomi didn't try to say anything. She was too afraid that her words would not make it onto her tongue. Instead, she looked at him and smiled, every memory of his store consuming her. Like how he gave her M&M's and how her legs hung off the edge of the store counter and how the walls shrunk and expanded to their every need. She felt something crack inside of her, the warning tremor of a devastating earthquake. "I'm sorry," Naomi whispered.

He didn't miss a beat. His large arms came around her as he braced her against his chest. "Don't be. I'm just glad you're okay." They nestled into each other for a few seconds. "Are you feeling any better?" he asked, parting them.

In Ben's arms, the truth spilt like slick oil. "Worse," Naomi confessed. "I don't even know what I'm doing. I feel so...pointless."

"You only feel that way because you're not at the Academy anymore. You just have a lot of spare time but you're not pointless, Yellow."

Aspen's voice came from a corner in the room. "What you should be doing is seeing a doctor, Naomi." She was back to holding her handbag strap.

"I have. My mom found me a physiotherapist and we're doing all these exercises," Ben and Aspen shared a look, "but I'm not sure that they're helping much." Her voice drifted into a murmur when she realized their eyes were communicating something alien to her. She looked between them both. "Why are you giving me that look?"

Ben took her hand in his and lowered his gaze. "Yellow," he began gently you need to see a therapist, not a physiotherapist."

Naomi fell back onto the headboard. She rolled her eyes. "That's not what my mom thinks."

Loudly, Aspen gave an unfiltered grunt and rolled her eyes, pacing around the room and shaking her head. Ben inhaled and sat a little closer to her. "I'll talk to her. Don't worry about it."

Naomi grudgefully looked out a window. "Beware," she warned sardonically. "She's prone to ignore everything you say."

Aspen disdainfully lifted a dusted phone with her delicate fingers. "I'm assuming this is why no one can reach you."

Naomi glared. "Put that down. Do you see how tidy this room is? I don't need you messing it up."

"Jesus, you sound like my mother."

"Oh, you wouldn't want me as your mother."

Ben blinked, then smiled. He cleared his throat. "Well my, my, haven't you two gotten close."

Still boringly browsing through the miscellaneous items in Naomi's room, Aspen said, "Well, I really do try to be nice to everyone I meet from Make-a-Wish."

Naomi gaped as Ben exploded into laughter. She slapped his arm. The older man stifled it quickly and perked up, nodding with fleetingly solemn disapproval. Naomi glared. "You're going to hell for saying that. You can't make fun of sick people."

Aspen spun around now. "I wasn't making fun. Look at you." She came closer to the bed, gesticulating to Naomi's very atmosphere. "You're as sick as they get. Plus, this room wreaks of depression, just like any hospital. Have you gone out at all?"

Naomi looked away, her tongue swirling against her cheek. Aspen's face crinkled. "No," she sounded somewhat shocked into disbelief, "Hell no. You need to get out of this depressingly uninteresting room and back into the world."

Naomi chewed the inside of her cheek. Aspen's eyes bulged, urging a response from the other girl. Naomi looked to Ben.

He shrugged. "I think it's a great idea."

"Great." Aspen pointed to the old phone sitting atop the desk. "Just keep that on, okay? I'll text you."

Naomi folded her arms. "I'm not going back to the Academy," she said matter-of-a-factly.

"Baby steps, Naomi. Baby steps."

Author's Note
Last week, @chocolates_and_winks said she wanted more positivity, well here ya go! Yay for growth!

This week's dedication goes to *drumroll* @astrodict thanks for the spam! Ilysm (also please keep feeding my crippling ego thx). Remember readers, if you vote and comment, the next dedication could seriously be you!

Quick plug. For those of you who don't know, I have a website and blog and everything like, where have you been?? I talk about books (Wattpad and traditionally published), lifestyle and writing tips so go check it out! This week on my blog we're talking about "3 Tip for Juggling School and Writing". Link is in my bio!

So yes, what do you guys think? Are things turning around for Naomi? Or, is this the beginning of a new tragic event bc she's been having a lot of those these days. Lmk in the comments and we can talk!

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER...

Outside, the stars had studded the Riverside sky, but they were all incapable little lights attempting to replace the moonlight lost behind some large cloud. They lacked in every sense and because of it, Naomi found herself lost in the dark. The streetlights were only just barely flickering, and they were far and few in-between. The neighbourhood and Naomi were shrouded by the Riverside night until...