Hayes in the Studio
Aurora Driscoll
One month later
I fold myself over my legs, grasping my feet with my hands.
“Now, touch your toes, like this,” I instruct.
Hayes grunts. I lift my head, still folded over, and press my lips together when I see him holding his hands out and barely getting over his knees.
“Is this one of those things that only girls can do?” he asks, his breathing labored from the small amount of stretching we’ve done so far.
There’s a break after school ends and my ballet intensive begins, and I thought it would be fun to use some of that free time to show Hayes a few ballet moves, similar to how he taught me to spar. He was on board, just like he is for everything, but I think he’s now regretting his choice.
A laugh escapes me. I sit up to look at him better.
“No, plenty of guys can touch their toes.”
Hayes frowns, but it looks more like a pout.
“I think you’re lying.”
“And I think you hate being bad at something athletic.”
“Can you be bad at stretching?”
I smirk. “I didn’t think so.”
His eyes narrow. “You’re gonna pay for that, Princess.”
“Whatever you say, Prince Charming,” I reply with a teasing grin. “Now, spread your legs and try to touch your nose to your left knee.”
He blinks. Looks at his legs. Looks at me.
“Yeah, no shot that’s happening.”
Another laugh bursts out of me, echoing through the empty studio in the school’s performing arts hall. We’re sitting across from each other on the shiny wood floors. I’m in my usual warm-up attire of a leo, tights, and sweats layered over top. Hayes is wearing boxing shorts and a T-shirt even though it’s twenty degrees outside and not much warmer in here.
“You’re not even going to try?” I ask through my laughter.
“If I pull a muscle in dance class, I’ll never hear the end of it at the gym,” he replies.
My shoulders shake from laughing so hard. Just picturing him limping into Haymakers and explaining to Forrest what happened has me doubled over.
“Okay, it’s not that funny.”
“It so is,” I pant.
“I don’t know why I agreed to this,” he grumbles.
“Because you love me.”
The words come out confidently, because he’s proven them to be true since before he ever uttered them.
He smiles, those green eyes of his sparkling as he replies, “Yeah, I do.”