Face to Face (On Pointe Book 3)

by Penelope Freed

  Pulling myself upright, I slide my feet to the ground, stepping away from the back of the couch that Trevor is sitting on, and wiping my eyes. My face is hot and gross from all the crying. Oh my god, I can’t believe Trevor is seeing me like this. Sniffing, I swallow. “Right…” Crap, I just realized he’s not supposed to be here, on our floor. “You wait here, I’ll be right back.”

  Unlocking my door, I grab my purse from the chair I set it on and glance in the mirror. Oh god. My eyes are red and swollen, my cheeks splotchy and my hair is a greasy mess. Why does Trevor only ever see me when I look horrible? I should have showered this morning, but I was in too much of a hurry to get to the therapist so Lisa wasn’t late for class.

  Me: I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be right back

  Trevor: I’m not going anywhere.

  As quick as I can, I splash water on my face, the cold water soothing my puffy eyes. I take a second to let the cold water run over the inside of my wrists while I do my deep-breathing exercise twice. It doesn’t make my fear go away, but at least I feel a little calmer. Like maybe I won’t burst into tears again at any moment.

  “Ready?” Trevor asks, holding out his hand to me when I emerge, pressing the call button on the elevator.

  I squeeze his hand tight as the doors slide open. “As I’ll ever be.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hannah

  “Nothing showed up on the x-ray?”

  “That’s what they said,” I repeat, holding my phone out so Lisa and Trevor can hear Mr. Mike’s voice as well. We’re squished on one of the couches in the lobby, heads together so I don’t have to have the volume up too loud. My feet are resting on a coffee table that Trevor pulled close, the ice pack I’d been using abandoned on the table. “I’m supposed to rest it and go back to the therapist on Tuesday to get checked out again. I have my yoga mat and ball ready to go for Monday so I can do floor barre and everything Ms. Parker talked about.”

  “Good. Will you keep us updated on how it’s feeling?”

  “I will.”

  “And promise me you’ll rest it today and tomorrow,” Ms. Parker chimes in. Lisa chimes in before I can open my mouth.

  “I’m keeping an eye on her, Ms. Parker. Don’t worry. Between me and Trevor, we’ll keep her off her feet.”

  And that’s enough of that. “Bye, Ms. Parker, bye Mr. Mike. I’ll keep you updated, promise!” I say, tapping the button to end the call. I do not need to talk to Ms. Parker about my love life.

  “So…” Trevor drawls, fake yawning and putting his arm around my shoulder. “What do we want to do for the rest of the day? Obviously, we can’t go sightseeing anymore.” I wince at the reminder that I’ve upset everyone’s plans to go check out the Space Needle and Olympia Park today.

  “I’m sorry,” I say but am interrupted by Gloria, Uri and the rest of the gang dropping down into the seats around us.

  “So, what’s the story, Hannah? How bad is it?” Gloria asks.

  I look over at Noah apologetically. “They think it might be a strain. Nothing showed up on the x-ray so for now I have to take a few days off and see how it feels on Wednesday.”

  “Man, I hope it gets better. I had to rehearse Black Swan with Min today,” Noah says. “It wasn’t awful, but she’s not a turner like you so, yeah…that was a bit rough.”

  Guilt at Noah’s words, mixed with jealousy that he rehearsed without me, sours the hope I’d been feeling when nothing bad showed up on the x-ray. A couple days rest and I’ll be fine. “You guys don’t have to stay here with me, I can go up to my room and watch a movie or something.”

  “If you think I’m going to pick hanging out with anyone else over you, you’re crazy.” Trevor kisses the side of my head. “You guys will be fine on your own, right? You can’t miss the Space Needle. It’s the tall, pointy building.”

  We’re all laughing when Becky and her friends from Six pass us on their way from the elevators. “You know, there are other people who might want to sit in the lobby sometime,” she says, with a sneer. “Or did you need all these people to wait on you since you’re injured. Hope they don’t give your solo away.” Becky’s callus words echo in our shocked silence. “You should do us all a favor and let Min have the part now instead of dragging it out.” She looks me up and down, eyes lingering on the bright purple kinesiology tape visible above the tops of my shoes. “You know she does it better than you, anyway,” she adds in a sing-song as she walks away.

  “Ugh!” Lisa growls from next to me. “I swear she must be long-lost cousins with Allyson,” she adds under her breath.

  “Lisa?” Thomas gets our attention, leaning on the back of Elena’s chair. “Are you going to come with us or stay here with Hannah?”

  I pat her on the thigh. “Go, go have fun. Take pictures, you know Katy will kill us if we don’t send her something. This is your summer vacation too, you don’t have to spend it all with me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  This time Trevor is the one reassuring her. “Go ahead. I think we can manage to entertain ourselves.” Laughing and catcalling in an attempt to break the awkward tension Becky’s words left behind, Gloria leads the group out the front door. Lisa reaches back for a quick hug before following them out the double doors.

  “Behave,” she whispers in my ear before pulling away and hurrying to catch up.

  “So…” Trevor says, squeezing my shoulder.

  “So…” I say back, resting my head on him and closing my eyes.

  “I have an idea, if you’re up for it.”

  Without opening my eyes, I smile at the uncertain tone of his voice. “What’s your idea?”

  “First, tell me how you’re feeling. You were really upset this morning, did the doctor help you feel any better?” This time he shifts away from me and I sit up. Trevor faces me, leaning one arm on the back of the couch. He uses the other arm to pull both of my legs across his lap, so I can keep my ankle elevated and face him at the same time. His hand is warm on my skin as he rubs up and down my calf. You would think that after a month of seeing him almost every day I wouldn’t still be getting butterflies every time he touched my skin, but you’d be wrong. Apart from our magical first kiss a few weeks ago, we haven’t had a moment alone since I’ve been here.

  “I feel a little better. I hope that it just needs some rest. I came here to dance, not to sit and watch. And I definitely don’t want them to give my solo away.” I mimic his rhythm with the hand I trail along his forearm, grinning and swirling my fingers in a new pattern when goosebumps appear under my fingertips. All this touching is doing a great job of distracting me. “So, what was your idea?”

  Trevor’s eyes are glued to my hand on his arm for a long second, before he clears his throat and answers. “Um. I was thinking we could go to a movie? We haven’t had a chance to go out on a real date yet. My car is here but I haven’t used it since we’ve always been with the group.”

  I get my own goosebumps thinking about sitting in the dark with him. Unlike the last time we went to a movie altogether—January seems so long ago—this time I won’t spend the whole time watching my best friend flirt with his cousin. And I definitely won’t ditch him afterwards by faking a headache like I did that night.

  He must be thinking along the same lines as me because he squeezes my calf to get my attention. “No running away from me this time, yeah?”

  I laugh and lean forward to give him a quick peck on the lips. “I promise, I won’t. I couldn’t run away tonight if I tried,” I add, pointing to my taped up ankle.

  Trevor grins and rubs his hands together. “Bwahahaha, you’ve fallen right into my trap.” He swings my legs off his lap and stands, reaching out a hand to pull me up next to him.

  “Ugh,” Someone says, walking past us, shattering the cozy bubble we’ve been in.

  Looking around, I spot one of the girls from the
other day, the ones who’d called me Trevor’s boyfriend.

  “Ignore them, T, they’re not worth getting upset over,” Trevor says, a little louder than necessary as he wraps his arm around my waist to lead me outside. Technically, I don’t need the help, but I like the excuse to hold onto him, so I don’t object.

  “Why would you want to date one of those weirdos, Trevor?” the brunette asks. “Seriously? A ballerina,” she accompanies this with a lame twirl and goofy face. “Bunch of prissy little princesses.”

  I can’t stop my flinch at her words. It wasn’t enough to have to deal with Becky and her gang, now I have to deal with these mean girls too? I can’t win. “Come on.” Not looking back, I walk through the doors, forcing Trevor to come with me since he’s still holding onto my shoulders.

  “T…” He pulls me to a stop once we’re outside, the warm sun settling on my skin.

  “Don’t, Trevor. It’s fine. Let’s go.”

  Trevor insists I wait at the curb while he goes to get his car. I scroll through my phone while I wait, taking the opportunity to catch up on some of my notifications. There’s another cute photo from Martin so I leave him a comment.

  hannabananaballerina: NYC looks amazing! Are you dancing the Liberty Bell pas? Future El Capitan?

  Scrolling through my feed while I wait to see if Martin responds, I look for anything from Katy. Hiding the pain in my ankle had me hiding from her too, even though I know she’s got to be lonely. Hmmm, I wonder if she’s managed to get to a ballet class yet? Last time I asked she hadn’t and got defensive when I wanted to know why. Nutcracker auditions will be here before we know it and this is the year Lisa and I were hoping to get Dewdrop or Snow Queen. If Katy doesn’t take class at all this summer, she’s not going to get a lead of her own, I’d hate for that to happen. Ms. Parker tries to be fair, but she expects us to do the work to look good in each part, you don’t get cast based on seniority alone.

  There’s a couple of pictures of her with her brothers, and one of her and Olivia at the outlet mall eating pretzels. I check Oliva’s feed to see the same photo, plus lots of her and Tyler. There’s one of Olivia, Tyler, and Jack. That gives me an idea, so I check Jack’s account, maybe he has more pictures of Katy.

  Before I can look for more pictures, a maroon minivan pulls up to the curb. Trevor climbs out and opens the door for me while I stuff my phone back in my pocket. “Your chariot awaits, m’lady.” He bows as I climb into the front seat.

  We joke the whole way to the movie theater, Trevor quizzing me on the Marvel Universe to make sure I’m up to speed for the movie. My parents would be so proud.

  “You’re so far away.” I laugh at one point, stretching my hand across the space, wiggling my fingers at him. Laughing, Trevor grabs the tips of my fingers and plants a quick kiss on my knuckles.

  “It was my mom’s car, but when she got a new one, I inherited it. You’d be amazed at how often it comes in handy to have the van.”

  “You know…we could have all squished in here,” I muse, looking around.

  “Maybe. But that first day I wanted to make sure we had an easy out in case we needed it.” Trevor shrugs. “Besides, parking downtown is the worst, taking the train was easier anyway.”

  This car ride is so different to the last time we went to a movie when I’d babbled about my plans, trying to cover my nerves, and hurt at being used by my friend. As we pull into the parking lot ten minutes later, I can’t help asking. “Did you ever think, after the first time we met, that we’d end up here?”

  Trevor squeezes my fingers before putting both hands on the wheel to maneuver into an empty spot. “Do you want to know what I thought when Tyler told me what the plan was for that night?”

  Nervous, I pick at a bit of fringe on my jean shorts. “I don’t know. Do I?”

  Trevor doesn’t answer me right away, just climbs out of the car. He’s opening my door before I’ve had a chance to do more than unbuckle my seat belt. Turning when he opens it, the late afternoon sun behind him casts a shadow on his face, making it hard to read his expression. He pulls my legs until I’m sitting sideways in my seat, facing him, my legs dangling out the car on either side of his. Trevor braces one hand on the back of my seat, the other warm next to my hip.

  He leans in, his lips grazing my cheek, before he whispers in my ear. “I was really, really hoping that whoever this Olivia had set me up with would smell good. The bar was pretty low,” he adds at my outraged laugh before stealing my breath with a kiss. His kiss is gentle, simply his lips against mine, not urgent but not timid. His kiss is just like him—calm, confident, and comfortable in his own skin. I’m the timid one, unsure, full of doubt that I’m worth the trouble.

  When his hand slides behind my neck, pulling me closer, a fire sparks in me. My hands cup his jaw, my fingers tracing the sandpaper of his cheeks before sliding into the soft curls at the back of his neck, pulling him close in return. His tongue sweeps along my lips, with a tiny gasp I let them part. As his tongue lightly toys with mine, a warmth I’ve never experienced fills me, reaching for him, aching to be closer. My back arches of its own accord, my heart reaching out for his. Our hands tangled in each other’s hair and our lips the only points of contact between us. It’s not enough.

  “Hannah,” Trevor pulls back enough to whisper. He peppers small kisses against my temple, my forehead, my nose.

  Please don’t stop kissing me, I want to beg. I could happily drown in him right now. Can’t I forget everything else and live here? In this magical space where it’s just us and I don’t have to worry about the future or the past or anything in between?

  “We should go. Movie starts soon,” Trevor says between each press of his lips to my skin.

  Blinking, I drag my mind back from its wanderings. Oh my god. Heat rushes to my cheeks the second awareness of where we are comes back to me. “Uh.” Actual English words fail me.

  Chuckling to himself, Trevor presses his forehead to mine. “Trust me, I could stay here all night making out with you. But I’m pretty sure that security guard over there would ruin the fun in a few minutes anyway.” He presses one last kiss to my forehead before straightening up, for the first time I notice that he’d braced one of his knees on the seat next to me.

  My cheeks are still hot, but not with embarrassment, although there is some of that. When Trevor pulls back, a piece of my heart goes with him. But now there’s a tiny piece of his heart wrapped up in mine. I’ll keep his safe and he’ll treasure mine. There’s something new and tender between us that wasn’t there a moment ago. Have I lost my mind? Why do I want to wrap myself as close to him as possible? Not touching him in some way is suddenly unbearable.

  “Damn it. I should have dropped you off, then gone and parked.” Trevor is eyeing the distance to the movie theater from where we’ve parked. Turning to me with an apology written on his face. “I’m sorry T, I didn’t even think about your ankle.”

  “It doesn’t hurt that much right now, I can walk.” I hate the reminder of my injury, I was hoping to forget about it for a while. I slip my hand in his and take a few steps towards the theater, but he doesn’t move. Looking back over my shoulder, I catch his eyes moving up my body, a speculative look in them.

  Now the heat in my cheeks is from embarrassment. “What?” I ask, trying to hide the nervousness in my tone.

  “How about a piggy back ride?”

  “You’re going to carry me over there?” I lean on my left leg, trying not to make it obvious that I’m easing the pressure on my ankle, ignoring the dull ache those few steps sent through it.

  “Well, I could carry you over my shoulder.” He grins. “But I didn’t think you’d appreciate it.” Visions of Tyler scooping Olivia over his shoulder cloud my vision for a moment before I grin back.

  I wave to the asphalt in front of me. “Let’s go then.” Laughing, he bends down in front of me and I climb on,
my legs wrapped around his waist, his hands clasped behind his back, supporting my thighs. I’m hyper aware of every inch of my body right now, where we’re touching and where we aren’t. I can’t help wondering if Trevor is feeling the same.

  “Frozen yogurt? Are you trying to recreate our first date?” I giggle as Trevor deposits me in front of the serve-yourself frozen yogurt chain.

  “I figured a do-over was in order.” He pulls one of the metal chairs at the outdoor table out for me and waits for me to sit. “Who’s that for?” I ask, indicating the third chair he dragged over from the next table.

  His answer is to slide his hands along my leg until he picks it up, gently placing my foot on the seat of the chair. “Tell me what flavors you want and I’ll bring it out here. Want me to get some ice, too?” At my nod, he goes inside to get our yogurt and some ice.

  If you asked me what the movie we just watched was about, I couldn’t tell you. Last time we went to a movie I was too busy staring at Olivia and Tyler to pay attention. This time…well, in all honesty we were too busy making out to pay any attention to the movie. What can I say? I’m not sorry.

  I can’t help grinning to myself as I look through my phone, waiting for Trevor. Giggling, I start typing in my group chat with Lisa and Katy.

  Me: So…first real date with Trevor is going very well.

  Katy answers right away, I can almost hear her.

  Katy: Why are you texting us then?

  Me: Trevor is getting us frozen yogurt, I’m sitting outside with my foot up.

  Lisa: How’s the ankle?

  We Facetimed with Katy earlier so she already knows about my injury. If one more person yells at me for not saying anything weeks ago, I’m going to say something regrettable right back. I get it. It’s fine, it’s not that big a deal. A couple days rest, some ibuprofen, and I’ll be back to normal.

  Me: It’s fine. Trevor hasn’t let me walk at all. He carried me from the car to the doors of the theater.