Breaking Promises (B-Boy #1)

by S. Briones Lim

  Before I could answer, the house lights darkened and the surround sound stereos rumbled. I swallowed and sat back in my seat without answering, keeping my eyes on the screen. I could feel Aurora’s stare burning into the side of my face, but what could I say?

  “Keep it on,” I mumbled. “It looks good on you.”

  ***

  “Arrrghhhh.”

  “Ahhh!”

  I stifled a laugh when I noticed the row in front of us jump up, scattering popcorn all over the place. Proudly, I snuck a peek at Aurora, who continued to eat her snacks calmly. She wasn’t afraid of zombies. She wasn’t prissy and she was definitely different than a lot of the other girls I’d come in contact with.

  “Oh, snap! Eat that motherfucker,” she muttered under her breath.

  I grinned. She was definitely my type of girl.

  My type of a girl?

  What the hell was I talking about?

  I shook my head and settled back into my seat, trying my best to concentrate on the steaming pile of intestines showing on the big screen. However, no matter how much I tried, I could not keep myself from glancing over at her.

  She was beautiful, no doubt about that. The thing is, I’ve met a ton of beautiful girls before, but Aurora’s beauty came from her heart and there was no topping that kind. As I peered at the way she fumbled around with my hat, I could no longer fight the feeling in my heart. There was no denying what I already knew.

  I was falling for her.

  Aurora lowered her fistful of popcorn and turned her head toward mine. “Why are you looking at me like that? The screen’s that way.”

  My heart was pounding. It reminded me of the surge of adrenaline right before a battle. My brain was foggy, but clear at the same time. My body rigid, but calm.

  Feeling as if electrical currents were zapping through my veins, I whispered, “Because I can’t look anywhere else. Not anymore.”

  Without hesitation, I placed my hand on the side of her face and gently brought it toward mine. I took one last quick breath before I pressed my lips onto hers. She momentarily stiffened, but quickly relaxed, knocking the bucket of popcorn off her lap.

  Aurora

  I placed my palm against the foggy mirror and swiped down. Behind me, the steam from my shower filled the communal bathroom, looking like a creepy setting right out of the zombie movie I just watched.

  Mitch kissed me.

  When I say kissed me, I mean balls to the wall, tongue straight in my mouth, kissed me.

  To be honest, I had no idea how I felt about it.

  Not saying that it wasn’t a great kiss. I mean, it was hot and nothing like the weird kisses I used to sneak during my old high school dances. Still, it was Mitch. I mean, sure I thought he was sexy as hell, but he was a manwhore, not to mention my trainer and my friend. There was a definitely a ‘No Hanky Panky in the Friend Zone’ sign hanging above our heads.

  I stared at my reflection and took in my swollen lips and ran my finger against my flushed cheek. What the hell did we just do? Things were going to be weird from now on. I just knew it.

  All we did was watch a simple movie together just like friends often do. I mean, sure we shared a “moment” during the whole beanie incident, but given that I picked a zombie flick, as it was the least romantic movie being shown, I didn’t really think anything would happen between us.

  I brought my hand up to my lips, trailing the exact path Mitch had just kissed, reliving the moment. He had pressed his lips, which were a lot softer than I expected, against mine without warning. We were both hesitant at first, but after a few seconds we were able to let go and grabbed onto each other as if we were both water to each other’s dry deserts. I could still feel the electricity from his skin as his finger traveled down my neck, caressing my skin softly.

  I touched my collarbone and let out an involuntary moan, which echoed inside the empty bathroom. Remembering where I was, I gasped and looked around. Luckily, nobody else was in sight.

  Grabbing my things, I mentally reprimanded myself. “Okay,Juliet. Let’s go to your room before the Montagues hunt you down.”

  My mind was swimming that night. As wonderful as our kiss was, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong. I was trying to start off on a brand new leg of my life. I didn’t need to distract myself with a guy—a guy who had a reputation of using girls and leaving them behind. I’d already gone through enough the past year, I didn’t need another broken heart to add to the carnage of shattered dreams.

  ***

  I was running, but my feet didn’t feel as if they were moving. Straining for breath, I catapulted myself off the floor and landed on the vaulting board.

  “I’m here,” Mitch called out, waving his arms frantically in the air. He stood behind the vault, positioned in the middle a bright red mat.

  I smiled once I saw him. He was going to make sure I was okay. There was no way I would be hurt anymore.

  Of course that moment of calm was fleeting.

  Before I knew it, I lost complete control over my body. I screamed as I flew through the air, falling toward Mitch at lightning speed.

  It’s okay. He’ll catch me, I assured myself. He always will.

  I was only inches away from his welcoming arms when he suddenly disappeared.

  “Ahhh!” My blood curling scream felt as if it shattered through my bones.

  Darkness.

  It was all darkness again.

  I sat straight up, heart pounding. Once again I was drenched in cold sweat and shivered uncontrollably.

  “Bed. Dorm. Clemence,” I whispered the words quietly, snapping me back to reality. A reality where getting together with Mitch was a really, really bad idea. “Bed. Dorm. Clemence. Bed. Dorm. Clemence…”

  ***

  I walked toward the Yoga Studio with sweat dripping down my back.

  I was nervous as hell.

  I needed to tell Mitch the kiss was a mistake…but how would he take it?

  It didn’t matter. At this point in my life, I didn’t need to get tangled up with some guy…even if that guy just happened to be as awesome as Mitch.

  “I need to be by myself and go through life alone,” I muttered to myself. “This is why I moved here. I need to do this on my own.”

  In just one year I had lost my sport, my team, my friends—who hadn’t called much as of late—and most importantly, I lost myself.

  Going to Cal State was supposed to lead me to a place where I was comfortable being thisnewandimproved version of myself. A new boyfriend was definitely not on the list!

  By the time I reached the studio, there was already loud music echoing from inside. Considering that it was a lot earlier than I usually arrived, I could only fathom that Mitch must have had trouble sleeping too.

  The moment I entered the room was like a vinyl record being scratched to a stop. Mitch looked up at me and shifted uncomfortably.

  “Aurora—”

  “Mitch—”

  We both looked down and giggled awkwardly.

  “You first.” Mitch rubbed at the back of his neck, trying hard to avoid my eyes.

  Of course he’d make me speak first. It was just as well. It’d be better to turn him down before he asked me out or something.

  “I think what we did was a mistake.” The words tumbled out of my mouth quickly and messily, slurring together in cringe-worthy fashion. I kept my eyes glued to my feet, afraid of what I’d see.

  “Oh, thank God!” he exclaimed.

  Okay, that was definitely not what I expected.

  I finally lifted my head and stared at him blankly. “What?”

  He removed his beanie, showing off his jet-black hair. It was a wonder he never went anywhere without a hat. He looked even more gorgeous with his thick mane out in the open. I tried to tell him to lose the beanie the night before, but…okay, that was beside the point. Anyway…

  Mitch broke into a smile. “I was worried you’d turn into one of those clingy girls, you know?” />
  “Clingy girl,” I repeated flatly. My face was stone-cold. I had no idea where he was going with this.

  “You know. Mess around and suddenly you’re ready for marriage or something.” He laughed uncomfortably.

  “Yeah, I’m not like that,” I snapped. I pursed my lips, feeling my temperature rising. So he was justusingme to mess around with? Out of all the fucked up things I’d dealt with…

  “Thank God—”

  I quickly cut him off. “And I don’t appreciate the fact that you were obviously only using me for kicks. Is that why you invited me to the movies? To add me to the list of girls that you’ve ‘messed around’ with?”

  His eyes widened in horror. “What? It wasn’t like that! You know it was never like that between us.”

  “Then why do you seem so happy I’m turning you down?” I asked bluntly.

  Never like that between us? Why did that make me feel so horrible?

  “Why areyou turning me down, then?”

  My face reddened. He got me there.

  “Um…” I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, cursing under my breath. “I moved here to start anew…by myself. I’ve done something for so long and without it, I feel like I don’t know myself much. How am I supposed to be with someone if I don’t even know who I am anymore?”

  Mitch scratched at his neck and shifted his weight. “Wow…that was an awesome answer.”

  I crossed my arms tightly around my chest. “I’m not like other girls.”

  “I can see that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I still don’t appreciate that you think I’m…I’m…”

  “You’re what?” he asked, unable to hide his amusement.

  “One of your breaking groupies,” I spat out. Even the phrase left a nasty taste in my mouth.

  “Groupies?” He stifled a laugh that came out sounding like a cough.

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed those tight skirt-wearing, hair extension-donning—”

  “Wow, somebody’s jealous.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down. He definitely looked as if he was enjoying himself.

  I glared at him with as much ferocity as I could muster. “I just have more going on in my life than hanging around some stuffy club watching boys breakdance.”

  “Like stand around some stuffy club watching boys breakdance?” He shot me another teasing smirk.

  I shut my eyes and shook my head. “You’re such an ass. We know that it’ll beme out there breaking along with you guys. Give me time and I’ll have my own set up groupies.”

  When I finally opened my eyes I caught him nodding with admiration. “Yes, you will. That’s the reason why I was going to tell you the same thing.”

  “Huh?” I blurted out.

  “Yesterday was a mistake,” he said seriously. “It shouldn’t have happened.I shouldn’t have let it happen.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t know why my heart just felt as if it were punctured to death. This was what I wanted him to see, right? That we were better off in our student/instructor relationship?

  I forced myself to maintain a stoic expression and nodded my head in affirmation.

  Mitch cocked his head to the side and looked at me curiously. “I take it you’ve heard stories about me?”

  “You mean those stories of you being a male slut? Yeah, I have.” I pursed my lips and eyed him pointedly.

  “Okay, I guess that’s fair.” He brought his hands underneath his wife beater, resting them on top of his stomach. It caused his tank to pull away from his body, allowing me to catch a sliver of his muscular abdomen.

  Damn. I was sure about this whole ‘mistake’ thing right?

  I quickly averted my eyes.

  “It’s always the same thing with girls.” Catching the disapproving look on my face he quickly added, “Not to stereotype or anything, but all my past relationships ended for the same reason—time.”

  “Time?” I expected him to say because of his wandering penis or something.

  “Yeah, time…” His voice trailed off, as his eyes glazed over. “I’d fall for a girl, but she’d always complain I didn’t spend enough time with her.”

  “Did you?”

  “As much as I could,” he admitted.

  I cocked my head to the side curiously. “What do you mean?”

  “They never understood that breaking is my passion—it’s my life! You can’t just walk to the floor and know how to do everything. You need to practice. Practice takes time…time away from hanging out with them.”

  I sighed. I understood.Completely.

  “I never had boyfriends,” I admitted, dropping my voice a couple octaves.

  He looked up in surprise. “That has to be a lie.”

  “I mean…I dated andstuff, but it was never anything serious. After my accident, I even hung out with a few guys to get my mind off all the bullshit going around me and let’s just say they were all mistakes.”

  “Well, that sucks.” His frown grew deeper.

  “So yeah, I totally understand about the whole time issue. I never had time to date. I was always training, training, and training. There was never any room for any of that love stuff. I mean, what are the chances that love as a post-adolescent would last, anyway?”

  “True,” he murmured. At this point I could tell he was only halfway-listening to my rant, but I didn’t care. I had popped open my bottle of woes and he was going to join me as I let the contents flow.

  “I came here with the knowledge that I would not repeat what happened in Ohio. I need to find myself outside of gymnastics and maybe when that happens I will have a boyfriend.” I paused and eyed him curiously. “What about you?”

  “I will never have a boyfriend,” he quipped.

  I let out a puff of air from my nostrils and closed my eyes with a small smile gracing my lips. “I mean, how long you are going to do this no girlfriend thing?”

  He looked me directly in the eyes and replied, “Until I find somebody worth sharing my time with.”

  My stomach did a little front handspring and immediate back tuck. “Well, I hope that happens for you one day.”

  “Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “Me too.”

  Mitch

  Training with Aurora had to be some of the most insane practices I’d ever experienced in my b-boying career. After stupidly kissing her at the theater I thought I’d ruined the good thing we had going. Luckily, the experience only made us focus more…probably as a way for us to forget the damn experience.

  Either way, training her meant I was also fine tuning my own skills. Pushing her pushed me in return.

  Day in and day out we’d meet at the crack of dawn, practicing for hours at a time. It was nearing the end of our three week deadline and she was definitely more than ready. I’d never seen anybody take to doing an air flare as quickly as she had. Not to mention somebody who took to freestyling so naturally.

  She was gonna kill it.

  I was hella proud of her and I’d be even more proud as I watched her kick that stupid grin off Craig’s ugly mug.

  Aurora

  Training.

  Classes.

  Studying.

  Dealing with Clemence.

  Training.

  Classes.

  Studygroup.

  Dealing with Clemence and what the fuck, does she have her whole yoga class in our room?

  Training.

  Training.

  Training.

  Mitch

  I watched Aurora complete four chair flares proudly. Everything she did was perfect. From her top rock, her wind up, her power moves, and her flow. She was taking breakdancing in her hand and defeating the shit out of it.

  Aurora jumped to her feet, red faced, and glistening with sweat. She was wearing the same purple sports bra she had shown up in during our first training session and it was still as distracting as ever.

  I couldn’t help but stare at the way her cleavage bounced when she did her top rock or the way her waist tapered before
curving out into her hips. At least she wasn’t wearing her old gymnastics uniform. I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if she showed up wearing one of those unitard things to practice. The only thing keeping me together during our sessions was the fact that she wore baggy grey sweats.

  Legs were my weakness.

  “How was that? Mitch! Are you listening?” Aurora placed her hands on her waist once again, tempting me to stare at her taut abdomen.

  “Huh?” I asked dumbly. I must have sounded like a blubbering idiot.

  “Did you see my run or were you daydreaming? What’s wrong with you today?”

  Oh, you mean besides the fact that you’re wearing the most distracting thing ever? Or do you mean the fact that I can’t forget about our kiss?

  I scratched the back of my neck and shrugged my shoulders. “Just thinking about what I was going to do for my run.”

  “Well, what about mine?” she snapped. “What did you think?”

  God, I loved it when she was angry. Does that make me sick?

  “It was great,” I blurted out.

  She looked at me doubtfully.

  Calming myself down, I grinned. “It was better than great. I think you’re ready.”

  “Four days! Four effing days until I can tell Craig to shove it where the light don’t shine!”

  I grinned. “Yeah, I can’t wait until you get into Annihilation. I know it may come off as a—”

  “Dictatorship?”

  “Sure.” I stifled a laugh. “But Anthony, Woody, and all the others are really great guys. They’re like my brothers. Once you’re in, you’ll be protected.”

  Aurora paused and blinked slowly. “Am I joining a b-boy crew or a mafia?”

  I burst out laughing. “Just trust me. It’s a good group of guys.”

  “Except for Craig.”

  I nodded. “Except for Craig.”

  She paused and glanced down at her feet before asking. “Why don’t you vote him out?”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” I explained. “He’s the most decorated member out of all of us, so he kind of takes the reins deciding what battles we go to and I guess everything else.”