Juilliard or Else

by Reese, Nichele

  "Oh trust me, when I first learned, my feet would bleed for days at a time. It's nothing now."

  I went stood in the center of the room and started turning, going on pointe a little bit, did a couple of leaps in the air, landing softly. You could barely hear my feet as they moved across the floor while Tucker just watched. To be honest, I loved when he watched me dance. He never critiqued me for something I did wrong. If my feet ended up together instead of apart, he never said a word, just watched me with quietness. I took my time with my little routine as my legs stretched and my toes pointed. When I was done, he had the biggest smile on his face.

  He walked over to me, cupping my face, "You are so beautiful Gabs," then he tenderly kissed me.

  "Abigail!"

  I jumped at Carol's voice coming into the studio behind us, with her heels clicking piercingly on the floor. I turned and was ready for her to meet my Tucker. I wasn't going to hide him from her; he was too important to me.

  "Hello," I greeted her. Carol looked so well put together for this special day for our happy little family. Her blonde hair was swept back and pinned up on one side, her beautiful earrings glistened in the soft light, and she had on a cream colored skirt and white blouse.

  "Abigail, who's your friend?" her voice strange as she stared at me and not once did she look over at Tucker.

  "Carol McCall, this is Tucker. Tucker, this is Carol."

  Tucker stuck his hand out to Carol, "Ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you," Carol's eyes didn't leave mine until I looked at Tucker's out stretched hand. She looked at him with cruel blue eyes while her face was hard and mean.

  Whoa…What's her problem?

  This wasn't a normal look for Carol. This look was of pity and disgust as her eyes raked up and down Tucker's body, but she finally grabbed his hand for a quick shake then dropped it as if would give her some disease.

  "Tucker, do you have a last name?" She asked.

  "Well, actually it's…"

  "Here you all are!" My dad announced from the door way. Carol took that chance to leave us rushing past my dad with a polite, "Excuse me."

  My dad watched her move down the hall, "Okay. Well, who's hungry?" my dad asked as I unlaced my shoes and replaced them with my heels.

  We all met in the dining room. The long dining table held the glasses, which were shiny and sparkly as if they were new. The white plates were all around for four spots. My dad sat at the head of the table, Carol to his right like always, and I sat across from her with Tucker next to me. We all sat down except for Carol, who disappeared, probably to look over Isabelle's shoulder as she prepared dinner. I cleared my throat and shifted a little in my chair. Tucker placed his hand on my thigh; I met his eyes and smiled at him.

  My dad asked, "So, Tucker. What do you do?"

  He cleared his throat, "Right now sir, I'm a tattoo apprentice at my buddy's shop. I'm almost done, and then I'll be hired on as a full time tattoo artist." Tucker stroked my bare thigh. My face flushed.

  I looked at my dad, "His work is gorgeous dad; very real looking."

  My dad pushed his glasses back up his nose, "Tattooing? Have you ever thought about going to school for a real career?"

  "Dad" I quietly snapped.

  Tucker cut in, "No, it's alright. I understand sir that some people don't consider it a real job, but I like to draw, making it something permanent on people's skin. It's the thrill I get when the client takes the first look at that permanent spot that I just created and seeing the tears in their eyes. Something that will always be there, and for some people it soothes them to see the artwork. Brings them comfort."

  Tucker couldn't have defended himself more perfectly; I was proud that he held his ground. I smiled at him which he gladly returned.

  "Tucker, let's say you and my daughter get serious, talk about getting married, kids maybe. Do you think you can support them being a tattoo artist?" My dad rested his chin on his hands and stared intently at Tucker, waiting for his answer.

  "Dad, I didn't bring Tucker here for you to give him a career change. And we're not getting married—no kids are in the picture."

  "I know, I just wanted to know."

  "Sir," Tucker cut in, "I'll let you know that I do love your daughter. I haven't thought about having kids, nor do I want to. I believe kids are meant for a special reason, to be born into a loving family when the time is right. I have no desire to have any anytime soon."

  I couldn't have said that better myself.

  I held Tucker's hand and watched his legs bounce under the table.

  "You love my daughter?" We both looked up at my dad.

  "Yes sir, very much." Tucker said bringing my hand up to kiss my knuckles.

  I looked back over at my dad, "I love him too daddy." My dad did nothing at first but stare, and then he smiled. Carol's heels clicked on the hardwood as she came to the table with Isabelle at her side.

  "Miss Abigail." Isabelle quietly said and nodded at me.

  Tucker squeezed my hand more as Carol sat down across from us. The food slowly started to fill the table; there was everything from yams, mashed potatoes, all different kinds of veggies, cranberries and of course the giant turkey. And the rolls were to die for; I loved when Isabelle made homemade rolls.

  There was little small talk between my dad and Tucker some more. I could tell he was relaxing a little more when they started talking about football and that they shared the same favorite team.

  Pittsburgh Steelers.

  I don't know much about football; I never understood the concept of tackling someone just to get a ball for a touchdown or anything else that surrounded the game. I did like the cheerleaders whenever I saw them on the T.V. Carol was very quiet during dinner; she didn't look over at Tucker or even acknowledge his presence. She just pushed her food around with her fork and sighed occasionally. Isabelle removed our dishes and brought out some pumpkin pie but banana for me.

  I took a bite of the glorious pie, mmm...so good.

  "You don't like pumpkin?" Tucker asked in my ear.

  I shook my head, "No. I don't even like the smell."

  "There are a few things you don't know about Abigail." Carol finally saying something, but to me, her words were hurtful.

  Tucker's body straightened and cleared his throat. That made him uncomfortable. "What I know about her so far is good enough for me."

  "Has she told you about Alex Blair?"

  "Carol." My dad interrupted.

  I met Tucker's eyes and shook my head again. "It's nothing."

  "Alex is quite fond of Abigail. He's brought her coffee at the school, he's called her. They've even gone out to lunch not too long ago." Taking a bite of her pie and I scowled at her. Tucker let go of my hand and the doorbell rang. Isabelle scurried through the room to go answer it and who walked in next, I wasn't expecting.

  Alex

  His name was just as annoying as Jasmine's. Maybe I should introduce them. Alex walked in wearing his signature grey suit and black tie, his hair was perfect, wide smile with white perfect teeth. I groaned and turned away to face Tucker.

  "Who's that?" He whispered.

  This was going downhill fast.

  My eyes sad as I answered, "Alex." I quickly reached for his hand but he pulled away.

  "Tucker," I whispered to him.

  "Alex, my boy. How the hell are you?" My dad said standing up from the table and hugging him like he did to Tucker earlier. My dad and Alex had small talk about a case and when they were done, Alex sat next to Carol.

  This was awkward. I sat up straight and look at Carol, who had a smug smile on her face. That's when I knew she planned this.

  "Tucker, this is Alex Blair. He's a lawyer at David's firm. Alex, this is Tucker, Abigail's friend."

  "Tucker is my boyfriend," I snapped, defending Tucker.

  Carol snickered at me, and took another bite of pie. I looked back over at Tucker who was staring at his plate, pushing crumbs around. "We'll see." She mumbled out.

  I le
aned into his side, "Can I talk to you alone?"

  Tucker didn't even answer me as he stood up from the table with a soft excuse me, grabbing my hand and tugging me out of the room. I don't think he knew where he was going because we ended up in the grand piano room next to my ballet studio. He shut the door and faced me. The look on his face right now, was disappointing. He looked so torn, but how could you blame him? Finding out that I've had lunch with him from Carol then magically appearing here, today of all days, the one day I choose to bring home my first boyfriend.

  "Tucker, I.." I tried to talk to him, but he silenced me with a hard kiss. There was anger in this kiss or it could be jealously? It was painful at the force of it. My hands grabbed at his hair and pulled, hard. He grunted at the sudden pain and kissed me harder, our tongues clashing in a heated wet mess. His hands were everywhere on my body, groping my butt, up my sides and forcefully grabbing my breasts, hard.

  I shuddered at his touch, I craved it; I wanted it more than ever. He whirled my body around and pressed me up against the door, hooking his hand behind my knee, then lifting it to wrap around his waist as his hard-on ground into my center. His lips moved down to my neck, pulling the strap of my dress down to kiss along my shoulder line.

  I moaned at his hard touch "Tucker."

  "Gabs, I need you," he told me into my skin, kissing me.

  "You have me, only me," I panted.

  That was all Tucker needed to hear as his hand moved underneath my dress to tear off my panties. Literally, he tore my panties right off.

  We sat on the floor with our backs still pressed against the door as we both tried to catch our breaths. Tucker held my hand; moving his finger in little circles, he carefully caressed my skin, acting as if I would break into a million pieces right then.

  "I love you, Gabs."

  I turned my head. "I love you too, Tuck. What brought that on?" I asked, rubbing my bottom lip as I tasted a little bit of rust.

  "My lip hurts," I said as I pulled my hand away to see if there was any blood.

  "If you would have been quiet, then I wouldn't have had to cover your mouth." He chuckled, softly kissing my lips.

  "Mmm…do that again?"

  Tucker laughed, "Again?" Then he wiggled his brows at me.

  "No, dummy. Kiss me again."

  Tucker complied with my requests and gave me the biggest kiss. Right in the middle of our tongues colliding, the door opened and banged against our heads.

  "Abigail, get out here right now," Carol said, then slammed the door as best as she could with us against it.

  Tucker cringed. "I don't think she likes me very much," he said, picking up my torn panties and stuffing them in his pocket.

  I smiled at that. "She doesn't like anyone."

  "Tell me about Alex. You've been out to lunch with him and when did he bring you coffee at the school?"

  All good questions and I didn't have the answers. "Yeah, I'm sure it's Carol's doing. It's nothing, he's trying to become partner at my dad's firm and he…"

  "She wants you to be with him, right?"

  I shrugged. I knew that Carol wanted that, pushing Alex on me forcefully. I clutched Tucker's hand. "I think so, but I think it has to do with my dad's firm mostly."

  Tucker cupped my face so I would look at him. "Can you promise me something?"

  "Yes."

  "Promise me. Promise me that you won't see him alone again? I love you; I don't want to lose you over him. He has money; I can smell it on him. He can give you things I can't right now."

  He was talking silly talk. I didn't want anything but him, but I gave him my word.

  "I promise."

  We came out of the piano room and walked back into the dining room hand in hand. I wasn't going to let Carol push Alex in between Tucker and I. Carol stared both of us down as we took our seats and dead silence filled the room. The only noise that came was from the dang silverware scrapping against the plates. Tucker went on like nothing was wrong, having a slice of banana pie and fed me a piece.

  Alex glared at Tucker the entire time, almost if he was trying to challenge him, but Tucker didn't notice. Well, at least I didn't think he noticed, and if he did, he didn't let it bother him. My dad ended up excusing himself to his study, tugging Alex along with him. I felt like I could breathe again with him gone. Carol remained at the table with us, watching like a hawk as we smiled to each other and held hands. I couldn't take it anymore; I was done and wanted to leave. Right when I was going to tell Tucker I wanted to leave, Carol spoke up.

  "So Tucker, what do you do?"

  He shifted a little at the sudden question. It seemed like "I want to get to know you, but really I could care less" talk. "I'm a tattoo apprentice, ma'am."

  "Huh, how much does one make while doing that?"

  He took a sip of water before answering. "Right now, ma'am, nothing. Unless the client leaves me a tip – then I get to keep that."

  My stomach started to turn at the sight of Carol becoming the mean lady that she always was, digging for information on someone, possibly to hold it against them one day; that was the Carol I knew and hated.

  "And how long have you been doing this?"

  "A little over a year."

  Her brow raised as I shifted in my seat. By Tucker's body language, he was getting uncomfortable. "And how long are you going to be doing this before you decide it's not something you want in life?"

  Tucker wiped his mouth and placed his napkin on the table. "I love tattooing – watching someone's face as they see the beauty I just gave them is the best feeling in the world."

  Carol rested her hands in her lap and sat back in the chair, "I think you're wasting your time."

  My jaw dropped and I quickly got mad. How could she say something like that? To get a response out of him, out of me? For us to snap, to give her a reason to kick Tucker out?

  "I'm sorry you think that way, ma'am," Tucker said back to her. I pressed my lips together and I started to shake from the anger boiling through my veins, not wanting to explode at her in front of Tucker. I stood up, still holding his hand, bringing him with me.

  "We're leaving."

  "Abigail, sit down. You're not going anywhere," Carol commanded, but I wasn't going to listen. I started walking towards the double doors to leave.

  "Abigail McCall, if you leave, I'm dropping your scholarship at Juilliard."

  I still kept walking towards the door, but Tucker pulled back, stopping me. I faced him, "Don't walk out on her," he said as he cupped my heated face, then kissed my forehead.

  "That's so impolite to do that in someone's house," Carol said from behind us.

  That's it! I angrily stepped up to Caro, challenging her while she just sat in the chair.

  "What's your problem? You are going to take away my scholarship at Juilliard? You can't do that. That's my scholarship. I worked my ass off to get it! I'd like to see you even try."

  Slowly standing up from the table, she stepped into the challenge I threw at her.

  "You can't possibly be serious about this boy, Abigail. Does he know about the other boy I caught in the apartment?"

  "That was Jett. That's Jade's boyfriend and the owner of the tattoo shop Tucker works at," I shot back.

  Carol's blue eyes narrowed. "He doesn't work there. He can't take care of you; he doesn't have a job. An apprenticeship doesn't count as a job. He will use you because of the money your father has, and then he will leave you high and dry until you are nothing. He's trash, Abigail. This is it, Juilliard or else. Accept the consequences of the wrongful actions that you have made."

  She was giving me a choice? Juilliard or else? Juilliard was something I'd worked on for as long as I could remember – something that had been my dream since I was little and saw the gorgeous ballerinas in the class room. I heard a door slam and when I turned around, Tucker was gone.

  Carol grasped my wrist tightly, not letting me move my feet towards the front door.

  "Don't you dare go to him, you
have to stay here. He doesn't belong in our world, Abigail. That boy could never give you the things you need. He's lost! He's trash! Trash! Not for you!"

  I wrenched my arm away; he wasn't trash.

  "If he's trash, then so am I," I spat at her and she immediately dropped my arm.

  With that said, I walked away from Carol in the dining room, leaving her stunned out of her mind. Angry tears streamed down my face as I approached the front door to go after him. I couldn't believe a day to be thankful turned into a day of crap. I thought this was supposed to be an exciting time when daughters brought home a boy – that it meant something special was going on between that couple. Well, at least that was what I thought.

  I quickly wiped my cheeks when my dad came out of his study and I bumped into him.

  Grabbing my shoulders to keep me in one place as I stumbled, he asked, "Abigail, what's wrong?"

  "I have to go, Daddy."

  His grip grew a little tighter on my arms. "No, you're not going anywhere. Come with me." I tried not to; I wanted Tucker. I wanted his arms around my waist and I wanted his lips against mine. I desired Tucker. I ached for him and Carol hurt him. Why couldn't Carol just accept the fact he was the man I loved and wanted to be with.

  My dad guided me to his study, forcing me to sit down on the leather sofa that faced his desk. Alex wasn't in the room; I was sure he was with Carol, plotting out their next move against me. Deep down I was so afraid they were going to win and make Tucker stay away. Then I'd be as unhappy as Carol and be rotten to my own daughter. The thought of turning into Carol made a huge knot in my stomach. It was the acid forming, ready to come up. It took everything I had to keep it down. I focused on my breathing like Tucker taught me.

  "Tell me what happened." I opened my eyes to see my dad leaning against the front of his desk with his arms folded.

  I recapped what happened in the dining room –how I thought it was so unfair for Carol to do something like this to me. I explained how Tucker didn't bring me down, and how much I loved to be with him. I was sobbing in my hands when my dad came to sit next to me and he let me cry on his shoulder. He held me for some time before he spoke again.