“Mommy! Daddy! I’m on the big stage!” she exclaimed, and everyone giggled. She must have realized that she was in fact on the big stage and had to dance, so she quickly caught up with everyone else. Reese looked out at the crowd and of course, Harper and Elli were dabbing their eyes free of tears as their little princesses moved across the stage like butterflies. When the song ended, the whole front row, which consisted of the whole Assassins’ family, stood up, cheering the girls on. Ally and Shelli were beaming and it actually brought tears to Reese’s eyes, something that never happened, and she blamed it on the fact that they were part of her family as she ushered them off the stage.
The next act, a duet, was already lined up and headed on the stage, as Reese made sure the backstage Mom took the little bits. She went back to her spot and watched Skylar and Addison dance. Reese was proud of this dance of sisterhood and when she peeked out to the audience, she saw that everyone else was, too. When someone came up beside her, she looked to find Claire and Brian.
“What are you two doing? Your duet isn’t for a while.”
Claire nodded. “I know, I changed my solo.”
“What?” Reese asked incredulously. “To what?”
“Into a duet. They already have my music, so it’s ready.”
“You didn’t tell me,” Reese said, a little pissed and a little hurt.
“I know because it’s for you.”
“Huh?” she asked as the song ended, and the lights went out.
“You’ll see,” Claire all but sang as they went, hand in hand, onto the stage. When the music started to Pink’s “Try”, Reese crossed her arms and watched the powerful dance that Claire and Brian had put together. Of course, it was amazing and extremely hard hitting, but what killed her the most was that she had heard this song countless time and didn’t think twice about it. This time, as she stood there watching as they threw each other across the stage, singing the song with their bodies, every single word that Pink sang was the soundtrack to her life. She did have to try, or she was going to lose it all. It didn’t matter that it could get ruined, because she had to try to make sure it didn’t. She had to do what Phillip said and that was to choose not to hurt him, and he would choose not to hurt her. They had the kind of chemistry people dreamed about, and she couldn’t throw that away.
She loved him way too much to do that.
She had to try.
When the song ended and Claire and Brian came running off the stage, the crowd lost their marbles screaming. Phillip being the loudest, of course. Reese reached out, stopping Claire and looking deep in her eyes as she asked, “When did you do this?”
“This morning.”
Shaking her head, she smiled. “You amaze me with your talent, Claire. That was outstanding.”
“Thank you,” she said, wrapping her arms around Reese’s waist and hugging her close. Reese closed her eyes, holding Claire so tightly, and knowing that she couldn’t live a life without this girl in it. She looked up at Reese, her blue eyes swimming in tears, and said, “I danced it because you won’t listen to my words, so I thought maybe you’d listen if you saw me dance. I think you are more of a dancer than a talker, and I had to speak your language.”
Reese’s heart jumped into her throat as she slowly nodded. “I’m listening, Claire. I’ll always listen.”
She hugged her again, as the music to the next song started, and decided that Claire might be on to something. She may not have the words to say to Phillip, but she had her body and she had the gift of dance.
That had to amount to something.
Phillip had no clue why he was sitting between two best friends.