I couldn’t stop yawning the next morning. It was brutal since this was our final rehearsal before we had constant shows coming up in the next week. The choreography became second nature to me at this point. Every time the music would play, it’s like every dancer immediately dances the routines due to the muscle memory.
As I begin lacing up my pointe shoes, I see another set of torn up pointe shoes in front of me. I looked up to see it was Aimee.
“Girl, you need to get another pair of pointe shoes,” I teased.
“Girl, you need to keep your eyes on your own damn pointe shoes,” Aimee snapped back, laughing as she sat in the ground next to me. “These bad boys make me dance better than I normally would.”
“I bet,” I said, smiling as I tied my own points shoes. I did a big yawn afterwards, and of course, Aimee had to say something.
“Damn, you didn’t sleep last night?” Aimee asked. “You know we had an early rehearsal today.”
“I got home late last night from my cousin’s place,” I said, finishing up with a tight knot. “She and her boyfriend are leaving for Seoul today, so I wanted to see her before she did.”
“Weren’t you supposed to stay over or something?” Aimee asked once again. “At least that’s what Sahim said yesterday.”
“You spoke to Sahim?” I asked. It sort of took me by surprise that Aimee would go to Sahim to ask about me.
“Yeah,” Aimee said. “I was trying to see if you wanted to come to my room and hang out with me and Maurice, but when I knocked and I didn’t get an answer, I assumed you were with Sahim for the night.” I shook my head and laughed; Aimee always thought I was with Sahim.
“Well,” I began to say. Before I was able to say anything else, Aimee shot her head up and got closer to me, waiting to hear some gossip. “He did come with me last night.”
“Oh?” Aimee simply responded. “Introducing him to family now?”
“It’s not even like that,” I dismissed quickly. “He was my ride there technically.”
“So wait,” Aimee said as she readjusted herself. “He was your ride, but he was back at the hotel before you apparently.” I looked up at Aimee, not really knowing what to say. I didn’t want her finding out the truth; that Jamie was the one that dropped me off last night.
“My cousin drove me on her way to the airport,” I said, hoping it was convincing enough. It wasn’t long after that I see Sahim walking into the rehearsal space with a cup of coffee in hand, toward Aimee and I.
“Good morning, ladies,” Sahim greeted as he walked closer to us. “Grace,” Sahim said as he handed me the cup of coffee.
“What am I; a ghost?” Aimee said to Sahim. “Where’s my coffee?”
“Still at the cafe,” Sahim teased. Aimee rolled her eyes and started to get up from the ground.
“Well I guess I’m going to get me a damn coffee myself,” Aimee said as she walked away from us. I looked up at Sahim as he sat on the ground next to me.
“You should’ve gotten Aimee one,” I began to say. “Now I’m going to have to hear her all throughout rehearsal now.”
“Well tell her the next one will be on me then,” Sahim concluded. “Heard you got in late last night.”
“Is that why you got me coffee today?” I asked, taking a sip from the coffee. Sahim has been bringing me coffee long enough to know how I perfectly like it. It was the littlest things that made me smile.
“I always get you coffee,” Sahim said. “Today, there’s a shot of expresso.” I take a sip of the coffee and immediately taste the shot. Sahim laughs at the face I make after drinking it.
“Well, that’ll most definitely wake me up,” I said. I looked up at Sahim and smiled. “How’d you know I got in late last night?”
“Oh,” Sahim simply started to say. “Aimee was looking for you yesterday. I told her you were at Skylar’s.” I was a little confused. Did he see me come in with Jamie last night? Is he not telling me? I immediately put the coffee down on the floor beside me, getting ready to get up from the ground.
“I should start heading to the stage,” I said, trying to not show any conflicting emotion on my face. I didn’t want Sahim to think he said or did anything wrong; he didn’t. I did, letting Jamie drive me back to my hotel just hours after Sahim met the guy.
“You got this, tiny dancer,” Sahim simply said, taking the coffee from the ground. He smiled before walking away. This time, his smile kills me in more ways bad than good.
Letters From Liz. 