Fragile /// L.T.

“Penny, make sure your back leg is straight on that leap, please.”

“Jack, don’t grab Harley too hard or you’ll break her arm.”

“Bailey, that was great, but you need to smile.”

I sighed as I set my bag down on the floor behind the front desk, listening to the various corrections coming from each of the three dance rooms we had in our studio. A small smile tugged at my lips as I pulled out my worn shoes and pulled them on my feet.

“Ah, so the princess decided to arrive, did she?” My brother’s sarcastic voice sounded from behind me, causing me to jump. I whirled on him instantly, whacking his shoulder with the pair of tights in my hand.

“Garret! You can’t just sneak up on me like that! I could have killed you!” I protested. He merely smiled, raising an eyebrow at the tan cloth clutched in my hand.

“Yeah. Because your old, worn-out tights are so life-threatening.” He deadpanned. I scoffed and rolled my eyes before turning around yet again.

“Don’t you have a class to teach or something?” I muttered. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling my body away from the computer I had just been about to log in to.

“You know I love you, sis.” He said, rocking us back and forth. I grumbled slightly, but couldn’t stop the smile forming on my face. Garret always had that effect on me. Being twins, we always were able to make each other smile, even if one was mad at the other. Our sibling moment was cut short when a voice called out from one of the rooms to our left.

“Garret! Georgiana! Come in here, please!” I sighed. That would be my mother’s summoning. Can’t ignore that one. With one last glance at the computer, I followed my brother into the room my mother’s voice had just rang out from.

“Hey mum.” The two of us said in unison as soon as we entered the large, wooden-floored room. My mum looked at us through the long mirror that took up an entire wall and motioned for us to come in further.

By the looks of it, she was teaching her intermediate contemporary class. I knew most of the girls (and the two boys) by name, as they had been attending Rhythms Dance Center for almost as long as I had. Each girl wore a pair of either nude or pink tights, black shorts, and some sort of tank top or T-shirt. The boys had almost the same attire, but their shorts were longer and baggier, and they had no tights on. Everyone was wearing tan footwear.

“Could you perform Wicked Games for this group?” She asked. I sighed. I wasn’t even warmed up yet, and she wanted me to perform in front of an entire class? Garret let out a low chuckle behind me before leaning down to whisper in my ear.

“Maybe if you showed up early like me, you’d be warmed up like I am.” He taunted before skirting around me and giving me a knowing smirk. I scoffed at him and looked at my mum.

“Yeah. Play the music, and we’ll perform.” I said, giving Garret a quick glare before taking my place directly in front of him.

I had choreographed this song for the arts festival that was going to take place in two weeks. I even had the dress I would wear already picked out—I just needed to get my mother’s approval. I didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought of my outfit for this dance before the music started.

Throughout the dance, my mom was pointing out various things to her class. I had been through this enough to ignore her comments and focus solely on the dance I was performing.

When the song finally ended, Garret and I finished, him practically lying flat on top of me. He grinned at me, and before I knew it, he licked my cheek. I pushed him off me instantly, sitting up.

“Ew! Garret, you’re so disgusting!” I protested, pushing myself up to my feet. Garret followed soon after, still grinning. I sent a glare his way, but he was too busy laughing to notice.

“You’ll survive, Georgiana.” My mum said dismissively, turning away from the two of us and looking at her class. “Now, what did you notice about the way the twins danced?” She asked. I took that as my cue to leave.

--

“No, I can close. Really, Garret.” I assured, waving my brother away from me. He opened his mouth to protest, but I beat him to it.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend to take to dinner or something?” I said, turning away from him. I didn’t even have to look at my dark-haired brother to know I had won. I heard him chuckle slightly behind me.

“You’re right.” He said, the smile in his voice evident. “That I do. Don’t forget to lock the back door!” He called as he walked out the door, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

As soon as he was gone, I locked the front door. I loved closing the studio. It was the one time I could dance in one of the large rooms and not have anyone watching and scrutinizing my technique. After shutting down the computer in the front lobby and turning off the lights in the other dance rooms, I stepped into the last room and closed the door behind me. I spent a few minutes getting my pointe shoes on before walking over to the room’s sound system and putting on music.

Black Swan. My dream role in any ballet ever. I had been practicing this dance for a few years now during times like these, when I closed the studio by myself. It was my little secret—nobody knew I even had pointe shoes, let alone knew how to actually use them. Rhythms was a contemporary dance studio that focused on lyrical and hip hop dance styles.

I was so lost in the dance that I didn’t notice the young girl standing in the window, watching, until I was done with the dance. As soon as I saw her, I froze, and the two of us stared at each other for a few minutes. She looked to be about ten years old, her long brown hair hanging limply past her shoulders as if it was wet. It wasn’t until a loud clap of thunder made us both jump that I realized her hair actually was wet, and she was standing in the rain. Then I noticed that she was alone. With a quick glance at the clock to see that it was, indeed, past 10 at night, I rushed out of the room and to the front door of the studio.

“Oh, honey! You must be freezing!” I called into the rain, looking around the door at the young girl. She looked over quickly, her eyes wide with surprise. I motioned for her to come inside. After a moment’s hesitation, the young girl scurried through the doorway.

She was drenched, and judging by the redness surrounding her eyes, she had been crying. I ignored the child’s emotional problems for the time being, instead deciding to address the fact that she was currently shivering.

“Stay right here, love.” I said before rushing into the back storage room. I located the box I was looking for after a few moments, pulling the flaps open and pulling a few articles of clothing out of it. When I returned to the lobby, the little girl was facing the wall to my right, her small fingers tracing over the various pictures of dancers who had danced here. Many of the small pictures were of my brother and I, and I smiled at the memories. So I didn’t scare her, I cleared my throat before approaching her.

“Are these of you?” She asked, gesturing to the wall of photos behind her. I smiled and nodded.

“A few of them, yes.” I admitted, crouching in front of her and holding out the clothes. “Here’s a change of clothes for you, love. Don’t want you freezing to death. There’s a bathroom right there.” I said, pointing to the white door leading to the bathroom. She took the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.

I considered calling Garret and asking him what to do. But he would question why I was still at the studio. I tried to think of what to do with the young girl, but my thoughts were cut off by a small voice behind me.

“What do you want me to do with the wet clothes?” I turned around and smiled.

“I’ll hang them up for you.” I said gently, taking them from her. “Where’s your mum? Do you know her number so I can call her?” I asked, grabbing a few of the coat hangers and putting her wet clothes on them. When I turned back to look at her, she was looking at the floor, a frown on her face.

“My mum died last month.” She practically whispered. I felt my jaw drop slightly and I instantly felt awful for bringing up her mother.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, love. What about your dad? Can I call him to come get you?” I asked slowly, praying that he would be alive. Her head snapped up sharply, and I could see slight anger there.

“I don’t want anything to do with him.” She muttered. Before I could respond to that, the front door burst open and a man stumbled in, his eyes wide with panic. He was drenched, his brown hair hanging into his blue eyes. His gaze landed on me and he stepped forward, panting.

“Please, you have to help me. My daughter—“ His voice cut out as soon as his eyes landed on the girl who was now standing behind me with her arms crossed. I watched as the man’s panicked expression morphed into one of anger. “Juliette Marie Tomlinson,” He began, side-stepping me and stalking over to the girl. “Do you know how much trouble you’re in young lady?”

“I don’t care.” The girl—Juliette—responded, her arms still folded across her chest. My eyebrows lifted in surprise. Had I ever talked to my mom like that (and I have a few times) I would have been smacked before I could even blink. However, the man in front of me merely ran a frustrated hand through his hair and grabbed her arm with the other. She pulled on it, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Come on. We’re going home.” He muttered, turning and pulling her past me and to the door.

“No! I don’t want to go with you!” She yelled, clawing at his hand. “I want to stay here with her!” I felt my eyes widen when I was brought into the conversation. The man’s eyes landed on me, and I could see the emotion there. He was tired, frustrated, and I could even see the hurt because of what his daughter was saying. His gaze traveled down my body, lingering on my pointe shoes, before coming back up to my face. I looked at the girl.

“Um, honey, he’s your dad.” I said quietly, taking a few steps forward and crouching in front of her. I saw the man tense as I approached his child, but I ignored him. “You should go with him.” She shook her head violently, tears forming in her eyes.

“I don’t want to.” She whimpered. My brows furrowed at her words. What could possibly make her not want to go home with her own father? Suddenly, it clicked. I hadn’t seen any bruises on her, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. My eyes flickered up at the man briefly before I looked back at her.

“Well,” I began, standing up. “Your clothes are still drying.” I offered. Juliette’s father seemed surprised, and he glanced at her outfit.

“You changed her?” He asked. I felt my eyes narrow slightly as I shook my head. He seemed nervous that I had changed his daughter’s clothing. Maybe my suspicions were right.

“No, I let her go in the bathroom and do it herself. Why?” I asked slowly. He nodded curtly and ignored my question. “You two are welcome to stay while Juliette’s clothes dry, though.” I said, looking down at Juliette. Her eyes lit up, and she yanked her arm from her dad’s grip before running to the room I had been dancing in earlier. My eyes lifted to meet the man’s gaze. He nodded in agreement before slumping into a chair against the wall and burying his face in his hands.

--

“—telling you, Harry. She hates me. And I can’t do anything about it. She wanted to stay with a complete stranger in weird pink shoes over me. Kendall should have told me about her when she was first born. I could have seen her grow up. And now I can’t do anything with her because she’s blaming me.” I listened from around the corner as the man spoke on the phone. Suddenly I felt bad for assuming the worst of him. He was just a father going through a rough patch with his daughter. With a sigh, I stepped around the corner.

“They’re pointe shoes.” I said quietly. He looked up in surprise.

“What?”

“They’re pointe shoes.” I repeated, pointing to the shoes on my feet. “And my name is Georgiana.” I added. The man stood up from the chair and I noticed he was only a few inches taller than me.

“I’m Louis.” He said, holding his hand out for me to shake. We shook hands briefly before he peered behind me warily. I looked behind me to see Juliette standing in the doorway, yawning.

“You tired, love?” Louis asked gently. Juliette nodded sleepily and walked farther into the room. I stepped to the side and watched as she let him pick her up in his arms. I pulled her now dry clothes from the rack and folded them neatly, handing them over to Louis. “Thank you so much for keeping her safe until I found her.” He said. I gave him a small smile.

“You’re welcome.” I replied. Moments later, my mouth opened in a large yawn. Louis chuckled.

“Looks like Juliette isn’t the only one in need of sleep.” He quipped. I chuckled as well.

“No she’s definitely not.” I agreed.

Notes

So I wrote this a long time ago and never published it or posted it anywhere. Gonna see if I can't get this story completed before my life gets to hectic! Keep an eye on these notes; I'll post links to each dance performed in the fic (or at least the general ideas of what the dances are!). Thanks for reading!

-Krea