My knees ached when they hit the creaky, old wooden floor of my college dance studio, but I kept going. The mirror showed my sweaty face and a few loose Senegalese twists falling out of my ponytail, which should have been enough sign for me to stop, but I couldn’t. I needed to figure out the next move after the turn. I walked toward the sound system that had my phone connected. When the screen lit up, the time showed it was already past 10 p.m.
“I’ll practice for thirty more minutes, then I’ll get dinner.” I convinced myself. I played the song from the beginning and started my dance from the top. When the instrumental began, I stopped.
“Why can’t I figure out the choreography for this next part?” The showcase was this Friday. I tried out a bunch of moves, but nothing felt right. What was I missing? I sighed and unplugged my phone. There was no need to continue; my brain was fried.
I took the shuttle back to main campus, ordered my usual from O’Neil’s, a grilled cheese with fries, then headed up to the student center. Only one of my friends was hanging out at the back of the center where the island was, working on some homework. Ember spotted me coming up the stairs.
“Hey, Serenity,” she said. I sat on the stool next to her with my meal. She tried to grab a fry, but I smacked her hand away before she could nab one.
“I don’t think so. I need these.”
“Uh oh, emotional support fries? What happened?”
“Nothing, I’m just hungry from rehearsing.” I stuffed my mouth with soft fries and barely melted grilled cheese. O’Neil’s had to be the only place that could mess up a grilled cheese.
“Oh yeah, you’re dancing with Oliver, aren’t you?”
I shook my head.
“Not exactly, he said he didn’t want to perform anymore. So, I’m going solo.”
“What? Why? Weren’t you two working on it since the beginning of this month?”
“I don’t know; he said something about just choreographing a dance for fun and not in front of an audience, but I thought he said he was fine performing it for the showcase when I asked, but it’s fine. I’m coming up with new choreography to a new song, and it’ll be done by Friday, and it’ll be okay, you’ll see.” I ate another handful of fries. This was fine. I wasn’t going to force him to do the dance. Oliver backing out wasn’t going to stop me from performing. So what if he had more experience with choreographing a dance than me, and my inexperience with it was showing through this dance block I was in?
“I don’t know how others on the dance team do it. They make it look so easy, putting choreography together to make it look good.”
“Can I see what you have so far?”
“I don’t know. I’m still tweaking it.”
“What’s the song?”
“It’s Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran.”
“I love that song. Well, I love all of his songs, but that one’s my favorites.” She snatched one of my fries when I wasn’t looking. I rolled my eyes. I’ll let her have that one.
“I definitely have to see what you have planned.” I performed what I had prepared so far, and when the instrumental part started, I stopped. Mind blank. Again.
“What happened? You were doing so well.”
“Thanks, I just don’t know what to do next. That’s why I was at the studio for so long.”
She crossed her arms. “Well, that won’t do.”
I slumped back in the stool next to her. “You’re telling me.” I pointed to her artwork.
“What are you working on?”
“It’s for my project that’s due tomorrow morning. Been working on it the past few hours.” My jaw dropped.
“Why do you do this to yourself?” I never understood how she could wait until the last minute to do her art homework, especially her bigger projects. She shrugged.
“You baffle me.” I shook my head at her. “She looks amazing though.” The black and white woman she was drawing stood at the edge of the paper, her hair flowing in the wind in all different directions behind her. It was almost as if her hair were dancing. The sunlight hit it just right. Light. Flowing.
“I got it,” I said suddenly, startling her in the process. “Sorry, but I think I figured it out.”
“Let’s see it.”
I set my phone up so I could record myself, and got into my starting position.
“Can you press play, please?” The instrumentals started again, and my body found its answer. My arms flowed over my head like the woman’s hair in Ember’s artwork. Then, the rest of the song played, and it was like the finishing moves flowed through me. He’s singing about his love for this girl who is so beautiful to him. Like she’s a light and her eyes are the sea. Sparkling and beautiful. The last note played, and I released a breath.
“It’s done.” I cheered, grabbing Ember by the hands and shaking them. “Thank you, Ember.”
“For what?”
“For helping me. The woman you drew inspired me.”
“Art inspires art, as they say.” She chuckled to herself. I looked at the woman on her paper again; it looked as though she winked at me. Her hair flowing in waves like the Tenerife Sea.
