I know I should be working on the other stories but I just wanted to write this! It's a one shot. Will not be continued. For those of you reading my other stories, I don't know how to end A Comfort Thing well, so I'm stuck on that right now. The Reunion should be updated soon though. In the mean time! ENJOY!
"Hey! Princess?" Derek calls down the stairs to his new wife.
"Yeah babe?" Emily asks. She yells up at him from the living room. Unpacking boxes into their living room.
"Where did you get these?" He asks coming down the stairs holding a pair of ballet slippers in hand. Keeping her back turned to him she finishes unpacking their movies.
"What are what?" She asks glancing over her shoulder. When she sees what he has in his hands her eyes go wide. She runs to him, and takes them from him gently. "Where did you find these?" She asks staring at them. He looks at her confused.
"It was in one of those boxes from the top of your closet." He said simply. She smiles a bit, and sits down on the couch. "So where did they come from?" He asks. She smiles a bit.
"They're...they're mine." She says slowly.
"Emily...get ready! You're going to be late for class!" Elizabeth yelled down the stairs.
"Hold on mom!" Emily yelled. The pregnancy test lay in the trash. Her eyes watered, and she wiped away her tears. She goes to her mirror, and reapplies a thick layer of eye liner. Her hair was hanging down framing her face. She had on light pink tights under a black leotard, leg warmers on her legs, and her shoes in hand. She ran downstairs and her mom glanced at her.
"Emily..." Elizabeth starts. "You need to put your hair up." She says. Emily doesn't look at her, just gets in the car.
"Matty is picking me up in his car after practice. I have my bag and my change of clothes." Emily says. Elizabeth gives her a disapproving look.
"I told you that I don't want you hanging out with that boy." Elizabeth says. Emily rolls her eyes, and the car stops. "I'm sending a car to pick you up after class. If you don't come out here, he'll call me and I will be very angry with you." She tells Emily laughs.
"Fuck you. You don't know anything about Matty, and you don't know anything about me. Be pissed. I don't give a fuck anymore." Emily says walking out and into the building. The girls she dances with hate her. She doesn't have many friends here, but she's better than them all. Her teacher is strict. Walking in she goes to the bar to stretch. As she does she mouths the words to the song she's listening to through her headphones. "Dusty words lying under carpets. Seldom heard well must you keep your secrets. Locked inside hidden safe from view. Well, is it all that hard. Is it all that tough..." Emily stretches her leg.
"Look...Prentiss has her legs open. No shocker there." A girl says from behind her. Lisa was her name. Emily bit her lip. She could hear them, but she had to ignore them. "Does mommy know her baby girl is such a whore?" She asks. Emily pulls her knees up to her chest, and closes her eyes trying to focus on the words of Stevie Nicks. She feels the tears, but bites her lip.
"Her mom probably doesn't even care. I mean...who would care about Emily? She's a freak." Jenny says standing next to Lisa. Emily takes a deep breath. She knew that rumors were going around about her and John having sex. She knew, and she had living proof in her stomach. Matty was going to help her take care of that tonight though. She stood up, and lifted her leg. She moves toward the middle of the room, and starts to dance to the music the teacher plays. Emily kept her arms up, and her eyes closed. Her legs move perfectly. After class she sees Matty walk in. She runs up, and wraps her arms around him. "Hey Matty!" Emily says. He smiles at her, and she bites her lip.
"Can we go?" She asks with tears in her eyes.
"Did you fuck him too Prentiss?" Lisa asks. Emily bites her lip, and takes Matthew by the hand. Matthew looks up at the girls.
"Just because you're an ugly bitch that hangs out with people that hate you doesn't give you the right to be rude to a person that's everything you'll never be." Matthew says pulling Emily with him.
"We need to leave." Emily says pushing him out the doors. She wipes her eyes.
She stopped going to real classes after the abortion. She used to put her shoes on and dance around in her basement. She had mother turned their basement into a studio. She would play her Rock a Little album and dance all night. Dancing was something she loved to do. She stopped after she went to college though. A dancing FBI Agent...yeah that sounded right. Derek looked at her. "I used to dance...a long time ago." She says quietly. She doesn't know why the shoes bring back that specific memory, but it does. She turns to Derek.
"How long?" He asks. She shrugs.
"Three to about twenty one." Emily says quietly. Derek's eye brows shoot up.
"Whoah...that's a long time." Derek says.
"I stopped taking classes at about fifteen though. I would practice everyday though. I really loved it." Emily says moving the shoes in her hands. "I forgot they were in the box." Emily says softly.
"Why did you stop?" He asks her. She sighs.
"I went to college, and I just...I got lost in studying. I forgot about it." Emily says. "Just...put them back in the box. I'll mess with them later I guess." She says handing them to him.
"Or you could dance for me." He says with a smile. She smiles back at him, but it's sad.
"I don't think so." She says softly. "It's just a stupid thing from my past." She says standing up from their new couch, and moving back to the boxes of movies.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Watch!" Five year old Emily says in her tutu. She pulls on her father's sleeve.
"Emily, Daddy is working." He told her. She frowned, and walked into her kitchen. Elizabeth was in the lounge reading. Emily walked over to her, and pulled on her sleeve.
"Mommy...watch me." Emily says. Elizabeth turned to look at Emily and let out an annoyed sigh.
"Honey, it's been a long day. Go upstairs and play." Elizabeth says turning back to her book. Emily's lip trembles, and she runs upstairs. She puts her ballet shoes on, and watches the mirror like she has at class. She gets on her tip toes and turns around in a circle. She does exactly what told her to do. She knows she can do it. If she keeps working. If she keeps working they'll pay attention to her. They just don't want to see something unfinished. Her leg raises, and she puts her arms up. Her ankle twists and she falls down. Her lip trembles, and she grabs her ankle in her hands.
"Daddy..." She whispers. Daddy is working. Emily wipes her tears away and looks in the mirror. Crying is for babies. She's not a baby. She shakily stands up, and bites her lip when she feels the pain in the ankle. "It has to be perfect." She says with a smile. She raises her leg, and starts to dance again.
As Emily unpacked the rest of her things, she couldn't help but think about the shoes upstairs in the box. She sighs, and shakes it off. That night curled up next to her new husband she sighs. She got out of bed, and put his shirt on her body. She silently padded to her way to her closet. She reached up, and took the box down. Whenever she was lonely, or upset she would dance. Now she was happy, and finally living the life she wants to live. She missed it though. She walked down the stairs to where the floors were wooden. She sat down, and placed the shoes on her feet. They were old, and worn. She laced them up correctly, and stood on her toes. She picked up her phone, and started to play her music. It was odd doing this in a t-shirt, and underwear but oh well. She started to move her body to the music, and it took her breath away. She moved her body to the music, and smiled. She twirled and twirled like she had so many years before.
The stairs creaked behind her, but she hadn't noticed. Derek stood in awe as she moved professionally around the living room. She was so beautiful. The way her hair flared out as she spun, or the way her extended legs seemed to go on forever. It was perfect. She was perfect. He knew she was artistic, but he didn't know exactly how. He'd heard her sing, and she had played some instruments, but besides that he hadn't known. He watched as her feet exchanged sides, and she moved around lost in the music. The song finished, and she stopped. She sighed, and took a breath while staring at the wall. She shook her head, and leaned down to unlace them. "Don't stop princess. That was beautiful." He says softly walking down toward her. Emily turns around quickly.
"Oh...that...that was...that was nothing." Emily says turning red. "It wasn't that good. I haven't danced in years. You shouldn't...shouldn't have seen that." Emily says wrapping her arms around herself.
"No Em. I'm glad I saw it. It was beautiful. You were beautiful." He says looking her in the eyes. She smiles a bit. "I'd love to see more of it." He says softly raising his hand to her face to move her hair from her eyes. She smiles a bit. She wraps her arms around his body, and smiles against him. "I love you my ballerina." He says. She lets out a laugh.
"I love you too." She says looking down at her shoes. So many memories in a pair of ballet shoes. So many memories to come.