It had been exactly 34 days since Gale Hawthorne had seen his little sister, over a month and he hated it. He was terrified that she'd have grown up in the blink of an eye like his brothers had seemed to.
He took some solace in the fact she was taking ballet lessons, that was something little girls did right? He'd almost died when his mother mentioned getting her a cell phone, she wasn't even 10 for Christ sake! He was 23 and he'd only just got a cell phone.
His mother had said her lessons usually cut out around noon but had a tendency to run over. He realised just how often that was, when not a single other parent showed up until a quarter past.
Finally he heard the music the other side of the door he was sat by, switch off. He half expected a group of screaming girls to barge through the door in a hurry to get home but that wasn't the case. One by one, tutu clad little girls and a surprising number of boys, filed out of the room, excited but not like they wanted to leave at all. Ten minutes passed without anyone else leaving the studio and he started to worry.
When a fast paced track started blaring from the room he shot up, thinking he'd missed his sister and the next class had acquired the studio. He pushed open the door and was immediately drawn to the blur in the middle of the room. The person was spinning so fast he couldn't distinguish their limbs and he found himself dizzy. They came to a sudden stop, falling to the ground so fast he thought they'd fainted. In shock, he let the door go and it closed with a bang, causing silence and the dancer in the middle of the room to freeze. Wow.
"Gale!" all at once he had the air knocked out of him, taking his eyes off the beautiful dancer and picking up his sister who was currently squeezing the air out of his lungs
"Hey Pose, surprise"
"Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I just got in this morning, I wanted to surprise you" Gale felt overwhelming happiness as his sister squeezed him once more before dropping back to her feet "you uh ready to go?" he asks, risking a glance at the dancer. Definitely wow
"Ma lets me stay to watch Miss Madge practice"
"Your teacher?" he asks dubiously. He was always under the impression it was a middle aged woman with greying hair and a turned up nose from years of looking down on people. He was not expecting wow
"Madge" the dancer breathes, offering her hand to him. He hadn't even heard her walk over
"Gale" he murmurs back, marvelling at her ruddy cheeks and windswept hair, not surprising considering the speed she was spinning. He has to force himself not to stare at the exaggerated rise and fall of her chest or the way her black leotard and white leggings are skin tight. Concentrating on her face doesn't do him much good either, she's perfect. Not his usual type, the exact opposite actually, she's blonde and creamy and petite "nice to put a face to the name"
"Likewise, I've heard lots about you"
"Uh oh, what've you been saying Pose?" Posy looks up at him innocently and Madge laughs
"It's actually your mother who's been telling me about you"
"Ugh" he groans "that's even worse"
"Not to worry, she's painted you in an excellent light" he doesn't doubt that but he just knows she's bound to have said something embarrassing. He scratches the back of his neck, his mother hasn't tried to set him up before
"Well anything embarrassing she might've told you isn't true"
"And the good things?"
"Take them for gospel" he grins. He'd been out of the game for a while, work kept him away from his family and busy. But if the way she smiled was anything to go by he was doing alright "you were pretty impressive over there"
"Miss Madge dances at competitions" Posy informs him "and she always wins"
"I bet she does" judging by what he'd seen
"There's one at city hall next week, can we go Gale? Please? Please?" hell yes!
"I don't know Pose, we'll see what Ma says"
"Please?"
"What if Miss Madge isn't comfortable with it?" Posy rolls her eyes at him and turns to her teacher
"Miss Madge do you mind if we come to your concert showcase?"
"Of course not Posy"
"See Gale. So can we go please?"
"I guess we can try and get tickets"
"Yessss!"
"No need, if you really want to come I can bring tickets to next week's lesson. Just let me know how many you need, maybe I should .. give you my number?" HALLELUJIAH!
"Yeah, yeah sure" he stammered, handing his device over eagerly. Smirking, Madge entered her number and ruffled Posy's hair
"I'll see you next week Posy"
"Bye Miss Madge!"
"Bye Posy, bye Gale"
"Bye Miss Madge" he grins, watching her over his shoulder as he and Posy leave.
When they get to his SUV, Gale pulls out his phone and opens the contact list. There right at the top is Madge's number, saved under After Show Drinks? So before pulling off he taps out a quick text How about dinner?