It was a little after 3:30 in the morning, and Calley woke up in her third cold sweat of the night, to the same tingling sensation in the muscles of her legs. She'd thought she could handle this, sleeping in a room by herself. But she was quickly discovering that symptoms of lingering withdrawal weren't so easy to discard on her own in the middle of the night. She felt closed in, as if it was getting harder to breathe the longer she stayed in the room.
Finally she rose to her feet, and escaped the room at the end of the downstairs hallway, nervously fingering the wall to find her way down in the semi-darkness. The floor was cold on her feet, but the sensation wasn't nearly as troubling as being holed up in that room had felt like.
As she approached the living area, her eyes traveled up the adjacent staircase. What she wanted to do more than anything was to go find Leonardo, to find herself safe in his presence again. Calley lowered her eyes the moment the thought flitted through her mind. Shouldn't be thinking things like that Calley, she reprimanded herself. You're a big girl, you can do this on your own.
She sank onto the couch instead, and pulled the thin quilt off the back of it. After wrapping up in it as tightly as she could, she laid her head back down against the armrest, and waited silently for the opportunity to fall back asleep.
Karina came out of her own room downstairs around 5:45 that morning. When she had a lot of work to get done in one day, she was in the habit of getting an earlier start so that she could stay out of the guys' way better. It was their practice space after all, even if they didn't mind her using it. As she headed that direction, Karina heard a soft sound come from the living area, and turned on the ball of her foot to investigate it.
She was a little surprised to see someone on the couch, definitely not one of the guys based on the figure's shape. The young woman raised her head when she heard Karina, and nodded hello to her solemnly.
"Calley? Is everything alright?"
"It's okay. The walls were closing in on me, so I just came out here." She answered.
"Have you gotten any sleep?"
"A few minutes here and there."
"Do you need something? Is there anything I can do to help you?" Karina asked.
"Don't worry about me. I'll get there eventually." She replied.
Karina peered at her for a couple of seconds as if considering something, and then threw a glance back over her shoulder. "Know what? I was headed over to get stretched out. I've got a lot to do today, but I like to take my time with this part. Would you care to join me?"
"Well, I'm not really...I haven't done anything like that in awhile." Calley said a little haltingly.
"I won't let you do anything to hurt yourself." Karina assured her. "C'mon. It's better than lying here not sleeping, isn't it?"
"When you put it that way..."
The young woman got slowly to her feet, and followed Karina down the hall to the practice room, where'd she'd sat the evening before, watching Leonardo. As they both stretched out legs in front of them on the mat, Calley automatically reached for her toes and held the position, hissing a little sharply under her breath as the pain met her.
"Bend you legs a little." Karina advised her. "You really do need to take things slowly."
Calley blew a wisp of blond hair out of her face and obeyed her, drawing her knees up however slightly off the floor. Neither woman said anything for the first couple of minutes, as Calley fell into a rhythm following directly behind Karina's own motion, who was intentionally easing her into the easiest stretches she knew.
Calley's curiosity was finally getting the better of her, as she recognized the ease of Karina's flexibility, and knew that the woman was holding back from pushing too hard so that she wouldn't try it either. "What is it you do exactly?" She asked Karina. "Do you teach somewhere?"
"I did teach." Karina answered. "I ran a studio out in California - it was my Mom's actually. I only took over after she died."
"Sorry." Was her immediate response.
"It was difficult." Karina acknowledged. "And losing the studio wasn't much easier, particularly because it was my own stupid fault."
The look in her green eyes had instantly become so saddened, that Calley intentionally shifted the subject.
"And now you're in New York. So what do you do here?"
"I'm a choreographer." Karina replied, once again under control. "I create routines and I train dancers for live shows. I'm in the middle of a project right now actually."
"It sounds kind of exciting. Was that what you always wanted to do?"
Karina hesitated, as she bent one arm firmly behind her head. "You might say that it's the new dream. It wasn't what I pictured growing up...but in many ways, it's better than what I could have tried to plan."
"What did you picture?" Calley couldn't help asking.
"I wanted to be a dancer, one of those girls that I train now. But I'm honestly at peace with the role that I play behind the scenes." Karina replied evenly.
Calley's gaze was different that the woman had ever seen it look before, and something in her obvious interest caused her to continue.
"I got accepted to a school when I was 18, to continue dancing." Karina said a little wistfully. "The open door was there...but I didn't take it."
"Why not?" She asked.
"There were a couple of factors. My Mom was one of them, we'd always been pretty tightly connected when I was growing up. Of my sister, brother, and myself, I was the only one who really took to the ballroom scene with her. Ever since I was a tiny kid, I can remember going to her studio with her, and knowing that her dream was that it would be mine someday. As much as I wanted to be on the live stage myself...I was afraid, that I wouldn't be good enough to make it. That I'd leave behind my entire life in California, only to fail when I got here.
I ended up not even telling anyone about being accepted. I compromised what I really wanted, to placate my own fear, and to make my Mom happy. Looking back now, it feels more like an excuse than ever. She would have loved me, no matter what I did. I think it was my own way of rationalizing my decision to stay behind."
Calley nodded, but didn't ask anything else right away. She followed Karina as the woman got back to her feet, and started stretching out her back by bracing both arms on her hips, and slowly twisting her torso. Muscles throbbed, but Calley fed off of the pain. It was familiar, welcome even. She exhaled somewhat contentedly as she leaned against the wall beside Karina a few minutes later.
"How did you know that would make me feel better?" Calley asked. "Did Leo tell you that I used to dance?"
Karina shook her head meekly. "No. I've seen pictures, from your dad's apartment. He once told me that you were really something."
Calley shook her her own head slightly. "I wasn't that great. It took me at least twice the effort as most of the other girls, to even master so many of the techniques. And I use that the term 'master' loosely." She replied wryly. "I walked away from ballet years ago."
"That doesn't mean it still wouldn't be good for you." Karina encouraged her. "It would probably be helpful in giving your body some liberation again."
The young woman shrugged. "I'm just not into it like that anymore Karina. But I appreciate hearing what you have to say. It's a good reminder that...not everything is as simple as it sometimes seems, is it?"
"Not even close." Karina said dryly. "I'm here anytime, if you'd like to work, or if you change your mind. I enjoyed this here with you."
"Thanks. I'm going to try and get some real sleep. Maybe I'll come by later, and see what you're working on." Calley suggested.
"You're welcome to it."
Brandon had woken up early again that morning himself, but had opted to go back over his new contract with a fine tooth comb again, before heading downstairs to the gym that was in the basement of Marc's building. He glanced up from his paperwork at the kitchen table as the doctor came through the living room, and shot him an easy smile.
"Doctor--" He started, only for the man to hold up a hand at him.
"Marcus." The man interrupted. "Good morning Brandon. Looks like you're getting an early start." Marc commented, as he reached over the counter to hit the button on the coffeemaker.
"Yeah, I've just been doing some real thinking, while I still have the time."
"Before the school year kicks off you mean?" He asked in return.
"Well...I'm actually not sure about my direction right now. I had another serious offer on the table, a great recommendation for a job from an old professor out of Michigan."
"Michigan?" Marcus repeated, carefully keeping his tone from reacting too severely. "I thought you already signed a contract to teach here."
"Well, I haven't exactly finished the due process, transferring my license for instance. I went to the Civic Center to do it, but then I got a little sidetracked. I'm not feeling settled now, and I'm not sure if this was a good idea." He shuffled his papers a little distractedly. "I still have some considerations to make."
"Are you going out?" Marcus asked, trying very hard to keep the apprehensive note out of his voice. "Do you want some coffee? Before you go, I mean, I'm making it anyway." Stammering. Yeah, great way to keep him on an even keel Marcus, he chided himself severely.
Brandon started to say something, but then stopped himself for a few seconds before going on. "Things aren't what I expected Marcus. I thought that I could come here, and pick some stuff back up, right from where it left off. But it doesn't always work that way, does it? Too much time has passed, too many things have happened. I just don't think that I can continue to hang around here, and pretend that anything can be normal." He finished, as he got up from the table.
Brandon only took the time to gather his gym bag, and was out the door of the apartment a few seconds later.
With a gigantic sigh, Marcus retrieved his cell phone from the pocket of his jacket where he'd accidentally left it, and hit Katherine's speed dial. It was still a little early yet, but damage control wasn't something she'd want to put off.
"Marc? What's up?" She asked after a beat of silence on her end.
"We have a problem, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but..."
"Just lay it on me Marcus, no sense in fooling around with it." She said a little wearily as he hesitated.
"Your brother's considering flying the coop entirely. He's looking at some position in Michigan." Marcus told her. He felt a little like a tattle-tail even as the words left his mouth, but this was exactly the kind of information they'd begged him for.
Katherine swore on the other end, a practice she wasn't actually well known for. "This isn't happening. One way or another, he's got to hear us out."