Right here right now under the stars, I promise you my heart 'cause it starts tonight!
"Tonight" - TobyMac
"What happened?"
Ollie came down the spiral staircase outside the dorms to find Abigail sobbing into her arms. It had been a couple hours since she had shuffled into class later, babbling something about hating customs and trying to figure out what she had missed out on. Her friends had tried to ask her about Ethan, but she had only sent a cold glare in Tara's general direction before pressing on with her warm-up. When she had refused to answer any questions after rehearsal, Ollie had been elected as the group's official representative to figuring out Abigail's latest drama.
"Let's just say Barcelona didn't end as positively as I would have liked," Abigail answered while wiping at her eyes with the corner of her pale pink crossover. "Ethan and I, we broke up this morning. Well, yesterday morning, I kind of lost a day somewhere. I just…I didn't think that's how it would go."
He sat down at her feet and listened as she continued. "It's just that after Sammy and everything last year, Ethan was kind of my safe place. He stopped judging me and accepted me in all my screwed-up glory," she explained. "I wanted to make it work with Ethan."
"Did he tell you why?"
"The distance," she answered sullenly. "I suppose he's right. We're going to both be so busy this year, now even more so that I want to focus on getting one of these chorus spots. And he's really starting to get good, Ollie, you should see him! He's so talented, you know, I wish he could see it the same way. It's just bad timing."
He had never heard her thoughts so disorganized. It was clear that Abigail really cared about Ethan. In his brief time in being around Kat's brother, he suspected that the fond feeling was quite mutual. Ollie also knew a thing or two about missed opportunities. "So take the year to figure it out," he suggested. "Maintain the friendship but keep your head in dance. If you're supposed to end up where he is – or with him – at the end of the year, the hands of fate will take you there. Spain would be lucky to get you, and I'm just the partner to get you there."
"Oh, you are, are you?"
Ollie nodded cockily. "Besides, if we're partnered together, we might get to end up dancing together beyond Third Year. I always thought that I'd sound really good with a Spanish accent."
"I don't think that's how accents work," she laughed as she took his outstretched hand so that he could help her to her feet. She followed Ollie down the sidewalk and toward the studio so they could get started. Christian wasn't coming back, Ethan was staying in Spain and Sammy was gone. Ollie was the only guy she could count on right now.
They spent the next eight months learning each other's habits. They learned how the other's body worked and moved and bent and ached. They learned how to tell a mood from the lift of a shoulder, the twitch of an eye, the extension of a foot. They ate, drank, slept dance, and any moment they weren't in the studio, they were together. By the time the offers began to come in, Abigail and Ollie waited alone together to open their envelopes.
"Sydney, New York, London, Berlin," Ollie rattled off as he separated the letters into two piles.
"Paris, Beijing, New York, Sydney," Abigail read off from her own list.
Ollie smiled. "So New York and Sydney make the short list," he said before picking up the final envelope. He knew that it was the one she was counting on. It was the one they were counting on. Somewhere along the way, sticking with Abigail and her happiness had become very important to Ollie. He wanted them both to land in Spain. It had been months since she had even spoken with Ethan, and there was still a chance that it wouldn't work out. They were acting on blind faith together, and if he didn't like men so much, he was sure he'd be in love with her completely by this point. "You go first."
She pushed a manicured fingernail through the flap and tore it away. A moment later, tears started to stream down her face. He wasn't sure what they meant at first, but a questioning look in her direction led to a slow nod. "I'm in."
Ollie followed suit and hollered with joy a moment later. "We're going to Spain!"
