*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. THey were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.*
"I know, Shawn," I say as I walk into the library on the phone to meet Dean.
"You're spending too much time with Dean," he says. "You have blown off every date night we've had for the last couple weeks so you could be with him."
"We're doing a project, Shawn, I'm sorry," I say. "I don't know what you want me to do. WE need to work together to get a good grade on the project. We should finish the project tonight," I say.
"Well, do you have time to hang out after you're done working with him or is that a no?" he asks.
"I don't know," I say.
"You know Ana between you going to dance and spending more time there and now working with Dean you hardly spend any time with me. I miss you and I just want to spend time with you, Baby,"
"Shawn," I say. "You only want to get into my panties at the moment."
"That's not true, Ana, I want to spend some time with my girlfriend. So can you please hang out with me for a little after you're done at the library?"
"I'll call you later," I say as I see Dean sitting at the table. "Bye, Shawn," I say hanging up the phone before he responds. "Hey," I say to Dean, "You beat me here today," I say with a soft smile.
"I have been here since after school," he says as I take a seat next to him after removing my scarf and jacket. "I wanted to do some reading."
"You did some reading?" I ask with a smile.
"Yes," he says with a smile. "I liked this Gatsby story. I decided to look up some of the other books we've read to see what all I missed. I must say I am enjoying Brave New World at the moment."
"I like that one too," I say with a smile. "So I typed up our report. It's finished if you want to read over it and see if it's okay. If there's anything you want me to change I can change it for you."
"Okay," he says. I pull the paper out of my folder and hand it to him to look over. He skims over the paper, concentrating as he reads it. I smile as his lips curl up into a smile. I have to admit in the last couple weeks working with him I have gotten to know him and he's not that bad of a guy. He's just misunderstood and he's not bad looking either. "This is really good, Anastasia. I like it."
"I didn't do it myself," I say with a smile. "You had a lot of good ideas too. It was both of us. I think you're going to get a good grade."
"I hope," he says with a smile. "I want a good grade, I need a good grade."
"I'm glad you care now," I say.
"I always cared I just didn't have the motivation to do it," he says with a smile as he hands the paper back to me.
"What motivated you to work harder?" I ask.
"You actually, no one has really ever taken the time to sit down with me and kick my ass telling me I needed to do this and I needed to do that. You actually motivated me to work harder."
"Oh," I say with a smile.
"Yeah," he says with a smile. "So how is the ballet stuff coming?" he asks.
"It's coming," I say, "I am getting nervous. It's coming up so soon."
"When's your audition?" he asks.
"March 21," I say. "I have time but still I know I am going to be nervous. This is everything I have worked for my whole life."
"I hope that you get in," he says with a smile. "Then you can get out of this town."
"That's my plan. I still have to talk to my dad about it and Shawn. Neither of them are going to like the idea of me leaving."
"It's not their life, Anastasia," he says. "It's your life. You have to do what you love and love what you do. If being a CEO isn't for you then don't do it. I don't know much about ballet okay I don't' know anything about ballet not my thing but what I do know is opportunity. I don't think something like this falls at your feet very often. If you give it up I think that will be a stupid decision. You're smart, Anastasia and you're beautiful," he says making me smile. He's really started to open up to me and I have been opening up to him. I feel a friendship has formed in the last couple weeks and maybe a little more. I'm still not sure how I feel about him but I feel like there are some underlying feelings there for him. "Take this opportunity and run for it. I wish I could find something for me to do. If you want to get out of Cincinnati this is your chance don't let anyone or anything stop you."
"Thanks," I say. "I'm going to miss working with you," I say out of nowhere.
"I'm going to miss working with you too, Anastasia, but let's face it. We're both going to go back to our old lives. You're going to go back to your friends and I'm going to go back to my friends and it will be like we never existed to each other like it did before. People like you don't hang out with people like me. It's as simple as that. I enjoyed working with you on this project but it's over now."
"Why do you say things like that, Dean? Maybe I want to be your friend."
"Yeah okay," he says, "Right, Anastasia. What could we possibly have in common to be friends?"
"Well, for one we are both misunderstood by everyone around us. We're not the people everyone thinks we are. Another thing is you and I both hate this town and dream about getting out of it."
"And that's about it," he says, "Anastasia, the life I live you don't' need to be a part of it and the life you live I have no business being part of it."
"Dean, I want to be friends," I say.
He shakes his head, "Anastasia, I don't think it's a good idea."
"Whatever," I say. I don't understand why he won't be friends with me. "So what did you get on your Great Gatsby test?" I ask.
"An A," he says with a proud smile.
"Did you really?" I ask, "you got an A?"
"Yes," he says, "all thanks to you and giving me the notes. Things had been a little tough at home and I couldn't make it to class. Thanks for looking out for me."
"It's what friends do, Dean," I say with a smile as I wrap my arms around him. "I'm so proud of you."
He wraps his arms around me and I melt at the warmth of his touch as the electricity flows between us. "Thank-you," he says, "you're not going to let this friends thing go are you?" he asks.
"Nope," I say with a smile. "So can we be friends?" I ask as we break the hug.
"Sure, sure," he says. "We can be friends. I don't know why someone like you would want to be friends with someone like me but okay, you win."
"Thank-you," I say with a smile. "So how about we go out and celebrate your A?"
"Is that a good idea?" he asks.
"It's a great idea. You did so well on your test. Let's go celebrate and let's celebrate finishing our project."
"Okay," he says with a smile. "Anything you have in mind?"
"I don't know what do you like to do? Do you like to go to the arcade? We can go to the arcade and play some games or we could go bowling. Maybe even the movies. I don't know whatever you want to do just let me know."
"The arcade sounds fun but I don't have any money, Ana," he says.
"It's okay," I say with a smile. "My treat."
"You know I don't like you paying for me all the time. You don't have to do it."
"I want to do it," I say packing up my stuff, "Let's go so I can beat you at air hockey and ski ball."
"Oh," he says as he puts his things away and gets his jacket on. "You think you can beat me in ski ball and air hokey huh?"
"I know I can," I say with a smile putting on my jacket. "I'm pretty good at those games. I'm the undisputed champion."
"We'll see," he says with amusement.
"Yes, you'll see," I say with a smile as he grabs my bag for me.
"I'll carry that for you," he says with a smile.
"You don't have to," I say.
"I want to," he says with a smile as we walk to the doors of the library. He opens the door for me and allows me to walk out before him and when we get to my car as I unlock the doors he opens the door for me before getting into the passenger's side of my Lexus. "Pretty sweet car, Ms. Anastasia."
"It was a gift for my 16th birthday," I say with a smile. "I like it."
"It's fancy," he says as I start the car. He leans back in the seat as I back out of the parking space. "You know, Ana, you should really wear your seatbelt when you're in the car. An accident could happen at any time and you have dreams of being a ballerina don't let those dreams fade away because of an accident."
"Good point," I say with a smile as I put my seatbelt on as we are stopped at a red light. "You can put the radio on if you'd like."
"Okay," he says as he turns on the radio and a Mozart piece is playing on the radio. "Classical music," he says. "I am not surprised by this. Mozart isn't it?"
"Yes," I say with a smile. "You know classical music?"
"Yes, Ana," he says. "I do enjoy listening to classical music once in a while. I mean not all the time but I do like to listen to it every so often. So this ballet thing you do," he says, "Have you ever done that little ballet with the Nutcracker?"
"Yes," I say with a smile. "It's one of my favorites. My ballet school puts the performance on every year. I started off as a sugar plum fairy and now I had the lead role."
"Impressive," he says, "I want to see you dance some time, Ana."
"Really?" I ask.
"Really. You sound like you love it so I want to see what you love about it so much."
"Wow, even my dad and Shawn don't come to see me dance. I would love for you to come see me dance some time I mean if you really want to."
"I really want to," he says with a smile before he takes my hand into his making my stomach fill with butterflies. I look at him and smile as his blue eyes meet mine and he smiles back at me.
When we arrive at the arcade at the mall I park my car and once again as we walk into the mall he holds the door open for me to go in first something that Shawn has never done for me. We make our way to the arcade and I pay for our tokens. We start off by playing a few games of ski ball going neck and neck. I haven't had this much fun in a while. I am finding it hard to concentrate with Dean beside me he is scoring high while I am missing all the right spots. Dean's tickets are piling out on the floor. "All right," I say after our last round. "You won but you won't win at air hockey," I say.
"We'll see," he says with a smile. "This is fun, Ana."
"Glad you're having fun," I say with a smile as we make our way to the air hockey game. "I hope you're ready to lose," I say.
"Bring it on, Bennett," he says with a smile as we get ready to play.
"Oh I will," I say with a smile as I put my token in and we begin to play the game. I get the first one in and then he scores. I score once more before he scores once more tying up the game after a lot of back and forth on the last round it gets intense. We're hitting the puck back and forth. He's dodging left and right to get it as I am doing the same. Our eyes on the little puck going back and forth, it goes on for what seems like hours before he hits the puck so hard that it slides across the table it goes so fast I can't stop it and he scores winning.
"BOO YAH!" he yells.
"Shut up," I say with a smile. "Good game," I say, "you got lucky."
"Don't be upset that I won," he says with a smile as we walk through the arcade. "I told you."
"You threw me off my game," I say.
"I threw you off your game? How exactly did I do that, Ana?"
"Don't worry about it," I say.
"You think I'm cute don't you," he says with amusement.
"Maybe a little bit," I say.
"Well, Ana, if it's any cancelation I think you're absolutely beautiful."
"Thank-you," I say with a smile as I blush.
"So how about I turn in these tickets and we go get something to eat. Only if you want to," he says.
"Sounds like a plan to me," I say with a smile as we walk to the counter for him to turn in the tickets he won to get some cheap prize.
He chooses a small stuffed pink dog and hands it to me. "That's for effort," he says with a smile.
"Thanks," I say with a smile. "So let's go get something to eat from the food court."
After we get our Chinese food we find a table to sit down and eat at. "I love Chinese food," he says, "it's been so long since I've had it."
"Me too," I say with a smile. "So today was fun."
"It was a lot of fun, Ana," he says, "I owe you though."
"You don't owe me anything," I say. "It was just a treat."
"You treat me to a lot."
"It's not a big deal," I say with a shrug. "So what do you do for fun?" I ask as I take a bite of my egg roll.
"There's not really much for me to do," he says, "I like to hang out with my friends a lot. That's pretty much it."
"You don't have any hobbies or anything you like to do?"
"What I like to do is not appropriate," he says, "but I do enjoy watching movies and playing video games of course I haven't done either for a while but when I could I enjoyed them. I don't really have much fun. What about you?"
"I don't really have much fun. Today was the most fun I have had in a while. I'm usually too busy studying or practicing ballet. I don't really have a life outside of school and ballet."
"I see," he says, "you must really love ballet."
"I do," I say, "it's my life. I've been doing it since I was 2 years old. I remember my first ballet class. It was so much fun. I was so excited to wear a little pink leotard and a pink tutu with fresh new ballet shoes. I fell in love with it instantly. I've been doing it ever since. It's my escape you know what I mean?"
"Your escape?" he asks.
"Yeah sometimes I just have to be out of my house. I'd rather be at the dance studio than at home. It is a way for me to get away from my dad shoving business down my throat. When I dance," I say, "I feel free. I can't describe the feeling but I just feel free. I can be myself. I love it."
"I can tell," he says with a smile. "You get this beautiful look on your face every time you talk about it. So your home life isn't that great?"
"Not really," I say, "I mean it's been tough for a while now. I barely see my dad and when I do it's when he's telling me what he wants me to do or we're fighting about something. I kind of hate it. That's one of the reasons I want to get out of Ohio as soon as I can."
"And what about your mom?" he asks. I stop eating and look down at the table thinking about my mom. "I'm sorry," he says, "I didn't mean."
"No it's okay. My mom left us when I was about 10 years old. She just left. I don't think she was happy with my dad so she just left. She left one day and never came back. I haven't heard from her since I was 12 years old. I miss her."
"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm really sorry."
"It's fine," I say, "what about you? You don't like your home life?"
"Not particularly," he says, "It's just my mom and me. My mom's not well," he says, "and I do everything I can to take care of her. I feel like I owe it to her. I've been taking care of her since I was 3 years old. That's when my dad left. He went to the store and never came home."
"Wow," I say. "So we have another thing in common. You're a good guy, Dean. I think it's sweet you take care of your mom," I say as I take his hand into mine. "That's admirable."
"I guess," he says with a smile. "I love her a lot. I just want her to get well again."
"I'm sure you do," I say as Shawn appears at my side and I quickly remove my hand from Dean's.
"What the hell is this?" asks Shawn. "You're supposed to be at the library working on a project but instead you're here with this guy? What the fuck, Anastasia?"
"We just came to celebrate the good grade on his test it's nothing, Shawn don't overreact to this."
"Don't overreact? I think I am being relatively calm considering my girlfriend is at the mall on what appears to be a date with some scoundrel," he says, "I think I am being very calm."
"He's not a scoundrel," I say, "don't talk about him like that."
"Ana," says Dean. "He is right I'm a scoundrel."
"No you're not," I say. "Shawn, we just came to hang out don't act like an asshole."
"Anastasia," he says, "People like us don't hang out with trash like him," he says pointing to him. "Look at him."
"He's not trash," I say, "stop talking about him like that."
"Why are you defending him?" he asks.
"Because he's not the guy you think he is," I say. "He's actually a very smart and caring guy. You're not better than anyone, Shawn. You think you are but you're not. You're not the God of the world. Stop talking down on people. I am so sick and tired of hearing you talk about people like you're above them."
"So you're really choosing this guy over me?" he asks.
"I'm not choosing anyone," I say, "I'm just so tired of you being a jerk to everyone that you think is beneath you. So what if Dean doesn't have a lot of money when did money ever produce happiness? When did money ever buy love? Money is an object. It's nothing. Money doesn't define a person it's the character that defines them. You can't make people like you with your money, Shawn. Money doesn't last forever but personality does. You're a jerk plain and simple. Stop acting like because you have a little bit of paper you're above everyone. If you took the time to get to know Dean you would know that he's not everything you think he is. You're pathetic."
"I'm pathetic?" he asks with a laugh. "You work on one project with this kid and all of a sudden you are all high and mighty. You're just as snobby as I am."
"I am not snobby at all," I say. "You think you know me but you don't, Shawn. The only thing you're worried about is getting into my panties. You don't care about me at all. You know NOTHING about me."
"Anastasia," he says.
"Ana," I say, "I don't like to be called Anastasia," I say, "if you knew me you would know that."
"Ana," he says, "Anastasia is such a beautiful name just like you," he says as he strokes my cheek with his knuckles.
"Don't touch me," I say. "Look, Shawn, I don't know if you and I are going to work out. You're just too egotistical and too much of a jerk for me. I can't do this anymore."
"What?" he asks looking at me. "You're breaking up with me?"
"Yes, Shawn," I say, "I'm breaking up with you. You are not a good person. I can't be with a person like you someone with an ego and someone that is a jerk. I can't. I'm sorry but this is over," I say as I take my necklace off. "Here," I say as I give it to him. "Give this to someone that you feel deserves this because I don't."
"Baby," he says as he holds the necklace in his hand. "Don't do this. I thought we were going to go to college together, get married, work together and have kids together what happened to that?"
"Shawn, I am 17 years old. I have no desire to know what I am going to do as far as marriage and kids. My future with you was NEVER set in stone. I don't want to marry you. I don't even want to date you. I just want this to be over. I'm sorry but we're done."
"Anastasia," he says with a plea. "Please, Baby. I'm sorry."
"No, Shawn," I say. "I can't. Dean," I say as he is standing speechless next to me. "I'm ready to go. I can take you home."
"All right," he says as he grabs our trash to throw away. Dean and I walk off and leave Shawn standing in shock.
The car ride to Dean's house is pretty much done in silence except for him giving me directions to his house. I pull onto his street and see a lot of abandoned houses, houses in really bad shape and broken street lights. I have never been this far into the city before and honestly never thought I would be. I pull up in front of Dean's home and park the car so he can get out. "This is where you live?" I ask.
"Yes," he says, "this is where I live," he says. "I know it's not a mansion or anything but it's still a home."
"I know," I say, "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry that you had to see everything happen with Shawn."
"It's okay but are you okay? That was a shocking event and you look like you're about to cry."
"I'm not going to cry," I say, "It's just it's been a year and I feel relieved. I never really liked him. I never really had any real feelings for him. I just went out with him because of my father. I wasn't happy with him."
"What motivated you to break up with him?" he asks.
"You," I say with a smile. "You told me to live for me and I wasn't happy with Shawn. I had to cut him loose and after everything he was saying about you I couldn't."
"I'm not worried about what he says about me, Ana, he's a jerk. What he thinks about me doesn't break my heart at all. I just want to make sure you're okay."
"I'll be fine," I say. "Everything will be better eventually."
"I hope so," he says. "That was pretty crazy."
"I don't even know where it came from. I have been wanting to do that for a while and then tonight it was just like now or never. I am glad it's over."
"I bet," he says, "All right," he says as our eyes meet. "It's getting late and you're in the bad part of town. You shouldn't' hang around in a Lexus too much longer around here things get pretty rough around here. Okay?"
"Okay," I say with a soft smile. "If you need me you can call me."
"Okay," he says with a smile as he brings his hand to my cheek and strokes it with his thumb. "Be careful tonight okay?"
"Okay," I say with a smile. I feel myself being pulled toward him and he leans forward. My lips find his and we're sharing a passionate kiss in my car. Our tongues twirling and twisting with each other, his thumb stroking my cheek and my hand cupping his face, the kiss lasts for minutes and as we pull away I am left breathless. "Wow," I say with a shy smile.
He gives a small chuckle and says, "Goodnight, Ana." He gives me a soft quick kiss on the lips.
"Goodnight, Dean," I say with a smile. He opens his car door and gets out. I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding as I watch him walk into his home. I am even more confused on how I feel about him now after that kiss. It just felt so right.
*A/N: What do you think about Dean and Ana going to the arcade together are they more relaxed with one another? Do you believe they both have feelings for each other? What did you think motivated Dean to do so well in school? Do you think Ana is changing him? What did you think of Anastasia breaking up with Shawn? Was it necessary? What's next for Dean and Ana? Please review and thank you for reading.