Here is my yearly update. (Maybe I'm joking, maybe I'm not.) I do have a permanent job now, and I'm working on an original novel (long story short, I had an amazing dream about it, and when I woke up, I knew I had to turn it into a story), and other stuff kept happening. But now I'm back. So on to the next chapter (I recommend you listen to In Paradisum by Thomas J. Curren, if you're into the instrumental, classical romantic music; it really inspired this chapter)!

Crush

Chapter 11: Suns and Stars

"You ready, Gardner?" One of Tèa's dance troupe classmates, Mariah, strolled up to her, looking particularly beautiful in her dark red and black ombre skirt. Even if they were in a larger space, it would have been difficult for anyone who was daydreaming to not hear her, as Mariah had the loudest voice out of all of them.

Tèa, donning a similar ensemble, only that it was dark blue and black, glanced up, and gave her a thumbs up. "Of course."

"Just don't over do it, Tèa; we don't think calling 911 over a sweaty vagina constitutes as an emergency, you know?"

Tèa snorted and rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile at that. Mariah's sense of humour was blunt, and some people might feel uncomfortable about it, but Tèa didn't see it that way at all. Out of everyone in the troupe, she was the smartass with a penchant for dirty jokes; Tèa couldn't even count the number of times she almost choked on her water whenever she heard some of them (she could technically count those as near-death experiences). Mariah would definitely put Joey's personality to shame. Not that she should even compare those two at all.

"Got it, Mariah."

"And you are joining us for dinner after, right? We're all thinking Greek or Italian."

"Sorry, but I already have plans," Tèa confessed, as she slightly adjusted her styled hair. This would be her last attempt to do so, considering that strands of it kept escaping from her small bun and clung to her skin. Maybe she should have held off on her trip to the hair salon until after the recital, but at the same time she liked how soft her hair was. It was an acceptable trade-off.

"Boo! This is our last recital you know; you should be out having fun with us." Did Tèa mention that she was also the least mature of the dance troupe?

"It's not my fault that my friends text me first," Tèa teased, whereas Mariah simply shook her head in faux disappointment.

"And by friends, you mean your boyfriend, right?" Another one of her troupe members, Ayu, piped up, seeming to be eager to join the conversation.

"Nope, no boyfriend."

"You can't fool us, Gardner; we all know that look you pull whenever he texts you," Mariah crooned, hoping she could get some kind of reaction. Apparently Tèa was the easiest one of them all to tease.

"What look would that be?"

"The lovestruck look, you smartass. We've never seen you smile like that the whole time we've danced together." Mariah looked like she was about to gag, but again, Tèa knew that she was just making fun of her. "He's gotta be a one of a kind guy to make you pull that face."

"It's just the make-up, Mariah."

"First of all, I was referring to our practices. Secondly, we're not wearing that much make-up Tèa, nice try." It was true – they wore just enough foundation and blush to make them not look clownish in appearance.

"I think you'd know if I actually had a boyfriend." That was the best comeback that Tèa could come up with in the moment, and even she knew it wasn't a good one.

"Come on, you can't keep us in suspense. You're the only one of us who doesn't have one."

"Don't you guys remember her skipping out on practice that one time? That was sus, for sure." And now Haruka – usually the nice and sweet type – was joining in. Great.

"That's right!"

"I like how you guys don't really want to let this go," Tèa laughed, as she stretched out her shoulders. She nearly winced when she felt something crack in her right shoulder. "Does my love life really constitute as a constant topic of discussion?"

"You know us, Gardner. Letting things go isn't something we do."

"For sure."

Mariah's attention was briefly captured by their other classmates, who had some inquiry or other about a dance routine, which left Tèa alone momentarily.

Tèa softly exhaled and closed her eyes briefly. Today was simply one of the most tiring days she's had in a long time; what with getting up earlier than usual, finishing homework for the day, and participating in an intensive practice with her dance troupe right after school, and now being the actual recital… it was easy to surmise that Tèa looked forward to having a nice hot bath later. Not that she was complaining about the work – far from it, she had the mental drive to push through. But there was a point where if she couldn't keep on top of her mental health, she'd be in trouble quickly and so Tèa knew she shouldn't feel bad for thinking that.

Before Tèa could even contemplate her mental health further, she heard a text notification from her cell phone. As she opened her eyes, she immediately reached into her duffel bag to pull her phone out. As she scrolled through the notifications, Tèa smiled widely, noticing that there were good luck messages from Joey, Tristan and Yugi from the group chat, as well as a simple text from Yami. And her heart just had to skip a couple of beats as she read it.

Good luck tonight, Tèa. I know you will be magnificent.

What was it about Yami's mannerism that affected her so deeply? She shouldn't be feeling giddy when she read the word magnificent, but here we are.

Thanks :) I'll be happy once it's over though.

I'm sure you will be. The hard work and effort will have been worth it.

Says the person who hasn't seen me dance yet. Who knows, maybe it won't turn out that great? Lol. It wasn't often that Tèa made a self-deprecating joke, but she felt like she shouldn't take herself too seriously.

From what you've told me, I know that isn't the case. You are the type of person to put their heart and soul into everything you do; to me, you've already succeeded.

Unsurprisingly, Tèa felt her cheeks burning a bright red. Thanks, Yami. I really appreciate that.

"Okay girls, it's showtime," Mariah announced, easily causing Tèa to jump into action; she immediately turned off her phone and placed it with her duffel bag, before joining the rest of her troupe.

It was time. She could do this. Tèa knew that she could.

She wouldn't let anything stop her now.

:3 :3 :3

To Tèa, time passed differently; whenever she practiced, it didn't seem to go by very fast at all, but if she could compare that to the actual performance, it went by faster than she anticipated. Most of the time she didn't see it as a bad thing. It was an observation she made early on in her dance career, and it made her want to make the most of it.

Seeing that this was her last recital for her high school career, which felt like it was a year in the making, she knew she had to be more mindful.

From the moment Tèa sauntered on stage, in perfect sync with her dance troupe, any nerves that lingered within her stomach vanished, and were replaced with more positive emotions.

She knew that she exuded confidence and grace – and as she performed each plie, pirouette, and grand jaute, she let herself go without any care in the world of what was happening around her.

Tèa let herself be consumed by the emotion, and the music certainly helped convey that; she had to applaud her teacher for choosing Thomas J. Curren's music. It was one thing for her to practice to it in a studio, but another to hear the violins and cellos in the background while performing on stage.

As the final song winded down into a decrescendo, leaving the dancers to stay frozen in their places, Tèa couldn't help but let a fraction of a smile appear on her lips.

She was finally done.

As the curtains closed, with the final round of applause in the background, it didn't take long for the silence backstage to be broken.

"I've never been prouder you guys," Mariah announced, as she was the first one to move from her position. She even faked a sniffle, as if she was about to burst into tears. "All of you did amazing work." There were times when she could be quite poignant, and this was one of them.

"You were great too," Tèa supplied, as she graciously accepted a hug from Miho, who may or may not have had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What's with the tears, Miho?" Mariah asked, though not ungently.

"T-this is the last time we're dancing together. I didn't realize it until now."

You'd have to be an unfeeling robot to not feel your heartstrings being tugged like Tèa's were; she knew it wouldn't be long before she started processing that realization too. And then ugly crying would be involved. Not that was an issue – ugly crying was a perfectly valid response to situations like this.

"Please don't cry Miho; you know what happens when you start crying."

"I can't help it."

"Ok, let's not let this digress into a giant sobfest; we still get to go out for food, then we can start crying and reminiscing." This time, Tèa didn't fail to notice Mariah looking in her direction as she said this. "And you can go look for your boyfriend; I can tell you want to skedaddle, Gardner."

"I am just going to pretend you didn't just say that," Tèa sighed, but she smiled nonetheless. "I will see you guys around." Even without Miho's emotional display, she knew she had to make it up to her dance crew somehow. But that was a worry for another day.

She waved towards the rest of her troupe, as she went to grab her duffel bag, and headed down the stairs off the stage.

It was at this point that Tèa realized how exhausted she was; she could only assume that it was around nine o'clock. But she knew that she couldn't skip out on the plans she had with her friends, no matter how tired she was.

Just as she was about to pull out her phone, she felt a light tap on her shoulder, and she turned to face a pair of lilac eyes. And Tèa couldn't stop the grin from forming on her lips – or even the way her stomach did a flip – when she saw Yami standing before her.

And he looked immensely happy for her if she had to guess.

"Congratulations, Tèa; you were remarkable."

"Thanks."

But she couldn't help but notice the way he was looking at her, as if he was checking her out. "And you look beautiful, if I may say so." Oh he was definitely allowed to say so. He could definitely keep saying it if he wanted to.

Not for the first time, Tèa's cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red underneath her makeup as she tried to maintain her composure; there was no escaping the fact that she felt like melting into a puddle of goo after hearing Yami complimenting her. And that was just the PG thought that popped into her head. "Thank you. I was thinking maybe you wouldn't have recognized me."

"I knew it was you the moment you stepped on stage. These colours are very becoming on you."

Well, Tèa could say for certain that she was going to die a very happy woman that night. As if her face couldn't change colour any more than it had before. "Has anyone ever told you you do wonders for a girl's self esteem?"

"Not often enough, I am sure." Yami paused, and it looked as though he was taking another moment to look at her. "How do you feel now that you're done?"

"If you ask me that tomorrow, I'm sure I'll say sad. But right now, I'm kind of relieved, you know?" Tèa admitted.

"I understand. You must be feeling tired."

"A little bit. But I can't really go to bed yet; my friends and I are going to grab some late night dinner." She took another glimpse around the room, and even though lights were now brighter than they were before, Tèa couldn't exactly tell how many people were still here. So she couldn't really see where they were at the moment. "Well, if they haven't gone already."

"Hopefully you won't be waiting for them for much longer."

"Hopefully not." It was Tèa's turn to take a pause, as she cleared her throat. "Thank you for coming, by the way; I don't really know a lot of people willing to come and watch me dance." Ugh, why did she make it sound like it was the worst thing in the world to be doing?

"You're welcome, Tèa. It was, in all honesty, a pleasure to watch you. I've shared some of my passions with you, and I feel honoured that you have done the same."

And Tèa couldn't really believe what happened next; at this point, she thought she was dreaming, when she felt his finger brush tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. And just like that time when he had his hand on her lower back, Tèa felt a shiver cascade down her spine. She never thought a simple action like that would leave an impression on her, and yet it did. It didn't help either, though, that Yami was gazing into her eyes.

But before she could dwell on the possible meaning of it, she could hear Joey and Tristan calling out to her. "Hey Tèa!"

Which meant that Yami pulled back his hand at an alarmingly fast pace, as if he never had it by her hair in the first place.

Still, Tèa tried to hide the disappointment on her face, as she greeted her friends, who strode up to her. "Hey guys."

"You were amazing Tèa," Yugi gushed, as he came to stand on her left side, while Joey and Tristan were busy taking turns giving Tèa a quick side hug over on the other.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah, you were great. But I couldn't help but notice you smoozin' up to this guy, so do you mind introducing us, Tèa?" Joey pointed his thumb out toward Yami, with an unsettling look on his face.

Tèa ended up freezing in her spot, trying to ignore her heart pounding against her chest, as well as four pairs of eyes looking at her.

Why me?