Page 33 of Fielder's Choice

It’s so fucking cute!

Olive

We’re friends now

Rory

The best foundation of all relationships

Olive

Not a relationship

Just a friendship

But I do enjoy spending time with him

And I might be obsessed with his daughter

I just need to take this slow…

Dressed in a pair of black leggings and one of my favorite oversized sweatshirts with my pointe shoes tossed over my shoulder, I bound down the stairs.

“Heading down to the studio?” my dad asks, catching me before I get to the basement door.

“Yeah,” I reply. “Been a long week. Figured this would do me some good.”

My dad smiles at me softly. “You seem like you’ve been doing really well lately.”

“I have,” I admit. “I’m starting to feel more like myself again.”

He immediately wraps his arms around me. “That’s all your mother and I have wanted for you. All of our kids are happy again.”

“Vi and Harv were always happy,” I reply.

With his hands on my shoulders, he looks at me affectionately. “And now you are, too.”

“I am,” I smile. “I really am.”

“I won’t keep you, Olive. I just want you to know how happy I am to finally see you happy again.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

He leaves me to head down into the basement alone.

With my hair now pulled up into a tight bun and my pointe shoes on my feet, I put on my favorite piece to dance to—Prokofiev’sRomeo & Juliet.

I move around the room gracefully, focusing solely on this moment and nothing else.

I’m not thinking about how sweet my student’s father is and how much I enjoy spending time with him.

I’m not thinking about how butterflies erupt in my stomach every time our eyes meet.

I’m not thinking about how electricity coursed through me when he hugged me after walking me home the other day.

Nope, not thinking about those at all.

Lane Brooks certainly isn’t on my mind right now.

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