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I don't make a sound.

I just watch her stand there in the middle of the floor with the music fading around her. I lean back in my chair and look at my phone.

“I thought you said no phone,” Mason leans closer looking at my phone.

“I’ve watched what I want, now I can work until her next…”

“You know, the family think I’m the crazy one, but if they knew you better, you’d be the fucked up one,” Mason jokes, and it makes me smile.

“I just hide it way better. Plus, I’m having fun.” I don’t look up from my phone, looking through some of the CCTV footage I found.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Mason laughs, and Lileah looks over at us, and I put my phone away as the beam comes to a start.

I'll be honest, I understand the floor. I understand the musicality of it, the way it maps onto something I can read without knowing the technical language. The beam, I have to watch differently. I’ve watched so many of them I still have no idea what's happening with it.

Sadie stands there looking at it, she takes in a deep breath and mounts it cleanly. The first pass is a split leap into a backward walkover. That's all I know about this discipline.

This is the one she told me about. The one that used to catch her out. I watch her hit it and something shifts in my chest. The relief of watching someone trust the work they've done, the moment the doubt drops and the body takes over.

The dismount lands solid. Both of her feet, and then her head is up. The expression on her face in the second before the score goes up is the most unguarded thing I've seen from her in person. It’s pure, unfiltered, and the joy of a body that did exactly what it was built to do.

Mason leans over. "She's good."

"Yeah,” is all I say.

I watch her for a moment, she’s happy, carefree and beautiful.

***

The party is in full swing, music pulsing through the house, the lights are low and there are bodies everywhere. Regionals are over. Sadie crushed it, her best performance and the whole group has been celebrating hard.

I have no idea whose house this is, but Juno said it was someone from regionals. And all the girls said they were partying tonight because they won.

I’ve spent the last hour watching her from across the room, the way she laughs, the way her dress hugs her body when she moves. Eventually she drifts over to me, her cheeks flushed from dancing and a couple of drinks.

“Hey,” she says, smiling up at me. Her eyes are bright, and a little glassy.

“Hey yourself.” I lean against the wall, letting my gaze drag slowly down her. “You looked incredible out there today. Still can’t stop thinking about that last tumbling pass.”

She bites her lip, stepping a little closer. “Yeah? You were watching pretty closely.”

“I always am.” I reach out and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, letting my fingers brush her neck. “Are you nervous about anything now that it’s done?”

“A little.” She glances around, then back at me. “Mostly I’m just… wired. I can’t seem to come down.”

I smile, my voice dropping. “I know a few ways to help with that.”

Her breath catches. She holds my gaze for a long second. “Is that an offer?”

“Very much so.” I can’t stop thinking about last night, and if there’s one thing I want right now, it’s Sadie on a bed begging me to fuck her.

She bites her lip again then shakes her head. Is she thinking about Ghost, is that why she won’t take it further with me?

“I need to run back to my room quickly. My phone’s dying and I forgot my charger.” She clears her throat, she’s nervous, I’ll take that.

“I’ll walk you,” I say without hesitation. “I’m not letting you go back to the room in an area we don’t know, there can be freaks out there.”

The walk is quiet; her hand keeps brushing mine. When we finally step into her room and the door clicks shut behind us, the tension snaps.