The Ballerina

Tuck had attempted to talk to Acelynn for whatever reason. But each time she would silence him with a withering stare. He would take one glance at her and halt all dialect at once.

The only time Acelynn spoke was to tell Tuck to drive to the park. Their park. It was the first place she could think of checking for her best friend. Luke had told her it was his favorite place to think things out. It was a place where he felt the most calm and serene.

But when they reached the sandy play-place, it was deserted. Neither Luke nor anyone was there. “I don’t have any idea where he might be, then.” Acelynn murmured.

The ritzy car sat in park, idling. Acelynn stared at her bloody foot as Tuck stared out his side window. They were both desperately thinking about where Luke would go when he didn’t want to be found… Acelynn was so scared just thinking about what he may do; to himself or anything else.

“Where could he have gone?” Tuck asked himself quietly. Suddenly, something seemed to click, and the green-eyed boy threw the car in drive and drove.

“Where?” The girl asked desperately.

“Do you remember where you walked to… On your birthday? There.” Tuck replied.
Acelynn was confused. “Why would he go there?” She wasn’t looking at Tuck, but forward where she could see where they were going. The path he was going did seem familiar.

“Well, you never knew, but that place is somewhere special to him. And to me too. Luke and I used to go there all the time. It was our little hideout place.” Tuck explained. He was driving faster than Acelynn had ever gone in a car. There didn’t seem to be any traffic out anyway. But they had just pulled out onto the highway where there would be traffic. It was five o’clock now.

“Why?”

The older boy shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, it was a long time ago, the last time Luke went there. The last time we went was before he met you. And that was back in September. It’s only a guess that he would go there; he doesn’t know that I still go there, so he probably doesn’t think I would look there.”

Acelynn nodded numbly. As she predicted, they were caught behind at least twenty cars. Acelynn was fighting the urge to jump out of the car and run to the bridge where Tuck had found her that night. “Why would you hang out in that dump anyway?”

Tuck shrugged again. “I don’t know. It was a few years ago when we found it. We were sick of that stupid empty house and needed to get out of there. We were just driving around and turned into that street because I knew that no one ever did. It’s a dead end about a mile after the bridge. So it’s basically deserted. I wanted to go explore it.

“I stopped just before we got to the bridge and we looked around. It was a perfect spot to go to when we needed to get out of the house. It had no signs of human life and was covered from the high way. No one would know we were there. We could do whatever we wanted and no one would find out. For awhile, we just threw firecrackers around. But then we started making bonfires – like you saw that one night – and camping out. It’s really a beautiful place. There’s a spot not far from the road in the forest where the trees aren’t as thick. And you can look up at the stars at night… it’s beautiful.” Tuck reminisced.

“It sounds like it.” Acelynn responded dreamily, forgetting her anger.

“We used to go there almost every day. Sometimes we would even spend the night there for days. Anything was better than being at home. We would just bring a bunch of food and clothes there. We would just hang out. It was our paradise.” He finished. His body language had become increasingly relaxed compared to his tenseness before when he was so worried about his brother.

“It sounds like paradise.” Acelynn replied gently. Finally, her anger had subsided and now all of her energy was being focused on finding Luke.

“I’m pretty sure it was put on this earth just for us.” Tuck said, and then the car stopped.

Acelynn looked up and away from Tuck to see Luke’s red truck sitting in front of them. Luke didn’t seem to notice them, though. Acelynn’s heart thumped harder and harder at each pulsing beat. “I’m going to go talk to him.” She said to Tuck.

“I know.” He said back.

Acelynn nodded and opened the door. She gingerly stepped on the snowy ground. It made her left foot feel cold and stung, but her right foot – the one with the wound – felt less irritated and soothed.

“Acelynn,” Tuck called her back, “before you go, I have to tell you something.” Acelynn walked back the few steps to the car and ducked her head into the window that he rolled down. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for saying those things. I don’t know why I did.

“I’m an idiot. I wish I could take those things back – even though they are true. Luke loves you so much… You have no idea. And he did have to find out about those kisses sometime or another. But I guess I should have been a little more sensitive about it – okay, okay, I could have been a lot more sensitive about it. But I really couldn’t tell Luke what our fight was about.”

“Will you tell me?” Acelynn asked, giving it one last try.

Tuck shook his head and gave her a sad smile. “No. As much as I owe it to you – after this whole mess – I can’t. When Luke knows, you’ll know. That’s all I can tell you. I’m sorry. Again.”

“Tuck… I already forgive you.” She replied, and Tuck’s face visibly brightened. “I shouldn’t, but I do. I have no idea why I am. But even if I do forgive you – even though you don’t deserve it – I’m not the one you have to worry about.” Acelynn gave him a knowing look. “Luke is.”

Tuck couldn’t help but look away from Acelynn’s stony stare. “Yeah, I know. And I will make everything better. That you can count on. I promise to make things right with Luke.”
“Good.” She replied delicately.

“But not right now.” He added. “Because I’m not the one he needs to see right now. The person he needs to see right at this moment is you.”

Acelynn paused before answering. She didn’t say anything until Tuck looked back at her with his piercing green eyes. “Yeah, I know.” She responded like he had before.
Slowly, she backed away from the expensive car. She gave a small wave to Tuck before she turned and walked towards the old, red truck. It wasn’t too far, but farther than Acelynn would have liked to walk with an injured foot.

Still, she continued to tread through the crisp snow. She wasn’t limping, but she left that like she should have. But the freezing cold had numbed her foot so she couldn’t feel the pain.

Finally she reached the rusting truck and gingerly knocked on the window next to Luke’s head. The boy looked up in surprise. When Acelynn saw his face, she saw the glint of tears. His eyes were also red. All signs of crying. It made her heart ache.

“Can I come in?” She asked. She raised her voice slightly so Luke could hear her through the glass.

Acelynn must have looked incredibly pathetic because Luke wiped his nose, and after a pause nodded his head. She had no shoes, only a small t-shirt on and jeans. It was freezing out.

The brunette didn’t waste any time in walking around the nose of the truck and pulled the passenger door open. She jerkily stepped into the warm vehicle and sat next to Luke.

“How did you know I was here?” Luke asked quietly.