The Ballerina

Luke was eating slowly. Every bite was deliberate. Acelynn was stuffing as much food into her mouth as fast as she could. She hadn’t eaten anything for two days. On Saturday she was too sick, and Sunday, that same day, she was too nervous.

But she soon slowed down when she noticed Luke staring at her. “What?”

Luke shrugged. “I’ve just never seen a girl eat that fast.”

“I’m starving.” Acelynn moaned.

“Why is that?” Luke asked without hesitation. He had stopped eating entirely and was focused solely on the ballerina.

“What?” She was completely thrown off.

Luke once again chose not to pursue the conversation, and continued to eat. “Never mind.”

“No really, what? I think you’re implying something about me and I want to know.”

The boy looked incredibly uncomfortable as he stared at his plate. “Never mind. Just forget I said anything.”

Acelynn was torn – pursue the topic, or drop it. She wasn’t sure if he would answer, and he might get angry if she continued to pester him. He was her ride home, after all. Once again, the girl ignored her instinct and followed her logical reasoning. “Fine.”

Luke looked relieved and munched on a French fry. The two entered another silent abyss; where there was only white noise surrounding them. They quietly ate food and stared at the table.

“So you didn’t tell your parents about me driving you home last night. What did your mother think?”

Acelynn was too tired to be surprised that Luke knew she didn’t tell her parents. She glanced at her palm, at the faintly blue tint. She had covered it with make-up so no one in the audience would see. Luke probably thought she was hiding it from her parents – when her parents didn’t even notice. “She didn’t ask.”

“Why not?” Luke asked, considerably interested in her answer.

“She didn’t get home until nine… She – she forgot about me.” She whispered.

“Oh.” Luke replied lamely.

“Why were you at the dance studio?” Acelynn changed the subject suddenly. She looked Luke straight in the eyes. The boy looked nervous, and took his eyes off of the ballerina. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes from his pocket along with a book of matches. After he lit the cigarette, he took long drags of nicotine, but did not answer Acelynn. “Why aren’t you answering me?”

“What is this, twenty questions?” Luke snapped, and startled the girl. Acelynn just sat there, stunned. Luke’s words actually made her heart ache. She didn’t realize she was crying until he came over to her side of the booth and handed her a napkin. “I’m sorry.” He said in a hushed whisper.

Acelynn took the napkin and faced the wall to avoid looking at Luke. “It’s fine.” Her voice cracked.

“God, look at me. I took you here.” Luke sighed, sounding defeated. “I shouldn’t be yelling at you. Truly, I’m sorry. I-I don’t even know why I did that.”

Acelynn’s natural instincts were to tell him that it was okay, and she forgave him. But she didn’t. She was too angry at his outburst to. Luke was driving her insane. Ever since she ran into him Friday, her life had spiraled downward.

“Do… Do you want me to take you home?” He asked quietly.

The ballerina hesitated, but shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to go home. To face the wrath of her mother, who was more controlling than Big Brother from 1984, wasn’t high on Acelynn’s to-do list.

The awkward silence had settled back onto the teens, and they both sat unmoving.
How long had it been since Acelynn looked away from the ketchup smear on the wall? Minutes? Seconds? Time seemed to stay still.
“I was waiting for you.” Luke, once again, broke the silence.

Acelynn slowly turned to face the dark haired boy. “What?”

“You asked why I was at the dance studio.” He clarified. “I was waiting for you.”

The girl’s eye brows knitted together, and she gave Luke an odd look. “Why?”

“We’re more alike than you know.” Luke said ominously.

“You don’t know anything about me. And I don’t know anything about you.” Acelynn argued.

“I know more than you’d think.” He replied after a pause.

“Like what?” The ballerina interrogated.

Luke sighed. “I’ll tell you soon. Are you finished eating?”

Acelynn took one look at the half-eaten cheese burger and felt nauseous. “Yes.”

“Then let’s go.” Luke said, getting up from the booth and pulled out his wallet to pay for the food, whipped out a few bills, and then stuffed the leather object back into his pocket.

The teens walked back out the door and to the truck (still in one piece). The routine was the same to get back in the truck as it was before. Only now it was much darker. Acelynn would have checked what time it was, but the dashboard held no clock. The truck itself could be described as “shabby” at best. It was probably twice as old as its owner, and barely ran. But Luke seemed to like it, so Acelynn said nothing.

“Where are we going?” She finally asked.

“You’ll know when you see it. We’re almost there.” Luke replied, and began to steer with his knee so he could light another cigarette.

“You’re going to get us killed.” Acelynn warned, but she wasn’t all that worried. In a strange way, she trusted the darker character. Even with her life.

With her feelings, of course, she did not.

Luke held a sadistic smirk that sent chills down Acelynn’s spine. She didn’t like that smile. It was dangerous. It scared her. What was going through his head? But when the boy turned to look at her, his eyes were soft and compassionate. “I’ll take care of you.”

The ballerina blushed, and looked away. Could it be that…? Could Luke have a crush on Acelynn? Surely there were more attractive and more popular girls than this girl. Surely there was a girl more interested in the mysterious boy than Acelynn.

Luke was cute. There was no doubting that. But the only attraction Acelynn felt for him was a curiosity to know more about him. Other than that, it was all mostly aggravation. Acelynn hoped that Luke felt the same for her, because the last thing the ballerina needed was more heartache in her life. Even if it was someone else.

“Ace, you okay? Hello?” Luke waved a hand in her face, breaking her of her trance.

“Oh. Yeah, sorry about that. ‘Spaced off.” Acelynn shook her head and smiled weakly at him.

“’Kay, well we’re here.” The boy gestured for her to look outside and observe their surroundings. “Come on.”

Acelynn looked out the windshield and saw an ordinary park. However, the swing set was decorated with white Christmas lights, and the slide had an upside down bike on the roof. Then, noticing the bike, she realized this was the park near her own house which was two blocks away. “Why are we here?”

Luke shrugged. “I like it here.” Acelynn then remembered that Luke wanted to talk to her about something. Maybe this was his comfort zone. “Are you coming?”

The ballerina nodded, and shoved the door open to step in the cool, autumn air. “I didn’t know you lived around here.”

The boy hesitated. “I don’t.” His answer sent chills down her spine. If he didn't live around the park, why would he like it there? Ironically enough close to Acelynn's house. “But I used to.” He added quickly.

“Oh.” Luke and Acelynn walked up to the swing set through the gritty sand. Luke sat down immediately, but the girl did not. She just watched him as he pumped his legs to get higher off the ground. “You know, if you were too scared to go to the park alone at night, you could have brought your mommy.”

“No, no I can’t.” Luke replied gruffly, his cigarette clutched in his left hand, touching the chain.

Acelynn sighed and sat down on the other blue swing next to the already-air borne teen. “So why are we here?”

It took him a few seconds, but Luke gradually slowed down the swing so he was level with Acelynn. “I needed to talk to you.”

“You couldn’t have talked to me when you ran into me Friday? Or how about Saturday, when you followed me to my dance class. Or at the diner. Or on the way to the diner.” The girl listed, clearly annoyed with Luke’s timing.

“It’s… it’s hard for me to talk about this kind of stuff. I haven’t really talked about it with anyone before. But I know you’ll understand.” Luke didn’t make eye contact as he said this. He stared off into the distance. By this time, he had scraped his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe, and smashed it into the sand.

“Luke, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Acelynn replied, sounding desperate to understand.

The dark haired boy sighed, and pivoted towards the ballerina. He dropped to his knees in the sand, and took Acelynn’s arm gingerly in his hands. He pushed the purple sleeve of her leotard up, revealing a thin, dark-red line on her wrist.

Her papercut.

“I really do understand the… the reasons and the emotions that go through you when you do this…” Luke went on, pouring his heart out, but Acelynn tuned him out.

It all made sense now. He usually wore long sleeves, wrist bands, or a thick watch. Some days he would come to school looking like death had spat in his face. He was distant from everyone around him – and this explained it. He felt like he was an alien in a place where people were constantly chattering and smiling. He felt like he didn’t belong.

Which was exactly how Acelynn felt. But how could she tell him he was wrong about her, even though he was so right?