Second Heartbeat

Stormy walked into the ballet studio with the classified section of the newspaper in her hands. After finding the office, she knocked on the door and waited nervously for someone to answer.

A tall thin woman with dark skin and long dark hair appeared at the door. She looked to be in her mid to late forties, but was still in great shape for a woman of her age.

“Yes?” she said

“I..I’m here for the interview”

The woman gave Stormy a once over before motioning for her to follow as she went back into her office. Stormy walked behind the woman until they reached her desk.

After they were both seated, the woman began to speak.

“Now, why are you here?”

“I am here for the teaching job” she said twisting the hem of her shirt in her hands as the news paper rested on her lap.

“You don’t look like a ballet dancer, do you have any experience?”

“As a dancer, yes.”

“I see, so let me guess, you are a stripper” the woman said matter of factly.

Stormy lowered her eyes to the newspaper and started to rise from her chair.

“Where are you going?” the woman asked

“This was a mistake, I’m sorry to have wasted your time”

“Sit down, Miss Monroe” Stormy turned back to her chair and sat.

“Do you have any formal dance training?”

“No Ma’am”

“If you want to learn, then you’ll be here at 7pm every evening. After some time, if I feel you are doing well, then we will talk about giving you a job.”

Stormy smiled brightly. “Thank you so much! Ma’am”

“Stop calling me Ma’am or I will change my mind.”

“Sorry, what should I call you?” Stormy asked

“What does it say on the sign above this studio?”

“Harper’s Ballet”

“I am Harper” she folded her hands in her lap. “Be here tomorrow at 7pm and not a minute later”

After she spoke she went about her business acting as if Stormy wasn’t even there.
--
One week later

It had become evident to everyone in the house that there was something wrong between Stormy and Sydney. They hardly spoke to each other and when they did, they were very curt with each other.

The boys were leaving to go on tour in only 5 days and Matt and Brian were both clueless as to why the two girls were being so distant towards each other. Neither one wanted to get involved and open the can of worms, but both of them wished it would stop before they left for the tour.

--
Brian’s POV

It was another late night for Stormy; she walked into the apartment as the clock was nearing 1am. I had no clue where she was or what she has been doing every night for the last week, but it was starting to get on my nerves that she was being so secretive. The only thing that I could come up with is that she is stripping again. Since the night at the restaurant, she has definitley regressed back a little bit and that has me worried because I have a feeling it may get worse when I leave. Something is also up with her and Sydney and everyone in the house is on edge because of it.

“Where have you been?” I asked her as she walked through the door and set her gym bag down on the floor.

“I’ve been out, is that ok with you?” she was testy tonight and I don’t do well with testy.

“No, it’s not ok with me. Where the hell have you been?” I asked trying to keep my tone even, yet stern.

“I already answered that question. Now, I’m going to take a shower” she started to take her jacket off, but I grabbed her arm.

“Let go of me!” she shouted.

“No, I swear to God, Stormy, if you are stripping again, I’ll break your legs”

“Well you don’t really have a say in the matter now do you?” she taunted.

Yeah, there is the old Stormy I knew and took two years to break. “What is your problem?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“My problem is you have my arm in a death grip, now let go”

“Not until you tell me where you were” by no means was this girl afraid of me. It kind of pissed me off just a little bit. There was a time when I could snap my fingers and she would do what ever I said.

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself” she smiled as soon as she said it and that infuriated me. I twisted her arm behind her back and she winced in pain.

“Where were you?”

“Let go of me!” she shouted.

“NO!” I shouted back.

“You’re hurting me!” she shouted.

“I don’t care.” I said matter of factly.

“Finally, some truth!” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“The fact that you don’t care. The fact that you had no concern for my whereabouts the night you were fucking my sister. The fact that you had the nerve to touch me afterwards, and how about the fact that in the two years we’ve been together, you have never once said you love me. How about that, Brian? How about you and Sydney and the fact that I know your dirty little secret.”

Immediately I let go of her arm as the tears fell from her eyes. “Stormy..” I started to say but she wouldn’t let me say anything.

“no” she said and walked past me into the bedroom closing the door behind her.

I stood there knowing that I had made the biggest mistake of my life and she had every right to hate me. I never told her I loved her because I didn’t want to get hurt again, but in truth I loved her more than anything. I wasn’t in love with Sydney, in a way what happened with her was just a need that had to happen so we could prove to ourselves that we don’t have feelings for each other and honestly, we don’t.

--

Sydney’s POV

I opened my eyes to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom. After getting up I went down to the kitchen to get some coffee and found Brian sitting at the counter. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

“She knows” he said.

“Yeah, I know” I said walking behind him to the coffee pot.

“What are we going to do?” he asked

I walked over to the counter and stood in front of him. “I have to tell Matt.”

He nodded and I turned and walked out of the kitchen back up to the room I shared with the man who’s heart I was about to break.

He was sitting on the bed putting his shirt on when I walked in.

“Hi” I smiled.

“Hi!” he seemed happy to see me, which didn’t make this any easier.

“Can we talk?” I asked.

“No”

“No?”

“Not until you pee on that little stick in the bathroom” he grinned.

I nodded and walked into the bathroom and picked up the pregnancy test. This was ridiculous; he had me taking them every day. So, I closed the bathroom door and did what he asked. I waited the three minutes, looked down at the stick and walked back into the bedroom.

“Are we pregnant yet?” he was so hopeful.

“No” I lied.

“Ok” he sat back down on the bed somewhat defeated. “What did you want to talk about?”

I walked over to the bed and sat down beside him knowing this was going to kill him. “Something happened that I need to tell you about”

“What is it? Is it you and Stormy?”

“Not exactly” I said lowering my eyes to the ground.

“Then what?”

“It isn’t me and Stormy, it’s me and Brian” I said looking over at him with watery eyes.

“Did you have a fight?” he asked

I shook my head no. This was getting harder by the minute. “The night of the Halloween party, Brian and I had sex” There was no point in sugar coating it. So, I just put it out there.

“What?” he asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

“We had…”

“I fucking heard you, Syd!” he shouted, “How could you?”

“I’m sorry, it was only one time, I swear”

“I can’t even look at you right now” he said and walked out of the room. I knew this was only the beginning of the end.