Taken and Misused.

[Elisabeth’s Point Of View]

“Alright, take a moment to rest, I’ll be right back” Mr. Dellmonte called out to Stephen and me. A woman had just come into the studio and had spoken quietly to Mr. Dellmonte while we had been practicing the tango routine, we were still adding ballet moves into it as we went and it just kept getting simpler to follow. The woman and Mr. Dellmonte left and I sat down on the hardwood floor and massaged my foot, my ballet shoes were finally breaking in, especially after I had taken hours bending, smashing, and cutting them to get them into the right form. Stephen took a long drink from his water bottle and sighed, spinning the cap on once more. It seemed like Stephen was ignoring me, we were still being scorned for our lack of passion but I knew I was trying my best, but it was like trying to be passionate towards a blank wall. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, his frown never changed, and he always had an expression of deep thought whenever he did look at me. His deep thought wasn’t passionate deep thought however. The only thing that had changed was me bringing up Vaughn last practice. Other than that, nothing had changed in our relationship. I stretched my legs out in front of me and looked up at him where he stood, staring out the large windows that looked over the dark city. It was around eleven o’clock at night, we had been here practicing for five hours.

“Are you mad at me Stephen?” I asked, being blunt because I wasn’t sure how else to approach the situation. His eyes met mine, a little wider this time. He sighed once more and looked down at his feet before coming over to me and sitting down where my feet stretched out to. I moved to pull them back but he caught one and began stretching it for me, curving it down into point position then back. His eyes stayed there as he spoke.

“No… not mad” he said, still stretching out the same foot. He sat in thought for a moment and I waited. I had grown used to this quiet Stephen since the beginning of practice so it wasn’t hard to wait for him to process his thoughts into what I hoped would be an explanation. “I am troubled I guess you could say” he said, his clipped Russian accent waning into a more welcoming tone. He didn’t sound like he was blocking conversation, rather, he sounded like he was accepting it.

“Can I ask what you’re troubled?” I asked tentatively. I didn’t want to scare off this new Stephen. God knows I was tired of dancing with an emotionless partner.

He switched foots and began stretching my other foot, folding it under to almost a 90 degree angle then straightening it again. “My family’s…. business is conflicting with my morals and I guess you could say my mind isn’t really on dance” he said, staring at my foot once more as he spoke. I was slightly surprised for a moment; I had no clue what had made him drop his emotional walls. His eyes met mine when I didn’t speak; I saw conflict in them, like he couldn’t decide on something. “Have you ever had something you knew you had to do, but you thought it would destroy a part of you?” he asked, his eyes pulled from mine once more. His hands were still on my foot and he put them back in his lap. Before I could answer he chuckled, running his fingers through his dark hair, it was a frustrated movement I saw him do whenever we didn’t nail a move. “Never mind that” he said, his words dismissive but not in a mean way. I was grateful his clipped tone hadn’t returned. I had begun to become sick of being spoken to as if I was a child too unintelligent to understand what he said. I felt like he was finally warming up to me and we could actually be friends.

Stephen reached a hand down to me and I took it and let him help me up. “Does this mean we’re friends?” I asked, straightening and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, I felt like every time we came close to being friends he would shut me out or carefully end a subject. Today he had let me in just a little bit more and I happen to be the type of person who liked to make friends.

He glanced at me and smiled for a moment then the corners of his lips drooped slightly and he chuckled humorlessly. “You don’t really know who you’re asking to be friends with Elisabeth” he said, his cryptic reply making me frown as well.

“I’m asking you, Stephen” I said, both he and Vaughn we’re starting to act weird. Well, weirder. And I was just too curious for my own health, I wanted to know what brought on these sudden changes but neither of them would tell me.

“You’re asking the Stephen who you only know in dance class, that’s all you know about me” now he was smiling, but it held no joy.

“And that you are very closed off, mean at times, bossy, judgmental-“

“Aren’t friends supposed to point out the good things in each other?” he asked, cutting off my rant, while raising an eyebrow.

“Well, too bad you think it’s bad for us to be friends” I said, my tone wasn’t angry. Just stating what he had said earlier.

“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble Elisabeth, if you want to help me do that you should not see Vaughn anymore either” he said, his tone suddenly harsh.

I stared at him for a moment, confusion coloring every feature on my face. “What trouble would I get in if you would just talk to me? And what does Vaughn have to do with this?” I said, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“Are you honestly going to tell me he is not trouble? I’ve known him in the past, and I know he is not a saint” Stephen said, leaning against the wall to wall mirror that spread across one wall of the room. I opened my mouth to reply but he just shook his head and held up his hand to stop me from speaking. “Just, please, for your own health, find normal friends” he said, turning away from my confused look as Mr. Dellmonte reentered the room without the woman. I recomposed my face so I didn’t look like an idiot and both me and Stephen looked at our instructor.

“That was the coordinator for the tango recital coming up, I was going over a few touchy details on whether your performance would be classified as tango or ballet. She’s convinced, so there is no worry over your participation in the recital” he said, smiling widely and clapping his hands together. “On another note, I’ve kept you two here for five hours and I’m sure you both want some sleep so practice is over” he said, his smile still in place. I glanced at Stephen as I packed my things up and put my ballet shoes back in my bag, slipping on a pair of green Adidas sneakers after I pulled on a pair of fitted black sweat pants. I slung my dance bag over my shoulder and left the studio with a soft goodbye to Mr. Dellmonte. Stephen was still putting his things into his bag when I left.

I stepped out of the building and pulled out my cell phone, scrolling through the contacts I came to Vaughn. I paused for a moment, he did tell me to call him once my practice was over so he could come pick me up, I pressed the call button and held the phone to my ear. It rang four times before Vaughn picked it up and his greeting was anything but friendly.

“What?” he said, his voice rushed and annoyed.

“It’s Elisabeth” I said, my voice tentative.

“Oh” I heard him sigh and mutter a curse word. “I’m sorry, Marco’s being an idiot right now so my mind was on other things”

“You told me to call when practice was over” I said, looking up at the sky as a rain drop fell on my head. The dark clouds that had rolled over two hours ago seemed to be opening up. I moved back into the studio as more rain followed the first drop.

“Nathaniel, don’t put that shit there!” I took the phone away from my ear as Vaughn yelled, his voice was muffled so I had a feeling he had cupped his palm over the receiver but he was still loud. “Sorry, um, I’m sorry Princess but I can’t really come get you now, we’ve ran into a little trouble that needs to be fixed” he said, “can you get one of those driver drones to pick you up?” he asked and I heard a distinct click of metal meeting metal sharply.

“Yeah, it’s no problem” I said, biting my lip.

“Awesome, I’ll call you later” he said and then hung up.

I looked at the phone with a frown, still thinking about what he had said. He ran into a bit of trouble. What had Stephen just told me about Vaughn? That he was trouble. I sighed and put my phone back in my bag. It was too late for me to call my driver, unless I alerted him before ten o’clock that I would need him he retired at ten. A stroke of lightening lit up the street and showed a few taxis shoot by, there weren’t many at this hour because most of them loitered around the night life area. Which this was not. I decided I’d have to call one and wait, as I pulled out my phone I heard footsteps behind me.

“Vaughn is not here to pick you up yet?” Stephen asked, his voice distinct with its Russian accent.

“He’s busy” I muttered, frowning at him as I dialed the taxi service number.

“Or in trouble” Stephen said. A part of me missed the quiet Stephen, a large part.

“That’s none of your business Stephen” I said, my frown deepening as I listened to the dial tone.

He chuckled, and I could tell he knew he was right. “Are you trying to call a taxi?” he asked, watching me.

“Yes” I said bluntly.

“Have you ever taken one before?”

“No”

“There is no other way for you to get home?” he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing like he was about to do something he didn’t want to do.

“No, unless I walk” I said, getting a driver on the line. “Hi, can you come pick me up at-“ I was cut off by Stephen taking my phone out of my hand and snapping it shut then handing it back to me.

“I’ll take you home” he said, sounding as if it frustrated him. And I had a feeling it was because he had just gone on a rant about us not being friends or acquaintances.

“Why? I thought you wanted hardly anything to do with me for my own sake?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Because you taking a taxi at this hour is a lot more trouble than me giving you a ride home” he said, opening the door of the studio for me.

“I am capable of taking care of myself” I muttered but still followed him out into the rain. He opened an umbrella and led me to his car which sat by the curb looking sleek and expensive. He opened the passenger door for me and I got in, he closed the door and went around to the driver side and got in after closing his umbrella and tossing it in the backseat. He started the car and I told him where to go then we were off. The car ride was silent for a while before I spoke up.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, not looking at him, my eyes were on the road ahead of us. The rain hit the windshield like a constant drum beat.

Stephen looked over at me then back at the road when I didn’t meet his gaze. “Because, I may not be the best person for you to be around, but I’m trying to keep you out of trouble. Unlike Vaughn” he said, saying the last part under his breath but I still caught it.