Scream Me a Dream

“I really can just call a cab.” Soya assured adjusting her black gym bag as Ville led her out of the theater and towards the black limo that was waiting for them.

“And we don’t mind taking you.” Mige repeated. “It’s fine Soya.”

Soya inwardly sighed, after Josef had stormed out, he had left the room filled with awkward silence and while Soya was very use to Josef’s temper tantrums, especially when they revolved around her health, the others were not. She knew they were taking a personal offense to the way Josef treated her, when in reality, the fight was long overdue and it wasn’t anything she couldn’t fix with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food and a bottle of raspberry syrup.

“Is there any place we need to stop before taking you home?” Ville asked as he slid in next to her. She scooted closer to the window, giving him more room, while Bam got in next to him, followed by Mige and Linde who sat across from them.

She thought about her studio, where she had planned on going even before her mother had started in on her. Nibbling the bottom of her lip, she looked down at her ankle before giving Ville a nod. “My studio, if you guys don’t mind.”

“Of course not.” Linde said, waiting for the address, she gave him the directions and he relayed them to the driver.

“So,” Ville teased, putting a hand on her leg, before lifting it up and settling her hurt ankle on his lap, “What happened?” he tapped on her ankle with a long finger, before he massaged it through the pink legging.

Soya laughed. “Josef and I were being idiots.”

Ville raised an eyebrow, which caused her to laugh. She looked over at Mige and Linde, who were also, looking at her incredulously. “Fine, I’ll elaborate, we were being idiots, for us.”

“That sounds better.” Mige laughed.

“Not much of a risk taker?” Bam asked with a small smirk.

Soya wrinkled her nose. “Not much of one, no, my story just proves it, which isn’t all that interesting anyway.”

“Just tell us what happened!” Mige groaned, his patience starting to wear thin.

Soya laughed. “Fine, we were on our Winter break, we had about a month left since we actually wanted to enjoy Christmas this time around we decided to bow out of the winter recital and be a part of the Spring one.”

“Which is this one?” Linde asked.

Soya nodded. “We started rehearsals towards the middle of January so we had all of December off. Josef had the crazy idea that we absolutely needed to skate in Rockefeller center. Now we may be dancers and damn good ones at that but put us in ice skates and we’re both useless.”

Ville laughed, having seen her a time or two in ice skates. “I remember that.”

“It’s horrible.” Soya giggled, not realizing that her leg was still in Ville’s lap and he was still absently massaging her ankle. “Anyway, we went and about an hour later we were able to actually stand on the ice and somewhat skate around. Josef decided to get fancy and do a jump that’s very simple to do on a ballet floor. Needless to say he fell and when he saw me laughing he bet me I couldn’t do it.”

She laughed at herself as he remembered that night, she had been laughing so hard at Josef falling, that she had had to grab onto the railing to keep from falling herself. Josef had glared at her and said. “Well if you’re so fucking good, you do it.” She said she could and he had bet her she wouldn’t make it.

“My pride wounded, I went to do the jump and needless to say I didn’t make it.” She chuckled. “I fell on my ankle wrong and it folded underneath me.” She wiggled her ankle slightly. “I was suppose to stay off my ankle for a month, but because I had to start rehearsals a few weeks later and put so much weight on it, it hasn’t healed properly.”

“Is that why Josef is angry?” Mige asked. “Because it hasn’t healed?”

Soya laughed as she dropped her leg from Ville’s lap once she saw her studio come into view. “He’s angry because he feels guilty for pushing me to do it.”

“But he won.” Bam pointed out.

Soya laughed. “The pint of Chunky Monkey we bet says differently.”

“You bet ice cream?!” Mige asked in surprise.

Soya looked over at Mige with a raised eyebrow as the limo stopped in front of her studio. “Mige you go almost two years without junk food and you tell me that almost breaking my ankle wasn’t worth the last pint we had in the freezer. Josef felt so terrible after we got home from the hospital that he gave me the pint.”

Ville shook his head as the limo door opened; Soya dug the keys out of her bag before stepping out of the limo, Ville following her causing her to turn around. “You don’t have to go with me Ville, I’ll be quick.”

“It’s fine, I want to.” Ville grinned as he followed her to the door; he saw her look up at the sign with a small smile, causing him to look up as well. “This is yours?” he asked in surprise.

Soya nodded as she unlocked the door and pushed the door open, Ville walked in after her, making sure the door was closed as he looked around.

“Is it just a studio for you?” he asked as he looked around the large lobby area, there was a desk where he assumed a secretary sat on his right, next to a large bulletin board filled with papers advertising recitals or times for classes and pictures of children in different dance poses or holding certificates.

“It’s a school.” Soya said as she walked further into the lobby, the further he walked he realized that while the lobby was a reception area it was also a small store where she sold dance merchandise, from the wall filled with boxes of ballet and tap shoes to leotards and tutus to pink sweatshirts that read ‘Dance’ across the chest.

“There are three dance studios.” She said as she pointed out three doors that circled the small store. “I have two full times teachers here for when I’m away or doing a recital and two part time ones that take turns replacing me when I’m gone.”

“You teach?” Ville asked with wide eyes.

Soya nodded. “I need to keep busy, I need to dance, and since I can’t do recitals year in and year out my dance studio keeps me busy. We do more than just teach ballet though, one of my teachers does yoga and Pilate’s classes on weekends for adults while another teaches tap and jazz.”

“It fits you.” Ville said looking around. “It really does.”

Soya shrugged. “The average retirement age for a professional dancer is about thirty, if I can go more years I would love it, but I like the idea of having something already established for me to do once I do retire.” She gestured for him to follow her, doing as she wished he followed her through one of the doors that led to a staircase.

“I own the upstairs too, I have my office up here.” She said as they begun to climb the steps, “and a smaller studio. Josef and I use it when we’re in season and want to practice on our own.”

“How many students do you have?” Ville asked as he came to a small landing that was a small lobby with a couch and coffee table that had dance magazines on the surface along with vending machines that offered snacks and beverages.

Soya walked into her office on the right as Ville went to the left looking in amazement at the small studio. Garment racks filled with costumes lined the far wall covering the window that allowed for natural light and the amazing view of the New York skyline. While the left side had her portable exercise bars lining the mirrored walls, the right side of the room held more exercise bars that were screwed to the wall as well as blue mats piled on top of each other. The corner closest to the door held an entertainment center with an up to date stereo and CD cases and loose CD’s lining the interior and the floor, as well as wires that he assumed connected with her iPod.

“It took me about a year to renovate this place.” Soya said flipping the switch that dosed the room in light. With the light he was able to see she had painted the room dark brown with a thick band of light brown in the center. It opened the room up making it look much larger then it was.

“And when I teach I have about fifty students.” She said answering his previous question. He turned around and saw that she was carrying something under her arm.

“What is that?”

“Foot spa.” She laughed. “I keep it under my desk for when I do paperwork,” she looked inside and picked up the items she had put in. “Tape for my ankle, ice cream for Josef and…” she picked up the bottle of Hershey’s raspberry syrup. “The last piece of bribery to get back on his good side.”

Ville laughed. “You don’t keep that in your apartment?”

“That’s just bad news for us.” Soya said with a small laugh. “Ice cream is our weakness, and keeping it in our apartment during the season is just asking for trouble. We hide it here since we tend to forget I have a small refrigerator in my office, it’s buried underneath paperwork that I tend to ignore.”

Ville chuckled. “Still don’t like numbers huh?”

Soya shrugged. “I send everything off to our family’s accountant and he takes care of everything for me.”

“The costumes?” he asked gesturing to the garment racks. “Are those yours?”

Soya nodded. “Every costume I’ve worn for my shows I keep, they come in handy for some of our teen students who do things for their school talent shows.”

Ville couldn’t help the amazement that washed over him. “You really have done so well for yourself Soya.”

“Was there any doubt?” Soya asked as she turned the light back off and started back towards the first floor.

“Not at all, but I assumed you were purely a dancer, I didn’t think you had ever planned on doing this.”

Soya should have felt offended, or at least a little annoyed, but she didn’t. During the time Ville had known her, dancing had been all she had on her mind, and only dancing. Had someone asked her at sixteen what she planned on doing for the rest of her life, dancing professionally would have been her quick and only answer. There would have been no room for anything else.

But after seeing so many dancers quit their careers early due to injury, she’d started to think about what she really wanted to do after retirement. She knew she wanted to dance in a show every once in a while but other than that, she really didn’t have a backup plan.

Originally her dance studio had been a place just her own, but one drunken night with Josef had led her to realize that she wanted to teach others to dance. So during her off seasons, much to her parents displeasure, she had taken some business classes at a local community college, gotten certified to teach ballet and gotten her building approved for what she had wanted to do and Soya’s Dance Studio had been born.

Five years later, they were still up and running and because of her and Josef’s connections with Juilliard, many of her students that she recommend for admittance were offered scholarships and went on to perform with some of the best companies. She had at least three of her older students already auditioning to be in the company Soya was currently with.

“It was a late dream.” She admitted as she walked out the door, jingling the keys as she locked it behind Ville, “But a dream nonetheless.”

“Like I said you’ve done well for yourself Soya.” Ville grinned as they walked back to the limo. He opened the door and allowed her to slide in first before he took her previous seat by the window.

“And you haven’t?” Soya teased. “You guys are famous rockstars now.” She nudged his arm with her elbow before she adjusted the foot spa on her lap, pulling her black bag from in front of Ville’s feet to in front of hers. “I’m just a lowly dancer.”

Linde shook his head. “I’m surprised your name isn’t up in lights. I’d heard you were an amazing dancer Soya, but to see you…”

Soya shook her head. “I’m not as good as you make me out to be, trust me, it all depends on the partner you have and I’m lucky Josef is mine. Without him I’d be stuck in the back line with the rest of the girls.”

“You’re amazing on your own merit Soya.” Mige said. “You really don’t need someone else,”

Soya shrugged, knowing that while she was a good dancer, without Josef or if fate had handed her another partner her dancing would never be as good as it was now. Josef pushed her to do her best, ever since they had met when she was sixteen and he was seventeen, then placed in the same company at twenty. Not wanting to argue the fact, she smiled instead. “How long are you guys staying in New York?” she asked curious as to how much time she had with her old friends.

“Ville is staying until the end of the month.” Linde said. “But the rest of us leave on Monday.”

Soya did a mental check of her schedule for the weekend, she knew her last two shows were the next day and her parents left that same evening, she didn’t start teaching again until the next month and she didn’t have any new recitals to practice for.

“Monday afternoon or evening?” she asked.

“Evening.” Mige said.

“Then I refuse to let you go without having lunch on Monday.” Soya said matter of factly.

Mige laughed. “You’re acting as if you won’t see us in Helsinki when you go back.”

Soya frowned as she thought about the last time she had been back to her home country. “What do you mean?”

Ville frowned back at her. “Don’t you go back home after your recitals?”

Soya laughed. “Home? As in Helsinki home?”

“Is there another home for you?” Mige asked.

“New York.” Soya stated. “I haven’t been back in Helsinki since…” she thought back. “Since I was twenty-one, and I don’t even count that. I spent ninety percent of my time flying to and from Helsinki and the other ten percent in the hospital.”

“Hospital?” Bam asked. “You went to Finland just to go to a hospital? What’s wrong with the care here?”

“Nothing’s wrong with the care here,” Soya said, “My sister was born in Helsinki though, I got to the hospital, saw her in the nursery for about five minutes before I had to fly back out to San Francisco for a show. The last time I actually saw anything of Helsinki was when I was eighteen, and even then I was in the theater most of time rehearsing for our show.”

“But you’re parents are there…” Ville said, he remembered Elizabeth vividly and knew that if Soya was anywhere else in the world alone, she would have to go back to Finland on her off time to be with her family. Elizabeth use to have Soya on a tight leash there was no way she would let a sixteen-year-old Soya stay in New York alone.

Soya nodded. “They are, but when I joined the first company at eighteen we were based in LA, then Rebecca’s company is based here in New York. When I’m in season my parents go to every one of my shows as we travel and when I’m not they’re back in Helsinki and I stay here.” She shrugged. “It’s been like that ever since I left.”

“And you haven’t been back?” Ville shook his head. “I find it hard to believe you’re mother allowed this.”

Soya shifted in her seat, “Well she did.” Soya said shortly, looking out the window, thankful to see the white townhouse that she and Josef owned together. She climbed over Ville as the limo parked, said a quick goodbye and got out, pulling her bag behind her as well as carrying her foot spa in her arms.

Bam smirked over at his friends as they watched Soya from the window, “I think you offended her Ville.”

Ville sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I think I did too.” He got out of the car and called her name, causing her to stop at the top step of her house.

“I’m sorry.” He said once he reached her. “I didn’t mean to offend you Soya.”

Soya shook her head. “I’ve had a bad night Ville and you unknowingly pushed a button that shouldn’t have been pushed.” Dropping her bag and setting the foot spa on the stone railing by her door, she walked down a few steps and hugged him. “It really is amazing seeing you.”

Ville smiled and kissed the top of her head as he hugged her back. “Trust me, the feeling goes both ways.”

“I told you we’d see each other again, didn’t I?”

Ville laughed as he pulled back. “You did and I never did doubt you kulta.”

Soya sighed happily, reaching up and stroking his cheek with her thumb. “Don’t tell the others,” she said quietly. “But you really were my favorite.”

Ville shook his head, reaching up and taking her hand in his. “Trust me; that’s no secret. They know.”

Soya couldn’t help but chuckle at that, before she remembered that she’d left the limo is such a huff that she hadn’t given him her phone number. “Oh! Before I forget.” She turned and bent down to get her notebook from her black bag, flipping to a clean page that wasn’t filled with notes of choreography, pulling a pen from the binding and scribbled down her numbers. “I’m always running around someplace and most of the time I don’t hear my cell phone.” She pulled the paper out of the notebook and handed it to Ville. “I gave you every place you can possibly reach me.” She laughed at herself. “Josef’s number, the house, the office and my cell phone.”

“Are you still scatterbrained Soya?” Ville teased stuffing the paper in his pocket.

“Just a bit.” She smiled. “I should get inside, knowing Josef, he’s spying.”

Ville nodded. “Tomorrow’s our last show, you should come.”

Soya bit her lip. “I don’t think I’ll be able to.” She admitted. “My parents leave tomorrow after my last show and I want to spend time with Aida before she leaves.”

Ville nodded in understanding. “I’ll leave tickets at the door for you if you decide to come.”

“That’s sweet of you, thank you.”

“Night Soya,”

“Good night Ville.” She said quietly as she watched him walk back towards the limo. He turned back one more time, giving her a small smile before sliding into the car. Turning herself, she gathered her things, digging her keys out of her bag once again before entering the house.

Dropping her bag on the inside of the door next to Josef’s, she kicked her flats off leaving them by the black leather couch, dropping her keys on the dark brown side table. Climbing the steps to the second floor, she noticed that Josef’s door was closed, before going into her own. She pulled the grey Juilliard sweatshirt off as well as the black tights and pink leggings she had on, before pulling a t-shirt out from under her pillow.

Bringing it up to her nose briefly, she couldn’t help but smile at the scent on cigarettes and pure Ville. She pulled on the shirt, she had stolen from him the night before, over her head, before grabbing the ice cream and syrup from the foot spa and left her room going to Josef’s to find him sitting up in bed, reading. She threw the ice cream at him, the carton landing on his stomach.

“Oomph,” he groaned rubbing the cold spot on his belly before picking up the carton, his eyes wide with delight. “You’ve been holding out on me miláček.”

“You’re lucky it’s still good.” She pointed out, before biting her lip to hide her smile, holding up the bottle of syrup. “Truce?”

Josef gave a moan of reluctance before grinning at her. “I guess.” He patted the spot next to him, putting his book down on the night table before opening the drawer and producing two spoons. Soya climbed into the bed next to him, accepting the offered spoon as he peeled the top off the ice cream. She shook the bottle before putting some syrup on their spoons before they dug them into the cold treat.

“We’ll be regretting this in the morning.” Josef pointed out before he stuck his spoon in his mouth.

Soya shrugged, “We’ll just work it off anyway…” she bit her lip before looking at him. “Am I really of no use to you Josef?”

Josef scoffed. “Please miláček, you think I have the patience to train another woman to not only dance with me but to handle my temper tantrums. You are truly one of a kind, you’re of more use to me then the entire company combined.”

Soya shook her head in amusement. “That’s good to know.”

“You’re friends, they’re very good looking, please tell me I’ll be seeing more of them.”

Soya giggled as she settled back against the headboard, bringing her bare knee up to her chest as she left her spoon in the carton. “Ville yes, the rest leave on Monday.”

“You’ll miss them.” Josef pointed out.

“A lot.” She sighed. “How long do you think we’ll have off this time?”

Josef shrugged. “A little more than six months, Rebecca wants me to choreograph the next recital, but she already had the male and female leads picked out. It’s a smaller dance so she doesn’t want to waste our talents on it. Her words not mine.”

“And I refuse to dance without you.” Soya said softly, she really did refuse to dance with any other male dancer besides Josef, mostly because she did not trust any of the others to catch her during her jumps and she was so use to Josef just as Josef was use to her. They decided together what recitals to do as they had done so for the last eight years.

“Rehearsals start next week, I’ve already have most of it planned I just have to see if the dancers are up to par. The recital starts middle of June and ends end of August.”

“Then the winter recitals…” Soya said quietly.

“Which we’re not a part of anymore, but…” Josef trailed off.

“But…” Soya prompted.

“But if Rebecca has her way, our rehearsals for the Spring recital will overlap with the winter ones so we would start up again in November. At the latest December.”

“Giving us a little more than six months”

“Which tends to be Rebecca’s pattern.” Josef frowned at her as he put the cap back on the ice cream and set it down on his nightstand. “Why do you ask? You always hate having such a long amount of time between dances.”

“I know.” Soya said quickly. “And I do, but…”

“But…” Josef said his turn to prompt her.

“But…I think I want to go home.”

“Home?” Josef asked, looking around his room. “I thought you were home.”

“Finland, home.” She corrected with a sly smile.