Dance Colors Our Life and Makes It Bright Again

"Gimme a kiss Kens!" I can hear Chase's voice from backstage and open the door a crack in time to see McKenna give him a small peck on his waiting lips. He gives her a small kiss on the cheek and looks in my direction as I make my way over to him and pull on his collar till we're out of sight of everyone.

"You know you not supposed to be back here!" I giggle quietly. He wraps his arms around my shoulders while I hold his sides and he kisses my forehead.

"You love to pull on my collar don't you." I roll my eyes at him. "I know, I know I just wanted to see my girls before I see them perform for the first time."

I break away from him so I can see his face and raise my eyebrows"Your sisters have been here for like 5 years now and yet you still haven't seen them perform yet?"

He chuckles and pulls me back against his chest. I wrap my arms around his waist and wait for him to speak.

"I was always practicing." He shrugs,"getting to the X-Games has always been my dream. Plus, no one ever told me."

"Probably because they thought you didn't care?"

I fell him shake his head. I pull back from him again and hold his hands instead.

"Nah, I adore my sisters. It's probably cause I was never home." He looks down at our hands as he makes them swing and it kinda hurts me to see how guilty he looks.

He was so focused on his own dream that he never got the chance to see his two favorite girls dance and it'd been killing him all along.

He wanted to be there but since he always came home so late, no one had the chance to tell him when something like this was going on.

"My mom wanted to thank you" he laughs a little and it snapps me out of my thoughts.

"What for?"

"For be there for my sisters when I should've been and for helping change that. She said she really wants to meet you since my sisters almost never stop talking about you."

I giggle nervously. I knew they loved me but I didn't expect this.

"They told me they look up to you.. I mean at least Calliah did."

"I never woulda thought they'd look up to me."

"Well they do" he chuckles again. He laces his fingers with mine and I lean closer to him." They look up to you like the sister they never had."

"10 minutes everyone!" I hear Gabby yell from the other side of the door. I try to pull away but Chase won't let me go.

"Chase--"

"You've got 10 minutes and I intend to use every minute I can."

"Then why don't we get to it then?" I run my hand up his chest and he secures his arms around my waist and presses me against him.

"You don't even have to tell me" he whispers and then his lips are on mine again. I slip one hand up behind his neck and play with his hair.

"Ew, are you guys kissing?"

We push away from each other as soon as we hear Calliah's voice.

"No." We answer at the same time. Chase disguises his chuckle as a cough and I smile.

"Yea you were!"

"No we weren't Calliah, we were talking... What do you want?"

"We wanted Daniella to go over one part with us before she goes on."

"Okay, I'll be there in a second okay, tell the others to stretch."

"Okay!" She sings at us."I knew you liked each other"

"And wipe that smirk of your face shit head!" Chase chimes in.

We hear the door shut behind her and I look back up at Chase as he runs his hand through his hair and scratches the back of his neck.

"I think I'm gonna let you go." He laughs and I laugh with him.

"Alright." He wraps his arms around my thighs and picks me up. I rest my hands on his shoulders and look down at him.

"I'll be watching from the first row with my mom. Alright?" I nod down at him and he gently lets me down so he can softly press his lips against mine. "You're beautiful" he mutters against my lips before he releases me.

"Thank you." I reply. I start to walk away but he pulls me back to kiss the top of my head then lets me go and disappears out the door.

I walk towards the door and hear shuffling and shushing the closer I get. My jaw drops and I reach the door to find the younger girls getting on the floor or pretending to stretch each other.

"We're you guys watching us?" I say putting my hands on my hips. They all shake their heads and I roll my eyes."Alright get up. Lets go over whatever you needed to go over.

~~~~~~

When the show was over I'm reunited with Chase but we keep our hands to ourselves since his sisters are around.

His mom offers to take me home and before I can find a way out of it Chase offers to take me and his sisters out for dinner while she goes home to sleep since she was working late last night.

Luckily she approves this and she embraces her kids, and then me, before going off on her way.

I have my dance bag with extra clothes over my shoulder and I can feel Cal looking back and forth between me and Chase wondering what's going on between us.

Chase takes our bags and puts them in the trunk of his car while I buckle Mckenna into her carseat.

When I finish, I buckle myself into the front passenger seat then Chase gets in and we're on our way.

We're about halfway there when Chases suddenly goes off on his sister and the action startles me a little.

"Can I fucking help you Calliah?"he says sternly, looking into the rear view mirror.

"Nope." She simply says and goes back to playing with her Nintendo DS. Chase rolls his eyes at her and keeps his hand on the gear shift.

When we get to Applebee's, he takes Ken out of her seat and places her on his hip. When we enter the restaurant, we're immediately welcomed to the delicious scent of their food and the warm decor.

The random pictures of old movies and old cars litter the warm painted walls and the sound of soft chatter among the other people who came to eat the delicious food fill the air.

"Four please."

"Right this way." We follow the waitress to an open table and she as we sit she sets down 2 regular menus and 2 kids menus. "What can I get for you guys to drink tonight?"

Chase briefly looks at the drink menu before pointing at Kens. "She'll have a small lemonade, and the squirt next to her will have a Sprite--"

"I want a Coke!" She argues.

"It's almost 11pm, you're tired and you're going straight to bed after this. You're getting a sprite, end of story." He sternly tells the younger girl. She huffs and sinks into her seat.

I giggle softly then realize it's my turn to order. "Um, I'll have a diet Coke please."

"But how come--"

"Hush." She crosses her arms over her chest and looks out the window and the waitress laughs to herself.

"And for you sir?"

"I'll have a Bud Light with and lemon wedge in it if that's alright."

"Are you even 21?"

"If it gets me a beer I am"

She rolls her eyes at him. "You're getting a Coke." He chuckles and runs a hand through his hair as she walks away.

"Make that diet!" He calls after her.

"I'm telling mom you tried to order beer."

"No you aren't cause I'll tell mom about that D you got on your math test." She sinks lower into her seat and looks out the window again.

He shifts a little in his seat so he's leaning on his elbows."Hey. Babyface." He calls to her and she reluctantly turns to look at him, her lip sticking out in a pout."I love you. Okay? I just don't want you staying up all night after you just had this big recital, alright? You need to rest. But hey, I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"How?"

"I'll... I'll take you to mall tomorrow?"

"Okay!" She sits back up and sticks her pinky out to him.

He links his pinky with hers and rests his arm on the back of the booth behind me.

The waitress comes back with our drinks and asks us what we want and we skip straight to desert and order 3 blondies.

"Can I ask a question?" Cal asks after taking a sip of her sprite.

"Depends on what the question is."

"Are you guys dating?"

I stiffen and he scratches the back of his neck.

"No." He replies and I can hear a slight undertone of disappointment in his voice.

"Then why where you guys kissing at the recit--"

"We weren't kiss--"

"You're lying cause, you had your hands on her waist and she had her arms around your neck and your faces were really close to--"

"Okay fine! We were kissing! Anything else you'd like to clarify?" he replies in exasperation as he takes a sip of his soda.

I hear the man in the booth behind us snickering lightly at the conversation these two are having and I feel myself smile as a take a sip of my drink.

"Do you guys have sex?"

I choke on my soda and he struggles not to spit his all over the place. Chase sighs angrily and looks at his sister. "You're finished."

"I'm finished with what?!"

"You're finished talking for the rest of the night."

"That's not fair! I was asking a question!"

"I don't care Calliah! That was so far out of line!" He wipes his face with his hand."How do you even know what sex is anyway?"

"Um hello, I'm in fifth grade. Of course I know what sex is."

He rolls his eyes and leans back in his seat.

"No, Cal. We do not have sex. You only have sex when you date someone for a long long time. Does that answer your question?"

Neither of us notice the return of the waitress but surely enough she's returned and she places the hot skillets in front of us.

"Yup!" She chimes taking her spoon and digging into the treat.

"Quite the conversation you're having there." She comments. Chase silently mocks her and pulls his insulin pump back out.