Love Never Felt So Good

Small beads of sweat gathered at the base of Bailey’s neck as she gathered her long, honey-blonde waves up into a ponytail. The back of her white cutoff tee was sweaty and she fanned her face as she caught her breath. She had finally finished her master class and had half an hour to get home before a new episode of Scandal came on.

“Bye Bailey, thank you!” Some of her students waved to her as she left the studio and headed towards her ice blue Prius.

“Bye guys! See you Monday!” She smiled, waving happily. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she touched up her passion-red lipstick that matched her red bra that peeked out of her white t-shirt where it was slid up the sides.

She was excited to get back to her house, chow down on the bowl of homemade mac and cheese waiting in her fridge and search the internet for some new music. She was teaching her high schoolers on Monday, afterall, and her seniors always wanted the best, newest music and choreography.

“Oh,” she watched as the exit for Starbucks neared, knowing that after a hot day in the studio, a passion tea lemonade sounded like heaven. She had twenty-five minutes to get home… she would make it work.

Pulling off of the highway, she made it in and out of the drive-thru in six minutes and was back on track to get to her apartment.

“Belle!” She called as she opened her front door, tossing her keys on the entryway table. A fawn pug came tumbling out of the hallway and wiggled excitedly upon seeing her mama. “Hi baby girl, are you hungry?” She asked, sweet-talking the little fur-covered monster who stared up at Bailey adoringly, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Bailey poured kibble to Belle’s dish before quickly turning on her television and heading back to her bedroom.

Her Pittsburgh high rise had a great view of the city, and living on the twenty-third floor had its perks, there was a great amount of privacy living that high up in the sky. Rolling the doors open to her bedroom balcony, she aired out her stuffy bedroom as she flipped on Scandal in time for the cold open.

Stropping off her shirt, she walked to her closet only in her red lace bra and black Nike Pro spandex shorts. Twirling her hair up on top of her head in a loose bun, she took a long drink of her tea.

Spinning back on her heel, she moved her hips a bit to the music playing in the commercial once the cold-open of the show cut to break. Bailey could hardly keep from dancing whenever she heard a beat she liked.

Her feet moving around the plush, white carpet of her airy bedroom, she stopped short when she noticed she had an audience.

Bailey’s apartment was in one of two twin buildings that sat right next to one another about a hundred feet apart. And at the moment, three men who were in the apartment precisely across from hers, had caught on to her movement in her bedroom.

Bailey squeaked, high tailing it out of her main bedroom area and into her closet where she pulled on a big, baggy Pittsburgh Penguins sweatshirt. She peeked her head out again to see that the three were still standing at their own window. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a shoebox top from her closet floor and a sharpie from her dresser. She scrawled CREEPS in big, block letters before walking up to the window and holding her sign against the glass.

Almost comically, all the three men quickly scattered and ran in different directions, leaving the room they were in. She grabbed her curtains from each side of the sprawling bedroom and pulled them shut, disappointed she was going to miss the sunset that evening. Glancing back to the television, she decided she had just enough time to heat up her macaroni before her show came back on. Tossing one more glance in the direction of the apartment across the street, she narrowed her eyes. Relieved to see it appeared to be empty.

- - -

Sidney didn’t spend as much time in the city now that he was fully moved into his mansion not far from Mario’s in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, but it was the weekend, they had no games, and his friend, James, had invited him and Flower over for some pizza, beers and video games.

James’ girlfriend, Missy, was gone for the weekend with her sisters on a trip to Arizona, so he had the whole apartment to himself.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you, Sid. I’m gonna kill you.” Flower insisted, pressing the buttons on his controller frantically. Sidney did his best to evade his goalie, but the truth was, the man loved his video games, and could out-play the entire team.

“Shit.” Sid laughed, shaking his head, reaching for a second slice of pizza – wheat crust – an accommodation he requested that he didn’t mind taking shit for. He had been committed to his body for years, and he wasn’t going to stop now for a guy’s night.

“Sid, you are fuckin’ awful at this game.” Flower laughed.

“I can live with that.” Sid shook his head. It was nice to spend time with his friends outside of the rink and not talking about hockey all the time. Plus, now that Marc had his daughter, he knew the goalie appreciated the night away from home every now and then.

“Hey, I picked up that new Vin Diesel movie from Red Box.” James held up the case in his hand. “And Missy baked before she left. Cookies in the kitchen.” He grinned.

Sidney walked back to the kitchen as James turned off the Xbox, cueing up the movie.

“What is that? Hey, hey, what’s that?” Flower asked as he stood at the window. Sidney walked over with a water bottle in one hand a cookie in the other.

“Whoa.” He could feel his pupils dilate as he watched the blonde move around her apartment in a red lacy bra and black spandex shorts. He could barely make out the movement of her lips as she sang along and moved about – a small dog jumping around at her feet.

“That would be Bailey Bradford.” James said without even looking at what he knew his friends could see out of his window.

“You know her?” Flower asked, knowing he should look away. Sidney had no problem with staring.

“Missy loves her. She was on some dance show or something a while ago, and now she’s a judge for other shows. I don’t know, Missy knows better than I do, but she’s big in the dance scene.” James attempted to explain. He glanced nervously over in the direction of the apartment. Missy was a huge fan of Bailey Bradford’s and he didn’t want to creep her out.

“So Missy knows her?” Sidney asked.

“No, just stalks her from a far.” James laughed.

A moment later, she split from the room she was in before reappearing moments later in a baggy sweatshirt and a hand up to the windowpane.

CREEPS read the sign she pressed against the glass.

“Shit! Run!” The three ran in opposite directions from the room. When Sid’s pulse finally slowed as he waited in the kitchen, James was the first to wander back out to the family room.

“It’s safe, she closed the curtains.” He called. Sidney walked back out to the couch, a second cookie in hand as his phone in the other with his water bottle tucked under his arm.

“That was weird.” Flower announced with a laugh.

“That was something.” Sidney said, eyes flickering over to where the dark curtains now closed off the view into her apartment.

Sidney rolled his head to the side, cracking his neck and peeking at his phone. He turned his shoulders to shelter his screen before opening his browser.

Bailey Bradford.

She was beautiful, that was obvious. There were lots of photos of her in all different states of dress, baggy, urban clothes, cocktail dresses and workout gear.

America’s Best Dance Crew

So You Think You Can Dance?

American Idol

Bunheads

She had been on a wide range of shows over the past few years, but nothing past the fall of 2013. His attention snapped back to the television as a loud explosion led the opening scene of the action movie.

Later that night as Sidney arrived back home at his Sewickley juggernaut of a home, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, lights turning all around him as he stepped into different rooms.

“Bailey Bradford.” He said to himself, tossing his iPhone down to his bed and stripping down to his boxers, adjusting a little bit before walking into the bathroom and washing his face and brushing his teeth.

He grabbed the remote to the flat screen hanging on the wall opposite his bed, switching the screen to YouTube and looking her up with the search bar.

Picking the first selection, he sat down on the edge of his bed, arms behind him for support as he heard the opening chords of a sultry song.

Red lips, blonde hair, incredible body, and hips making indelible memories in his mind.

“Holy…” He whispered, the video ended too soon for him, but thankfully, she had a few hundred hits available for viewing. He tried not to be creepy, but truthfully, she was insanely talented, charming and adorable. He watched a few snippets where she served as a judge on a few reality shows and she was incredibly sweet and impeccably dressed.

Grabbing his phone once again, he was sure James was still up playing that video game of his alone in the family room.

“Yo.” He answered. Sidney could see him now, controller in hands and eyes glazed over as he stared at the big screen.

“Hey, did you say Missy knows Bailey?” He asked.

“Uh, I don’t think so, they’ve run into each other a few times at the Starbucks in the first floor of her building. I think Bailey knows that Missy lives in the complex.” James explained. “Why do you ask?” He pressed, pausing his game for a moment.

“I wanna meet her.” Sidney suppressed an eye roll.

“You googled her, didn’t you? You sick fuck.” James laughed loudly.

“Look, you wanna help me or not? You’ll earn big points with Missy.” Sidney insisted.

“I don’t need to earn points with her, she already lets me eat chili in bed and she lets me watch her shower. I’m set.” James retorted. This time, Sidney rolled his eyes. “But yes, I will have Missy scope it out. This will give her a legitimate reason to talk to her.” He added.

“Thanks, man.” Sidney laughed.

“Yeah, yeah. Something tells me we’re going to be throwing a get together this weekend.” James sighed.

“You’re the best, text me the details.” Sidney finished.

“Whatever.”