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Twenty-Five

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"So, are we going out or what?" Paige draped her arms over April and Amanda's shoulders, pulling both girls down to her height. April grinned, while Amanda gently pulled her neck free of the grip.

The other vacationers, including their parents had just left, taking Javier and Malia with them. April, Nathan, Amanda and Paige remained, intending to spend the remaining two weeks they had.

"Is there a party?" April asked.

"Who would throw a party at one in the afternoon?" Amanda asked as they trekked back towards the house.

"Remember that time mom and dad weren't home so you, April and I threw a breakfast party?"

"I wasn't involved in planning it, but yes. Nate was still in bed when people started yelling because you forgot to tell them it was BYOB, as in 'bring your own breakfast'," Amanda answered and they all laughed.

"Gosh, it was a mistake, what was wrong with them?" Paige said, still laughing.

"It's what happens when you say 'no food' to hungry teenagers at seven am on a Saturday," April kicked a pebble into Nathan's path.

He kicked it back. "You guys finished all the breakfast food in the house trying to fix your mess, if I remember correctly."

"Well, at least Margot Davis choked on bacon. That was funny. And April spilled someone's coffee all over her head."

Another round of laughter passed, but left April feeling particularly somber. It had been Javier's. She'd bent to pick up a pancake, and on getting up, she had knocked her head into his full cup.

"How're you holding up?" Paige whispered to April when they got to the door.

"I'm okay."

In truth, she was–mostly. As it was, she'd felt better after crying, and she was sure if she didn't see him again, she'd be quicker at healing. The memories would always be with her, but whatever had happened between them had happened and passed away—in theory, that is.

"Why'd you even come out?" Nathan asked, opening the sliding glass door for all of them to get in before him.

She shrugged. "I wanted to say goodbye to Dad and Hannah."

"And see Javier one last time," Paige inserted. "Dude didn't even leave the car."

"I don't think he could," Amanda shrugged. "I mean, step in his shoes...we would've torn him apart for what he did."

April shrugged. She couldn't defend him but she knew she had to let go at some point. "You guys leave it alone, I'm tired."

"It's only noon."

She nodded. "I'm still tired."

Nathan sighed. He knew exactly what kind of 'tired' she meant. "Rest up cause we have a party later. I'm in charge so I'll let you three come."

Paige scoffed. "Yeah, like you'd ever be the reason we miss it. We'd dig a tunnel in the ground if you locked us up."

Nathan grabbed the nearest object—a brown throw pillow— and lobbed it at her. Paige threw it back, accidentally smacking Amanda, who sought revenge immediately. As both girls ran toward the kitchen, April gave Nathan a mock bow and left him to deal with them.

What did people do when they got over someone a second time? She wondered, as she stepped into the bathroom. She had been so used to getting people off her mind easy that she didn't know what rules there were for actual breakups. Heck, this one wasn't even a breakup in the first place—not official, anyway.

She ran the cold water till the skin on her palms began to fold and she had no choice but to stop. Her phone beeped with a text on the bed as she stepped out of the shower.

EA: Click the link, A dawg ;)

"Everstep's 'The complex' to rule streetsover 2021."

Her eyes widened on seeing the headline on the link he'd sent her.

'The complex' was a dance crew, established by some of the most outstanding alumni of 'Everstep', the dance academy April had attended for three months after her first and only college application had failed. It was through the group that she had met several dancers, all huge in the industry and all of whom had understood and supported her. None of them had blamed her the way her father had done after the rejections. None of them had even bothered to ask what her G.P.A was. All they cared about was how dedicated she was to dance, and given the answer, she'd fit right in.

It had taken a while to prove her tough skin, but after getting into a group like that, it was impossible to want to quit for any reason—college included.

It was the fuel to her fight against higher education. She knew she had 'the complex' to guide her, and even though she could've gone to college to dramatically throw the diploma at Patrick's feet, there was no bigger satisfaction than getting to follow her dreams openly, which—she was pretty sure—was now a reality.

'Streets over' was a convention for hip-hop dancers all over the word. The organisers held polls every year, and based on fifteen- second dance clips, submitted by aspiring crews, votes were cast and the highest ranked qualifiers would get a chance to 'rule' the gathering, which meant they would get to set the rules, bring the party to the arena and make the grand performance at the end of the day. Kind of like the main event of wrestlemania.

'The complex' was up and running, and she, April O'Brien, had a front row seat to joining the world of professional hip-hop dancing. For the first time since her fight, April's lips curled into a genuine, happy smile.

•~❉᯽❉~•

Although the song blasting from the radio hadn't been written specifically for him, it was as if it were the universe behind the dashboard, screaming at the group of men called 'assholes', which in this case, he had officially joined.

He didn't even know the singer by name, yet her lyrics wouldn't let his neck free. As he stared at the radio set on the dash, he couldn't help wishing that something—anything, really—would fly into the speaker and clog it. He could barely look up, and it was as if his mind was an elastic string, stretched between the beach and their current location as they headed back into town behind the silver Toyota that carried the O'Briens. For every meter forward they moved, his mind stretched along with the distance. It would eventually snap, he just didn't know when.

Below the song was his father's voice, reciting his new mantra. "I can't believe Patrick let her."

"Well, she's his daughter, and I'm sure he has backup plans for her. He's letting her take the first move towards her future, and if it fails, then...he'll figure something out," his mother replied. Javier could tell from her tone that even she was tired of hearing it over and over.

So April had gotten her freedom, good for her, but his father didn't have to keep making him feel bad by reminding him of her victory in the same area of life he'd lost at.

"I'm just glad we didn't have to face that. I know how kids get, but we're lucky that success is all this one wants," he said with a chuckle, motioning toward Javier in the back seat.

Javier closed his eyes and slouched even further. Just the mention of April's name still sent an uneasy rush of guilt down his gut, bringing back the vile feeling he had gotten at the end of their fight. He hadn't been in his right mind for half of it, having been heavily stricken by shock and guilt, but he could still remember every moment, every vain word they'd spoken, every insult they'd directed at each other. They'd all weaved themselves into a tight rope, choking the life out of his sanity.

She couldn't have meant her words, he thought, trying to find light in the dark tunnel of his memory. If there was anything that made him and April alike, it was their egos, and despite the fact that she'd been genuinely angry enough to utter such words, he also knew she'd been hurt by him. And as the saying goes, "hurt people hurt people," she'd hurt him as a reaction to his hurting her. What a disappointment.

This wasn't April's fault, not in the slightest. He had been the one to bring up his stupid plan in the first place. What kind of person used someone else as a pawn to calm their own insecurities?

Fuck this.

It didn't take two seconds after that thought for his fist to go flying into the back of the driver's seat.

•~❉᯽❉~•

The sun had set, but the moon still hadn't fully resumed her shift, so the sky was a beautiful grey outside.

April sat on her bed dressed in a grey sports bra and matching sweatpants, legs crossed beneath her, talking to her crew members via group FaceTime.

"You're kidding!" She exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Nope, I'm telling you! We got verified by tiktok THIS AFTERNOON!" A brunet replied with a chuckle afterward. "You were right, it happened."

"Wait till we get Instagram verified, then we know I said it all," April said with a wide smile. "I'm so proud of us."

"Remember that juju routine EA and I were doing?" A blonde girl asked. April nodded. "That was the last thing we posted before the blue tick."

She would've hugged them through the phone if she could. "I'm way behind on the newer routines you've made but I know you'll get through them without me... right, EA?" She asked, adjusting her black ear buds.

Edward Armstrong, popularly known as 'EA', chuckled from one of the tiny square compartments. "About that... We haven't been practicing anything new. When we heard you weren't coming back here this summer, we decided to go on break too. The juju was literally the last dance we did without you."

The blonde nodded. "Yep, the others are enjoying their time away before we have to grill their butts back into practice."

April pouted in confusion. "So how'd we get to rule streetsover then?"

The redhead from another square waved. "YouTube!" She said with a beaming smile.

"Roe posted a couple of our dance and song mashups with our watermark and phone numbers...four hours later, not only do we have over four million views, we're getting called by the director of FreeDay feeling...and my single cousin, Reese," EA added with a suggestive wink at the word, 'single'.

April rolled her eyes. "That's amazing, and please, keep Reese away from me, EA. Your cousins are crazy."

"He's single," EA stressed.

She laughed. "Yeah, so? I'm not interested."

The girl in the second compartment frowned. "Since when? Everything alright, rich kid?"

April shrugged and forced her smile to stay by focusing more on the fact that she had been the one to secure their streetsover dreams, rather than the fact that her heart felt like mush for more reasons than one. "Yeah, pretty good, Roe."

A knock sounded on her door, prompting her to round the call up with a promise to call them all back later. She straightened her hair and wiped at her eyes, which had started to water at some point.

"Who is it?" She asked.

"Just open the door, O'Neil."

She let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding. But why? There was no chance it could possibly have been him, right?

"Hi Mendes," she smiled as she swung the door open.

He furrowed his brows as though accessing her face. "You okay?"

She sighed at the question, then nodded. "Yeah, come in, I don't wanna stand."

He did as she said, taking seat beside her on the bed. "So...guessing I spoke too soon about the you and him thing, huh?"

She nodded, throwing herself backward so that her back was on the bed and legs on the floor. "Yep."

"And I'm too late to say something else about it?"

She smiled. "Whatever it is, I probably don't want to hear it. It is what it is and he's taught me an important lesson I'll never forget."

Shawn smiled. "What's that?"

She paused to think for a second, then shrugged as she came up blank."Honestly I have no idea but I'll think about it," she said and couldn't help the chuckles that came after it. "How are you?"

He smiled. "Well, your friends are helping me wreck my business even further by throwing a party at the shack later."

April clicked her tongue and pointed at his face. "Hot girls–no business."

He laughed along. "Could you rig the blonde one's pants to rip? I can just happen to have extra shorts on me," he laughed.

She rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

"Nah, the sooner you start laughing about it, the sooner it stops hurting."

"In that case, hardy-har-har."

Shawn's name echoed from outside the window, followed by a rock which flew in through the open window to smack him on the arm.

"I take it your time is up?" April laughed.

"Yep." He nodded and threw the rock back outside. "Promise me you'll come by later," he said, stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Don't worry, there's no party without me. I'll be there if you make a tank full of your mango alcohol concoction."

"You got it."

She wasn't sure she would, though. The whole day had so far been filled with tears, laughter and more fake smiles than real ones. Her heart was still heavy as a boulder, and she worried it would take more than smoothies to fix that.

Shawn hugged her, wrapping his arms around her in a platonic, yet comforting gesture. She held on to him, thankful to have him as a friend, despite everything she'd put him through.

The door swung open within seconds, jolting them apart with lightening speed. April turned on her heel, shocked at the sight of Javier, covered in sweat, looking from her to Shawn with confusion written all over him. "What's going on here?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Shawn answered with a shrug.

The hard expression on his face soon softened as his eyes moved over to April's. "Can I talk to you?"

"No, you can't." Shawn moved closer to the door. April followed, fully intent on slamming it in Javier's face.

"Please."

"I'm not doing this with you, Klein," she said. "Go away."

"Wait, just don't –" Shawn moved to close it, but Javier reached a hand out, wedging it open while his eyes searched the room over Shawn's shoulder. When he found April again, he frowned. "Please."

"Haven't you done enough?" Shawn cut in.

"Not until I fix my screw up. Now will you please, mind your own fucking business?!"

"Lower your voice."

"Look, I just want to talk to my—" he caught himself mid sentence, then gestured towards her. "I just want to fix something I screwed up. What? You have something against fixing things?"

If there was going to be a time to speak, April knew now would be it, before either of them started crying. "Shawn, it's fine. Let him in."

Shawn raised his brows at her, but when she shrugged and gave a slight nod, he calmed and walked out, leaving her and Javier alone. She clenched her jaw.

"Were you guys about to—"

"Is that what you came here for?" She fired back, cutting him off. He shook his head, shoulders slumping as he leant on the wall, giving her a view of his disheveled appearance. His usually arranged hair was sweaty and scattered atop his head and there were bags beneath his tired eyes. She felt pity for him, so she caved, adding, "But no, we're just friends."

Relief showed on his features, but April didn't see how it concerned him anymore. They were over. She didn't even know why or how he came back.

"I saw you guys leave, how did you get back here? Did you hitch a ride?"

He shook his head, as if trying to piece himself, as well as his words together.

"I- I walked."