Breaking Promises (B-Boy #1) Page 21

  I shot my roommate a solemn look. “And you can get hurt doing yoga. Ashley can get hurt cheerleading. Bianca can get hurt doing merengue. To put it simply, we all know we can get hurt breakdancing. So why do we do it?”

  “Because it’s fun?” Katy piped up.

  I smiled. “Because we love it. We can’t give up something we love just because we fear what it could do to us. That’s not what love is. Love is unconditional.”

  I glanced over at Clemence and realized she was already filming me. I took the opportunity to look straight at my phone and added. “And that’s why I’m doing this. Because I love gymnastics and because…I love Mitch.”

  There was a moment of collective sighs and swoons from all the girls. Even Bamboo cracked her stone cold façade for a moment.

  I nodded my head and glanced at each of my friends. I was never going to be alone again and it felt fitting that I’d do this in their company.

  After a few stretches, I stepped up to the edge of the runway and stared at my old enemy. Different gym, but still the same bitch. It glared at me, most likely flipping me the bird.

  I shut my eyes and suddenly all my nightmares flooded back to me. I felt my body stiffen up and a cold sweat begin to pool at my brow.

  “Come on, B-girl Aura! You got this!” Ashley yelled, clapping her hands together loudly.

  I opened my eyes and nodded my head in affirmation. “She’s right. I can do this.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, inhaling deeply so my diaphragm swelled up. Someone once told me that it was a way to massage myself from the inside and good God did I need a massage right now. Once the air was slowly released, I broke out into a run before hesitation could take over. The vault was coming up quick—definitely unlike all my nightmares.

  It was coming up quick and before I knew what I was doing, at the last possible second, I changed course and ran clear off the runway.

  The girls exchanged worried glances.

  “Aurora, are you okay?” Clemence called out, never once lowering my phone.

  I bent over, placing my hands on my thighs, and began to steady my breaths. I wiped the sweat off my eyebrow and nodded. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I sort of chickened out.”

  “You don’t have to apologize to us. We’re here for you, remember?”

  My lips curled into a sad excuse for a smile. I straightened myself and took shaky steps back toward the runway.

  Try after try, the same thing happened. I’d let my nerves get the best of me at the last possible second. How did I expect to do this? How could I convince Mitch to change his mind about b-boying if I couldn’t even fix my own demons?

  “Aurora.”

  My head snapped up at the sound of Mitch’s voice. It wasn’t possible. He was still confined to the hospital. How could he be at the gym?

  “Aurora.”

  But there he was again.

  I looked around wildly and saw Clemence holding my phone with the screen facing me. She must have video called him when I wasn’t looking.

  My nose began to prickle as I took a few steps toward my phone. As hard as I tried to fight it, I couldn’t stop the tears flowing from my eyes. “Mitch, I—”

  “Aurora, listen to me,” he pleaded.

  I braced myself for a barrage of reasons why I should stop what I was doing and why it was dangerous. Of course he ended up saying something I didn’t expect.

  “I know you can do it.”

  I sniffled and looked up in surprise. “What?”

  “I know why you’re doing this and truthfully, I feel a bit guilty for pushing you into this—”

  “You’re not,” I cut him off, wiping the tears from my eyes. I peered at the phone and though it was a bit too far for me to see his exact expression, even from where I stood I could sense the sadness emanating from him.

  “Aurora, I want you to do this for you. I’m thankful you’re brave enough to try it for me, but you can only achieve this if it’s for yourself. Just remember…” He paused for a moment and then said softly, “I’ll love you either way.”

  If that wasn’t the sound of panties dropping then I didn’t know what was.

  I lifted my head, feeling both shocked and enthralled. It felt as if I were walking though clouds made out of unicorn glitter.

  “Aurora? Aurora? Did you hear me?” Mitch called out.

  I nodded my head slowly.

  I could almost hear the smile in his voice. “I’m proud of you either way.”

  It vaguely reminded me of those locker room speeches that you always see in old sports movies. A defeated team uplifted by a coach’s proclamation of pure belief…or by the appearance of a main character the audience had deemed missing. Feeling a surge of second wind, I turned and walked toward the end of the runway.

  “Aurora, are you sure you got this?” This time it was Bamboo asking. She lifted her eyebrows in worry. “Mitch already loves you! You’re fine.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. “This isn’t for Mitch anymore—no offense.”

  “None taken,” he replied.

  I placed my toes at the edge of the white line. “This is for me.”

  With that, I stretched out my arms and before my mind could comprehend what my body was doing, I ran full force toward the vault.

  Runway.

  Vaulting board.

  Vault.

  My hands hit the surface, pushing my body through the air. My heart was beating a mile a minute and in a sudden rush, I felt my feet land back onto the mat.

  There was a moment of pure silence before the girls began to scream in unison. They jumped to their feet and ran toward me, tears of joy streaming from their faces.

  “You did it!”

  I was so overwhelmed and over stimulated that I had no idea who was saying what and who I was embracing at the moment. One by one, I was thrown around in a crush of hugs, but all I could focus on was Mitch’s face, which was miraculously still on the screen of my phone which Clemence was waving in the air. My poor boyfriend was probably getting motion sickness.

  His bright smile was prize enough.

  I did it.

  Mitch

  I told Aurora that I loved her.

  She didn’t say it back.

  But it didn’t matter because I do love her and I was proud as hell that she faced her fear. She not only faced it, she conquered the shit out of it.

  For me.

  Beep. Beep.

  I grabbed my phone and found a text from Aurora. We had hung up earlier so that the girls could practice for the battle, but I was surprised to hear back from her soon. Once I swiped the notification I realized it wasn’t Aurora texting me after all, though it did come from her number.

  This is Clemence on Aurora’s phone. In the excitement, she forgot to send you this clip from earlier. Hope you like it. ;)

  Curious, I played the attached video and watched a very nervous looking Aurora addressing her friends.

  “Because we love it. We can’t give up something we love just because we fear what it could do to us. That’s not what love is. Love is unconditional. And that’s why I’m doing this. Because I love gymnastics and because…I love Mitch.”

  My breath caught in my throat. She did love me. Without even knowing I loved her first, she wanted me to know it.

  “She loves me,” I whispered to myself in disbelief. “I’m the luckiest motherfucker in the world.”

  I couldn’t believe that she loved me…and as luck would have it, the very first time she said those words she was wearing that hot ass purple sports bra of hers.

  Aurora

  Practice.

  Battle of the Crews was in a week and practice had taken over my life.

  Mitch

  Battle of the Crews was coming up and I knew the guys were probably kicking up their sessions into full gear. The only reason why I knew this was because Anthony had finally come to visit me…to make sure they were still in the clear to practice at Sal’s extra storefront.

&n
bsp; Assholes.

  Whatever.

  They could practice there all they wanted and they better make use of the space while they still had it because while I was stuck in the hospital I had come to realize I had some very important decisions to make.

  Staying in Annihilation was one of them.

  Aurora

  “Ladies! I come bearing gifts.” Bamboo smiled proudly and dropped a huge cardboard box at our feet. It vaguely reminded me of the box I had lugged into my dorm my very first day on campus. Gosh, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Bianca peered at the box curiously. “Question. Will it kill us? Bite us? Torture us until we cry out uncle?”

  Bamboo rolled her eyes, which were now an odd shade of purple. She must have bought contacts from the same place that anime looking whore at the club did. A feeling of jealousy began to climb through my veins, but I immediately pushed it away. Mitch was mine.

  “Just open it,” the b-girl said with a smile.

  Shrugging, I ripped the top off and stepped back in surprise. “You got us shirts?”

  “Well, Clemence and I did.” She held out a hand and high-fived her. “Her brother’s cat’s unicorn’s mom’s dad—”

  “We get it,” I cut her off with a laugh. I bent over and picked up the lavender colored shirts. It had our crew name scrolled on the front and our b-girl names printed on the back. Having been the only member of the crew to get a new alias, I frowned and asked, “Who came up with these names?”

  “I did.” Bamboo shrugged sheepishly. “Hope you like them.”

  One by one I began to toss the shirts toward their respective owners. It wasn’t too hard to figure out which shirt belonged to which girl.

  Katy was dubbed the endearing name of Yogi Bear.

  “Bear?” she hissed. “Why?”

  “Figured you’d have to get your fix of animal somewhere,” Bamboo said with a wink.

  To my surprise, Katy merely laughed.

  Clemence was dubbed Bird Seedz, for obvious reasons, Bianca was Merengue, Ashley was Choreo and…

  “Who does this belong to?” I lifted an extra tee, which was crumpled at the bottom. I flipped it over to the back and widened my eyes. “What the—”

  “It’s mine.”

  We all turned in shock to find Winter walking toward us. She lifted her chin, allowing her magenta colored hair, which was shaved on one side, to swing past her face.

  “Um, not that it’s not great to see you, but why are you here?” I asked, scratching my head.

  Her frown did not leave her face. “Anthony.”

  “Um, am I supposed to know what that means?”

  “Craig made Anthony dump her,” Bamboo explained bluntly.

  Ashley snorted. “How can anybody make somebody else dump someone? Is he like the president of all assholery or something?”

  “I think Craig can do anything he sets his mind to,” I muttered.

  Winter cut in, “Craig found out we were messing around and basically threatened to kick Anthony out of the crew. Said he needed undivided attention to beat Knight Crawlerz or some bullshit.”

  “Wow. That’s a bit pathetic,” Clemence murmured.

  “He has nothing else going on in his life so he chooses to pick on people who allow him to,” Winter grunted.

  I shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet her eye.

  She quickly added, “He thinks women are toys, his grades suck, and he has no drive for anything other than breaking. He’s bored.”

  “That’s not so bad. Some people hit it big by breaking,” Bamboo pointed out.

  “At the extent of acting like some dictator? At the point of messing with other people’s personal lives? Um, no.”

  “So you’re here for vengeance?” I asked hopefully, knowing that adding Winter to our team could take us to the top.

  Winter flicked her tongue across her teeth. “Oh yeah.”

  Mitch

  “You feeling confident for tomorrow?”

  Aurora smiled and fluffed my pillows a bit more. I was so sick of being stuck in my bed, but at least I was no longer at the hospital. It helped that my nurse was now somebody pretty hot and not like the grumpy hairy mole-covered woman who tended my bedside at the hospital.

  “Yeah, I’m feeling pretty confident,” she answered quietly.

  That was good and all, but I wanted to know more. “Did you guys plan out your runs in advance or…?”

  “What about ‘or’?” She shot me a wink. “Somebody told me to freestyle, remember?”

  I couldn’t help but grin. “What if I gave you some advice?”

  She sat down on the edge of my bed and carefully lowered down so she was lying next to me. She scooted back slightly so her body was melded into my side. “I can always use some of your advice.”

  Even with my neck propped up in an awkward position, I could smell the sweet scent of strawberry shampoo. It brought me back to all our days practicing. What I wouldn’t give to go back to those simple days.

  One day we’d be able to do that again.

  “You said you were studying some of Craig’s moves, right?” I asked, reaching out to run my fingers down her arm.

  She nodded slightly, but quickly stopped when she realized it shook my pillow. “Yeah. As painful as it was to search for him online, I watched a few of his reels.”

  I winced, but chose not to comment on the infamous viral video. Besides, if I were to apologize again, she would just tell me to shut up.

  Aurora wiggled her butt into my thigh, and as much as I loved feeling her body next to mine, it was both a blessing and a curse since we couldn’t exactly do anything to alleviate the tension that was now growing in my crotch. I mean, we probably could have done alittle something but Aurora was afraid of causing me strain.

  Psh.Ridiculous. There would be no straining in that department, if you know what I mean.

  I reached down and discreetly adjusted my dick. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you pulling out all the stops or what?”

  “We’ve practiced until our feet bled,” she replied, letting out a strained laugh.

  “Wow, you sound so metal,” I commented, to which she flicked against my nose. Laughing, I added, “No, it’s admirable. Sounds like what I would do, if I still could.”

  “You still can,” she said warningly. “Don’t start—”

  “I know. I won’t.” Sighing, I stared up at the ceiling, recalling my final battle. All of Craig’s moves were harder, faster, and newer. “Have you been keeping up with Craig’s new runs? It’s like he ate a magic pill and pooped creativity or something.”

  “Yeah…” Aurora’s voice drifted off. She shifted slightly and propped herself up on her elbow so she was looking straight at me. “Can I tell you something?”

  “Anything and always.”

  She smiled. “I’m nervous. This is going to be my first battle and…I don’t know…”

  I knew that feeling well. It was the same one I felt during my first battle way back when I was thirteen. Regardless of how much time had passed, it was an emotion that still seared into my gut. “You know what will make you feel better?”

  “To forget about this whole thing and just cuddle with you all day?” she asked sweetly.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes and no.”

  “Oh.” I could almost hear the pout in here voice. “What’s your advice then?”

  “I think you need to play with Craig’s mind a little.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Pulling my wicked, evil genius from its confines, I thought back to all of Craig’s weird pet peeves and annoyances. Nothing bothers him more than somebody hitting his same exact moves cleaner and bigger. “You know Craig’s signature move, right?”

  “Yes, air flare to 90. He does four 90s.”

  I chuckled. “What if you do an air flare to 90 yourself.”

  Her eyes widened. “I can’t do a 90.”

  “But you can do air flares.”

  �
��What are you getting at?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Do something to blow him out of the water. Like tweak his moves so you do it better.”

  “And how can I possibly do that?”

  And so started our plotting to jab Craig where it hurt the most—his nuts. Okay, well not literally, but it was going to hurt him as bad as if we had kicked him in the balls.

  Speaking of which…

  Aurora’s fingers slyly moved toward my groin, as if she were trying to reenact the Cabaret.

  “What are you doing?” I asked in a raspy tone. “Not that I mind what I think you’re doing, but I thought you weren’t going to try anything because…well…anyway, you better not kick the tires if you don’t want to go out for a drive.”

  She pursed her lips. “Funny, and I’m not trying anything at all…just sucks that I can’t have sex with my boyfriend, that’s all.”

  There was a growing lump in my throat and not for lack of sex. “Tell me about it.”

  Getting another evil, but awesome idea I reached out and pushed her legs apart, pressing a finger against the thin material of her leggings. A rush of warmth immediately greeted me.

  Through gritted teeth she sighed and lifted her hand away from me. So not the response I thought I was going to get. Feeling a bit disappointed, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “If you don’t stop, we’re going to do this and it’s not medically sound.”

  I pressed harder, eliciting a gasp from her lips. I smiled smugly. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

  Her face was mixture of pure lust and torment. “No. Doctor’s orders.”

  “The doctor isn’t here!” I whined.

  She stifled a laugh, but it was hard to miss the longing in her voice. “Just get better. We’ll have plenty of time to do this when you get better.”

  Begrudgingly, I pulled my hand away and scowled. “Whatever.”

  This time she couldn’t help but giggle. “Mitch!”

  I frowned. “Let’s just focus on something else. To stop this growing boner, you know?”