Emeralds

by K. A. Linde

  Trihn slowly reached up and slid her fingers around the pole. It was cool to the touch. She’d thought her hands might be slick, impairing her grip, but she found that she must not be as nervous as she’d thought. She started walking in a slow, sensual circle around the pole, warming her body up as much as drawing the eyes of the crowd.

  She picked up the pace until she was nearly running. Then, she dropped her left hand lower on the pole, mirroring her top arm, and kicked her legs up, swinging around the pole with her legs bent at the knees. She pretended to walk through thin air, all while her arms held her up in place, and the crowd cheered.

  Her smile grew.

  Turning in midair, she brought her low arm up to meet her high arm and used her upper-body strength to pull herself upside down through a shoulder mount before executing a perfect Gemini. With one leg extended and the other wrapped around the pole for support, her body tipped backward, and she stared out at the crowd, completely upside down.

  She felt the fluidity of the dance coursing through her. She knew the moves, and she knew how to complete them. Performing came second nature to her.

  Soon, she was flying through the moves. Thanks to practices with Cassidy, Trihn had actually felt prepared for this even though she had never performed on the pole before.

  Her muscles started aching halfway through the song. She definitely hadn’t warmed up, and it had been a while since she danced pole. Luckily, the Intensive practices had kept her ballet body in shape, so she could push herself.

  She couldn’t end on anything as dramatic as Cassidy’s ending, but Trihn forced herself into a split on the bar, grabbed the pole with both hands, and then straightened her elbows out. This released her body from the pole so that the only things keeping her upright and perpendicular to the pole was her flexed foot and both hands. She hadn’t done this one in a while, and she pulled herself back to the pole before she could fall on her face. She flipped back onto the stage floor and bowed to applause like she had never heard. People didn’t cheer this loud for ballet, even at Dance House showcases.

  Cassidy ran back out, grabbed Trihn’s arm, and held it high in the air. Trihn couldn’t hear what she was saying over the roar of the crowd, and anyway, her eyes were locked on Preston. He wasn’t just beaming with excitement. He looked ready to eat her alive.

  Cassidy pulled her into a hug. “Don’t hate me! You did awesome, chick. You killed that Russian down split.”

  Trihn gave her a shaky smile. “Thanks, you bitch.”

  Cassidy laughed and squeezed her tighter.

  Trihn picked up her discarded clothing and stumbled back to her seat.

  Preston pulled her against him in a fierce hug. “You never told me you could do that!” he cried.

  “I’ve never done that before,” she said. All the nerves seemed to hit her at once, and her body was shaking. She felt powerful from her performance, yet her stomach plummeted to the floor as fear set in about what had happened.

  “You’re trembling.”

  She laughed. “I know. I can’t stop.”

  “Let’s get you out of here.”

  Preston put his arm around her shoulders and directed her through the crowd just as the last act of the night came onto the stage. Trihn glanced over her shoulder once to take in Slipper just the way it was after her first performance. Then, they disappeared up the stairs and walked out onto the city block.

  Cassidy rounded the corner a second later. “Hey, Trihn! I didn’t mean to scare you off.”

  Trihn smiled, letting her nerves settle. “I can’t believe you surprised me like that.”

  “I knew you’d never do it otherwise.”

  “You’re right. I wouldn’t have.”

  “But wasn’t it fun?” Cassidy asked with a big smile. “You could work here with me while you go to NYU. Big boss man said he liked your show, and with some work, we could even be a double act!”

  Trihn’s head swam. “What?” she sputtered.

  “That’s a great opportunity,” Preston said.

  She turned to him in a daze, forgetting that he had been there through it all. “It is,” she said dumbly.

  “Who is this?” Cassidy said, openly eyeing him with a big smile. Cassidy had a tendency to flirt with anyone—even Trihn on occasion.

  “This is my boyfriend, Preston,” Trihn said. It was the first time she had ever claimed him as such, and it felt good.

  “Oh! Nice! Good choice,” Cassidy purred. “Well, think on it. Don’t tell me tonight. You’re still drunk on a performer’s high to decide now.”

  “I’ll think on it,” she told her friend.

  Cassidy kissed Trihn on the cheek and then fluttered her fingers at Preston with a pointed wink before walking to the backstage door.

  “You know,” Preston said with a laugh, “she kind of seems into you.”

  “What?” she asked in surprise. “No way. Cassidy is just into everyone.”

  “Well, definitely you.”

  “No way,” she repeated.

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’m just saying, she might be interested in joining us.”

  It was Trihn’s turn for her eyebrows to rise. “Like…with us?”

  Preston shrugged. “I’m not saying I want to share you, but you two would make a pretty great double act,” he said, mirroring Cassidy’s language.

  “For a dance performance!” Trihn said, out of her element. “Would you…be into that?”

  Preston pulled her tighter to him and kissed her on the mouth. “I’m into whatever you’re into. Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  She laughed against his mouth and shook her head. No, she supposed she couldn’t blame him for trying. Cassidy was beautiful, and all guys were into threesomes…even if Preston was trying to brush it aside like he didn’t care.

  A cab drove by in that moment, and Preston put his hand out to flag it down. Their conversation was forgotten as they drove back across town.

  Preston couldn’t keep his hands to himself in the car. “What you did up there,” he breathed into her ear in the backseat, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” His hands traveled up her bare thighs. “Earlier, you said that it’s not sexy, but you’re dead wrong. It’s sexy as hell.”

  He fluttered his fingers against her inner thighs. It took her strength of will to keep from moaning against him and opening her legs.

  “It got me hard as a rock. I wanted nothing more than to drag you out right then and there.”

  “Preston,” she hissed. She didn’t think that the driver could hear him, but it didn’t help with her growing desire.

  “All I could think about was fucking you on my dining room table and everything I was going to do to you when I got you home.”

  She bit her lip and turned to look up into his blue eyes. “You’re killing me.”

  “Don’t worry.” He nipped on her bottom lip and flicked his tongue against the sensitive skin. “I’m never letting you out of my apartment after that show.”

  And he made that perfectly clear throughout the rest of the night.

  Trihnity Camila Hamilton! Answer your phone right now, or you will find yourself without one!

  THROUGH BLEARY EYES, Trihn stared down at the message from her mother. Shit!

  She sat up in Preston’s bed and stretched her sore muscles. Literally everything hurt. Whether from her pole performance or from the marathon sexcapades last night, she didn’t know. She cracked her neck, fingers, spine, and hips as she stood, and then she groaned.

  “This is a welcome sight this early in the morning,” Preston said, eyeing her naked body.

  “I can’t move.”

  He reached for her. “Then, I guess you can’t leave.”

  “I’m not sure it’s physically possible for me to have sex with you again,” she said with a chuckle as she searched around the room for her discarded clothing.

  “I can change your mind.” He came up behind her and pressed his bare chest against her back. He started ki
ssing down her neck.

  For a split second, she let herself get lost in his kisses. He was so good at that. Her aches and pains disappeared under his lips.

  Then, she remembered the text message on her phone and sighed.

  “Sorry. My mom is freaking. I have to go.” She turned around and slid her arms around his neck. “I can’t wait until school starts, and then I won’t have to leave for anything in the morning, except school.”

  He kissed her, deeply and hungrily, and she thought that she might give in all over again, but then his phone started ringing. He groaned and then jogged over to the other side of the room. He picked up the phone from the nightstand and silenced it.

  “Fuck,” he groaned.

  His eyes darted between Trihn and his phone.

  “You can get it,” she said, finding her bra on the arm of his chair. How did it get there? “I’m just heading out.”

  “No, it can wait.” He checked the face of the phone again and then set it aside, facedown. “I’m just going to hop into the shower.”

  “All right. I’ll talk to you later?”

  “Of course.” He walked back over and kissed her just as his phone started ringing again.

  Trihn laughed. “Someone clearly wants to talk to you.”

  “It’s not important.”

  “Well, I have to go anyway,” Trihn said between kisses.

  “When can I see you again?”

  “Tonight?” she asked.

  She tried to extricate herself from his arms, but he kept pulling her closer.

  “I have to work tonight.”

  “Tomorrow night?”

  “What about tomorrow before I go to work?”

  He smirked down at her, and she couldn’t help from laughing.

  “I’ll see if I can get away.”

  Trihn kissed him one last time and then dashed out of the apartment just as his phone rang for the third time that morning. She shook her head. Whoever was calling seriously needed to get ahold of him.

  She hurried out of his building and onto the subway. She sent a text to her mom, letting her know that she was on her way home, and she was shocked to get a reply that her mother was still at home, waiting for her.

  “Great,” she grumbled.

  When the subway deposited her back in Brooklyn, Trihn trudged the block from the stop to her parents’ house. She was not looking forward to this conversation. Her parents were pretty chill about most things other parents might freak out about, but her mom must be pissed if she had stayed home from work to wait for Trihn.

  She entered the house, fully aware that she was still dressed in the clothes that she had left the house in yesterday.

  She was halfway to the stairs when her mother called out to her, “Trihn, is that you?”

  She sighed heavily. “Yep. It’s me, Mom.”

  “Come into the kitchen, so we can talk.”

  Trihn took a deep breath and then walked into the kitchen. “What’s up?”

  Her mother looked her up and down with no more than a raised eyebrow. “If you’re going to stay out all night, you should at least let me know. And don’t tell me that you were with Lydia this time because she didn’t know where you were either.”

  “I wasn’t with Lydia,” Trihn said.

  “Clearly. You were with a boy, I’m sure.”

  Trihn shrugged. “I’m going to be in college in a month. What does it even matter who I’m with or where I am at night?”

  “Because you’re not in college yet!” Linh snapped. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “And I miss you.”

  “Okay,” Trihn said quickly. She hadn’t meant to upset her mom. She hadn’t really thought of anything last night when she stayed the night at Preston’s apartment. It had just felt right at the time. “I’ll let you know where I am next time.”

  “Thank you,” Linh said. “I wasn’t trying to argue with you. I was worried.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me, Mom.”

  “You’re my daughter. It comes with the territory.”

  Trihn walked forward and enveloped her mom in a hug. She smiled and kissed the top of her mother’s head.

  “I’m just going to take a quick shower and change,” Trihn told her.

  She was happy that her mother wasn’t actually that angry with her. It was just the case of the youngest moving out of the house.

  “Wait one minute,” Linh said, calling Trihn back to her side.

  “Yeah?”

  “You know I’m happy for you…that you’ve found someone.”

  Trihn nodded.

  “And I just thought I would offer, since Lydia is bringing her boyfriend on our annual summer vacation, that you could bring yours. I wouldn’t mind meeting this man who has stolen my daughter’s heart,” Linh said.

  Trihn wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t the type to invite her boyfriend on a family vacation.

  Every year for a week or two before school started, her family would go to the Hamptons and vacation with her mother’s colleague Betty and her family. They had a son, Ian, who was Trihn’s age, so it was more fun to spend her time hanging out with him than bringing some guy she had just met, like Lydia did every trip.

  “Ugh…Lydia is dating someone new?”

  Linh shrugged her thin shoulders. “You know your sister. We always accommodate her free spirit.”

  “Seriously, how many boyfriends has she brought on vacation?”

  “I’m certain even she has lost count,” Linh said. “Now, are you going to invite your boyfriend, so we can have some balance?”

  Trihn cringed. “I don’t know, Mom. It’s so new…”

  “It’s up to you, of course, but he is more than welcome.”

  “All right. Well, I’ll ask him, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

  Linh smiled. “I’m sure he’ll come around. How could anyone resist my beautiful daughter?”

  “Oh, please, Mom.” Trihn walked up the stairs and hurried into the shower. She didn’t want to think about inviting Preston on vacation with them. Are we there yet in our relationship?

  After last night, she really thought they were. He saw her, all of her, like no one else ever had, and he had completely accepted her. Why shouldn’t I invite him to go on vacation with me? That was a completely normal and natural thing to do.

  When she got out of the shower, she stared down at her phone, but then she chickened out. She would ask him later. He was at work now. She told herself it had nothing to do with her being scared to ask him. It was only practical to wait until he could check his phone and get back to her.

  Trihn changed into dance clothes and tied her hair up into a bun. She was going to meet Renée for Intensive. There were only a few more weeks of it left, and Trihn would be gone for at least one of those. She was just glad she would be back in time to see the final performances of the students she had been working with throughout much of the summer. Then, there would be only two more weeks until school started.

  Making her way back into the city, she hurried along to the studio. She was not looking forward to working out her very sore muscles, but the aches reminded her of last night, and she couldn’t keep the shit-eating grin off her face.

  “What’s that for?” Renée asked.

  “What?”

  “You look like you just got away with murder.”

  Trihn laughed. “Just happy I guess.”

  “Preston?”

  Trihn nodded. “I’m inviting him to the Hamptons.”

  “Oh. Fancy!” Renée said. “Are you turning into Lydia now?”

  “No!” Trihn protested. “Preston and I are actually serious.”

  Renée shrugged. “Well, has he agreed to go?”

  “I haven’t asked him yet.”

  Renée rolled her eyes and reached for Trihn’s phone. “Oh my God! Give me the phone, and I’ll send the text myself.”

  “I don’t need your help!” Trihn said, pulling her phone back. “I’ll send it
now.”

  Hey, I’m going on vacation with my parents in two weeks. They offered you an invitation to join us for the week, and I’d love it if you could come with me.

  Trihn pressed Send and fidgeted as she waited for his response. Her phone dinged, and she looked down at it.

  “And?” Renée prodded as she read over her shoulder.

  I’ll check with work and get back to you.

  “That’s not a very upbeat answer,” Renée said.

  No, it’s not.

  “He works a lot. He might not be able to get off.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Don’t uh-huh me,” Trihn snapped.

  “I still think he’s a little creepy with the way he stalked you.”

  “He didn’t stalk me! We’ve been through this.”

  “Well, whatever. We have a class to teach, so worry about the BF later,” Renée teased.

  “Fine.”

  Trihn put her phone away into her dance bag. But just as she was about to walk away to go to the barre, it dinged. She reached for it to check the message, hoping for good news.

  I just asked my boss. He said the weeks up until I get back into school are the most important. Sounds like a no-go. Sorry, babe.

  Oh…

  Disappointment—it was completely stupid to feel it. She hadn’t even wanted to invite Preston on vacation. That wasn’t her at all. Then, she had let hope weasel in, and she had actually considered that it would be a good idea. Even on short notice, she thought it might be possible. Then, her high hopes had deflated just as quickly as they’d come.

  “What?” Renée asked, the concern evident in her voice.

  Trihn must have really looked like shit to elicit that reaction from her. She normally had a casually playful tone full of sarcastic humor.

  “Nothing,” Trihn said, quickly stashing her phone

  “You can’t bullshit me. What did he say?” Renée took two steps toward Trihn and yanked the phone out of her hand. She read the message and then handed it back.

  “Yeah, he can’t go,” Trihn said. She chewed on her lip and glanced away from her friend.

  “Hey, if you’re not up for Intensive today, then you can head out. I can handle it,” she said consolingly.