Page 78 of I Don't Need Your Love

“Yep,” I say, even though my heart pounds like a hammer.

“I’m cool,” Ryder assures her.

She helps us untangle our arms from each other. “You did good, Ryder. Trying to lift your partner for the first time is prettyhard, but you kept Carly up for quite a while. You’ll get there with a little more practice.”

“If Carly still wants to be my partner,” Ryder says as he gets up and dusts the dirt off his pants.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I ask as I also get up and smack the dirt off my butt.

“Because I nearly killed you?”

I roll my eyes. “Don’t exaggerate. I’m not made of porcelain.”

“Of course not. But the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

“We’ll have bumps on the road,” Moreno tells us. “And a lot of falls and some bruises, but we’ll get there. I loved watching the two of you dance and I know the judges and audience will, too. So what do you say? You guys in?”

“I am,” I say. Because even though we had a fall, I felt an energy between us that didn’t exist before. As though we were made to be dance partners.

“Heck yeah, I’m in,” Ryder says with a large smile.

“Great. We’ll meet for an hour after dance practice. Have a great night!”

Moreno takes her stuff and walks out of the gym.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ryder asks me. “I wish you would have fallen on me instead of me falling on you.”

“I thought you would have held me for longer. Sorry, I’m heavier than I look.”

“Of course you’re not heavy! You’re very light. It’s just my arms. I think I need to focus on them more during my workouts.”

I head to my backpack and throw it over my shoulder. “Want to walk to the dorms together?”

Light illuminates his face. “Sure.”

After he grabs his backpack, we leave the gym and make our way to the dorms. We don’t say much to each other, but I don’t really mind it.

We stop outside the girls’ dorm, and he turns to me with a sweet smile. “I’m glad we’re partners, Carly. It’s fun to create something special with you.”

I stare at him, words getting stuck in my throat. My stomach feels like silly putty.

He smiles again as he pats my arm. “Good night, Captain. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He waves and heads to the boys’ dorm.

“Good night, Ryder,” I whisper, although he’s long gone.

I’m in a complete daze as I head to my room, the words he just uttered running wild in my brain. They stay with me for the rest of the night while I do my homework and keep me up for hours in bed.

I always look forward to dance practice every day, but now? I’m even more excited. Nervous, too, because Ryder and I have a lot of work to do, and we have no idea how the judges will react to our duet. Maybe they’ll hate it and we’ll lose.

But still, I can’t remember the last time I was this excited.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Carly

I wake up with some black and blue marks over my body the next day. I don’t mind them, really, since bruises are normal for dancers, and it kind of feels like a badge of honor. Even though Ryder dropped me, my new pain reminds me of how thrilled and eager I am to add our dance sequence to the routine. Even if we don’t do well at the next competition, I know that it’ll be lots of fun, despite the hard work.