Page 10 of The Breaking Pointe

star simulator

COLTON

The museum happened to be vacant for the majority of our little tour, which was a plus for both of us.

Normally, the hustle and bustle of it all creates this atmosphere of feeling like you can only look at each exhibit for a small grace period.

While that isn’t ideal for how you should spend your time at a museum, people like aesthetics more than actually taking time to appreciate what’s in front of you.

I’d say we spent the last few hours productively, taking our time in multiple exhibits.

Some stood out to her more than others.

Because of this, I’m in no rush to walk through anything.

I truthfully just want her to have a good time with me.

No matter the outcome.

I don’t think I’ve had any real fun with anybody else besides family and Trey in a long time.

And for once, it doesn’t involve me only being worried about getting laid.

As shallow as that sounds, it’s the truth.

And truthfully, I don’t see that when I look at Noelle.

She’s a genuine girl, who wants to tell me what each gemstone, crystal, and rock in the word means.

There’s nothing more profound, precious, and innocent than that.

That’s the kind of fun that I’ve been craving, dearly.

Noelle expressed her love for everything, with no hesitation.

She knew what most of the jewels and crystals stood for and could even connect them to astrology.

She told me something about my moon being in Aries. Whatever the hell that means. It sounds cool, I’ll admit.

She further explained that it meant that I’m headstrong; I love a challenge.

I typically don’t believe in all that stuff that involves astrology, but I can’t disagree with that.

And I think maybe she might’ve got me changing my mind.

Any other person would’ve made it sound so silly—but she made it make so much sense.

She also adored the rhinestones.

I noticed that we probably spent the most time looking at those as opposed to the other shimmery little rocks on display.

The blue one was her favorite.

It’s more of an aqua. But it would look so gorgeous against her skin—and now it’s engraved in my imagination.

We spent nearly thirty minutes looking at almost every rhine- stone we could, too.

We both favored the American Indian exhibit.

It offered different kinds of wax figures that were dupes of American Indians and other people from their heritage, along with life- sized figures of huts that they lived in.

We could go inside them, which had me practically crouching down.

Of course, Noelle found that part to be the real entertainment—which I can’t blame her for.

I look like an exhibit myself when in small areas and some- times panic like a child.

Mostly, for me, it’s the buildings that were most intriguing.

I like to read the educational message boards.

It’s a little nerdy, but sometimes they talk about really interesting things.

For instance, these go as far as to explore the different cultures and societies, how they created their lives, and even worked with us to build this place.

Something I value in visiting the museum is the silence.

It’s a nice, calm, yet healthy silence.

One you enjoy.

Makes you feel good.

In little moments, Noelle would point to an object and say something like, “Look at that, how cute. I love that,”

followed by a hushed laugh.

Or maybe even a grasp onto my arm, which would make a whirlwind of flutters fly throughout my body.

She’s gentle, and her hands are so delicate.

I don’t want to touch her in fear it might harm her.

Except, I love it when she’s touching me.

It feels healing, yet cautious of my existence.

I let her mostly lead the way, as I had been here many times before.

From the looks of it, though, I don’t think she’d ever been.

Which made it almost feel like my first time, as well.

I love that about bringing someone new around.

You could’ve done something time and time again, but doing it with someone new, just once, changes the experience as a whole.

The tour was coming to an end, wrapping up at an exhibit called Astrology Central.

The many times I have been here, not much has changed, but this time something had.

They’ve added a space room with a large sign on it, in the corner of the exhibit.

It isn’t very big, to my demise.

Instead, it’s a pretty tight squeeze.

Most people go in alone or with their kids.

Others are couples, unafraid to invade each other’s personal space, only wanting to enjoy the moment.

I find that to be sweet, the way reality drifts away from every person, but I subconsciously can’t shake the idea of squeezing myself in there—let alone with Noelle in there with me. It piques my interest, though, noticing the room is empty.

It is new. And it doesn’t hurt to try everything at least once, right?

I gaze around the room briefly before taking a step closer to her, hesitantly placing my hand on the small of her back.

“Hey, you wanna try the space room?”

I ask, keeping my voice down.

Her head whips around, looking up at me. She takes a look at the room and then me, nodding quickly”

Let’s hurry before someone else steals our idea,”

she insists, skipping ahead of me.

Guiding her with my hand, I walk us over to the room, hastily opening the door for her to enter first.

I then walk inside after her, closing the door behind us.

It’s almost pitch black—the only thing giving light is the star simulation above us. It’s scarily similar to real life.

The minute the door closes, it seems as though the room rushes to become even smaller now. To add insult to injury, I’m hovering over her because I can’t stand up straight. Just perfect.

“Y’know, these rooms really are not tall people friendly.”

I look around, pushing hair out from my face and furrowing my brows.

Noelle laughs, looking around and then at me. It’s becoming incredibly tight, and the childlike panic is slowly setting in.

Quickly, this time around.

I huff out a small laugh, looking at her”

That’s funny to you?”

I ask, smiling as I try to remain calm.

She nods, giggling. I let out a deeper chortle.

Suddenly, a bright flash fills the room for a split second. “Oh my God!”

she squeals, covering her face, while gripping my sweater, bringing us together.

My hand shoots up, blocking my face as I squint my eyes”

Woah, what the hell!” I blurt.

At least I’m distracted from the small space now.

A robotic voice fills the space, announcing that we’re on camera. She then starts a countdown, beginning from ten.

“Oh—look, it’s taking pictures of us!”

Noelle exclaims, shaking my arm with excitement as she points to the small camera ahead of us.

I look at it, seeing myself look back at me like a major dumbass”

This is so cool!”

She continues tittering, now looking at me again.

I rest a hand above her, against the wall, finding a good balance with stature, then bringing my attention back to her.

“As long as you’re enjoying yourself.”

I smile, looking around once more”

Wish they would’ve posted a warning…”

I look at her again.

She places a hand on my chest”

I’m glad I said yes,”

she discloses, softening her tone.

My body pauses at her touch, examining her fingers as one meets the hair on my chin, making me look at her.

“Are you claustrophobic?”

she questions me. I nod in slow motion.

“It’s okay.”

She rubs my chest softly in a circular motion”

Take a couple deep breaths.”

I listen to her, inhaling through my nose and letting the air exit my mouth with ease.

Another flash sets off, taking another picture of us, but now the stars are more intense than they were a while ago.

And it’s quiet.

Suddenly, we’re both too aware that we’re alone, shoved into this tight space.

Our bodies are being forced to be up on each other, making things more than personal.

I myself am not uncomfortable, but I just hope the feeling is mutual. The silence isn’t suggesting otherwise.

Her breath hitches as she talks, clearly trying to fill the pressured silence.

“You gonna keep these pictures?”

Nodding slowly, I can feel my body inching into hers more as we listen to the woman on the speaker explain stars and planets to us.

“Are you?”

I murmur my question, pushing a strand of hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear.

I can’t help but let my thumb find its way to her bottom lip, gliding it down until I reach her chin.

She smiles shyly, looking down, then back up at me, stepping closer—if it’s even possible.

I can’t blame her.

Our perception of personal space is extremely altered at the moment. She wants to say something, but instead, she just nods, breaking her eye contact to glance at my lips instead.

Again, another flash. The countdown starts once more.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything like this with a man in like… ages. I almost feel silly for not wanting it to end,”

she sputters in a resigned tone.

“It doesn’t have to end,”

I whisper, taking in all of the tiny fragments of her facial features.

Her eyes look to my hand that’s lightly resting against her cheek. I need to kiss her or it’ll be the death of me.

My hand slides to the crook of her neck, securing her jaw with my thumb, gliding along it as I lean down the rest of the way.

Her body doesn’t disagree with mine, leaning into my hand as she places her hand over the top of it, closing her eyes. I could feel her reaching on her tiptoes now, tugging on the front of my sweater for support.

At last, the gap between our lips is going to close.

Just as I can feel the softness graze against my lips, the lights rise, making it no longer dark in our tiny cubby.

The worst cock-blocker award actually has a winner.

She exhales, humming softly, returning to the floor as she opens her eyes.

I sigh softly, licking my lips as I watch her.

“I guess maybe that’s our cue to get out.”

She half smiles, reaching for the door to open it, letting us both get out.

She reaches for my hand, taking hold of it and dragging me behind her now as she looks around the outside of the room. I watch her, searching as she finally eyeballs what she wants. She points to the side of the booth.

“There,”

she says, “there are the pictures.”

She smiles proudly, squatting to pick them up, then bouncing up again.

She holds them up so I can take one.

I do, but nervously, as I wasn’t excited to see what I looked like.

Her hand squeezes mine, still holding onto me.

She smiles widely, looking at each photo intently.

The first picture was just both of us in pure discombobulation from the flash.

My hand was almost blocking the camera, while she had just covered her face completely and hid in my chest.

It’s bright and almost so bright that you struggled to see us between the black-and-white filtering and the grainy shadows.

It displays complete chaos in the cutest way.

The second picture is much different.

We are closer.

More personal.

Focused on each other and looking much more respectable, as well. Our faces are inches apart and in the middle of a conversation. My expression is nothing short of pure joy, mixed in with subtle infatuation.

She is a complete doll.

Her doe eyes look at me, like she’s ready to kiss me.

I can’t believe our kiss got interrupted. We were seconds short of sparks flying.

But in the last picture, it so conveniently caught our almost kiss. I can feel myself blushing. My face is getting hot, even”

We look so good. Look at that.”

She giggles, waving the picture before putting it in her bag.

I put mine in my pocket then check my phone for the time— making sure it’s still early enough for dinner and finding myself lucky.

Just after five o’clock.

“Hey, um…”

I squeeze her hand gently, itching for her atten- tion”

I don’t know if you’re in a rush, but if I can, I wanna take you to grab a bite to eat before getting on the train to get back to the car.”

Nodding at me, she agrees”

Yeah, I could eat. Plus,”

she says, starting to walk us toward the exit of the exhibit, “I’m having a good time, and I wanna talk more.”

That was all I needed to hear. Feeling’s mutual.

The idea of us grabbing a bite sounds like a ball, but as we get closer to the outside, the weather is looking like it has other plans for us.

The sky is getting darker and darker the closer we get to the doors, and by the time we are there, I’m able to notice the muted lightning showers that are occurring.

There aren’t many food places within a close range, so eating is about to be a complete bust.

“It’s gonna storm. I can smell it,”

she tells me, finally letting go of my hand as she looks up at the sky.

“How can you smell it?”

I give her a confused expression.

She turns to face me”

You can’t? It smells damp.”

She looks around”

Where should we go?”

I sigh, looking around also, trying to think fast as I feel tiny sprinkles start to drop on the exposed parts of my skin.

“Every restaurant is about a twenty-minute walk,”

I state, watching her shield her eyes as the sprinkles become larger as it gradually starts to shower.

“I don’t know the area, but I don’t care. Anything to get us out of the storm, Colton,”

she says louder, trying to drain out the sound of the rain picking up.

Now it’s coming down, and it isn’t holding back. We are getting soaked as the seconds go on. With jumbled thoughts, my brain tunnels into one idea—the closest place.

My condo.

“I, uh—my place is a few minutes away if we run!”

I say loudly, grabbing her hand.

“Your place?!”

she yells back, holding my hand, but not moving from her place.

“Yeah, it’s just down the block!”

I shove my hair out of my face that’s drowning in hair product and raindrops but suffering for the single purpose to listen to her.

“Are you sure?!”

she asks, accepting the rain as it pours on her face.

“Only if you are!”

I say, shielding my eyes.

She looks around one more time, then takes a breath, nodding and allowing me to lead her in the direction we need to go. Together, we start to run, gripping each other’s hand tightly.

* * *

When we get inside of my place, Bonnie doesn’t hold back from wanting to introduce herself. I hurry to close the door, feeling my clothes weighing me down.

“Bonnie, no jumping,”

I say sternly”

I’m sorry, she doesn’t usually do this. I can put her in another room if you’d like.”

I hurry to grab her.

Noelle shakes her head”

No, don’t, please. I love animals. She’s really sweet, and the storm might scare her.”

She shakes her head, petting her as if she were her own”

Please?”

she begs me, frowning.

I stop in my tracks, putting my hands up”

Okay—yeah, sure.”

I don’t mind putting Bonnie in my bedroom, but I would rather not.

Most of the time, though, women want her as far away as possible.

That, or Bonnie hates them. There’s never an in-between. It’s odd for her not to be growling like an erratic banshee. I won’t question it, but it’s odd.

“Feel free to get comfortable. You can help yourself to anything or look around if you wanna get familiar with the place while I grab some clothes,”

I say, kicking my shoes off by the door before shuffling to my bedroom.

I quickly change into a clean, plain white t-shirt and whatever clean sweatpants I can find.

I throw the wet clothes into the nearest hamper and shoot over to my dresser to find more clothes for Noelle.

She’s so small, she’ll probably drown in anything I give her.

I’m not sure it even matters if I give a shit about sizes in this moment. I just need to get her dry so she isn’t sick.Minutes later, I come out of the bedroom with fresh, warm clothing for her.

“Look, I know it isn’t ideal, but I hope a t-shirt and sweatpants works,”

I say, dropping them on the couch in the conversation pit.

I get no response, but instead just silence, making me look around to find Noelle.

“Noelle?”

I ask, looking around the kitchen and down into the living room pit.

She stands at a wall that holds various pieces of my artwork and sculptures surrounding it.

Curiosity rules me for a moment, so I make my way down to her, standing behind her.

“You alright?”

I ask softly.

“You have so many sculptures. So much pottery.”

She turns around, still in her drenched clothes”

They have to be beyond expensive.”

“Not necessarily. Once I buy the supplies that I need, the only thing that is expensive is my time to make it.”

I snicker to myself.

She gives me a blank stare, then softly starts to laugh in disbelief.

“Nu-uh. You made all this?”

she hesitates to inquire”

Dare I say, yes?”

I ask, preparing for the worst.

Her smile drops as she continues to zone out on me, blinking a few times before she laughs more”

Why the hell do you downplay yourself so much? You are such an asshole.”

She runs a hand through her hair, showing her glow of a smile.

It contagiously transfers to me.

“It’s not something I’ve been very open about. Usually people don’t care about that side of me.”

I lean over to the couch, grabbing the clothes I had tossed earlier.

I hold them out for her as I stand in front of her again”

Well, now you have someone who does. It’s beautiful work, Colton. You should be proud,”

she says, taking the clothes, yet giving me an assertive stare”

You’re full of surprises, you know?”

I glance down, swaying a little as I push damp strands of hair out of my face.

“You seem to like them. That’s enough for me.”

I shrug. “Get changed, so you don’t catch a cold, will ya?”

I turn to jog back to the kitchen.

Listening to her follow behind me, I start to open cupboards”

The bathroom is on the right at the end of the hall. I’m gonna

make pasta, if you’re still hungry,”

I say, praying she still is”

Pasta, yes. But no meat,”

she confirms.

“You a vegetarian? Or vegan, or something like that?”

I ask, turning to face her as I grab a pan from one of the hooks above the island, reaching above her.

She looks up at me with chaste eyes, smiling tenderly”

Vege- tarian. I find my protein in other ways.”

She purses her lips, still smiling before stepping around me, trailing off to the bathroom.

She leaves me there, lingering with her comment. Instead of the heavily drenched clothes weighing on me, her words were taking their place.

It didn’t take Noelle long to become comfortable.

She even gives Bonnie the play date of her life while waiting for food to be done.

I simply have the pleasure of listening to them tire each other out until Bonnie falls asleep and Noelle decides to wander off into a different part of the condo.

While listening to silence is nice, the food is pretty much ready, and I’m still standing alone in the kitchen.

Which I don’t mind, but every five to six minutes the lights flicker, and I don’t want her to get freaked out when she can’t find her way back down the hall.

Before setting off to search for her, I set the table, which doesn’t take long.

It’s incredibly small, and normally I never eat at it since I live alone.

I guess, finally, it’s getting some decent use.

Everything is getting decent use, all the way down to the goddamned silverware.

I place our plates across from each other, then grab the hand towel, readying myself to go find her.

“It smells so good in here, my God,”

Noelle says, walking into the kitchen, as if she read my mind.

“There you are. Where were you?”

I ask as she stands beside the dining table.

“Looking out the windows. We’re like skyscrapers up here.”

She giggles.

I puff out a quick laugh, grabbing the pot and beginning to plate our food.

“Have a seat, sweetheart, the food is ready. You want some wine?”

I ask, glancing at her as I plate her food.

She watches me, sitting in her seat”

I’d love some, thank you.”

She nods, looking at her food in awe.

I set the pot back on the stove then snag an unopened bottle from my wine shelf on the counter, holding up a bottle of Meiomi Pinot Noir to show her.

“This one is really great. I love it.”

I grab two glasses and set them on the table, grabbing the corkscrew to open the bottle.

She claps ever so softly”

It looks fancy,”

she says, as if she’s holding back excitement.

I pour for the both of us before sitting myself down so we can begin to eat.

“This looks heavenly,”

she mumbles, twisting her noodles around her fork on the plate.

Beginning to do the same, I wait for her to take a bite, anticipating her reaction. I don’t ever cook without any meat, like ever, but if this is gonna turn into anything serious, I better learn right now. Now or never.

She finally gets her bite in, closing her eyes as she covers her mouth, chewing and eventually swallowing, following with a hum while she slowly opens her eyes.

“Is there anything that you’re unable to do, Colton?” She pulls her hair back, closing her eyes with a blissful smile as she eats more.

I look down, feeling the crimson flush”

I mean, I could give you a seriously long list. I’m not perfect, but there’s a lot to me,”

I say, now taking my bite.

Damn, it is good.

“So,”

she sings”

Tell me. I really gotta know. Feels like you’re this mysterious guy,”

she says, continuing to eat.

“I’m really simple, I swear. I like to box.”

I shake my head”

Scratch that—I love to box. And I love my art. Very simple.”

I chuckle softly, going to sip my drink.

“I’ve seen you fight before your last match. I must have,”

she says, really looking at me now.

I cower in my seat, slowly chewing, swallowing, then talking again.

“I doubt it. I’m in the rookie league. You’re used to the big shots, I’m sure.”

I smile, humbly.

“Rookie league? With a hook like yours? Hm.”

She widens her eyes quickly, eating a forkful of pasta with a smirk.

“You got some commentary?”

I taunt her, chuckling softly”

I just think that’s dangerous for the other guys, no?” She

takes her glass, swirling it slowly”

Sure.”

I roll my eyes, playfully.

“Really, Colton. How long have you trained?”

she asks in a more contained tone of voice.

I furrow my brows, thinking as far back as I can, gathering all the mental details”

Since I was about twenty-one. I mean— I’ve only been taking it seriously for about five years,”

I say nonchalantly as I take another bite, finishing it”

I started with freelance fights. I hung around my manager’s gym a lot and he got me involved. Before I knew it, I was doing it for real.”

She sips her wine, looking at the table then me”

What about your art? You don’t make a living from it?”

Damn, she wasn’t kidding when she said she wanted to talk”

I don’t know.”

I tighten my lips to the side for a split second”

It’s just not in the cards for me. Boxing makes sense right now. I make money—a nice amount—-then I come home. It’s simple.”

She eats a few noodles, then responds, “Well…I think that sounds like a load of excuses.”

She smiles, sure of herself.

I scoff, a smile creeping onto my face.

She takes a few more bites, watching me before swallowing”

I shouldn’t be shocked at how much you can eat, and how fast. Is it bad to say that I’m nearly full?”

she asks, taking one last bite.

I wipe my face, getting ready to finish my plate”

It’s pasta. It’s filling. I just carbo loaded like a maniac.”

I chuckle, taking my last bite then wiping my face again.

She continues to lock her doe eyes on me, taking baby sips of her wine.

“You know, I’m glad you didn’t end up being some creep. Or like…worse,”

she admits.

I sit back in my seat, clearing my throat as I find my words”

I’ll be honest, Noelle,”

I pick up my glass again, staring into it, “when I found out that I was fighting Daniel, I wound up doing some extensive research on him. I managed to get onto his social media, and well—I stumbled across you.”

I look at her, casually letting our eyes meet.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about what made you be with the likes of that.”

I finally say what I had wanted this whole time.

She’s beyond the state of being too good for him.

“I’m not,”

she says, fast and sure”

Not anymore, I mean.

Never again.”

I nod, standing from my seat and collecting our plates”

Watching you crush him, Colton. I can’t explain what it was like, watching—I was so blown away,”

she says, standing up to follow me to the sink.

“Enough about me,”

I say, once I finish cleaning her plate. Setting both of them in the sink, I rinse them, then turn to her.

“I wanna hear about you.”

“I dance,”

she says, as if it’s a secret.

She takes a deep breath, continuing”

I dance, and I teach dance. Little girls. They mean a lot to me,”

she says with a little grin.

“You know, some would say that dance is equivalent to football,”

I comment, looking down at her little figure being eaten by my clothing and smiling at the sight.

She puts her hands on her hips”

Oh yeah? Maybe I should try to get drafted then, huh? I got a pretty high kick,”

she says, turning on her toes before walking to the table to grab her wine.

I softly laugh, opening the refrigerator and grabbing a beer. I then follow her to grab the bottle.

“You’d probably get devoured by the safety equipment alone.”

She gasps, turning it into a laugh”

Okay, laugh all you want, but the money would help me. I want a studio apartment,” she

chimes, walking down into the conversation pit.

I carefully follow behind her, setting everything on the coffee table. She’s so bubbly when she doesn’t have her guard up. It’s adorable.

“Seriously, though, it would be a dream. It’s just so expensive to maintain an apartment, a dance studio, and everything else. Renting the place I currently have is scary enough,”

she expresses.

“It seems like you got the first part down. It’s all about patience. You could try giving the owner an offer, when you’re ready?”

I ask her, trying to assure her as I sip more of my drink. I plop on the couch, watching her pace around. She stops in place and looks at me, smiling slyly”

Oh, I don’t know. It’s just not in the cards for me,”

she says, mocking my earlier statement”

Very nice.”

I chuckle”

But you can’t do that forever and be happy. Settling can’t be good.”

“Maybe not. I’ve made it this far, though,”

she says, sitting beside me”

It’s easier not to face disappointment. That’s mostly why I’ve stayed where I am. I’m scared of dating, and I’m more scared of disappointing the girls.”

She stares at the table in front of us, sighing.

“You know,”

I lean forward, bumping her shoulder softly, “denying yourself love, and valuing loss and loneliness is the worst kind of poverty.”

Her head spins to look at me”

Colton, how old are you, exactly?”

she asks, seriously.

“I’m twenty-seven, why?” I ask.

“Because you speak like you have the wisdom of someone, much older.”

She giggles, grabbing my arm and squeezing it.

My gaze falls to her thin fingers, holding me like I might get away. She makes me completely and utterly defenseless. I’m such a nervous wreck, it’s a joke. My hands are even beginning to unmask my ugly, nervous tic.

Nervous shakes.

“Are you cold? You’re shaking?”

she asks, grabbing my hand with the both of hers around my beer.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine, don’t worry.”

I rest my other hand on hers, causing her to look at me.

If she wants to believe I’m cold, I won’t sway her mind.

If it means she wants to cuddle up to me, I’ll take it.

Yet, of course, why would I ever get so comfortable, forgetting the lights.

With a few flickers, the lights finally shut off, the fuse being the last thing we hear. Her hands gripping mine are the only things I can sense nearby.

Candlelight it is.