One Wing-Part 3

        

“What about Roselyn?” I said in the most uninterested tone of voice.

“She….well….Roselyn… she’s ...uhhh,” Myles says as he stumbles over his words.

Myles is the most intelligent and articulate kid I know and he has never spoken like this. Ever!

“What Myles? WHAT?!”

            “ROCELYN WENT BLIND!” he blurted out.

            “Blind? Myles what are you talking about?”

            “Sis, she’s blind. She’s blind. She’s blind. She’s blind,” he continued to repeat as I heard his tears begin to run.

            “Myles, Myles, Myles, honey calm down. What happened?”

            “I don’t know. I don’t know. Something about, laser eye surgery, a fake doctor, an accident, I don’t know but she’s blind Rae. Richard called your dad earlier today and tried to explain what happened, but he was so hurt, upset, and angry that your parents still didn’t get the full story, so they flew out to New York immediately.”

            Richard was Rocelyn’s husband of four years and he damn near does anything for her. Of course he does anything for her; he’s living in my sister’s perfect life. Why wouldn’t he be a great guy? Although he’s my brother-in-law and has been in our family for quite some time I don’t really know much about him other than he is “such an amazing man.”

 When Rocelyn moved to New York, I never visited her and she never came back home to visit us. That never bothered me none because we are two very different people, different interests, different perspectives, just different everything. We haven’t “clicked” since we were kids and I have always been okay with that, but hearing this from Myles has me feeling some type of way. I don’t know what to say or do at this point.

“Myles, I gotta go okay,” I quickly said.

“But Rae, are you com-”

Man this kills me to be so short with him, but hell what am I supposed to do or say?

“Myles, I said I gotta go.”

            CLICK. I threw my phone back into my bag and just stood there feeling so stale in the inside.

            The woman who attempted to talk to me before she was interrupted by my phone call approached me again. She looked young, maybe a little older than me, very slim, flawless face, big beautiful smile with one dimple on her left cheek with a long brown bob. Just by looking at her, it seemed as though she didn’t belong here. Why? Because she looked too beautiful, too chic, too sophisticated to be in this part of town.

            “Is everything alright, sweetheart?” she said with the most concerned face.

            “Uhhh. Yea everything is fine,” I replied although I knew that she knew that I was lying.

            “What brings you in tonight?”

            “Well, I heard that-” I fumbled as I tried to quickly think of a reasonable story.

“Wait, don’t tell me, you heard about our new dance studio and wanted to check it out?”

That caught me off guard, why would she assume that I came here for dance? I don’t know this woman, and I’m sure this woman doesn’t know me.

“Uhhm…Do I know you?”

She giggled and replied, “No I don’t believe so, but I’m Jillian by the way.”

“Hi, I’m Rae. So why did you think I came here for dance?”

“Well, I noticed how you were standing. Dancers usually stand so gracefully even when they aren’t dancing and I also noticed how you were leaning on one leg and pointing your other foot. Sorry, I’m not a creeper or anything. Dancers tend to recognize other dancers by their body language. So am I right or wrong?”        

“Both, I am a dancer, but I came here for the spaghetti night and I didn’t even know this place had a dance studio.”

“Well, Ms. Rae go ahead and get you something to eat. My mother cooks all the food here and her food is amazing. Everyone loves her cooking.”

“Okay, cool,” I said as a smile arose on my face feeling more comfortable here.

“Yea, the cafeteria is right down the hall and it’s the last door on the right and if you’re not too full after then come down to the dance studio and check it out.”

“Okay, thanks Jillian maybe I will.”

Jillian walked away and headed towards a group of excited young girls and one shy looking guy who all were dressed in dance warm up clothes. I just stood there and watched them as Jillian seemed to pump them up for their first dance lesson. For a second there was an urge in me to start dancing right then and there, but my stomach started yelling at me, plus that would have been just plain awkward to start doing pirouettes down the hall, so I started walking to the cafeteria to see what all the talk was about this spaghetti.

When I entered, the cafeteria was packed with young boys and girls. The chatter and laughter grew and grew as I panned the room. In the far left corner was an older yet pretty woman serving spaghetti. That must be Jillian’s mom. I walked over there and stood in line, it went pretty quick because there was a large amount of spaghetti on my plate in no time.

 After I grabbed a cup of lemonade from the table I looked around for a place to sit. A group of kids were getting up from a table in the back, so I sat there. Before I could even twirl my noodles around my fork and stuff my face, I felt my bag vibrating again. I reached inside and pulled out my phone and there was a text message from Myles.

It read: Rae, I don’t why you think whatever you’re doing is more important than your sister and your family. Everyone is wondering where you are and what you are doing, especially after I told you what happened to Rocelyn. This is serious and you acting as if you don’t care and I don’t know why you’re acting like that. Well, whatever, do what you want to do, but your parents are flying me out to New York tomorrow and said they would fly you out too but they don’t know where you are. Come home Rae, we need to be with Rocelyn right now.

           

          Before I threw my phone back into my bag, I powered it off and then proceeded to eat the entire plate of spaghetti. Man this is sooooo good. Either I am just that hungry or Jillian wasn’t lying about her mother’s cooking. I wiped my face clean, emptied my tray and left the cafeteria.

          The music that resonated throughout the hallway lead me to the dance studio. I peeked through the window and saw Jillian teaching the group of girls the basics of ballet. The girls in the front reminded me of the first dance class I took with Rocelyn when we were little. Flashbacks streamed through my head, and I just broke down.