Mila's POV

"How nervous are you from a scale of 1-10?"

"11," I replied shortly, bouncing up and down on my toes as we stood in the elevator.

"Oh," Ajax mumbled, clearly not expecting that response.

"Are you not nervous?" I asked in surprise.

"Well I am, but more like a 7."

"Reasonable," I shrugged.

Our relationship was now successfully... awkward. There was a tension between us that made me want to cringe and I hoped it would disappear soon.

The hustle and bustle of the hotel lobby greeted us as we exited the elevator. Our rehearsals had been scheduled for 8 in the evening. We were planning to get into Dresden early this morning but it was pointless so we booked a later train.

Somehow, Ajax and I ended up in the same room as cliché as it sounds. But there was two beds, thank goodness.

My converse tapped against the tile as we entered the backstage area. After checking in, we received passes that went around our necks on a lanyard.

Within 15 minutes, our names were called and we headed on stage to do our rehearsals.

We successfully ran through the blindfolded routine to Silence by Khalid, second routine to Waves by Dean Lewis, and our third dance to If The World Was Ending by JP Saxe.

The first routine would be for the preliminary where we would go up against another team. If we won that, we would advance to the Duel's round which would be between 5 other teams. The Final would be narrowed down to 3 teams, the best would win the competition.

All three routines at once had me sweating and I was exhausted from the long day.

It took a lot of brain power to forget the slip up we'd had, even though we changed that lift. I had to trust Ajax just enough to complete this competition.

I was suddenly reminded of a song I'd heard.

"Mama always told me that I was too naïve, gave away my trust for pennies."

Unfortunately, I found those words to perfectly describe myself.

I was trusting Ajax again after the stupid mistakes he made. But I just couldn't help myself, I was too forgiving for my own good.

Hopefully my decision wouldn't come back to bite me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I turned over to stare at the ceiling. For the past hour I had been trying to go to sleep but with no avail. All I could think of was the things that could go wrong tomorrow. Felix and Pia would be here, as well as Ajax's mother. Ajax didn't mention his father, but he didn't seem to be too bothered which was good.

I was internally panicking and I couldn't fall asleep. For most of my life I was an insomniac so my racing thoughts weren't a new issue.

"Mila," Ajax's deep voice came from the other side of the room.

"Yes," I whispered, turning slightly towards his bed.

"I can hear you sighing and wrestling with your sheets," he mumbled. I turned over in the soft white sheets to face him. He was shirtless of course, facing away from me towards the wall.

"I can't sleep," I said quietly, trailing my eyes over his tanned back. I watched as he turned over to face me, his hair a wild mop of brown. The hotel was quiet aside from the occasional echoes of a child and the pounding of footsteps down the hall.

"Are you that worried?" he asked, bewildered.

"Yes! I don't understand how you're not," I huffed, playing with the necklace Ajax had finally returned to me. I didn't get a chance to ask him how she got it or when she gave it back because of how busy I was with the competition. 

But I did washed it 6 times to get the 'Anna' off of it.

"I'm more nervous about the second routine than the first. We nailed that one already, but the second..."

"I can't really say anything to help you relax," he began, "But everything happens for a reason. If we lose, fine. If we win, awesome. We knew the risk of losing before we even said yes to Adam. Even if we lose, I'll still keep dancing and Adam will still teach. Life will go on, whether we win or not."

I stayed silent, processing the words he'd said in my brain. But for some reason, the idea of losing didn't sit right with me. We'd worked way too hard to let it go down the drain.

"Stop psyching yourself out," Ajax spoke up suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts. I wondered how he knew that was exactly what I was doing. The room was dark but the light from his charger illuminated his face just enough. His eyes were now closed, one hand under his cheek and the other resting on top.

I let out one last sigh before closing my eyes, his handsome face being the last thing I saw.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Time to get up," a voice mumbled softly. I ignored it, hoping it would disappear.

"Mila, wake up," the voice repeated, a warm hand on my bare shoulder shaking me gently.

"Go away," I groaned, shoving my face into the many pillows on my bed.

"Hey," Ajax exclaimed as I slapped his arm away. Moments later, the cold air bit at my skin as the sheets were pulled away. I regretted wearing a tank top to bed as I shivered.

"I hope you step on a lego," I huffed, shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight filtering into the room.

"You wound me," he sighed from the other side of the room.

Swinging my legs around, I sat up trying to get myself to wake up. Spotting the coffee machine on the table, I got up and made two cups. The warmth was welcoming as I took a sip.

I handed Ajax a cup as he came out of the bathroom. His brown locks had turned a shade darker from the water. Droplets dripped from the front strands onto his shirt, seeping into the fabric. I had to force myself from sniffing him as the scent of his shampoo floated around us.

"Thanks," he grinned, showcasing his perfect pearly whites. God, I'd kill to have a smile like that.

We had been instructed to wear our outfits down to the lobby to make things less chaotic. I had a bunch of paperwork to bring with me because I wasn't a German citizen. I had to show my passport and other things to verify my participation as an international dancer in Germany's national championships.

I hopped into the shower, blow-dried my hair and straightened it. All within 45 minutes. I quickly slipped into the sadly horrendous brown outfit before exiting the bathroom.

"I was wondering if you died in there," was the first thing Ajax said when I opened the bathroom door.

"Thank you for your concern," I rolled my eyes.

We quickly headed out of the room and into the elevator that was packed with other dancers.

There was glitter ALL over the floor. Literally everywhere. That and the smell of hairspray.

*Gags*

People really need to read the labels on there. It clearly says use in a well ventilated area. Not a room full of dancers getting ready. I'm pretty sure the temperature went up 10 degrees from everyone's body heat.

"Can I get a picture with you?" a young girl who looked about 11 asked, a hopeful look on her face.

"Uh, sure," I nodded, sharing a look with Ajax. We both smiled as she took a selfie, her eyes dancing with happiness.

"Thank you! Don't tell my sister," she giggled, running off towards a girl who looked like an older version of her.

"She's cute," I smiled, walking over to our spot.

"Oh jeez, they spelled my name wrong," I grumbled, staring at the white paper taped to the wall.

"Milan Simard. Guess you're Italian now," Ajax laughed, amused by the mistake.

"Where's my gelato?" he asked, then burst out laughing clearly thinking he was fucking hilarious.

"Ha ha ha," I rolled my eyes while he complained about me not having a sense of humor.

We both sat on the floor against the wall, watching people running around to get prepared. We both watched this one girl struggle to get her hair into a bun. She managed to pin it properly but then ripped the hairnet while placing it on the bun.

Poor thing. The struggle is real.

Her mother eventually came and helped her, muttering something about being incompetent.

"Ajax and Mila?" a voice called making me snap my head up.

"Oh shit," I muttered, allowing Ajax to pull me up.

"Just relax. Pretend we're doing a rehearsal," he suggested, not releasing my hand from his hold.

^Dance up there - ❤Sean and Kaycee's routine for WOD Qualifiers

The first routine went by smoothly, it was almost too easy because we'd done it so many times. The judges seemed impressed by the fact that we were blindfolded. I knew they wouldn't look too much into the lifts and tricks. Instead they would focus on story telling and technicality.

That's why I choreographed the routine to showcase our synchronization and skill instead of extravagant tricks.

It wasn't much of a surprise when our names were announced with several others, confirming our advancement to the duels round.

That's where things got a bit tricky. We would be up against another team chosen by the judges with similar strengths. We would have that routine to complete before we were done for the day. If we advanced, we would compete in the final round tomorrow afternoon.

"We got this, just one more," Ajax encouraged, running his hand over my loose ponytail.

Easier said than done.
———————————————————-
Y'ALL I WROTE A WHOLE EXTRA CHAPTER YESTERDAY 🙌

So that means I'm probably going to do a double update ;).

Idk for sure though so don't come at me if I don't 🙈.