Free Right in Time by Dahlia Potter Page A

full of wild auburn curls that appeared to have a mind of their own that made him laugh as she tried to blow a stray out of her face, and want to run his fingers through them all at the same time.
     
    As the summer neared its end, Caleb had gotten it in his head that he would never get the girl.  Sure, they hung out after the competitions, but they usually ended up being joined by Kelsey or any number of other dancers they all knew.  Despite the anticipation and happiness he got from seeing her, Caleb just wasn’t able to make his move.  Resolved, Caleb chalked it up to bad timing only to have Kendall finally step up to him.
    “So, I know we hang out and stuff, but are you ever going to ask me out?” Kendall asked him point blank after he got off the stage from his final number.  He could tell by the look on her face after she said those words that she knew she totally went “middle school” on him, but in her eyes he could see that she pushed the thought away and resumed eye contact with him with a stern, expecting look.
    “Well, I…yeah, I mean…” 
    Way to go, Caleb.
    The right side of Kendall’s mouth cocked in to a sly grin.  “Right.  Well, I’ll be at U of T for my final year starting in September.  You have my number.  Use it.”
    And with that she walked away.  Caleb’s grin grew in to a huge smile and he spun on his toes to go backstage and await the awards.  Pleased with himself despite the fact that he really, literally did nothing.
     
    A couple weeks later when September rolled around, Caleb made use of Kendall’s number.  And even after her graduation a year later, and his sporadic and sometimes constant touring, the two of them (not without their own bumps in the road, mind you) had made it through three years together.  Even though the time apart sucked, Caleb was a big fan of the reunions.  Yeah, no one could question his manhood in that department. 
     
    Nearing their four year anniversary though, Kendall came bouncing in to the apartment that they were sharing downtown.  They both had settled in to a domestic pace for the past three months and it was nice.  Her smiles and excitement dwindled though about twenty minutes later when the realization sunk in that something had to give.  More specifically, someone had to give.  And neither of them was willing to do that. 
     
    Kendall had an amazing opportunity to be transferred to her marketing company’s London office and with a big promotion in sight, she knew it was the route she needed to take.  And while the ballroom market was great in London, Caleb was just starting to establish himself in Toronto.  And he had started going back and forth to Vancouver quite a bit the past couple months, that he felt that he needed to stay…well, on that continent at least.  The two of them were no strangers to long distance and they opted to try that route, but it slowly fizzled.  And nothing sucks more than breaking up with the girl you thought was The One via video chat at two in the morning.
     
    The first three months following the break-up, Caleb continued to trek back and forth between Toronto and Vancouver, throwing in band gigs across the US just for the heck of it.  The man knew he needed to keep busy.  When he spotted the dance studio available for purchase in Vancouver though, he thought of it as a project he could dive head first in to.  And he knew he ultimately couldn’t keep running forever.  And almost one year later leads us back to the present.  Jumping in head first with Maggie was something that scared the shit out of him.  He knew she wasn’t the type of girl that would be in to a one night stand and when he got to know her more, he found himself aching for more than that himself.  With Samantha’s pushing, he finally made the leap. 
     
    The one thing that still stuck in the back of his mind though was that he knew Maggie had been hurt before.  He swore to her that he would never do that, but he