From experience, I knew that as long as you look like you know what you’re doing, it can take a while before anyone stops you from walking around in a place in which you’re not supposed to be. Keeping this reasoning in mind, I followed someone else through the artists’ entrance of the MBT and passed by the lobby without anyone lifting an eyebrow.

Thus, even as I roamed around with no idea of where I was going, searching every studio and walking up and down each corridor at least twice, I never let go of the pretense that I was exactly where I was meant to be, even though it got challenging at times, especially when I ended up in what looked like the janitor’s closet.

At long last, I investigated the studio on the top floor. It seemed that the company was currently having a class there. Torrents of sunlight poured in from the windows and the skylight. I stood against the wall, just outside the doorway, while I had a look inside.

The dancers were done with the barre and, from what the ballet mistress was saying, I understood that they were about to get going with a jump and pirouette combination. There were at least 50 dancers, waiting their turns as the pianist played some lively music to accompany the exercise. Tara, along with a group of four other girls, dashed across the floor in a series of quick steps. As far as I could tell, she did well, or at least as well as the others.

She prepared for a pirouette and even though I did my best to remain unnoticed, she looked in my direction just before she took off and we ended up making eye contact. She proceeded to stumble and barely managed to stay on her feet. It was like watching a glass fall from a faraway table.

No one reacted and she kept going as though nothing had happened. Her only reaction was to throw me an angry look once she was done. I repressed a chuckle.

I kept watching for a few more minutes until a woman approached behind me in the corridor and said, “Excuse me, are you looking for something?”

“I’m waiting for a friend. Tara.”

“Would you mind waiting downstairs?”

“Oh, sorry. Of course.”I did just as I said. About half an hour later, Tara’s furious footsteps echoed throughout the place, all the way down the stairs and into the lobby, despite the slippers she wore. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re making a lot of noise. I thought dancers were supposed to be quiet.”

She seemed angry, although this was hard to say for sure. Frowning was her default setting. “Besides,” I added, “you keep showing up at my place, so I thought you wouldn’t mind if I showed up at the studios.”

“Are you going to help me then?”

“Well, despite what some people say, I don’t do miracles.”

Her face became red. “You came here to make fun of me!”

How could she accuse me of making fun of her? It wasn’t like I had distracted her on purpose just so she would stumble in front of everyone. Anyway, everyone stumbled every once in a while. It wasn’t a big deal.

Time to move on to my main point. “Stop coming to my place.”

“You don’t understand how important my goal is!”

“Does anyone’s life depend on it?”

She couldn’t think of a comeback right away, so I gathered that it wasn’t the case. She was another one of those self-important brats who thought everything should come easy to them.

Voices resonated from the staircase around the corner, a girl and a guy. Tara’s head snapped in their direction when she heard her name spoken out loud. The voice wasn’t addressing her though. The girl who was talking apparently didn’t know the main interested party could hear her. Just as the two dancers waltzed into the lobby, the guy said, “… and she keeps messing up…”

He shut up as he saw Tara standing right there. The girl beside him had a moment of shock before she recovered and pulled her friend outside with her.

Tara stared somewhere down on the floor. I won’t lie, even though I had been angry at her coming in, I felt bad for her now, especially since I was the one who had distracted her earlier.

“What’s wrong with them…” I said to ease the situation. It was pointless. Tara stammered a few syllables that didn’t reach the point of a full sentence and left.

Here’s a mystery: if Tara was the one harassing me, why did I feel bad for her? Watching her crumble was like watching a sandcastle get wiped by the tide.

I decided that I was done here. At least now, she would leave me alone. I exited and found the two chatty dancers standing along the wall a bit farther from the door, smoking. “Is something wrong with Tara?” I asked.

They looked at each other uncomfortably. The guy finally said, “We didn’t mean to hurt her. It’s just that she hasn’t been performing well lately.”

“You’re worried about her?”

The girl jumped in, “We’re not worried about her. Tara isn’t friends with anyone. She’s got a really bad attitude.”

I couldn’t agree more. The guy added, “Are you a friend? I heard some people say she might be going through something.”

They both looked at me like two puppies waiting for a piece of steak. Unfortunately for them, I had no gossip to share. I wished them a good afternoon and went back to my place, where I spent the rest of my day until it was time for my first lesson.

***

My feeling of guilt got worse and worse as the afternoon wore on. Tara’s rudeness didn’t justify me being cruel to her. Unless it did? I should look it up.

“Are you coming or leaving?” someone said while I fiddled with my key in the door.

Eva had just come out of her apartment. She stopped beside me. Weird little butterflies did their thing in my stomach.

“Hey,” I said, “I’m so sorry about this morning.”

She seemed to find the incident funny. “That girl is stubborn. Some unhappy ex?”

It took me a moment to understand her meaning. “Tara? Oh, no. No. I met her for the first time last Monday.”

“That’s strange.”

Considering my old job, it wasn’t really strange that weird people would show up just like that. Visitors without issues were the rare ones. “Are you heading out?” I asked.

Eva wore a black jacket over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which looked great on her athletic frame.

“I have class soon.”

She must have been a student. “What do you study?”

“Biology.”

“That’s interesting.”

Eva stood there looking at me while I stood there, looking at her and fidgeting with my key in the keyhole from time to time. There seemed to be something going on, it just wasn’t obvious yet.

“Are you busy tonight?” she finally asked.

“I give lessons until eight, but after that…”

“Would you like to go out?”

It’s possible I gaped a little. Eva felt the need to explain herself. “It’s just that I barely know anyone here and since we’re neighbors…”

“S…sure, let’s meet here at nine? We can go for drinks.”

“Great! See you later!”

Some people are just born with an infinite supply of charisma, I thought as she disappeared in the elevator down the hall.

Nine o’clock couldn’t come fast enough. I was looking forward to something to take my mind off of Tara.