Aris Part 2

"I've been getting very little and poor sleep for the past few nights. It’s been a really intense week with rehearsals, along with college and work..."
"You should take a day off today."
"I have classes all day today since it’s one of the days I don’t work."
"Missing a day of classes won’t destroy your academic life. You need to rest."
"It’s not that simple living in a dorm room. We have quiet hours after ten at night, but during the day, the corridors and surrounding rooms are very noisy. It’s impossible to rest."
"Isn’t there another place you could go?"
"Driving five hundred miles to my family’s homes isn’t a viable or safe option for someone who’s collapsing from exhaustion."
He nodded in agreement, and we fell silent again. The thirty-fifth candidate finished her performance, and the thirty-sixth took the stage.
"I need to make some phone calls and I’ll be back..." Dimitris announced.
And he simply turned his back and left the auditorium, leaving me wondering if it was just an excuse to leave.
Well, probably not. Dimitris wasn’t the type to make up things to avoid hurting someone. He was too direct for that.
I stayed there alone, watching as the final candidates performed. There was a ten-minute break while the judges discussed, comparing and tallying their scores. After that, one of them asked all the participants to return to the stage.
I looked around. Dimitris hadn’t returned. Maybe the phone calls were indeed a code for an escape.
Taking a deep breath, I went back to the stage, joining the other thirty-seven candidates. My heart pounded in my chest, and this time, it wasn’t in a good way. It wasn’t, probably, in a way that indicated a heart attack, but it was distressing.
Then the names were announced, starting with third place. At that point, I knew I wouldn’t have any chance of being first or second.

And, indeed, I wasn’t among the top two. Those spots were taken by the two candidates I had already considered the best among all of us.
Everything had come to an end. And I wouldn’t see my kids again.
It was at this moment that I saw Dimitris re-entering the auditorium. And I knew that just by looking at me, he understood what had just happened.
As the selected dancers hugged and jumped for joy on stage, the others began to turn to leave through the wings. However, one of the judges stopped us.
"Don’t leave yet. We have an announcement to make."
You could feel the tension in the air from the dancers around me, including my own, which made my heart race even faster.
Another judge took the floor:
"We have a maximum number of individual competitors or teams we can take to the championship. However, we only selected two in the male category. Since there was a high number of entries in the female category, we decided to adjust this spot. We will take four competitors in the female category, so our fourth-place finisher is also qualified." He looked at the paper in his hand to read the name. "Candidate number thirty-two, Aris Katsaros, you will also represent our university at the championship."
For a few moments, I had no reaction. I felt paralyzed, still processing the information and trying to believe that it was real.
"Aris?" I heard Dimitris’s voice, sounding distant, calling me back to reality. He repeated my name, and this time I realized he wasn’t so far away. "Aris?"
I turned my eyes toward the voice and saw him standing right in front of the stage. There was a smile on his face. A big, genuine smile, like I had never seen on him before.
"You made it. You made it, Aris."
"I made it..." I whispered.
Then, I smiled too and finally had a reaction. I jumped off the stage, and he caught me, hugging and spinning me around, my feet lifted off the ground.
He set me back on the ground and pulled away slightly, but not enough to let go. Just enough for us to look into each other’s eyes.
At that moment, it felt so right for us to kiss...
And that’s exactly what happened.
Before I knew it, Dimitris’s lips were pressed against mine.