No Ordinary Love Songs

Chapter 4 - No Air

Tiffany took off her sweater, placed it on the floor and lied down on it. She closed her eyes and felt the warm breeze on her skin. Sasha sat next to her and sighed, “How long would you allow Mike to hurt you?”

“Tiff, Mike already made a choice,” Sasha reminded her about the day she lost Mike to Rish…

“Thank you for making me realize that love is about accepting a person despite her imperfection,” Mike told Tiffany and then turned his back to face Rish.

“M-Mike?” Rish was astonished.

“You heard it,” Mike moved closer to her.

“Come on! Stop pretending that you love her. I know you are just doing this to piss me off!” Tiffany blurted.

“You know you are right,” Mike looked at Tiffany, “At first, I just wanted to piss you off but you went overboard,” he turned to Rish, “But I hope this will let you know that I am not pretending,” Mike kissed Rish.

Tiffany’s jaw dropped. She could not believe what she saw but for no reason, her knees suddenly felt weak and she fell on the floor, unconscious.

“Remember?” Sasha faced her, “You fell unconscious but Mike never cared. He never even bothered to look at you,” she sighed.

Tiffany looked away.

“Tiff, look at yourself. You used to wear your head high, but that day,” Sasha paused to think of a better way of saying things, “Tiff, that day you became the b***h and Rish became the damsel in distress so Mike chose her. Is this the reason why you allowed this? Do you think time will come for Mike to pity you so he would choose you?”

“They never chose me,” Tiffany said softly.

“Then what are you doing to yourself?” Sasha asked, “This won’t do anything good.”

“I just want to be loved,” Tiffany said, “I cannot understand why I am not always chosen by the people I love,” she continued. She remembered the day her mother left them. She was five; she was crying at the door steps; she begged for her mother to stay.

The story of her family was not a secret in the city. It was a huge scandal for her mother, a famous artist and singer who fell in love with another celebrity, eventually got pregnant and eloped. Her father is willing to take the child as his but her mother chose to leave them and went abroad with her new guy. Tiffany’s father was devastated that he spent most of his time at work leaving Tiffany feeling so abandoned. To compensate with the lost, Tiffany’s father would give anything that she asked for, so she will stop longing for her mother.

“Hey, the coach is looking for you,” Jason came to the girls.

“Talk to your friend,” Sasha told Jason while pointing at Tiffany’s bruises, “We saw Mike practiced the routine with Rish and he was so good,” she added.

“Jeez… Tiff that is way too much” Jason was concerned.

“I’m fine Jason. I think I just need to release it,” Tiffany rose.

“Well, dance the pain away just like the old times,” Jason asked.

“I hope it is that easy,” Tiffany sighed.

“Trust me, it always work,” Jason said, “It always help me every time I catch my boyfriend having an affair with real women.”

After eating lunch, Tiffany decided to freshen up. She met Mike on her way out from the shower room. Mike just had a shower also. He looked at Tiffany and noticed the bruises on her arms. Tiffany realized that she exposed her bruises so she took her sweater and wore it. She then walked away while Mike’s eyes followed her.

The coach was still on the phone so Jason decided to play the music. It was a song by Jordin Sparks entitled, “No Air”

Tell me how I’m supposed to breathe with no air…

“Remember the routine?” Jason came near Tiffany.

Tiffany nodded. Jason winked at her and invited her to dance. They walked together towards the middle of the dance room and faced each other. Tiffany closed her eyes…

If I should die before I wake

It's 'cause you took my breath away

Losing you is like living in a world with no air

Tiffany drowned herself in the music. She moved her body as if she was the one saying every line of the song. She stretched, turn, lift her legs… then she felt Jason’s arms around her. She imagined she was dancing with Mike…

But how do you expect me

to live alone with just me

'Cause my world revolves around you

It's so hard for me to breathe

Tiffany took three turns and ended with a stride lifting her hands up in surrender and dropped on the floor as if there was no hope. She rolled to her side where Mike (as she imagined) took her and lifted her up.

They moved passionately as if both understood the pain of being left behind. Tiffany took three steps but Mike caught her hand and pulled her towards him, in which Tiffany took turns and ended wrapping her arms on Mike…

Got me out here in the water so deep

Tell me how you gonna be without me

If you ain't here, I just can't breathe

It's no air, no air

They ended the dance with dip and then Tiffany heard the coach and Sasha clapped their hands. She came back to reality; she was dancing with Jason and Mike is still with Rish.

“That is how I exactly want you to dance, Mike. Did you notice how intense the emotion is,” the coach pointed at Jason and Tiffany while talking to Mike. “You have to feel every emotion of the song. You have to portray the pain if it is painful and if it shows love, you have to show it.”

They finished the whole routine and decided to end the day. Mike went to his locker to change his clothes where he saw a note from Sasha: “Will you please be man enough to talk to me? I would like to talk to you about Tiffany. I’ll see you at the rooftop”

Mike changed his clothes and went to see Sasha at the rooftop.

“I’m glad that you came,” Sasha suddenly lost her nerves.

“I didn’t think this discussion would be important but I don’t want to be rude,” Mike blankly said.

Sasha took the courage to talk about how Tiffany felt so rejected. She decided to talk about how Tiffany felt abandoned after her parents separated.

“The story about Tiffany’s parents has been an open book ever since. There is nothing new about what you just told me,” Mike paused for a while, “and about what Tiffany said on being simply wanting to feel loved, I believed she asked too much. You cannot command anyone to just love you. Love is given not asked for”

“But if love is given then why can’t you just give it to Tiffany?” Sasha was quick to ask.

“You can’t just give love to anyone”

“But you can at least be less harsh and try to be man enough to treat a woman kindly!”

There was silence.

“You know… if you cannot love Tiffany like the way she wants you to love her, I think trying to be her friend and trying to understand her will not hurt. I am sure Tiffany can endure it if you can only love her as a friend; she was able to endure the bruises you gave her, anyway.” Sasha tried to be sarcastic.

“And please stop pretending that you do not know the dances at all. We saw you danced with Rish and you were so careful,” Sasha blurted when Mike stayed to be silent, “If it is really hard for you to care… then just at least be a man enough take care of your partner while dancing,” she continued.

“I did not know it was too much,” Mike’s voice turned soft, “ I don’t know… it annoys me to see her smile as if she still wins. It is like her smile reminds me that before the war has started, I am already defeated because our fate is already decided. I am to marry her and I could not do anything about it” Mike bowed his head.

“So you hate Tiff because you think she defeated you?” Sasha was shocked.

“I did not like the idea that I did not get to choose whom I should marry.”

“Good gracious! Mike, did you ever realize that there were a lot of men who thinks you are so lucky because you don’t need to try hard just to have the woman of their dreams?” Sasha said angrily.

“Look you do not know how it feels to be trapped in an arranged marriage when you love someone else,” Mike answered, “You do not know how it feels when everything that is going to happen in your life has already been decided. You do not understand how it feels when you do not have any choice, when you just have to follow, when you have to give up your own happiness just because you are responsible for the future of your father’s company.”

“And you punished Tiff because your father simply wants you to marry her in order to save your company?” Sasha looked surprised.

“Yes,” Mike answered blatantly.

“What did Tiffany do to you for her to deserve the punishment?”

“She is the-miss-i-get-what-i-want daughter. It was so obvious that she had a huge crush on me and her father knew that. So her father asked my dad to work on our engagement or else, he will dismiss all the advertising contracts of his company with our company. Tiffany’s father is my dad’s biggest client. If we lose him, our company will die,” he answered.

“So how does hurting Tiffany change any of this?”

“If she is so hurt, she would tell her father that she wouldn’t want to marry me anymore. Her father will give her everything, so the wedding will be off without us losing our biggest client,” Mike became firm.

Sasha was shocked to hear everything. She knew Tiffany would never let Mike go; she was crazy in love with Mike; she could not even wait for the time when she becomes Mrs. Fulton.

“Is there anything else you want to say?” Mike asked. Sasha was silent so he left her.