Being Imperfect

Chapter-2

Sliding the shiny rose lip gloss over my lips one more time, I take a step back to look at my reflection on the mirror. My waist-length light brown hair curled into large waves reaches up to my stomach now while the nude toast color body con fits my thin frame in a classy and elegant manner. Even though my face looks neutral and flawless, the moment I look into the reflection. I could see the fear, doubt, and anxiety seeping in. But at the same time, I also felt a little flutter in my stomach. After today, I can start acting towards my dream. I can make dance the most integral part of my life. Today, I take the first step. I feel a smile curving on my lips at that thought.

I reach for my bag and go downstairs to find my brothers there. Kyle's talking on the phone with his girlfriend while a fully dressed Neil's playing on his PlayStation. My brothers can clean up real nice, I will give them that. All of us have the same light brown hair and blue eyes as our mom. One look at us is enough to know that we are siblings. Neil looks like a junior Kyle whereas I look like the female version of him.

Moving towards the couch, I sit down near Neil, taking my phone out of my bag. I fiddle with my phone for a bit, checking all of my messages and scrolling through social media. My parents' voice parts me from the dance reel video I was watching. I get up from the sofa and turn around to see Neil still playing and shouting curse words at the screen. I leap forward, grab the console away from his hands, and press the exit button without even thinking.

Instantly, I was hit with "What the f**k is wrong with you, Jordan? Why the f**k would you do that?"

"Why do you always have such a stick up your ass?", my voice laced with sarcasm.

He squints his eyes and glares at me with disbelief. I give him a light scoff and walk out the door but not without giving him the middle finger.

Revenge is a dish best served hot.

The ride to the restaurant was surprisingly good for me. It was silent.

"Kyle, how is Leah?", my father asks as the rest of us dig into the delicious food that just arrived.

"Oh, she is fine.", Kyle answers with his mouth full of food.

"How is she coping up with med school?"

"It's tough but she is handling it pretty well."

"Do tell her that we miss her around here.", my father smiles at Kyle who nods his head as a reply.

I keep my gaze fixed on the delicious food in front of me and try to focus on how tasty it is. But my efforts go down the drain as my mother's sweet voice cuts through the few peaceful moments.

"So, Jordan, honey, where are you thinking of going to college?", she asks enthusiastically.

I feel the blood running through my body turn cold at the question. I open my mouth to answer her question but nothing comes out so I shut it again. You can do it, Jordan. I open my mouth but something resembling a whimper comes out.

You coward piece of s**t! Just say it.

I clear my voice and utter the words, "I'm not going to college."

Both of my parents instantly sit up in a straight position and raise their eyebrows. "I'm sorry, what?", my father asks in a slightly raised tone.

"Dad," Kyle warns him.

" I think I wanna pursue dancing as a career.", I say with more firmness in my voice.

"She is surely playing some sort of joke on us, Liam."

"I'm not joking, mom. I'm serious about dancing."

"Oh, please. What do you know about dancing?"

"She knows it well enough to choose it as a career, mom.", Kyle speaks up.

"She hasn't gone to any dancing class since she was 10. She can't even dance properly"

"And whose fault is that, mom? Did I ever tell you I wanted to quit?" I raise my voice angrily.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me, young lady!"

I scoff and raise my hands upward with disbelief.

"I'm not asking for your permission. I'm just informing you that I will be pursuing dance."

"As long as you are living under my roof, you need my permission to make such a big decision.", my father finally speaks up.

"Well, then, I guess I'll be moving out."

My mother lets out a loud puff of air and glares at me angrily.

"Jordan, you don't know anything about dance. Just because you won a few competitions when you were a kid doesn't mean that you can be a dancer. I took you out of dance classes because I knew you didn't have the potential to become one in the future."

"You were a dancer yourself until you quit to be a lawyer. Then why are you stopping me?", I say with my voice firm but my heart was breaking with every word that she was spewing.

"And that's why I know that you won't be able to be one. Look, I know that it might sound harsh now but it's the truth. You should pursue something in which you know you will be good at like medicine. You would be an excellent doctor, honey. I have seen how fast and good you are at remembering things."

"I don't want to be a doctor. I want to be a dancer.", I say with my voice sounding heavier than I thought it would be.

"Let's say you pursue dancing as a career, whatever that means, do you think you will be able to be successful? Have you seen how competitive these things are, Jordan? There are millions of dancers out there but only a few make it to the top." my father tries to reason with me.

"I know, dad. And despite that, I still wanna dance. I wanna do something I love. I don't want to be rich and successful doing something I don't love. It's okay with me if I'm poor if it means doing something I love."

The whole table suddenly fills with disturbing silence as my father closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and my mother glares at me with disbelief. I feel two hands giving both of my hands a soft squeeze. I look up to see both of my brothers smiling at me with assurance. At least my brothers are with me. I give them a soft smile in return.

"If that's what you want, then okay." my dad says, bringing the widest smile on my face.

"Liam!" my mother shrieks.

"But if you do this, then, you are going to have to move out," he says with a shrug.

"Liam, what is wrong with you?!"

I'm honestly okay with the moving out thing. I was thinking of moving out after high school anyway.

"Okay, if that's your condition, then I will move out this month,"

"Okay, then, I wish you all the best for your future, Jordan.", he says with a forced smile.

I couldn't stop grinning at my dad's words. I felt so happy that I felt giddy. I squeal with happiness, get up and hug my brothers. Hugging me back both of them say at the same time, "We are so proud of you, Jordan."

Did I say that I love my brothers? I do.

The rest of the dinner went quite smoothly if you ignore the occasional daggers my mother was shooting towards me and my dad.

Entering the house, I go straight to my room and call Josh.

"Hey, what's up?", he says groggily.

"Oh my god. Are you still sleeping?", I inquire.

"Not anymore." He rubs his face and turns the camera towards his face and opens his emerald green eyes.

I roll my eyes "Hey, guess what?"

"You are drunk?"

"I'm not drunk, asshole. I'm happy."

He gets up from his bed, heads towards the bathroom, sets his phone on the counter and starts brushing his teeth.

"I told my parents."

"What?", he screams spraying his phone with the toothpaste in his mouth.

"Gross, Josh."

Wiping the toothpaste from the camera, he holds the camera in his hands, "Well, what did they say?" he asks excitedly.

"Mom kinda ruined the spirit for me. I mean I didn't have a clue that she thought so less of me. She even told me that I can't dance properly."

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay. But the most surprising thing was that dad agreed. I mean he actually wished me all the best!"

"You are kidding. That's great, Jordan," he exclaims.

"I know, right? But he also asked me to move out."

"Like angrily?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then you don't have anything to worry about. You wanted to move out after high school anyway."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just happy that they didn't kill me."

He laughs, "Me too, me too."

"So, did you get any other project recently?"

I listen to him telling me about this new project he got where he gets to work with a lot of big celebrities. Josh and I have been friends since middle school. I still remember the day we became friends. He had sat beside me during lunch and offered me a beautiful hairband asking me if I would be his friend. And I said yes. Which 8 year old wouldn't? After that, we became the closest of friends. Most of the days, Josh used to stay over at my place. We were inseparable if you would.

But everything changed when he moved to Paris after getting accepted at The International Fashion Academy. He is busy almost the whole time and when he is not, he is sleeping. I'm trying not to be selfish but sometimes I miss my best friend. So talking to him now feels like the most refreshing thing I have done this entire week. The moment I open my mouth to reply to Josh, I hear some indistinct whispering outside my door. It's probably Kyle talking to Leah.

"Wait a sec, Josh."

I put my phone down and walk towards the dresser to get my headphones. Getting the headphones, I start to make my way towards the bed when I hear my name coming from outside making me stop dead in my tracks. Why would Kyle be talking about me? Reaching the closed door, I push my ear up against it to make out what he was saying. But to my dismay, it wasn't Kyle. No, it was my parents.

"Are you crazy, Liam? Why would you agree to her stupid demands?" I hear my mother complain.

Of course, a dream is a demand for her. When have anyone's dreams ever held any kind of validity in front of her? If it was up to her she would have made the word dream a synonym of demand.

But thank god that dad didn't agree with her tonight. I mean I know that he wasn't happy about it, but at least he respected my decision, exceeding my expectations. Maybe I misunderstood him all these years---just as the thought entered my mind, I heard something which made my stomach fall to my feet.

"Jordan is a 19-year-old. If you try to stop her, then it will only anger her further and that's why the best thing to do in this situation is to give in to her demands. Let her do what she wants and learn from her mistakes. Once she sees for herself that she doesn't have what it takes to be a dancer, she will come back on her own. I'm sure of it."