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They ran in just in time, all of them practically running politely down the isle as the lights were dimming. Their reserved seats were right in the front row and they took them quickly. Unsurprisingly Mari’s parents reserved seats were empty. They did what they usually did with that, spread out a little so the two empty seats were in between them and filled with their bags, so It was harder for her to notice. This was her special night and none of them were gonna let anything ruin this for Mari, Especially not her uncaring parents.
They were finally settled in as the announcer left the stage and the curtain opened.
Mari was majestic. She moved like this was what she was born to do. Her body taking whatever shape she wanted it to, all of her jumps landing perfectly.
Its one of the group numbers when Boze notices her falter. Mari had looked into the crowd and noticed her friends, when she looked to find her parents, regardless of their clever diversion, she knew they weren’t there. She paused a second too long but quickly fixed her face and fell back into step with the other dancers. It didn’t matter that they had promised to be there, they did that often enough that she should be used to it.
Nonetheless, her found family was all there. Her best friends (and maybe more) were all sitting in the front row, even embarrassing her a little with how loud they clapped and cheered for her. She needed to be focused on who did come, and who really cared about her, not who didn’t.
Its Joven who hands her a giant bouquet of flowers after the show. He tells her they all pitched in to give her the biggest one in the store and she hugged them all tightly. Boze hugged her extra tight and whispered ‘Sorry’ In her ear.
‘Don’t be.’ Is all she whispered back.
When the left the recital hall Wes claimed dinner was on him and they all hopped in Joven a truck, a few of them in the pickup bed, and drove down to their favorite 24-hour diner when they could afford it. They piled into a booth and the waitress pushed a table and some chairs for them, even though they would have been very happy all sitting on each other. But of course, they don’t tell the waitress that.
They had only planned on having dinner but then Sohinki pulled out a deck of cards and that competitive side of all of them came out. They stayed there for 4 hours, and even though all of them were full about an hour in, a plate of community fries for all of them stayed in the middle of the table to munch on as they played.
They started getting ready to leave when the waitress, in a concerned not rude way, asked them if any of them had parents that would be concerned that they were in a diner at 1 am. They didn’t bother depressing her with the fact that most of them didn’t, and those that did weren’t home to notice they were gone, so they got a to-go box for the fries, finished up their last refills and put away the cards.
They didn’t really want to all go back to their individual homes, so Joven and Flitz texted their respective parents and they all piled back into Joven’s car and headed to Wes’s house. As they all lay there tangled up in Wes’s large bed, drunk off the feeling of being surrounded by people who loved them, they were momentarily distracted from their shitty lives.
And sometimes, that enough.