Dance it Out
l au with no name l matt x posey l masterlist l
Summer 2010
"Matt, how much longer do I have to do this?" Posey stood up from her crouched over position. She had on some goalie gear they had found and was standing in front of a makeshift goal while Matt shot pucks at her.
“I gotta practice against a goalie, Posey. And you’re doing a really good job of standing there.” Matt squared up, ready to shoot another puck in her direction.
His coach really did say he did need more practice shooting with a goalie in the net versus an open net.
And Posey got to choose what they did last time she was over, so it was his turn and he chose to practice hockey. He always did what she wanted so she had to do the same for him.
“But I want to dance” she got in her stance. They had been at this for an hour and she was getting bored and didn’t want to do this anymore.
“We did that yesterday” Matt stuck his tongue out in concentration. He hit the chunk of plastic, it flew up and hit Posey in padding on her right leg. She kicked it back in his direction and got ready again.
“Please Matt?” Posey begged. The puck he just hit whizzed past her shoulder. She very unfazed by it. She had six brothers, five of whom played hockey, she was used to it.
“Fine five more shots and I get to pick the music” Posey shook head, making the mask she was wearing jiggle, agreeing to the deal.
Matt took more than five shots since Posey wasn’t really paying attention now that she was getting her way.
Once she was out of the gear, Posey brought out her new iPod nano and hooked it up to the speaker. She handed it over to Matt, he scrolled through, finding the playlist they were dancing to yesterday.
The way they were dancing it looked something out of peanuts. There was no real structure and it was all fun. Or at least that's what Matt's mom thought when looked in on them after she got done with her phone call. She turned off their music, abruptly ending the dance party.
“Matt honey can you please for find your sisters? I need to talk to Posey for a minute.” Janice instructed.
Matt and Posey looked at each other and back at his mother. She had this look on her face, and they knew she was being serious.
The boy hung his head and scurried out of the room. What was going on? Posey couldn’t help but feeling like she had done something wrong and they were going to send her home or to her grandma's.
"Posey darling, I have something very important I need to tell you okay? Let's sit on the couch here." Janice sat down on the sofa. She patted the spot next to her, waiting for Posey to climb up.
"Sweetie, your mommy and daddy were in an accident. And they unfortunately didn't make it. I'm really sorry."
"What?" Posey tilted her head confused. Her mommy and daddy were at work and were going to pick her up later, like they always did.
"Mariposa your parents died. I'm really sorry, sweetheart." The mother of three, repeated herself a bit more directly this time. There was no easy way to put it. She wrapped her arms around the stunned child.
"No! No! My mommy and daddy are not dead!" Posey screamed. She pushed Janice away, running out of the room and into the first room she could find with a door.
She yelled no one last time before she slammed it closed. The little girl then curled up in a ball and started crying. She just wanted to be alone.
-
“Hey Posey?” Matt knocked on her door.
It had been a month since her and her brothers had moved in with his family and he had been trying every single day to get her to play, but she never wanted to. Possibly today could be different.
“Do you maybe want to play?” He posed the same question. There was no response to his question. "You can shoot pucks at me, or maybe we can color."
"Can we dance?" Posey asked quietly.
"Only if I can I pick the music." He smiled jokingly.