Edward bent down, picking me up and wrapping my legs around
his arms. He kissed me, his lips moving feverishly with mine. I whimpered,
clinging to him. He pulled back, breathing heavily. “I love you and you are
more than just awesome. You’re my world, angel. Always will be. Kick some ass.”
He smacked my butt and put me on my feet as the stage manager went around
saying that it was thirty seconds until the end of commercial break.
Following Alice, I went on stage, waiting for the music to
begin. “This is the last dance, guys,” Jacob breathed. “No matter who wins,
this whole competition was amazing and I’m so lucky to have danced with you.
All of you.”
“Jacob, that is so sweet,” I smiled, hugging him. “I feel
the same way.”
“I wouldn’t have gotten here without you, Bells,” he said,
kissing my cheek. “You took my audition piece and made it amazing. Thank you.”
“You guys are so pathetic,” Alice spat. “If I had my choice,
I wouldn’t have danced with any of you. Jacob, you’re a lumbering oaf what has
no sense of rhythm. Jasper, your dick is small and you’re a country redneck
hick. And Bella … there are so many things that I can say about you. But, I
won’t because I’m going to make you pay for ever crossing me.”
“God, you are such a bitch, Alice,” Jasper growled. “Your
words, though, mean nothing. And my dick isn’t small. I was just sickened at
how evil you truly are. I never got hard.” The music began and he flipped her
off, stomping away as he started the hip hop/jazz number. I was next, shooting
Alice a glower and sashayed, pretending to be a disenchanted model. It wasn’t
hard, since I was disenchanted with Alice and her bullshit behavior.
She completely shed her skin and her true persona came out
to play.
“It’s not allowed, Edward. You shouldn’t be here!”
I groaned, covering my head with my pillow, grating my teeth
as Alice’s obnoxious voice filtered into my room. “You’re breaking the rules!
I’m calling Alistair.”
“Put a fork in it, Alice,” Edward snapped. “Alistair knows
I’m here; so does Carmen. This tattling bullshit is completely elementary and
uncalled for. Because of your ‘unintentional’ slip, Bella’s knee was jacked up
and her wrist is sprained. Carmen gave me the thumbs to take her home and spend
the night.”
“Bella gets preferential treatment because she’s the judge’s
darling,” Alice sneered. “It’s unfair!”
“Says the girl who is in the final four,” Edward barked
back. “Go back to your room and worship the devil, you wretched little snot.
Bella’s still sleeping and shouldn’t be disturbed. We got back from the ER
late.” Alice huffed, stomping away and her feet heavily running down the stairs.
I heard my door open and Edward slipped in.
“I’m awake,” I said, rolling out from underneath my cocoon
of blankets. He pouted, walking to me and sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Alice’s shrill bark could wake the dead. Besides, I had to pee.” I sat up,
grimacing at every aching muscle. My wrist was swollen and discolored, but
didn’t feel too badly. My knee, though, was in agony. I tested it timidly,
whimpering with each movement.
“Do you need a pain killer?” Edward asked.
“Let me see if I can put weight on it,” I sighed, swinging
my feet over the side of the bed. Edward stood in front of me, holding his
palms out in front of him. I grasped them and let him gently help me to my
feet. I balanced on my right foot and gingerly placed the left on the ground.
It hissed, but it wasn’t too bad. I took a few tentative steps, becoming more
confident as I crossed my bedroom. “I’m okay, but two more ibuprofen wouldn’t
be bad. I’m going to shower and see if that loosens me up.”
“I’ll wait until you get into the shower,” Edward said,
arching a brow. “In case you fall.”
“You are overprotective,” I quipped, picking up a fresh
towel from the linen closet.
“I’m not … just concerned,”
he snorted, giving me a wry little grin. “Go shower, angel. I’ll bring up some
breakfast along with your meds.” I nodded and slipped into the bathroom. Much
to Edward’s dismay, I managed to get into the shower without incident and spent
forty-five minutes washing off the grime of rehearsing and the hospital away. I
felt much better after I was clean and I dressed casually, knowing that I’d be
in a slew of costume changes tonight for the performance finale.
Edward was waiting for me in my room with Jacob and Jasper.
They were talking on Jacob’s phone, using FaceTime. I heard Rose’s voice. “Oh,
is she riled up?” I asked.
“Isabella Marie Swan!” Rose growled. “Put her on the phone,
damn it. I need to kick her ass.”
“Please don’t kick my ass,” I snickered, taking Jacob’s
phone. “I’m injured enough.”
“That hoebag totally kicked you on purpose and she’s getting
away with it. Why are you letting her get away with it?” Rose snarled. “If she
pulls that shit tonight, I’m storming up there and drop kicking her across the
stage. And I don’t think anyone will stop me, damn it!”
“I’m not letting her get away with anything,” I said,
sitting down. Edward handed me a cup of coffee. I took a sip, humming
appreciatively before turning back to Rose. “The way everything happened, it legitimately
could have been an accident. And I want to prove to myself and to her that I
can win without resorting to fucking cheating.” I shot a glare at the three
guys in my room. “She’s done everything to sabotage me, but I’ve come out on
top. Her nonsense is not going to get in my way. I feel much better after my
shower and with ibuprofen, I’ll be fine. I’m fine.”
“She’s still a hoebag,” Jasper grumbled under his breath.
“I’m going to say it. Alice is a raging cunt,” Jacob
blurted. “I know that most women hate that word and for good reason, but it’s
the perfect description for her. Alice is a cunt and a half and needs to have
her ass kicked from here to Lake Titicaca.”
“You better win, girl,” Tia sniffled. “If Malice kicks your
ass, I’ll kick hers. Evil bitch from hell.” She threw another pair of shoes
into her bag. “Seriously, though. I think you have the chops to win this thing,
Bella.”
“I hope so. But, I don’t want to win to prove that I can. I
want to win so that Alice doesn’t get the chance,” I snorted. “Is that wrong?”
“Psssh, nope,” Tia retorted. “You do you and let Alice dig
herself her own shallow grave.” She tossed her last bag out into the hallway.
“I don’t understand why I can’t stay here. I’m performing in two weeks for the
results show. This bed is so much more comfortable than a shitty hotel bed.”
“At least you get some privacy,” I shrugged. Together, we
carried the bags down to the foyer. Tyler was waiting there to go to the hotel
with Tia. “You could also pick up some hottie and have raunchy hotel sex.”
“That does sound promising,” Tia said, hugging me again.
“Shake what your momma gave ya!”
“Damn straight,” Tyler barked, hugging the both of us. “I’ll
be voting for you from my hotel room, girl. I need to support my old partner.”
“Thanks,” I giggled. “I’ll miss you guys.”
“There won’t be a buffer of your humor, Tia or your noxious
fumes, Tyler, with Alice,” Jacob
chuckled.
“Fuck you, Black,” Tyler scoffed. “Noxious fumes, my ass.”
“They come from your ass,” Jacob said, arching a brow. Tyler
gave Jacob the finger. With a honk from the waiting car, they left and the house
was now empty. Only the four of us, Jacob, Jasper, Alice and me remained.
Jasper was on the phone with his parents, finalizing their plans to fly in for
the finale. They were strapped for cash and were working on getting the funds
to attend the final performance. Alistair said he’d help, but Jasper’s dad was
too proud to accept charity. Jasper was trying to convince him otherwise.
Alice was in her room with the music blaring. She stomped
into the house once we got back from the studio, ignoring us and shutting
herself inside her room. I helped Tia pack her suitcases, but was planning on
texting Edward once she was gone and Jacob ate, since he was a bottomless pit. Edward,
Lauren, Peter and Emmett were coming over, along with Jasmine and her
boyfriend, Cyrus, to hang out. It was still early and we were not supposed to
be at the rehearsal studios until ten the following morning.
Then, the craziness of the final performance show would be
upon us. The calm before the storm,
as it were. I was nervous about the upcoming final show, but looking forward to
finding out who actually won. The stress was getting to me. Alice was getting to me.
Hell, Alice was getting to everyone. Even Alistair could
barely contain his ire to her in the meeting after the elimination. The fact
that she was smug rubbed all of us the wrong way, but Alistair told her that
she was only here by votes and that if he still had a say, she’d be gone.
“Edward!” called Alistair. “Come into the office. Please!”
I walked into the production office. Carmen was inside,
along with Chloe. “Everything okay?” I asked, sitting down.
“Perfect, really. We’ve been offered to do another season,”
Alistair beamed. “I was wondering if you’d like to continue working with us, as
a choreographer and as an All-Star?”
“I’d be honored,” I chuckled. “This season has been awesome
and the challenge of choreographing is beyond any description.”
Carmen clapped her hands, bouncing in her chair. “Which
brings us to our next little tidbit of information. You’ve been nominated for
an Emmy.”
“Say what?” I squeaked.
“For the party salsa group routine,” Carmen nodded. “And
you’re in good company, too. Travis, Sonya and Nappy Tabs are also up for
Emmy’s as well. Congratulations!”
“Plus, Chloe is up for best host of a reality show,”
Alistair added, patting Chloe on the knee. “We’ve got a lot of things to
celebrate!”
“And So You Think You
Can Dance is up for best reality show,” Chloe smirked. “Lots of accolades.
Congratulations, Edward.”
“Thanks. You, as well,” I smiled. “Talk about surreal.”
“You’re hitting it big, kid,” Carmen squealed. “You were on
the hot tamale train when you competed and it’s transferring over to your
professional career.”
“And let’s not forget the love connection,” Alistair
snickered.
“I’m going,” I sang, getting up. “I have to warm up before
Bella and I rehearse today.” I waved, leaving the office. Inside my rehearsal
studio, I was micced up and did some quick stretches before Bella arrived. We
reviewed what we learned and then spent some time getting fitted for our
costumes. After that, we performed our foxtrot as many times as we were able
before Bella went to go rehearse with Alice on the stage with Sonya.
Alice behaved herself, but she was distant with Sonya and Bella.
Bella was happy about that, whereas Sonya wanted Alice to really get into the
piece. Alice seemed uninterested and she stomped away at the end of the
rehearsal when Jasper appeared to work with Bella on their Bollywood number. I
could tell that Bella was tired, but she muscled through. However, when we
practiced our hip hop number with Tabitha and Napoleon, Bella was favoring her
knee and not dancing full-out.
“Okay, folks, tomorrow, we’re doing camera blocking and
finalizing our choices for costumes. We’ll be spending most of our time in
here,” Alistair said. “Take care of yourselves and get a good night’s sleep.”
“If only I could walk,” Bella grumbled. She noticeably
limped and I swept her off her feet. “Really?”
“You’re getting massaged and spending time with the physical
therapists,” I argued.
“I agree and I’ve got the doctor on his way,” Alistair said,
arching a brow over his thick glasses. Bella didn’t respond as I carried her to
the backstage area with the massage tables. A small woman with sleek black hair
and funky glasses, Maureen, worked on Bella. Alistair came in with a doctor,
not the one who had worked on her before and they made the decision to give
Bella a steroid shot in her knee. However, they’d give it to her tomorrow night
since there would be no rehearsals the morning of the taping. It would give
Bella an opportunity to adjust to the steroid shot. However, Alistair insisted
on Bella coming back to my apartment with me. I didn’t argue and neither did
Bella, saying she didn’t want to spend the evening with Alice, who was acting
like queen bitch all during their rehearsal.
However, as I was carrying Bella out of the studio, I saw
Alice glaring at us and something swirling in her eyes. I didn’t know what it
was, but certainly it was something that was no good.
“Back straight, Bella,” I said as we glided across the
hardwood floor. She was off today and crabby. We were rehearsing our foxtrot
and it was not gelling together. When she accidently stomped on my foot with
her heel, I grabbed her hips. “Bella, what’s going on?”
“The pressure,” she muttered, limping over to the edge of
the studio. She picked up a water bottle and chugged it. “And all of the
rehearsals. I’m hurting and …” Tears splashed onto her cheeks and she slid down
the wall. I shot a look to the producer. They cut the video and slipped out of
the rehearsal space. As soon as the door closed, I was on the floor and Bella
was in my arms. She lost it, sobbing and clinging to my t-shirt. “I’m trying my
best, Edward, but I’m so tired. My leg is killing me and this dance with Alice
is … it’s horrible. It requires so much trust and I don’t trust her.”
“What is it about the dance?” I asked. Bella reached into her bag and
pulled out her phone. She showed me a video of a rehearsal. It wasn’t the
difficulty, but the possibility of Alice doing further damage to Bella’s knee.
“Have you spoken to Sonya about this?”
“She’s aware of my concerns with Alice and so far, things
have been fine, but it doesn’t stop my fear that Alice is going to fuck me up,”
Bella hissed.
I kissed her temple, holding her tightly. “Look, we have to
finish this rehearsal, pretty girl. I need to teach you the rest of the
choreography. I was not expecting to choreograph a foxtrot, but when Louis Van
Amstel had to have his appendix out, I was forced to come up with something.
So, let’s at least get the rest of the choreography learned and then we’ll get
out of here. I’m taking you home with me.”
“But, I have a rehearsal with Jacob tonight,” Bella
whispered. “Not filmed, but yeah … we want to make sure our contemporary piece
is up to snuff since we’re both contemporary dancers.”
“No. You don’t,” I said, shooting a text to Jacob using
Bella’s phone. “Ha! He agreed. He’s going to spend time with the physical
therapist. You all have been working yourselves to the bone.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“No thinking … I am
right,” I snorted. “Now, can we finish this?”
“Let me just wash my face and then yes,” she replied. I
stood up, helping her to her feet. Bella ducked out and I got the camera crew
back into the studio. We finished going over the dance for our foxtrot. Bella
was still moving stiffly, but I knew it was due to physical exhaustion and her
knee bothering her. After the producer removed our microphones, I packed up our
bags and led Bella down to my car.
“I definitely feel more confident about our disco routine,”
Jasper said, sucking down some water. “Thank you, Edward, for your help. I know
that you didn’t need to help.”
“Jasper, it’s not a big deal,” Edward replied. “I know how
hard disco is.”
“I thought that disco was just like John Travolta in Staying Alive,” I snorted, stretching
out my body. “You know what I mean?” I moved my arm, crossing it over my body
with my finger pointed. Edward laughed and Jasper rolled his eyes. “What? You
have to admit …”
“She has a point,” Jasper chuckled. “However, I’ll be happy
once this is done. I’m just afraid that … I don’t want to be eliminated. I got
this far and to be eliminated now?”
“We’re all feeling it,” I replied, putting on my sneakers
and tossing my heels into my bag. “I’m grateful for the day off today, but
knowing that tomorrow is camera blocking and then we perform the day following?
It’s daunting. We’re so close to the end, but the dream could come to a
screeching halt.”
“Don’t think of it that way,” Edward said. “Look at a number
of previous contestants who were eliminated. They all have started lucrative
careers in dance with the help of the show. Myself included. I got the
opportunity to choreograph, performed in various locations and I’ve received
offers to perform in other venues. Did I have these opportunities prior to
being on the show? Not to the extent due to my celebrity. Don’t think as being
eliminated as a bad thing. You will still be marketable because of your time on
the show.”
“I never thought about that,” Jasper murmured. He shrugged,
smiling at both Edward and me. “Thanks, Edward.”
“I do try. Let’s get something to eat before I drive you
back the house,” he said. We put on some loose clothes and went to In-N-Out
Burger, devouring delicious burgers and large milkshakes. I was quiet, not
really paying attention to Edward and Jasper as they prattled on. “Bella?
Angel, are you okay?”
“What? Sorry,” I said, blinking back to them.
“You were spacing out, Bells,” Jasper said as he stuffed
some fries into his mouth.
“Just thinking about the competition, the rehearsal
tomorrow, performances the day after that …” I said. “I didn’t mean to space
out.”
“I still think it’s all of the sun from yesterday,” Jasper
snickered. I nodded, still exhausted from National Dance Day. “I know I’ll have
no problems falling asleep.”
“I’m going to soak in the tub and then crash,” I said.
“Well, let’s get you guys back,” Edward replied, taking out
his car keys. We threw out our garbage and Edward drove us back to the house.
Jasper waved and sauntered inside. I turned to face Edward. He looked very
scruffy with three-day’s worth of stubble and a backwards baseball cap. “You
sure I can’t convince you to come back with me? You said you sleep better with
me.”
“I know, but when I came back from spending some time in the
pool before going to our rehearsal with Jasper, I felt like my shit was rifled
through,” I frowned. “I want to make sure that no one is pulling some bullshit.
You know?”
“No one, meaning Malice?” Edward snorted.
“Bingo,” I said, smirking. “I love sleeping with you and
snuggling next to you, but with a wild card like Alice, I just don’t trust
her.”
Alice and Benji, Contemporary
Fix You by Coldplay
Jacob and Jasmine, Bollywood
Tandau Music by Aatish Kapadia
Jasper and Lauren, Jazz
Emergency by Icono Pop
Bella and Edward, Hip Hop
After Party by Dorrough Music
Tyler and Emily, Broadway
Moses Supposes from the musical, Singing in the Rain
Tia and Amun, Salsa
Put it in a Love Song by Alicia Keys, featuring Beyonce
Alice and Tyler, Rumba
Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers
Jacob and Tia, Contemporary
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
Bella and Jasper, Disco
When Love Takes Over by David Guetta, featuring Kelly Rowland
I can't keep up with this updating schedule. I recently got a promotion at work. As a result, I have a lot more responsibility at work and I have to put in significantly more hours. Those hours cut into my writing time. When I get home, I want to decompress. Writing can do that for me, but with the update schedule, it feels like work.
So, I'm deciding to put some stories on hiatus and focus on ONE story at a time. The plan is to focus on Buying Love. That one is close to the end. There will be about one hundred chapters and I'm on chapter ninety-three. I'll post updates probably as soon as I finish them, or at least the following day (giving you a teaser). After Buying Love, my attention will turn to So You Think You Can Dance? I'm hopeful that it will be finished by Halloween. I'm thinking that it will be around twenty-seven chapters. Then, I'll come back to The One That Got Away and La Musica del Cuore.
I hope you all understand my reasoning, but I'm just overwhelmed.
And that's putting it mildly.
I need more hours in a day. Or a personal assistant. Or both?
