by Tonya Plank
“Good, good,” I said, wrapping my arm around her waist.
She rubbed up against my side, lacing her arm through mine. I really liked walking around Blackpool arm in arm, or body in arm, like this.
“Samantha texted again and asked me if I’d tried the Japanese place yet. I told her we’d go there for lunch.”
“Great idea. Let’s go.”
We walked back through the ballroom, where the Rising Star competition had just begun.
“It’s not very crowded,” she said.
“A lot of people aren’t here yet. This place will be packed tomorrow and Wednesday. You’ll see.” I felt the adrenaline course through her veins.
“Davay, Sveta! Let’s go!” The voice was familiar; someone from the studio.
My former student, Sveta? I looked around the ballroom floor, trying to find her.
“Can we just stand here and watch a moment?” Rory asked, that look of being totally transfixed that I so loved in her eyes again.
“Of course.” I led her toward the floor, and ushered her into a row up close. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. I could tell she was getting prepared for tomorrow, letting the fire in the atmosphere penetrate her pores, picturing us out there. I could even feel her muscles move, dancing in her seat. Her eyes were still closed. That’s my girl, I thought. Feel, not think. She’d finally gotten it.
The music ended.
“Woo hoo, Sveta! Yes!” shouted that same voice. Rory recognized it too and began looking to her left, where the voice had come from.
The dancers were taking bows. I spotted her. It was my Sveta. She’d told me she wanted to go pro. Good for her; she’d found herself a pro partner. I waved to her. She spotted me and waved back.
“Oh, there’s Svetlana,” Rory said.
“Yeah, I just noticed her. She’d wanted to go pro. She was going to wait till she won a pro/am, but I’m glad she didn’t keep waiting. She was way too good to get held back by politics.”
“I always thought she was awesome,” Rory agreed.
“I know you did. I remember.”
“No way! Girlfriend! Girlfriend! Woo hoo!” We both recognized that voice.
“Oh my gosh, ‘no way’ is right!” Rory squealed with delight. I turned and saw the mane of fiery red hair, the large palm waving at us. It was her good friend, Paulina, from the studio.
Rory opened her mouth and reached toward her. They were too far apart to touch. Paulina did the same and they air bear-hugged, then cracked up over it.
“I am so happy to see you,” Rory yelled. The cha-cha music blasted on.
Paulina nodded exuberantly and pointed toward the back.
“Let’s go say hi,” Rory squealed.
“Of course.” I was thrilled she now had someone here to support her. Paulina had always been a good friend to her, and I’d just realized how badly she needed that. I had all of my friends here; she’d had none of hers. She must have felt profoundly out of place. Paulina was the confidence booster she needed.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so happy you’re here,” Rory said when we met her in the back row. “I don’t know anyone. And you’re my favorite person in the studio!” Rory hugged Paulina for real this time.
I jokingly cleared my throat.
“Besides you!” Rory play-slugged me. “We’re competing on Wednesday!” she told Paulina.
“Oh really? You don’t say. I didn’t know that,” Paulina said, rolling her eyes.
“You knew?”
“Girlfriend! Why do you think I’m here?”
Rory shook her head, confused, and motioned to the ballroom floor.
“I’m interested in seeing what Svetlana can do.” Paulina shrugged. “But she no longer goes to my studio, so I’m not really here to be her cheer-party. I’m here mainly for Maurizio, my pro/am partner. To watch him compete professionally, and cheer him on. And for you, dearie. I’m not kidding.”
Rory’s mouth hung open.
“Seriously,” Paulina continued. “You’re a legend back in the studio now, my dear.”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe…well…I’m just so flattered,” Rory said, a blush spreading over her face.
“Honestly, I used to come to this every year. I love the place. The retro pinball machines, the cheesy Vegas-style shows, the Ferris wheel, Liverpool. It’s all a hoot. And I used to come see the top ballroom dancers I admire. I haven’t been in the past few years because it kind of got old. The same couples winning all the time and all. And the place just hasn’t changed in ages. But when I heard you were going to dance with hiiiimmmm!” She said the last word under her breath, pointing at me like a silly schoolgirl. “Honey, I figured it was time for me to give Blackpool one more look-see.”
“Well, I can’t tell you how happy I am you’re here. I really can’t.” Rory’s stomach rumbled loudly. “We’re headed down to a little Japanese place in the basement. Wanna come with?”
“Actually, I just came from there. Food’s always excellent. Best in Blackpool.”
“That’s what Samantha told me!”
“You two go on and eat. But first, honey, let me get your number so we can text.”
The two exchanged numbers and bear-hugged again.
The restaurant looked the same as last year. It was set up in a long, rectangular room, with a counter displaying the meals. Picnic tables and benches were in the middle.
“Japanese curry is their specialty,” I said. “Some people think Indian is better. I think this is just as good.”
Rory ordered vegetable curry and I got chicken. When she took her wallet from her bag I realized I still had the credit card for her that Daiyu had given me.
“No, here’s your credit card,” I said, handing it to her. “But we’ll charge this to mine since we ordered together. It really doesn’t matter because it’s the same account. But in case you’re alone, you have one too.”
“Our own account! Decadent!” She giggled, making me laugh and kiss her sweet forehead.
The clerk handed me a large plastic number on a stick and told us to choose a table. It was pretty dark in the seating area. There were a couple of people up front, sitting next to each other in a booth, who seemed to be eyeing us. Fans, I assumed. Fortunately, they seemed as if they were going to leave us alone. Not that I disliked meeting fans. But at this point, I just wanted to wait until we’d competed.
But as we got closer to the table, the man motioned us over, which a fan would never do. Then I recognized him. It was Rajiv, with Samantha. More of Rory’s friends were here to cheer her on. I think I was just as relieved to see them as she was. More, in fact, at first. She initially thought they were my people, and shot me a desperate look, hoping I wouldn’t stop to talk. Instead I gave her a loopy smile.
“Took you long enough to get here!” Samantha shouted. Rory’s mouth opened when she heard her friend’s voice. Samantha jumped up and rushed her, arms extended.
“Yeah, we thought you’d never get here!” Rajiv said.
Rory squealed. She and Samantha hugged and bounced up and down in embrace. “I thought you couldn’t—”
“Raj found a radiologist conference nearby in the Lake District. So, good excuse for him to get off work. And he got a big discount on the airfare and hotel—for two! So here we are!”
“Oh, oh whoa!” Rory was adorably speechless. Everything was going to be okay. Luna and Cheryl were a distant memory. “You don’t know what this means to me,” she said, blinking back tears.
“Yes, we do,” Samantha said. “I put myself in your shoes. And realized you needed people here for you. What are friends for, Rore? Plus, I mean, if you can afford it, who can seriously resist Blackpool? Hello!”
After we ate, we all walked back to the ballroom, Rory and I arm in arm, and Rajiv and Sam hand in hand. Rory gave her friend a raised eyebrow, and Samantha returned with a silent giggle. I hadn’t seen they were becoming a pair either.
We found unoccupied seats in the back and wa
tched the end of the Rising Star Latin competition. Sveta and her partner made the quarterfinals. But they didn’t get past that. It was very good for a first time, though. She had a fine career ahead of her.
Chapter Eleven
I could tell Rory was a nervous wreck when we woke up the next morning. She said nothing but I felt it. I didn’t even need to touch her. I was so in sync with her body, her mind.
“Everything’s going to be good,” I said, spooning her before we got up.
“I know.” She nodded.
We ordered breakfast—this time I told the restaurant to hold the fried toast and sausage pudding—and showered. I told Rory not to wear any makeup or do anything to her hair. When she frowned, I told her Daiyu’s people would take care of all that in the tent before tonight’s team comp.
“I’m not used to being treated like a princess.” She giggled.
“You will need to. Because you are.” I hugged her from behind.
Before practice, I took her to a local market that had an array of fresh fruits and vegetables and other snack items like nuts, dried fruit, granola, power bars, and kale chips. We filled two baskets.
Greta met us for practice. She gave Rory a great pep talk, which I knew I could count on her to do. I’d told her how Rory had reacted to seeing Cheryl and Luna here. Greta was also surprised and curious about their showing up but agreed not to let Rory on to our concern.
“Believe me, you wouldn’t be anywhere near here if you weren’t capable of winning. Doubting yourself at this point is borderline offensive to everyone who made it possible for you to get this far,” Greta said.
Rory raised her eyebrows and thought, then nodded.
“And you don’t dare get upset because these women show up. Who are they anyway, this Cher and Loony?”
Rory giggled at her mispronunciation. I don’t think Greta meant to call them names. It was just her accent.
“So you are going to let Cher and Loony ruin this for you and Sasha? Finally you are here, and this is your chance.”
Rory shook her head. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Sasha.” Her eyes grew watery.
“Or yourself,” Greta said.
“Or myself,” Rory echoed, smiling through the light tears.
We went through each routine, first marking, then dancing full-out. I felt Rory’s jitters, but Greta insisted they didn’t show.
“When the movement is so entrenched in your muscle memory it has to take a great deal of jitters to cause any harm. You did your work, and now it is paying off.” Greta lifted her chin and raised one eyebrow.
Rory swallowed and nodded.
***
Before getting ready for the team competition, we went back to the Japanese restaurant for an early dinner.
“Eat well,” I said. “After this we will only have time to snack the rest of the evening.”
The place was dark as a cave and we sat at a back table. Good, we needed privacy. But about halfway through our meal Cheryl and Luna came in. Fuck. I pretended I didn’t notice. But I could see out of the corner of my eye Cheryl’s beady eyes found us right away. She raised her chin, stood tall and began walking toward us, Luna following. I immediately took out my cell phone and texted Val.
They continued strutting until they were right at our table. When they got up to us, they stopped, then did nothing but stare down at us. Seriously? Rory’s eyes widened and she took a deep breath. I could sense her rapid pulse from across the table. I should have warned her.
I addressed them with a sneer. “Ladies.”
They said nothing. Luna crossed her arms in front of her, shifted her weight to one leg and glared down at us, not averting her gaze. Cheryl looked at us like she might spit in our food.
I felt my phone buzz and looked down.
B right there, Valentin wrote. Thankfully, our phones were working completely normally and there were no more delays.
I decided to ignore them, and continue where we’d left off in our conversation but, honestly, we hadn’t been talking. We’d been concentrating only on eating. Plus, I didn’t really want them to overhear even our small talk. So I continued piling food into my mouth as if nothing was happening. But it was. Cheryl was really hovering over Rory now. Rory didn’t seem to be able to eat. Cheryl’s shadow on the back wall made her look like a witch casting a spell. What a fucking psycho.
“Could you please act like mature human beings and leave us alone?” Rory finally said, to my distress. I knew that would only egg them on.
“Excuse me, I am quite a mature human, and I can’t leave you alone no matter how I try, Rory, sweetheart,” I said, shooting her my sly, cocked smile, obviously pretending they weren’t there and she’d been talking to me. And I knew she got it, but she had no patience for games.
“No, this is ridiculous,” she said, rolling her eyes. “They’re bothering us. We can’t even—”
“Who’s bothering us, sweet? I don’t see anybody.” I looked around, above, through them as if to check. “No, seriously, there’s absolutely no one here. No one of any substance, anyway.”
Rory shook her head and laughed nervously.
Suddenly a veritable fleet of people entered the room. They were talking and laughing in Russian.
“Hey, hey,” Val said, extending his arm toward us.
“Thank you, man,” I said under my breath.
“Sasha! Man of the night. Man of Blackpool! Just MAN!” Sergei shouted in strongly accented English. “And of course, lady of night too!” he added, extending his arm to Rory. “Beautiful lady!”
Rory giggled.
Sergei patted me on the shoulder, and started speaking in Russian. “Are these the two witches? Yeah, they look like fucking monsters!”
The others laughed and echoed him, all in Russian of course.
Soon, they were completely surrounding the table. Rory tried to look between and around their bodies. Cheryl and Luna had miraculously disappeared.
“Go on and eat, sweetheart,” I said to her. “You need to finish. Don’t let them bother you while they talk to me. I am done.” I pushed my empty plate aside. “Thank you so much, man,” I said to Valentin and Sergei, in Russian.
“Are you serious, dude? Anything!”
My Russians were not all bad. Not at all.
***
We walked back to Daiyu’s tent where all of our things were now stored. Daiyu’s assistants had come to our hotel room and taken the costumes to the tent, another thing that wowed sweet Rory. Three other couples who were sponsored by Daiyu were in the tent as well. They were amateur, junior division, and exhibition/cabaret champions. I explained to Rory that it was customary for a sponsor to have champs from several different categories to build a solid following.
“Your world is so amazingly cool,” she said.
“Your world now too,” I responded with a kiss.
Daiyu’s assistant introduced herself, and sat us in adjacent seats before brightly lit mirrors to have our makeup done. Of course mine took much less time since all I needed was a bit of bronzer on my face, neck and chest, and powder to keep me from looking too sweaty.
I paced around the tent, concentrating, mentally preparing myself while Rory’s cosmetologist, an obviously gay, very excited British man with spiky blond hair, finished her.
“Whoa,” she soon squealed, walking toward me. “I look nothing like myself. My eyes are like Cleopatra and my lips look like I just had a Botox injection on the spot, and my cheekbones look switchblade sharp. And my eyelashes—can you say Betty Boop!”
“I’m glad you are happy,” I said, smiling, and not kissing her this time so as not to ruin her makeup in any way.
“I’m transformed!”
“Wait, wait, where’d ya go? Now we get to work with this gorgeous mane!” The cosmetologist walked up behind her and removed the bobby pins from her pulled-back hair.
“Oh yeah, forgot!” She laughed and returned to the chair. I followed. “Any preferences?” he asked, r
unning his fingers through her beautiful blonde locks.
She shrugged and laughed. “I’m from the ballet world. We all wear our hair in boring buns. We never had a choice.”
“There’s nothing boring about ballroom, honey! I can do anything your little heart desires.”
She looked at me wide-eyed again. “Wow,” she whispered.
I shook my head and took the chair opposite her. “Your decision entirely.
“Um, an elegant French twist?” she suggested. “Or a French braid? No, maybe the twist would look more classy?”
He smiled. “Perfecto.”
“Can you make it look like Audrey Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’? You know, elegant and classy?”
“Holly Golightly it is!”
Again, my hair was quite a bit easier. My stylist was done in minutes, giving me more time to pace about the tent and think while my Rory glorified in her new world. I texted Valentin.
Anything happening with the witches?
Not much. They’re at the Italian restaurant’s bar, boozing it up with pink martinis. The worst one—Cheryl—seems pretty drunk. Xenia stopped by but didn’t say much. Good luck, and stuff like that. Clear for now.
Cool. Thanks. I owe you, my man.
Na. We’ll keep owing each other. We’re friends.
We are.
When I walked back into the tent, Rory was behind a Chinese dressing screen, getting bronzed by Daiyu’s female costume assistant. I could tell she was naked. Her eyes were wide. She looked mortified.
“Sorry,” I mouthed, before disappearing behind my own screen. I guess since she was getting dressed, I should as well.
Again, it took me a small fraction of the time it took her.
“How are you doing?” I strolled over to her screen after finishing.
She placed her hands over her breasts, though she was still covered by the screen. “Sasha!”
She was behind the screen so I didn’t think it was a big deal. But it was her first time here. And she was American. Americans were used to more modesty, more privacy.
“Okay, I think the bronzer is dry and we’re ready,” Daiyu’s assistant said, waving me away while she went behind the screen with Rory. I sauntered to the far end of the tent and checked email and phone messages back home. Not much was going on. Sadie and Alessandra called to wish me luck, and the latter had some scheduling changes for the following week. Couldn’t be bothered with that now.
