Dances with Monsters(170)

Heath heard a wild, ear-piercing whoop from somewhere near the front of the stage and he let out a long, heavy breath, feeling his heart thudding in his chest. He was surprised to discover he'd been actually holding his breath, and had no idea for how long. It seemed that it had been for a long while; he was out of breath again.

He had no interest in watching any of the other performances; he only wanted to find his dancer, congratulate her on her extremely moving performance, give her the flowers he was tired of clutching like a chump, and apologize profusely for neglecting her the way he had. He slipped out of the door to the theater and walked into the lobby, trying to find a way backstage.

"Heath!"

Heath turned at the sound of his name being called and spotted Drew's sisters waving at him. He looked a little harder and behind them, he saw the rest of her family, plus Bunz. And behind them, to his surprise, he saw his own. He walked over to them quickly, offering a half-smile. Mr. Carnevale reached for his hand, his standard greeting, and Drew's mother reached up to brush both of his cheeks with her own.

"We were wondering what happened to you," Nik said, her tone vaguely threatening. "Seemed like you went all MIA for a little while."

"I did, kind of," Heath said. "I had a good reason, though, I assure you." He proceeded to give them a brief summary of the reconciliation from the Smackdown fallout, and what he'd done with some of that money. By the time he was through, Nik, Toni and Mrs. Carnevale were all teary eyed, and Mr. Carnevale looked quietly impressed.

"You can't tell her, though," Heath said. "This has to be kept strictly confidential. When the place is ready, I want you guys to all be there and help me surprise her."

"We'd love to!" Mrs. Carnevale exclaimed. Her eyes glistened. "Oh, Heath. That is just the sweetest thing."

Heath got that uncomfortable feeling he got when he was praised and cleared his throat. "Just wanted to do something nice for her. Hopefully she doesn't hate me."

"She'll be fine," Nik said with a watery smile.

"She'll be pissed that you snatched that place right out from under her," Mr. Carnevale said with a chuckle. "She was sort of looking forward to handling all of that on her own."

Heath tilted his head, considering his point. "I never thought of that," he admitted.

Toni laughed outright. "No good deed goes unpunished. You'll see."

"Well, I'm sure I've already got quite the punishment coming my way," he said. He gestured to the bouquet in his hands. "I better go find her."

"The dressing rooms are down that hallway," Nik said, pointing. "Hers is the seventh door down on the left. Her name is on it."

"Thanks," Heath said, turning to head off in that direction.

"So what was up with that paint on her body?" he heard Nik asking as he walked away. He wondered how Drew was going to handle those questions; as far as he knew, her family had never been aware that she'd ever self-harmed.

He turned down the hallway of dressing rooms, almost getting knocked over by a flurry of activity as dancers in varying levels of dress went rushing back and forth, in and out of rooms. He located the seventh door down on the left, seeing Drew's name printed out on a simple sheet of paper, and knocked on the closed door.

After a moment, he heard the sound of shuffling feet and the door opened a little. Her face peeked out, her eyes watery and her face slightly splotchy red. The look on her face went from cautiously curious to amazed to furious to hurt, in a matter of seconds. Her mouth opened to speak, and then snapped shut as she looked up at him.

"Can I come in?" he asked quietly.

Her eyes narrowed as fresh tears filled them, but she stepped back silently and opened the door wider to let him through. He slipped into the tiny room, feeling real nervousness as she shut the door behind him and turned toward him, folding her arms across her chest. She wouldn't look at him.

She was still wearing her costume, but she had started the process of taking off her stage makeup. He must have interrupted her, or something had, because old tears had left clean rivulets down her heavily foundationed cheeks. There was a box of makeup removing wipes on the tiny lit vanity in the corner and he saw smudges of makeup on them.

"Drew," he said gently. "I—I am really sorry I've been out of the loop for the past couple days. But I came tonight, I saw you perform. You were incredible. Really."

She glanced up at him. "You saw it?"

He nodded solemnly. "I did."

"Where have you been all week?" she demanded angrily. "This has been a really tough week for me. I—" She broke off, almost as though she caught herself. Then she shook her head and barreled on anyway. "I needed you! You just left me high and dry! Was it because of what I said to you at the courthouse?"