“I know the Gala is the one of the biggest nights for our company. I get how much pressure you are under. Hell, I get it more than anyone else. This is my very first one. I have gone over every move on every corner of that stage a thousand and two times. I wouldn’t do anything to put all of our hard work at risk. Which is why I want it to be great, and Felicity—”
“Fine.” He was almost begging, and I wasn’t the person he needed to convince. “If she agrees, then fine. But she won’t do it, Walt, so don’t set all your hopes and dreams on her.”
He frowned, his shoulders falling. “What do you mean, she won’t do it? Can’t you ask her? She made that song for you—”
“I just happened to hear the song. It wasn’t for me. Did your instructor tell you why she left?”
He shook his head. “No. He just called it ‘the incident’ and that was it. Why? Do you know?”
It had been the moment that fucked her up for life. It was the reason she didn’t want to be close to anyone. It was the reason she thought she had no right to be happy and would do anything possible keep herself grounded, even though she was meant to fly.
That moment was the wall between her and me.
“Theo?”
“When she rejects you, move on and get to work. I’m serious.” I didn’t want to talk about this with him. I had no idea what to say to Felicity anymore.
Felicity
8:14 a.m.
“You disappear with a billionaire for a week, and all I get is it was fine?” Rosemary followed me behind the counter. I hadn’t really thought of us as friends, so I wasn’t sure why she thought I would share anything with her. I hadn’t in the past.
“It’s nothing. We’re over.”
You’re being cold. I heard Theo’s voice in the back of my mind. Urgh. I just wanted to fast-forward to the point where he was a distant memory.
No I don’t. Urgh, I couldn’t even lie to myself now.
“Felicity?” She snapped her fingers in my face.
“Huh?”
“I told you being a sugar baby wasn’t all that bad,” she leaned in and whispered.
I froze. “What? When did you talk about that?”
“I don’t know, a month ago or so? Why are you acting all shocked? You were the one who caught me on the site.”
I had to have lost my mind because I couldn’t remember having that conversation.
She frowned at me, her eyebrow raised. “How many guys are you seeing?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Table three.”
I spun around, and there was Walt, his brown hair pulled back in a bun. The moment he saw me, he smiled, wildly waving me over.
“I’m often proud of myself for not being jealous of you.” She handed me the coffeepot.
I walked to the table where Walt was sitting. Compared to Theo, he kind of looked childish to me. I was doing this now. Comparing everyone to Theo.
“I don’t need coffee, but can you please sit?” Walt asked, and he was so serious it was kind of weird.
I sat down. “What’s wrong, Walt?”
“I need your help.” He took a deep breath. “Violet can’t dance. Her knee is messed up pretty badly. So I’m here to beg you to dance for our gala, even though Theo already said there was no way in hell you would—”
“Walt, I—”
“Felicity, you are an amazing dancer. Gifted. I will never ask anything of you again. I know I don’t even have the right to ask you about this but God, I really want to do this with you. Yes, it will be a lot of work. But don’t you miss it? When you danced before, it was like coming up from the bottom and taking a deep breath of air, right?”
He was talking so fast, I felt the urge to take a breath right now. It would have been funny had it not been for what he was asking me to do. “Walt—”
“Don’t say no.” He cut me off. “Close your eyes, imagine how you felt after we danced, your heart racing, and think about feeling that again every day for the next week.”
“Walt—”
“And—”
“I swear if you interrupt me one more time, Walter Darcy, I won’t do it at all,” I snapped, and he grinned.
“You’ll do it?”
I nodded. “I’ll try my best. But you should know I only danced contemporary and for the most part stopped competitively dancing years ago. I’ve only danced once or twice a week in my apartment since then.”
“We will try and rework the moves so it isn’t so heavily based in ballet. It’s going to be grueling. The moment you agree to this, you can’t half-ass it, but I swear if you work for it, you won’t regret it, Felicity. ”