Ballet Shoes

VII

At long last, we've come to the end of the charity dance show. Well, almost. There's one last thing to do :]

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Third Person's P.O.V.

Thunderous applause from the audience filled the theater for a few minutes after Ben exited the stage. All the performances were over meaning the show was over. Almost. There was one more thing left to do.

Once the applause died down, Caroline walked to downstage center. A microphone in her hand again.

"Thank you all for coming tonight," she began, a huge smile on her face, "I'm sure you all enjoyed the show."

That statement was met with several cheers and isolated claps from the crowd.

"I'd like to invite all of our lovely dancers onstage for one last bow. Please show them some love."

All the dancers filed onstage behind Caroline, bright smiles on their faces. They took a bow in almost perfect sync as the audience applauded.

"Now, for the final matter to attend to," Caroline continued, "I'd like to extend my thanks to all of our sponsors and to all of you who donated. The charities listed on the back of the programme will benefit no matter how big or small the amount you donated was. The final sum will be announced once the online donations are totaled. Thank you all once again for coming and I hope to see most, if not all of you next year."

The audience applauded once more as the lights faded out and curtains drew shut. Officially marking the end of this year's show. All the guests soon left the theater leaving it empty aside from the performers and technical crew backstage. Anyone who borrowed items returned them and did their part to return the space to the way it was before their arrival. By the time that was done, it was quite late.

"I'm gonna feel like shit tomorrow," Ben thought as he lugged his stuff to his car.

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He was right. Ben did feel like shit the next day but that's to be expected. Performing takes more out of him than regular dance classes. In most cases anyway. However, Ben couldn't dwell on that too long. He had somewhere important to be.

"Fuck!" Ben cursed, stumbling out of bed towards his bathroom.

And of course, he was running late.

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Sandra greeted Ben with a big hug at the door. Nearly tackling him as she did.

"You did great sweetie!" she beamed once she let go.

"Thanks mom," Ben said with a smile.

"Everyone's already here."

"What do you- oh right," Ben interrupted himself, "Not a secret anymore."

The two then headed inside the Tennyson household. It was much more lively than usual this year given that it wasn't just Sandra and Carl celebrating the success of the charity show with Ben.

"Hey Twinkle Toes," Kevin said as soon as he spotted the brunette.

"You're never gonna let that go are you?"

"Nope."

Ben playfully rolled his eyes and went to take the available seat on the couch next to Grandpa Max. He received a pat on the shoulder and a proud smile from his grandfather. Ben found himself smiling soon enough. The afternoon of celebration had barely begun but it was already going great.