BLACK ROSE

The bad boy

Ashley

Even after two days and solid physical evidence it still feels like a dream. Like an illusion, a hallucination I desperately craved.

Surrounded by the neon red led lights I find myself thinking back to the night with Alex. To the feeling of his body on mine, the feeling of his fingers tracing my body. His lips kissing all over it and his fingers...

I shake my head, sighing and turning around to face the chaos around me.

If it weren't for the purple marks on my neck I tried so hard to cover and the constant feeling of excitement and slight guilt in my stomach, I wouldn't believe my own memories. It's been hard to trust what I'm seeing, to distinguish reality from a dream. But those two things are my reminder I wasn't hallucinating.

"Ash," Jonah waves his hand in front of my eyes. "You ready?"

With a nod I channel my inner professional. I've come up with concepts for dance cover countless times before, and I've filmed numerous of them. I've always wanted to meet a team with a more professional approach, but the hard work was always left up to me. Unlike now – I'm finally working on a project with a whole professional team, with an approach and dedication I've only dreamt of.

"Alright, everyone in their place." I say and inhale deeply, clapping my hands together to get everyone's attention.

In the past weeks I've been trying to prove Christina that she made a good decision of appointing me as the leader. For two weeks we've been working on different concepts for our dance covers, for two weeks I've been managing a team of five professional dancers and speaking with professional camera men and light technicians. Her trust in me scares me, yet pushes me to work harder.

When Christina discovered my old dance covers, she was stunned. The same day she came back to me announcing she had a put together team she wanted me to manage. She shared her new idea with me, and I couldn't say no. I didn't give my anxiety a chance to speak its mind, but even if I wanted to, Christina gave me space to object.

Elite dancers, she said. I wondered who she had in mind, and when she showed up with five girls I had never seen before, I understood they weren't from here. I was partly wrong – one was a former dancer at the academy, two were still dancing occasionally and one was a street dancer.

My gaze meets Jonah's and I tell him to leave. He shakes his head, grinning at me.

"You're not a dancer tonight," I say as I'm pushing him out the door. He's tall and skinny, but surprisingly strong. No matter how hard I push, he barely moves an inch.

"I'm not going anywhere." He turns around and pushes me back at my place – the very front. "I'm staying here."

I open my mouth, but he speaks before I can.

"Oh, don't tell me you're shy." A dramatic eye roll follows. "I won't buy that. Now shake that pretty little ass of yours and show the world what a marvellous dancer you are."

I laugh at his words, shaking my head. He has his own way of cheering people up, yet it always works.

"Show Alex," he mouths before the music starts.

Before I can snap back, the lights are dimmed even more, and someone starts to count down from ten.

Here we go.

I exhale deeply, lower my head and close my eyes.

The beat drops, music starts. I count the beats in my head, waiting for the second beat drop. When the deep sound of the bass reaches my ears, I start dancing.