Calore Dance Academy// Red Queen AU

Chapter 91

Hey, all! I'm still finishing up my spring semester, but I did manage to find a bit of time here and there to put a chapter together. Let me know what you think! As always, likes and comments are greatly appreciated. 

Enjoy!

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At least I look hot.

Faintly, my reflection watches me with lidded eyes. It's dark outside now, but the pretty golden lights of the Upper East Side paint the street in a bronze heat.

Kind of like Cal's eyes.

Cringing at my own thoughts, I cross one leg over the other. Sheer black tights run up my legs, ending two-thirds of the way up my thighs in lacy rings, which scratch at my skin slightly. The cocktail dress that I wear is made of black velvet and gently tickles when I shift in my seat. Its thin straps hold up a swooping neckline that dips between my breasts, small as they are. The dress falls down slightly below my knees, but an ample-sized slit reveals most of my left thigh, just about up to the lace.

Iris was pushing the dress into my hands before I agreed to go. She did a killer job on my makeup, turning my eyelids golden and my lips a dark, bloody red. I added a couple of cheap, gold-chain necklaces and my black Mary Janes with a modest heel.

Behind me and Iris, Ptolemus and Wren have murmured sweet nothings at one another for the past ten minutes in the back row of the car. The traffic tonight is God-awful, but I don't mind the easygoing, mostly quiet space. I'm not exactly looking forward to the Met.

Our driver makes a sharp turn left so that Central Park glides along my left side.

"What would you say your type is?"

I do hear Iris as she asks the question, but I give myself a moment to pretend that I don't, staring off into the blur of Central Park.

"I don't know," I lie.

Tall. Muscled. Easy to talk to. A smile that could kill. Eyes that can see through my stage face every damn time.

"Come on, Mare. Don't be like that."

This time, I can't help the actual cringe that manifests on my face. There's nothing terrible about her question, but I still come close to telling her to leave me alone. I only close my mouth when I see how pretty she looks in her dark blue dress, hair knotted up into an elaborate bun, and her ear-to-ear grin. Iris is hell-bent on finding some guy to get with tonight. I can't bring myself to snap at her.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ptolemus asks from behind me.

Iris's grin fades as she realizes what she implies. Her mouth closes altogether.

"Maven and I broke up," I say numbly after a moment or two.

I haven't really told anybody, save for Iris. Maybe Maven has. I wouldn't know. Cal didn't seem to know this afternoon, and he surely would bring it up had he.

"Oh?" Ptolemus's disembodied voice asks from behind me. "I didn't know that."

For all that happened between me and his sister, Ptolemus behaves pretty normally towards me.

"Mare's gonna get with a guy tonight at the Met," Iris teases, grinning again. If everything wasn't falling apart, even I would find her smile contagious.

"That's not true," I return quietly.

My friend crosses her arms.

"You agreed to come."

I have to give her a chuckle. "Yeah, to come. Not to make out with some rich boy."

I don't worry about how the other three in this vehicle are filthy rich.