We will meet again

Chapter 4

"Good morning sunshine." Soph had an incredibly good mood this morning and it was only 7am. I was scared.

"I'm not really a morning person..." was all I managed to say before heading to the kitchen to get myself a big cup of hot steaming coffee.

"Oh, us neither. But you will eventually become one if you want to work with Brian."  

"By the way he called here 10 minutes ago. Said he will come pick us up. So you better hurry. Brian hates it when we're late." Soph added.

I gulped down the hot coffee as fast as I could and went back to my room to get dressed. I didn't bother with showering because I figured I'd be sweating anyway.

I heard the doorbell ring (...we have a doorbell?). I hurried down almost falling over.

"Ready girls?" Brian was definitely what you call an early riser.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Sure." I added nonchalantly.

"Wow. Hold back your excitement Aly!" I wasn't sure if he was joking.

"Alright, let's move."

We arrived at the dance studio and I noticed the long queue of people lining up outside.

"There's an audition today. LB, Soph, you might wanna consider auditioning for that one. Aly, I'm sorry, but before I can send you to your first audition I have to make sure you're well prepared."

"That's fine," I hear myself say, although I can't hide my disappointment.  

I mean after all he was the one who told Michael in London that he was impressed. I was starting to doubt myself when I caught his reflection in the rear view mirror.

"Don't be sad, Aly. You'll be able to join LB and Soph very soon. This I promise you."

With that the two girls got out of the car and went to stand in line with the other dancers.

One day, I told myself, one day I'll be standing there with you.

Friday we got the day off so me and the girls decided to put our plans into realization and head to the city for some shopping. They dragged me from one store to the other. Denim shorts, skirts, tops, dresses. In every color imaginable. Flats, High Heels, Sneakers. Our arms hurt from all the bags we had to carry back home. Soph made coffee while I tried to stuff all my purchases into the closet.

"Hey! What are you doing? Don't put those away, you have to try them on."  

LB, really! This girl was a shopaholic.

"I already did. Every single piece of clothing. I'm spent." I said, yawning.

"Awww, come on. I haven't seen everything."

"You will, LB. Eventually you will."

"OMG! This closet was not made for this amount of clothes." I sighed. "What do I do now?"

"You just throw out your old stuff. Out with the old, in with the new." She said, clapping her hands. Her eyes were glowing. This was not a good sign.

"I need you to try everything on so we can decide what to keep and what to throw out. Soph get your fat ass up here. We're sorting out Aly's closet."

"Yay!" a squee came from downstairs. "I'm bringing coffee!"

"Perfect!" LB exclaimed.

"Yay," I said not quite convinced this would be any fun for me.

"You know one of these days I'll need to borrow your cute floral top." I heard Soph say as she went through the stuff I bought from home.

I looked at the top sitting on a small pile. The top that never got to fulfill its destiny.

"Know what? Here, it's yours." I grabbed it and handed to to her. "I never got to wear it and quite frankly I don't even know why I bought it."

"OMG are you sure?"

"Yes! Absolutely. Keep it!"

"LB I didn't forget about you. Here," I said, handing her a long necklace with shells and peals. "I saw you looking at it the day you girls helped me unpack. I got it while on vacation and I think it goes perfect with your skin tone."

"Group hug," Soph shouted and we all cuddled for a while before going back to our mission.

3 months later...

My body was sore. My body has been sore for the past 3 months. That was because all I did for the past 3 months was dancing for endless hours, every day. Well, somehow I managed to get my driver's license too even though I don't know how I survived the LA traffic. It was a mystery, really. 

I got out of my bed. It was still early. I put on my denim cut offs and a cute over-sized tank top. Since it would still be a bit chilly outside I took a cardigan with me.

I slowly went downstairs, poured some coffee in my travel mug and slid out the door without waking the girls up. I got in my car turned the music up and headed downtown.

Unlike Soph and LB, my parents supported me financially as much as they could. I still had to turn every penny twice but I could focus on my dancing. The poor girls had to take two days a week off dancing to work at a local coffee shop to be able to pay their bills. At least we didn't have to worry about the rent. Brian covered our rent, which I thought was very generous.

"Hey!" Brian was always the first one to arrive at the dance studio.

"Hi, how long have you been here?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Two hours. I got up late today"

"Oh, wow!"

"Yeah, I've been a bad boy."

This was our usual morning banter. Our daily ritual. We got along great. It was very important for the both of us to get along. I trusted him that he would do the right thing for me when sending me to auditions and classes. After three months of hard work I earned a couple auditions and went to some master classes. Brian told me not to worry if everybody else was better and more skilled than me. After all, I've been here for three months only. Usually dancers spend several years waiting for their breakthrough.

LB and Soph were heading to one of David Moore's classes that weekend. I wish I could go with them. They would always teach me new stuff when we were bored at home. I was becoming better but I had still a long way to go. I needed to get better faster.