The Uncanny Accuracy of Fate

Chapter 16

I glance up from my book as Cami comes in the dressing room and collapses on the couch dramatically.

"How was class?" She groans at me in response, and I giggle.

"He made us do adagio THREE times, and every turn we did all class was from fifth." At this point Carleigh's dancer radar must be pinging, because she sticks her head in the door.

"Turning from fifth is the best way-" She doesn't get to finish her whole thought, because Cami flings the closest available object at her head. Thankfully, it was just a pillow, but I make a mental note to hide the Grammy statues next time she has a hard ballet class. Carleigh holds her hands up in mock surrender. "Cute leotard," she offers as an olive branch.

"Thanks! Pippa bought it for me." Cami says sheepishly. I snort at this, because 'bought' does not even begin to sum up the cajoling that occurred on that trip to the Capezio store. However, the combined persuasive powers of myself and Jasmine were working wonders on Cami's wardrobe. When her things were dropped off last week, I was shocked to find she had only one battered suitcase with just a few changes of clothes. It was getting colder by the day, and I didn't need to add "freezing to death" to my list of worries about Cami's safety. She continued to refuse to come on a major shopping trip, claiming that her ribs still hurt, though that was quickly becoming an invalid excuse. She'd started dancing again yesterday (which in my opinion was far too soon), and claimed she'd had no pain at all in class.

Because she wouldn't come to stores with us, Jasmine, Renée, Andrew, and the female ensemble had turned our dressing room into a mini-boutique. Almost daily, someone would come in with a huge bag of clothes they'd purchased, and we'd all make Cami try them on and give us her best runway strut. Today was no different.

"So I actually had a reason for coming here, besides being violently assaulted," Carleigh notes as she comes in and ruffles Cam's hair. "I bear gifts." She throws a pair of jeans and 2 crop tops on Cami's lap. "I had to guess on sizing for the pants, let me know if they don't fit and I can take them back." Cam sighs, gently but firmly putting the garments back in Carleigh's hands.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it, but I really don't need more clothes." Carleigh, however, is already up and moving towards the door. I note that she'd left the clothes on the couch behind her.

"Think of it as a birthday present!"

"My birthday's in 5 months." This is met with a shrug, and Cami sighs, clearly running out of valid excuses. Carleigh, noting this, simply blows her a kiss and skips out of the room.

"I really hate you guys, you know that right?" She's trying so hard to reprimand me, but the twinkle in her eyes gives away everything she doesn't say.

"And we love you," I come over to drop a kiss on the top of her head, and am met with silence. It's not uncomfortable, but the elephant in the room looms large and omnipresent. Cami has yet to reciprocate those three words in any context. It's not that I blame her, it just saddens me to see the level to which her lack of authoritative trust had developed during her years in the system.

At the same time, I note with pride that Cami has been letting me in more and more over the past week. She'd woken me up one night last week after she had a nightmare, and while it meant I lost an hour of sleep, I couldn't contain my happiness that I was the source of comfort she'd sought out. She was getting better about eating, though it remained a subject I had yet to broach with her. What puzzled me about her "food thing," as Jasmine and I had dubbed it, was that it didn't seem to follow any pattern typically recognized as a diagnosable eating disorder. Cami had no qualms about "unhealthy" foods like pizza or grilled cheese, but seemed to treat them with the same cautious approach that she had to things like kale and salmon. With Jasmine's encouragement, I knew I was going to have to say something soon, but the truth was that I didn't want to pop this bubble of slowly building trust that we'd been in for the past week or so.

"What are your plans during the show tonight?" Cami has become a permanent fixture in the theatre, to the delight of the cast. While she remains a little shy around some of the tougher looking guys (yet another thing I know we should talk about), she's bonded quickly with the girls and particularly with Lin, which we all find adorable. The day I introduced them, they'd spent an hour yelling over one another about the underlying implications about the fears of socialism in "Harrison Bergeron," which Lin had walked in on Cam reading. They would've talked longer, but Jonathan eventually kicked Cami out so the two could get in costume. That night when Lin and I stood in the wings during the beginning of "What'd I Miss," he turned to me with a serious expression on his face.

~

"Cami's smart." I nod in agreement.

"Yeah, she got her GED like last year, and is taking online community college classes." Lin shakes his head a little, waving his hands like he always does when he's excited.

"I mean, sure, but I'm talking really really smart. Like Vanessa. Half of the time the things that come out of her mouth are thoughts that have never crossed my mind. Cami's like that too. I can tell." I smile a little, unable to control the pride that surges through me.

"She's really special, isn't she?" Lin nudges my shoulder with his.

"You chose a good one, Pip." He then brushes past me and hurtles onstage, hearing the opening chords of Cabinet Battle #1.

~

Cami's pulling out her laptop now, another "gift" forced on her, by Lin this time.

"Somewhere to keep your thoughts," he'd said.

"I'm analyzing fairy tales to try to write an essay about society-imposed gender roles. Or something like that." Renée looks up from her eyeliner at this.

"You go girl! Smash that patriarchy." Cami snorts and replies with something sassy about Alexander Hamilton being a womanizer.

I'm struck by how right this all feels, Cami in the dressing room with the women who have become my sisters. I laugh at the cliché of it all as I think to myself, look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now.

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GUYS GUYS GUYS i tried to write fluff did i do it right?