TRITTANY: Finally Noticed

Taking Back Control

TREVOR

The moment that Brittany got off the phone with me, I finished up booking the trip to Van City for Christmas. Despite not knowing until five minutes before actually making the final booking that Brittany was going for sure, I had already made the plans exactly right for Britt to come. I had told myself we'd find a way to get her there, even if she tried to say she couldn't make it. There was no need in the end - she actually sounded really excited about it and agreed pretty much instantly that she was coming with us. I couldn't help but smile with my cell phone pressed to my ear as she enthused about how anxious she was to get home.

I was sat in the living-room of my apartment with my computer on my lap, scrolling through the information on the hotel we were staying in. I had hung up my call with Brittany less than twenty minutes ago, and I was simply re-checking all of the arrangements everybody had agreed  on. When it all looked set after a second glancing over, I confirmed the final booking and grabbed my cell phone from beside me on the couch. I typed in my passcode, heading straight to my messages and selecting all of my most recent contacts. With a smile, I typed one of my usual casual messages to my friends and hit send.

To: Victoria, Lamar, Jordan, Taveeta, Zac, Isaac, Brittany

Hotel is officially booked for the 17th of December. Van City here we come!

Once the message was sent, I set my cellphone down and closed down all the websites and booking forms on my computer. I hit shut down and closed the lid, placing it on my coffee table and sitting back into the couch cushions, sighing. I had the apartment to myself for now because Lamar was off doing something creative in Scarborough for a few days. That was nothing unusual; Lamar was always taking trips home or trips here and there to work on a small project of some sort and I was left alone in the apartment. Often I didn't know about it until I got home and realised he wasn't around, which usually confirmed - as well as a text from him - that I was home alone for the night. Tonight was one of those nights. My TV was on in front of me, but I hadn't been watching it for the past half hour. I half tuned in to the show that was playing for a few minutes as I ran over the plans for Van City in my head again.

Bree had booked us all for a convention out there in December for Pure Dance a while back. From what I knew, Lamar and I were teaming up to teach a hiphop class, Jordan and Taveeta were taking beginner musical theatre, Isaac was taking an advanced contemporary class with Victoria and Zac was taking his own beginner's class in hiphop too. Brittany was originally supposed to be teaching too, but when Australia popped up Bree was really cool about taking her out, and thankfully no promotions for the event had started yet, meaning no fans would be disappointed about Brittany not being able to go. However, now that she was coming home for Christmas and heading out to Van City with us, Bree had confirmed that Britt would make a surprise visit to the convention. That meant Britt could be hanging out with us and seeing the fans, and a surprise visit from a faculty member meant that kids who didn't go to the event would be encouraged to attend in the future because of the possibility that there could be a surprise cast member there. That was method I had used before for Raw Motion, specifically when Lamar and I were teaching a class and we roped Britt into coming along. It was a win-win.

As I thought about Brittany coming along to surprise the fans, I found myself recalling everything she said on the phone just a short time ago. Specifically the part where she mentioned how slowly time was crawling past out there, how she couldn't wait to get home, etc. It had kind of surprised me. As much as it felt like she'd been gone much longer, it hadn't even been a whole week since she had left Canada after visiting. She hadn't been back in Australia for long at all, and she had spoken so enthusiastically about everything she'd be getting up to when she was back there, that hearing her sound just somewhat homesick shocked me.