Red Shoes, Black Coffee (Red & Black #2)

27 | Bedazzling talent

Ada

I release a breath, feeling as though my windpipe was clogged with tar, leaving only a tight little channel for the air to escape through. I don't remember being this stressed since my audition to Juilliard. And I thought I would faint that day. Now isn't much better.

This is it. The day of the concert. Something I've been preparing for for the past two months. And it's already started.

I focus on lacing and unlacing my fingers. It helps relieve the tension. Somehow. Levi and Julie Ann rushed off for their own performance some time ago. Having to wait for my own turn some more, I remained here by myself. I'm too afraid to look at the clock. I don't know how much more I have before I have to go out there and play in front of all those people, but I guess it'll be sooner rather than later. Any minute now the lady whose task is calling out the performers is going to come in, and this time, her eyes are going to rest on me.

Cold sweat breaks out on my brow when a wave of hotness comes over me. Suddenly, the purple dress I decided to wear starts feeling two sizes too small. I can't breathe in it. It suffocates me.

I spring up from my stool. I need to get out of here.

People stare at me as I storm past them, heading for the door. I don't care. I just need air.

No one tries to stop me when I grab the door handle, swinging it open. As soon as I overstep the threshold, my face connects with something hard. Warm, but hard. Stumbling back, I trail my eyes up, ready to sucker-punch anyone who just stood on my way to freedom.

The moment my eyes connect with two liquid pools of the darkest rum, I freeze.

"Well," Jed says, amusement flashing in those dark orbs. "now it has really become a habit."

All the other people in the room disappear just like that. Hell, everyone else in the world is gone. All that's left is me and him. Standing here. In this very wardrobe.

I blink. The sense of the thought reaches me just now. Jed is in the performers' wardrobe. Somewhere he is most certainly not allowed to be.

"Sorry I'm late." Jed flashes me an easy grin. "The traffic was hellacious."

I invited Jed. Told him about the concert and he accepted with a smile. And I knew he'd come. I guess that even my brain registered it, my heart couldn't seem to. There was a part of me that didn't exactly believe he'd be here, for me. And there wasn't a single part of me that expected him to appear right here, in the goddamned wardrobe.

"How." I don't really register what he just said to me as I voice my question. Jed's brows furrow in together in confusion as he continues staring down at me.

"Wh-"

"How did you get here?"

"Ah, that." The smile grows. "Skills, Fiona. Skills."

I stare up at him, unblinking. He glares back, that smile still plastered on his face. We stay like that, ogling each other like two idiots, until someone in the back of the room coughs.

My back straightens. This reminds me.

"I need to breathe." I say, my own voice breathless. When he doesn't move for the longest of moments, I push against his chest with my hands. "I need to breathe." I repeat.