Shall We Dance?

Chapter 20 - Spring Break

MADISON

Cadence and I arrived yesterday around midnight to our hotel. I messaged Fer to let him know we arrived safe and sound, and he replied immediately that he was glad and to meet him at nine in the morning in the lobby.

Even though the hotel we are staying in is more luxurious than what we usually can afford, I couldn't sleep well. The bed is heavenly, but the noises coming from the hallway throughout the whole night were disruptive. I watch Cadence sleep peacefully while I kept a mental track of how many howls, screams, and variations of the F-word I heard, among others.

Cadence stirs in her bed and then stretches like a cat.

"Morning," she mumbles. "You are up early."

"Morning. You missed an eventful night. The most interesting part was around three in the morning. I heard cries, a drunken love declaration from a guy to his best buddy and I'm pretty sure what was heavy foreplay. All three events not necessarily from the same people."

Cadence laughs and I join her. We get dressed and when trying to walk outside, I can't open the door. I look through the small opening as I push harder and see a guy passed out in front of our door. I call the reception and the woman who answers says that someone will come upstairs to help me. After our human doorstop gets removed, my sister and I head to have breakfast. We sit afterwards at the lobby to wait for the guys.

"I forgot to tell you what happened yesterday morning," Cadence says. "I went to the mall to get toiletries for this week. Gaspard's shop was open and since I needed a new voile ballet skirt I went in. He might be nasty, but has the best assortment."

"I agree on that. He has better stuff than when his mom ran the shop," I say.

"I found him staring at a pen. He looked so depressed. When he saw me, he said hello instead of giving me the usual disgusted look. You can imagine my shock!"

"Was he okay?" I ask. That is indeed odd for him.

"Well, he didn't look okay at that moment so I invited him for a coffee. After focusing on my face, he realized it was me. He then asked me why I was being nice to him and didn't use his fake French accent."

"Something was really wrong with him then," I say.

"I told him he looked as if he needed some cheering up, and he said he did. He even sighed, Madison! It broke my heart. He arranged for a sales assistant to man the store and walked together with me to a coffee shop."

"Gerard wasn't always an ass. When we were at the dance academy, he was a nice guy."

He became an arrogant prick as time went by and grew into his looks. He looked like a boy when he started at the academy and suddenly got the face structure some models would kill for.

"He took a seat as I ordered and just stared at his phone. He gave me a small smile when I placed a cupcake in front of him. I peeked at his phone and saw a photo of a guy. He said his boyfriend broke up with him and turned the phone to show me the picture. Quite a handsome guy."

"I saw him together once when I was at the mall. I was surprised someone tolerated Gerard's moods."

"They were together for a year. He said his boyfriend was acting weirdly in the last month and suspected he was cheating. The jerk used a lame excuse to break up with him."

"What did he say?"

"That Gerard's knees are too thin and they freak him out," Cadence tries to keep a serious face but snorts as she tries not to laugh.

"That is absurd!" I laugh.

"I was stunned. I wanted to empathize, but at the same time I wanted to laugh so hard so I stuffed my mouth with his cupcake. He said he realized what a big jerk his ex is and he knows he's better without him; but you could see it still hurts him."