A Little Magic

Prologue

~ ɔıƃɐɯ ǝlʇʇıl ɐ ~

Two pink lines.

Shit.

This could not happen. Not now. Not when things are already so rocky between her and Daniel. Not now, oh God. She felt sick.

"Henley?" A knock on the door. "The show starts in 10 minutes, you better be ready."

She cleared her throat to reply but he was already walking away, his footsteps echoing on the hard floor of the backstage bathrooms.

~ ɔıƃɐɯ ǝlʇʇıl ɐ ~

The show ran as smoothly as it could, considering. Of course, Daniel was none-the-wiser, though he did offer a concerned frown in her direction when she held his hand a little too tight before their final bows. A farewell, of sorts, Henley supposed.

The moment the curtain closed, she darted back to her dressing room. Not bothering to trade her skimpy leotard for some regular clothes, Henley just chucked her pants and jumper over the top.

Two quick knocks on her door. Danny.

"Henley? You dashed off a bit, you alright?"

Her arm swept across her dressing table, knocking the various shades of red lipstick, gold eyeshadow and all the waterproof mascara into her purse.
"Fine, Danny, fine, just in a hurry. Places to be, 'n all."

"Can I come in?"

She sighed to herself but opened the door to him anyway.

His eyes darted down to her outfit before settling back on her face. "You sure you're alright?"

Henley wondered whether to tell him. No-no, she couldn't. He'd get mad. He'd get rid of her or the baby. No. This was something she had to deal with without him.

"Can we talk?" She spoke up, gesturing for him to join her in the dressing room. Daniel came in a little hesitantly, eyebrows furrowing as she pushed the door closed behind him.

"What do you wanna talk about?" He had his hands shoved in his pockets as he lent against the mirror.

"I'm leaving, Danny." Henley blurted out. Sure, the surprise pregnancy had been the catalyst for this, but it had been swimming in her mind for a while. She couldn't put up with him sometimes. His cockiness, his ego, the snarky comments he makes about her size, weight, beauty or 'lack of' as he'd put it. She'd had enough.

"You're what? Henley, you can't. This is my act, you're my assistant. You can't just-"

"Danny, this isn't me asking how you'd feel about me leaving. Not again. This is me saying I'm leaving. It's not a question, it's a statement. And a fact. I can't— I can't put up with this anymore. So I'm going. Thanks for everything I guess..."

Henley shrugged her bag onto her shoulder as Daniel tried to argue back.

"Hey," She took his face in her palm and lightly kissed his cheek. "This won't be for forever. I'm pretty sure."

"Henley-?! What about... Who's gonna be my assistant now? You can't just up and leave! Hen—"

"Bye, Danny." She smiled sadly from the door to her dressing room. Then she left.

~ ɔıƃɐɯ ǝlʇʇıl ɐ ~