CREATURE

・chapter 16・

Asya woke the following morning to the distant sound of knocking on the door. Momentarily disoriented, she lifted her head off the pillow and blinked hard, listening to see if she heard the tapping again. When she heard three more soft knocks on the wooden door she sighed sleepily and swung her legs out from under the covers.

'I'll get it.' she yawned, rubbing her eyes as she made her way to the door.

Out in the passage she found two of the hotel's staff members surrounded by enough bouquets and flower baskets to stock a florist's shop, all in varying shapes and sizes.

'For you, Miss Radzevich.' the maid said. 'Flowers from the audience.'

Asya gaped for a few moments before she got herself talking, hugging her arms into her chest.

'Wow.' she swallowed. 'Thank you for bringing them all the way up here.'

While the maid asked the young ballerina where she'd like the flowers to be kept, movement in the corner of Asya's eye caught her attention. A few rooms down the corridor she saw a door open, and moments later a ballerina dressed in white silk pyjamas slipped out and tippy-toed across the hall to a different room.

Katherine, what the hell was she...

Asya debated calling on her to say good morning when she saw a tall light-brown haired dancer, who had yet to put on a shirt, shut the door quietly behind Katherine.

Her jaw dropped. Holy shit.

'Miss?' the maid asked, realising she had lost Asya's attention.

'Oh, um.' she stuttered. 'The living area is fine.'

The young ballerina picked up a few of the baskets and carried them inside, before treading hurriedly to Julian's side of the bed.

'Julian!' she whispered urgently, shaking him awake.

'What?' he asked, his words muffled by his pillow.

'Did you know about Katherine and James?!'

He jerked awake. Yeah, trust gossip to wake Julian Beck, she thought.

'What about them?' he asked confusedly.

'I don't know!' she squeaked. 'But she just came out of his room and I'm telling you they didn't have a spontaneous sleepover!'

'I'll be damned.' he said. 'Hardly surprising, I suppose. There have been rumours about them since-'

Julian stopped abruptly as he saw the horde of bouquets now donning their room's small living area.

'What in the name of tarnation...' he asked, getting up to start peeking around the bouquets. 'Jesus, Radzevich, what did you do?'

She shrugged and looked through a few of the baskets, picking out a small greeting card from a pink rose bouquet that stood on the dresser.

Bradley.

・・・

Asya rearranged her breakfast for the umpteenth time with her fork, moving the strawberries to the left of her plate, the waffle to the right, and rolling the blueberries between the two sides. She sunk back into her chair with a heavy exhale and wondered if the muesli she'd already had was enough to last her until lunch.

She'd all but skipped two meals the day before, and knew she was going to pay the price eventually, but she needed to. She'd been nervous both times, and it would have been a waste to eat and then throw it all up. As for now... She wasn't sure what her excuse was.