Calore Dance Academy// Red Queen AU

Chapter 53

A/N: this chapter contains some of the same descriptions of the NY Public Library as found in ch 14. This is because I'm in the midst of editing some old chapters and plan to do away with the initial library scene from way back when. 

A few more things: This chapter is pretty short, but that's because it's transitional, setting up some important plots that will recur throughout the story. I also will not be updating next weekend, as I have to work on A Red Queen Christmas Special. Go check it out if you haven't already! AND, over the course of late December, I will be updating twice a week, since I'll have some extra time!

As always, enjoy the fruits of my writing. :)

<><><>

"So that happened."

Over our coffee cups, Maven and I wear similar manic, embarrassed grins the following morning.

In the sprawling courtyard of the New York Public Library's main branch, my partner and I sit at a wrought-iron table-for-two. Bryant Park on Forty-Second wears London Plane Trees just beginning to turn gold, their branches arching over patterned cement paths and dozens of tables. Ours included. Farther out, past pillars of cement, wait flower beds dying with annuals; woody, warm-hued perennials; and stubborn white tulips that refuse to droop. Red bricks line the way for more wrought-iron tables before opening up to a football field worth of bluegrass.

One of the world's largest libraries waits before it all. With white marble, with massive columns and shaped windows, it stands quite beautifully in the midst of Midtown's skyscrapers. Bryant Park is like a little oasis in the midst of the city, filled with life and architecture that I don't see at every other block.

I take a sip of my caffeine, decorated with whipped cream and pumpkin spices, as I survey the park. It's mid-morning, but it's also a Sunday. Plenty lounge around in the dozens of table sets throughout the park, and more walk along the grass and pathways, making for a buzz in the air. Still, it's quiet for Manhattan.

Maven nods, resting his elbow against the table and his chin in his hand. "Evangeline's a bitch, but she's a clever bitch. She probably saw us look or smile at each other or something."

Witch bitch.

"Probably." The crisp air of fall, motionless today, prickles at my neck, along with some other emotion. "There's something wrong with that girl," I mutter.

Maven's lips only twist into a smile. "They can make fun of us for sneaking around and . . . you know." The slightest rosy blush works onto Maven's face to match some of the perennials. "But they can't say that we don't know how to kiss anymore."

They. He's talking about the Academy's dancers, all of whom chuckled at Blonos's words last night as she exposed me to the yacht. I've never had a boyfriend, I don't know how to kiss, I did a horrible job at my first kiss. I was too busy wanting to drown myself than to speak up and say that I've been too busy to get a boyfriend and learn. Up until now.

I have to fight to swallow my sip of coffee. It almost goes up my nose.

"We're the best at kissing, Maven. They're going to watch us as Giselle and Albrecht, and then they're going to be jealous of how good we are at kissing."

That sends us both into fits of laughter, and Maven only stops when he chokes on his coffee, grabbing a napkin and putting it to his nose. I watch as his curls shake, my own face turning red. We attract more than a few stares from our fellow park-goers, who glance at us curiously.

It takes Maven a moment to recover.

While Elara's allegedly happy that her son finally got a girl—even Mister Calore, apparently, is fine with me seeing his younger son, though that could be attributed to disinterest—Cal, on the other hand, is not pleased.