Despite Mason's words, Adam realised his friend looked tired and a little gaunt.
"Mase..."
"I'm good. Just tired. It's almost the end of the season, it's normal." He glanced up at the wall clock. "Come on, I've just about got time to grab some food before I have to be back here." He was on his feet again and grabbing his coat and boots, before Adam could breathe, let alone speak.
"You'd tell me if there was something wrong, wouldn't you?" Adam asked, as he switched his own shoes over.
"Travelling all the time is hard," Mason replied as he pulled his coat on. "I've been doing it for three years. Itmightbe time to try something new. But you won't have that problem when you get into Ballet Torsion. You ready? I'm starving."
"You could apply too," Adam suggested as he joined Mason at the door.
Mason shook his head firmly. "Nope. I'm not going to tread on your toes. If I decide I'm done travelling, I'll find another company to apply to."
"Afraid I'll beat you?" Adam asked playfully.
Mason wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, a little."
Adam's eyes widened. "I wouldn't, you know that, right? You're an amazing dancer." He nudged his shoulder against Mason's. "Believe in yourself."
Mason rolled his eyes. "You're a jerk sometimes, you know that?"
Adam draped his arm over Mason's shoulders, pulling him close so he could use his other hand to rub Mason's head with his knuckles. "Only to you, because I care."
"Lucky me." Mason twisted away and grabbed Adam's wrist, pulling him out the door. "Food.Now."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Luc
"Luc?" His mum stared at him as he stood on the doorstep, hugging a folder against his chest.
"Can I come in?" he asked curtly. "Or shall I just give this to you now?"
Her gaze dropped to the folder in his arms. "What is it?"
"A marketing plan for the dance school." He held it out to her.
She didn't take it, instead she stood aside and gestured inside the house. "You'd best come in."
Luc exhaled. He'd half expected to have the door slammed in his face. He hoped the fact it hadn't been was a good sign.
He wandered through to the kitchen, where Ken was already sat drinking a large mug of coffee. Ken glanced at him.
"Adam's not here," Luc told them both, as his mum took the seat next to her husband.
"Luc brought us a marketing plan," she told Ken.
"You came all this way?"
"Three hours, each way," Luc replied, taking a seat opposite them. He put the folder on the table and slid it towards him.
"Where's Adam?" his mum asked.
"He's gone to visit Mason for a few days." He wasn't going to explain why, that was Adam's news to tell. He opened up the folder. "There's a full twelve-month plan in here," he explained. "Everything from how to continue running your social media campaigns, to offers and dance demonstrations, broken down on a week by week calendar." He took a brief pause to register the softness of his mum's eyes and the way Ken's jaw had relaxed, before carrying on. "It concentrates on bringing in younger pupils and increasing class sizes at that end of the dance school, but I've also put suggestions for starting adult classes. I've already arranged your first wave of dance demonstrations. All the contact details, dates and times are here," he leafed through the plan to find the right page. "You just have to have dances ready and turn up.
"Adam's been continuing to run your social media stuff, but you both need to take over. So I've put together a selection of posts for each platform for you. I think there's roughly fifty of each. By the time you've used those up, you should have a good handle on what to put on Facebook and Twitter." He handed them a USB memory stick. "This has all the photos I took." He leafed through the folder again. "And here's a list of each photo and a caption for you to put on Instagram. You'll use lots of them on Facebook and Twitter, too, but it's all written down."
He took a deep breath. "Basically, this folder is a step-by-step guide to promoting and building up your business. Follow it and I guarantee you'll have things turned around within twelve months."
