I’d never felt so relaxed. My eyelids were growing heavy, the soft rhythm of his breathing lulling me to sleep.
I hadneverbeen happier.
But something about tomorrow’s final wasn’t sitting right with me. I twisted my head to meet Luca’s gaze. “About tomorrow’s show. I have an idea.”
On the Saturday of thefinal, the studio was busier than I’d ever seen it. Reporters and journalists clamored for attention, their notepads and microphones at the ready. Skaters and celebrities stood in clusters, while crew members scurried with purpose, their hands full of equipment, costumes, and props.
Naturally, Matilda and I were hiding in the dressing room.
A peanut M&M hit me in the face, reminding me we weren’t as alone as I’d have liked.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I glared at Jack, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he lay sprawled on the sofa opposite me. Matilda, always the picture of serenity, was perched at the vanity, her smile reflected in the mirror.
“There’s nothing in this world more enjoyable than annoying you.” He snickered and threw another piece of candy into his mouth.
Despite going to bed late, we’d arrived at the empty studio at sevena.m.to get some last-minute practice on the rink.
I was pretty surprised that we’d both managed to concentrate at practice that morning. Vivid images from the night before played on a loop in my mind: Matilda’s body arching against mine, thetight squeeze of her around me, and the look of pure ecstasy on her face as she unraveled.
Those memories were seared into my consciousness, impossible to forget.
Matilda spun in her seat and looked at Jack. “What’s your plan after the show?”
“As this bundle of joy has decided it’s truly his last rodeo, I’ll have to find new work. I’ve agented for other celebrities before, but—”
“No one could compare,” I jabbed.
He threw another M&M atme.
“I’ll probably try to visit my parents at AFA a bit more, too, as they’re getting older now.”
“Would you never be interested in running it?” Matilda asked.
He shook his head. “Nah, it’s not really my sort of thing. But I want to try to stay close so I can help if anything goes majorly wrong.”
“That’s nice of you,” she offered as she braided her hair over one shoulder.
“Not really. There are always hot new counselors who areso lonely,stuck in the middle of nowhere all summer. I’m more than happy to offer them some entertainment.”
We chuckled, but Matilda watched Jack as if she, too, saw through the joke.
The costumes fromour routine inspired by Matilda’s mother’s Olympic performance hung on the railing before us in a kaleidoscope of colorful fabric and glitter.
We stood wearing our week five costumes instead.
Matilda bit her lip as she smoothed out the fabric of her sparkly white dress—the one I had destroyed weeks ago by ripping it off her body. I wore simple black pants and a white shirt, with a few buttons undone.
I couldn’t imagine the show or channel would be pleased with our last-minute change, but I’d called Jack that morning and he’d said nothing in our contracts tied us to a particular dance as long as it had been signed off by Health and Safety.
Matilda had run off to speak to Tech about the music change, returning ten minutes later to confirm that the swap had been made. I was surprised they’d been so quick to change it, but I guessed that was what happened when you had a partner everybody loved.
We’d practiced the dance this morning for four and a half hours, the countless hours of practice from week five paying off when the movements came rushing back easily. We’d even managed to swap out one of the easier lifts for a harder one we’d performed last week.
When Hair and Makeup had arrived at our dressing room earlier, they’d been skeptical about using simple makeup on our faces instead of the bright, heavy stuff we’d had a few weeks ago. But we’d explained that we’d had a last-minute change of heart, and they hadn’t questioned whether we’d had it approved by the producers.
The luckiest part was that Wardrobe fixed and restored costumes after each week in case you made it to the final and decided to perform that week’s dance.
They deserved a pay raise for the magic they’d worked on Matilda’s costume. I almost felt embarrassed at the state the dress must have gone to themin.
