Chapter 15
Willa
I caught Justin first thing the next morning before filming started.
“Alan wants more of the same. Forget what I told you last night.”
Justin crossed his arms and stared me down. “And why should I do that? I’m not interested in being accused of sexually harassing you, Willa. And more importantly, I’m not putting myself out there so I can lose out to Doug. This show is about reviving my image. All you’ve managed to do is screw it up.”
Those were all fair arguments, and I had nothing to offer him except a lame apology.
“I’m sorry. I really am. Just please don’t tell Alan we talked. As far as he’s concerned, I’m supposed to reel the two of you in, with neither of you the wiser. That’s a lot of pressure.”
Justin blew out a long breath. “Let me think about it. I won’t say anything to Alan. For now.”
Rehearsals were starting, so there was no time to discuss it further. We had an opening musical number to learn with all twenty-five contestants. We’d all be singing and dancing, with me out front, and the judges slightly behind me. Today we’d block it out, and depending on how much of a mess it was, every day this week as well.
After that crazy rehearsal in the large dance room, with the choreographers screaming at everybody, I shuffled from music studio to music studio, giving on-camera encouragement and advice for the contestants’ forty-five second individual performances. That, and their group comedy sketches, were all they’d get before we whittled them down to the top twenty. We weren’t doing live shows yet, so the contestants knew they could be highlighted or edited out at the producer’s discretion. Everyone was on edge, trying desperately to stand out.
There wasn’t time to worry about my romance arc, which shouldn’t have been part of the show in the first place. I still didn’t understand Alan’s insistence on it, though he seemed very sure it was the fastest way to move me from virtually unknown to a household name.
Doug and I hadn’t had a chance to talk at all, and I was pretty sure he thought I was avoiding him based on the guarded looks he threw my way.
At lunchtime, Justin came over to eat with me, and I wasn’t about to blow him off right after begging him to help me out. So, we quietly joked about Victoria’s near costume malfunction while Doug watched from afar.
The little I ate sat like a rock in my stomach. Was it possible to have emotional claustrophobia? I didn’t like feeling responsible for juggling three different guys’ expectations all at the same time. I was pleasing nobody. Not me, and definitely not any of them.
After lunch, we were back to group rehearsals, on stage this time, and while I was maneuvering my way over to Doug, his mother chose that moment to show up.
“Douglas!” She waved her arms as she ran up the side ramp toward him, sporting her visitor’s badge over a shimmery blouse. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed, not in an affectionate way, but as if to show ownership. I was unfortunately familiar with hugs like that.
Doug, looking resigned, softly patted her on the back.
Her head whirled around, taking everything in. “Are all these people the contestants? This is so exciting.” She waved to everyone and they waved back, smirking and whispering to each other. After running through the same song for the twenty-ninth time, any kind of distraction was welcome.
“Hi, Doug’s mom,” one of the girls called out.
The choreographer clapped to get everyone’s attention back on him. “Have a seat in the auditorium, ma’am. We need to get back to work.”
Doug’s mom put a finger to her lips and retreated to go sit in the audience. I’d been hiding behind Justin, but once rehearsal resumed, I had to step out and be seen. I knew the moment she spotted me, because her eyes lit up and she looked from me to Doug and back, probably hoping to see some kind of visible spark. As it was, I think all she’d see if she knew what to look for was two frustrated introverts with a communication problem.
Poor Doug’s dancing suffered under the watchful gaze of his mother. He wasn’t as confident. His timing was off. He needed to stop worrying and loosen up.
“Call a dance break,” I murmured to Justin, standing next to me.
He shrugged. “Okay.” Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted out, “Dance break!”
Immediately, the music stopped and changed to a booming pop number. The choreographer threw his paperwork in the air and stalked out, most likely to take a smoke break.
This would be part of the live show, a spontaneous dance number where everyone did their own thing. We didn’t really need to practice it much, but Justin had decided being the unofficial DJ helped his image. He was the only one who could break up rehearsal for a few minutes of fun and get away with it.
I ducked through the crowd to reach Doug before Justin could grab me up like he had the last two times.
Throwing my arms around Doug’s neck, I grinned at him in greeting. He took my hips in his strong hands, moving me back and forth to the music, and trying to hide that he was happy to have me as his dance partner. I felt twelve times calmer here with him, though there’d be consequences for this and plenty of speculation. My beeline for Doug had been fairly obvious. But I didn’t want to think about any of that right then. I just wanted to dance with Doug again and remind him I was on his side.
Doug
“What’s going on with you and Justin?” I whispered in her ear. “Are you moving to plan B?”
