“Me too.” A huge smile grew on his face as he replied.
He still looked worried, even with his arms around me. But he didn’t need to be. I already knew where I belonged.
***
After lunch, the entire company was called for rehearsal in the main studio to run through the upcoming production. Artistic staff used this opportunity to see which sections needed the most work in the upcoming week.
Though I was pretty confident in our duet, Preston and I had never danced in front of more than a few people before, so this would be a good test for us as well.
We stood at the back of the room, watching the first half of Act One. Our schedules had been so busy lately that we hadn’t had much time to watch the rest of the cast. Demetrius, Isaac, and Steven sat at the front of the room,taking notes, while Lukas sat on the side, taking pictures. He sent me a wink and captured my picture with Preston.
Adrienne and her partner, Max, were the lead couple for the production, and they executed their opening number together brilliantly. Despite being less than thrilled about seeing Adrienne, I had to admit she was a very talented dancer. There was a reason she held the highest rank as a principal dancer with the company.
She finished her first adagio with Max, and as they walked back, she glanced at me with a smirk. Preston tensed next to me, and my stomach tightened a bit, but I took a deep breath and blocked her out.
“Come on,” Preston whispered to me. “We’re after this number.”
We prepared ourselves on the side as the corps piece came to an end. The pianist looked our way, to which we nodded, signaling we were ready.
Nerves churned in my stomach; so many of the dancers were hoping to see me fail, yet I couldn’t let that be my focus in this moment.
Preston and I ran out in character to the center of the room as our duet music started. Just as practiced, we jumped right into the choreography with fast footwork and intricate hand grabs. I tuned out everyone around me and focused on Preston, who was confidently smiling back at me.
As I looked into his eyes, I knew we had this down. There was such a strong connection between us that even the slightest falter was so easily covered by the other.
The turns whipped out quickly, and Preston tossed me just a tad higher than in our private rehearsals. His hands felt so confident and possessive on my waist, like he owned every inch of my body—our trust in each other was completely solid.
We reached the final diagonal, where normally we’d be tired, but there was a surge of energy between us. The hand transitions were executed so smoothly between us that there was extra time to push out another pirouette. The choreography had hoped for two, we’d been practicing three, today we executed four flawlessly.
After one more hand grab, he reached and pulled me in, slamming me down right on his thigh for the final pose…except he pulled me with so much momentum, my body kept moving, bowling us over onto the floor as the music ended.
Collapsed on top of each other, we burst out laughing as we scrambled to recover.
“I’m sorry, that was my fault.” Preston got off the floor and helped me up. “I pulled her too hard to my knee.”
For a split second, I braced for snickers or whispers. But instead, applause broke out—and I exhaled in relief, laughing with Preston like we’d meant to fall all along.
Half the room started to cheer and clapped their approval, while the other half sat in silence, stunned, not knowing how to react to our number. I looked at Demetrius, who was nodding in approval at me, his eyes alight with fire. Isaac covered his smile and winked at me playfully.
Not too bad, I thought as I breathed a sigh of relief. Even with a fall to the floor at the end, we seemed to be on the right track.
Preston and I took our place as we would after the duet. Next, the lead couple needed to acknowledge us with a bow, and then we could leave the stage.
Adrienne walked up and stood before us. She avoided making eye contact with me as we bowed to each other. Then Preston escorted me offstage, and our part of the show was done.
The rehearsal continued as Preston and I sat back on the side, quietly laughing to each other.
“I’m so sorry. I pulled you too hard, thinking I could stop you,” he whispered in my ear.
“It’s fine. We should end like that every show,” I joked to him as Lukas sat down next to us, flipping through his camera pictures.
“I’m going to frame this,” he whispered. On his camera was a picture of me fallen on my backside with Preston toppled over, on top of me.
“You live for these moments, don’t you?” Preston jokingly shoved Lukas aside.
“When you’re both famous, I’ll use these photos to keep you humble.” He clicked to another. “Here’s a better one if you want to look at yourselves in a perfect light.”
This picture showed Preston and me smiling at each other at the top of a lift. There was so much energy alive in the photo, it was hard not to smile and appreciate Lukas’s ability to capture the moment.
