Irresistible You

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  But J.T. was definitely not interested. She was far too young, too bold and too hungry for his taste. Besides he had recently acquired a taste for a certain prima ballerina, Juliet Bridges to be exact. Her boldness excited him and her brazen bravado enticed him. She said exactly what was on her mind and each time he looked forward to hearing more.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” J.T. said, turned and walked toward the doorway.

  Vanaya huffed indignantly as she watched J.T. walk away. She was so tired of Juliet getting everything. But not this time, this time she was going to have everything she wanted and deserved. She turned away as Peter and Chester began talking. It was time to get to work seeing that the perfect person had just walked in.

  “Phillip’s here,” Peter said as soon as Vanya left.

  Chester looked around the immediate area. He spotted Phillip smiling and greeting patrons as they passed by. Vanya, ever savvy, had attached herself to him like a Siamese twin. “I know I saw him earlier, he’s already asked for Juliet.”

  “I know, he asked me too.”

  “She is coming tonight?” Peter asked rhetorically.

  “I told her how important tonight was,” Chester insisted.

  “So, where is she?” Peter hissed gritting through his clenched teeth.

  Chester shook his head and shrugged. “I have no idea. I sent Roger to look for her.”

  Peter nodded and scanned the immediate area for Juliet. As he turned behind him Phillip appeared and stepped into his line of vision.

  Phillip Waverly, the Washington Cultural Center’s president approached, startling the two men. Carrying a glass of champagne but never drinking a drop, he smiled his customary Cheshire cat grim. “Gentlemen,” he announced with his usual grandness, “this is truly a great event. Carmen was an excellent choice for the shows finale this evening. What a profound experience, truly inspiring. I am truly pleased as were the patrons that accompanied me. We were all truly touched and truly blessed.”

  Then, as usual, he recounted every scene and act of the performance giving a full rendition of the various interpretations and putting the ballet in context for everyone. He critiqued the costumes, lighting, scenery and the dancers. He ended by giving his opinion about possible changes, making note of his years on stage.

  Smiling and thanking Phillip for his astute observations and excellent taste, Chester and Peter hesitantly waited for the appropriate moment of reflection knowing Phillip’s next remark.

  “Speaking of which, where is our lovely leading lady?” Phillip finally asked.

  “She’ll be here momentarily,” Peter assured Phillip.

  “She’s probably still getting changed. You know how long it takes for Juliet to get down here sometimes. She‘s usually the last one to leave and the first one here in the morning,” Chester added.

  “I hope so,” he warned. “I have several patrons looking forward to meeting her this evening. I’d hate for them to be disappointed.”

  The veiled threat was understood as Peter and Chester looked at each other, and then once around the room quickly and finally back to Phillip.

  “I’m sure she’s just a few minutes away. She knows how important tonight is,” Chester said hoping he didn’t sound as desperate as he was.

  “See that she does. I’d like to keep this money in the room.” Phillip turned on a dime and welcomed a passing patron with an exaggerated hello. He instantly threw his arm around him and grabbed a waiter with a tray of champagne and placed a glass into the man’s hand.

  Chester and Peter looked at each again. The shadow of concern covered their faces. They were pretty much at the whim of Juliet’s mood, and attending after performance events wasn’t exactly high on her priority list. Tonight didn’t seem to be any different.

  “She’s not in the main lobby,” Roger said as he hurried to Chester’s side.

  “This is ridiculous. The rest of the dance troupe has been here for the last twenty minutes.” Chester looked around scanning the area for Juliet. Can’t you do something about this?” he said looking to Peter.

  “What do you suggest, strap her down and drag her here. Juliet is a grown woman. If she chooses not to attend, so be it.”

  “Look I know she’s your lead dancer, but there are times that the company needs her for publicity reasons and this is one of those times. She’s more focused on those rundown inner city studios than attending these patron functions.”

  “She enjoys teaching young dancers.”

  “That’s fine, just as long as she’s here when we need her. We pay her to be here.”

  “Why don’t you tell her that? I’m sure she’ll be interested in your opinions of how she spends her free time away from the company.”

  Chester ignored Peter’s suggestion. The last thing he was going to do was confront Juliet about how she spends her time. The last time he suggested she be more accessible, she nearly took his head off. “The guests are getting anxious. Did you impress upon her the importance of her presences this evening?”

  “Yes,” Roger said nervously looking from Chester to Peter.

  “Then where is she?” Chester anxiously asked again.

  “Maybe she’s in one of the back studios,” Peter offered.

  “I already checked there.”

  “Go see if you can find her again,” Chester insisted.

  “I’ll head back to her dressing room, then make a sweep around the back stage exit, then head back to the…”

  “Whatever… Just hurry up and find her,” Chester said cutting Roger off, drawing the attention of those standing close to him. He smiled, greeted them, introducing himself as he watched Roger disappear through the doors leading to the rehearsal studios and office areas.

  Juliet sat in her dressing room staring in the mirror at the spot J.T. stood earlier. Her heart still pounded at seeing him again. She took a deep breath and let out a ragged sigh. No man had ever made her feel so nervous and panicky inside. She knew the feeling, she remembered it well.

  Seeing him standing there in her dressing room brought a flood of memories back. When she awoke the morning after the blackout to find him gone, she was insulted and ran. And now here he was again, but unlike before there was no place to run. She needed to face her attraction to him once and for all.

  A muffled phone began ringing drawing her attention away from her troubling thoughts. She grabbed her dance bag and began digging through the cluttered piles as the phone continued to ring. When she finally found it she slide the scene and answered. “Hello.”

  “Hey girl,” her best friend Patricia Burke-Franklin said in her usual cheerfully manner.

  “Hey yourself, I got your message and you’re late. You were supposed to be here half an hour ago. “And don’t tell me you can’t go.”

  “I can’t go.”

  “You talked me into going to this fundraiser tonight, so if I have to deal with this I’m not doing it alone. Get your butt here now.”

  “That’s what I called to talk to you about. Kimberly isn’t feeling well. I’m gonna have to pass tonight.”

  “What wrong with her?”

  “She and Jasmine went shopping at the mall. They couldn’t find anything to buy so they ate dinner at the candy store.”

  “Sounds delightful,” Juliet said. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s just a stomach ache. I just don’t want to leave her here alone tonight.”

  “Of course, I understand. Thanks to Phillip and Chester, there’ll always be another fundraiser.”

  Patricia chuckled knowing Juliet’s aversion to Chester’s ‘events.’ “How was the performance tonight?”

  “Great.”

  “Great as in Nadine said it was great or great as in you got major audience ovations.”

  “Both, although according to Nadine I’m slowing down.”

  “According to Nadine everyone’s slowing down.”

  “Tell me about it.” Juliet smiled knowing that Patricia knew all about Na
dine’s idiosyncrasies.

  “Are we still on for dinner this week?” Patricia asked.

  “Sure, I’m looking forward to it.” Juliet’s voice seemed distant and distracted. Patricia noticed.

  “You sound different. Are you okay?”

  Juliet took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. “Patricia, tell me something. Years ago, with Pierce, did you know he was the one for you from the very beginning?”

  “I wasn’t quite thirteen-years-old when I met Pierce, you know that.”

  “Yes, but did you know that he was the one.”

  “No, of course I didn’t know. I was a kid. I only hoped and dreamed it just like any other young girl with a crush on the most popular boy in middle school.”

  “It was more than a schoolgirl crush?”

  “Are you asking if I believe in love at first sight?”

  “Yes, do you?”

  Patricia smiled remembering the first time she saw her husband sitting in math class in the eighth grade. The moment she saw him she was smitten. Although it took nearly twenty years for them to find each other again it was well worth it. “Yeah, I guess I do.” She paused again then continued. “Are you asking for any particular reason?”

  “Mom always said that she fell in love with Wyatt the first time she saw him.”

  “That’s so romantic.”

  “He’d just gotten a divorce after being married sixteen months. Then he and Mom dated and were married within four months and then divorced just a few years after that.”

  “Okay, maybe not quite so romantic. So, what’s with all the love at first sight questions? Have you?”

  “Have I what?”

  “Fallen in love at first sight?”

  “No, me, never,” she stumbled out too quickly to be believed. “Just curious that’s all. I never really believed in the whole eyes across the room, instant love thing.”

  “I know better than that Juliet. You’re the quintessential romantic. Your entire life revolves around the theme, Giselle, La Sylphide, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty. You specialize in love stories for a living. How can you not believe?”

  “Easy, you forget about the tragic part. You can’t have love without a tragedy. Every one of those love stories ends in pain and suffering. Which, I’d say epitomizes the whole idea of love and romance in a nutshell. See, you can’t have one without the other.”

  “Ah yes. Need I even mention that your name is synonymous with the ultimate romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet?”

  “Yeah, I know all that. She dies, he dies, she dies again. Tragedy, I rest my case. I live in the world of ballet filled with dreams and fantasy where happily ever after doesn’t really exist, and on some level I enjoy being detached from the real world.”

  “Hardly, psychoanalysis is my domain not yours. If you ask my professional opinion, I’d say, dancing to our childhood fairytales reminds you that there is love and romance out there to be found. Thus, your dancing is the hope of finding love and happiness in world filled with drama.”

  “My mom believed in love at first sight when she married Wyatt. Then three years later he divorced her because he felt trapped. So if all that’s true where was our happiness?”

  “I don’t know. Only they can answer that question. As for you, you may not have met him yet or you might have already met him, and by chance your paths will cross again.”

  Juliet was immediately reminded of J.T. and the feeling in her stomach the instant she saw him this evening. She knew there was a strong attraction to him. She just wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  “I think I’m gonna pass on the fundraiser tonight. There’s someone who’ll be there that I’m not quite ready to see yet.”

  “Crossed paths before?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Since when are you a coward?” Patricia asked.

  Juliet looked at her watch. The gala was just getting started. “Since about ten minutes ago.”

  “Can you do that, just decide not to go?”

  “Of course, I can. I’m Juliet Bridges. I can do anything. I’ll talk to you later. Give Kimberly my love. I hope she’s feeling better.”

  Juliet hung up and turned on the music, slow and sultry. It was filled with emotion. The blues stirred her soul as she walked around the room tense and anxious. She thought about what she and Patricia had talked about. The feeling of being trapped drove her from the dressing room. She didn’t want to go to an empty house, so she chose the only place in the world where she could be in complete control.

  She needed to dance, and going to the small dark practice studio afforded her the perfect opportunity. It was what she always did to recover her composure. Flustered since she walked into her dressing room, she needed to regain control, the sight of J.T. again after so long was too unsettling. Dressed in her comfortable practice clothes, she wrapped her dance shoes around her lower leg and stood in the silence of the darkened room.

  She breathed deeply and gently took the barre with her left hand and in one graceful action leaned in going all the way down to the floor. She rose, exhaling slowly, then raised her arm past her ear and leaned back as far as her body would allow. She closed her eyes and willed herself to concentrate as her thoughts trailed back in time.

  Ten months ago, it seemed only right for the entire east coast to suffer her dark mood. So, as far as she was concerned, the blackout couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.

  Dance had always been her therapy, so she needed to dance. When Lena asked her to dance a special performance of Carmen, she willingly agreed.

  She’d just finished her final matinee performance when in the dressing room the lights dimmed then fluttered then went completely out. After the initial shock, she found herself walking and wandering the streets along with thousands of New Yorkers.

  She had done something stupid and pretended to be someone she wasn’t. The possibility of a one night stand with a stranger had always tantalized her. It was the night and the lights. In darkness she could do anything, be anyone. She got caught up in the moment. One thing led to another.

  And like many that night, their lips were sealed. No last names, no personal information. It was perfect until the impersonal became personal and the attraction became real.

  Lost in the music Juliet turned and repeated the action with her right hand on the barre. Her focus wavered again. The pull of memories of New York was just too strong. She stopped, walked to the corner and changed the music. She selected a playlist on her iPod and waited. The slow sexy sounds of a tenor saxophone rippled through the dimly lit room. Perfect. Sultry and sexy, she let the music move her body, taking over her mind and her soul. Dancing would always be her release so she did just that, she danced.

  Chapter Six

  J.T. had been wandering around the dimly lit corridors of the Cultural Center for the last ten minutes. The lobby, where the main reception was taking place, was crowded and he needed to get some air. He walked up the stairs to the balcony that surrounded the open hall and looked down on the festivities.

  Seeing the crowd of patrons left him just as distracted. Staying within earshot of the party, he decided to explore further. He circled the balcony and found the elevators. Going to the first floor he knew he’d find the main offices so he decided to start his solo tour on the top floor.

  Large empty studios filled both sides of the enormous wing. This wasn’t what he had in mind as an evening’s entertainment but anything was better than being in the main lobby. He found a stairwell and went down a level to the smaller private studios.

  He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, he was just looking around. Although he did know who he was looking for, he was looking for Juliet. Apparently Ms. Bridges wasn’t the partying kind of girl, at least not tonight. At the fundraiser he’d overheard a conversation about her frequent absences from these affairs. The last one she attended she announced her upcoming retirement.

  He turned down a darkened hallway drawn by the low sexy
sound of saxophone music. Pulled along as if in a hypnotic trance, he stopped to get his baring and listen for the music again. It stopped as he came to a room at the end of the hall. As he passed the small rehearsal studio, he heard a brushing sound and stepped back to investigate.

  He walked to the open doorway pause and looked around. The room was empty. He turned to walk away then stopped again. He saw Juliet at the last second out of the corner of his eye. She was standing alone in the far corner toward the back of the room. The room was dim with only streams of moonlight coming through the windows. She stood in silence with her head bowed low. Her slim body cast a dramatic shadow across the wood floor. Quietly J.T. moved further into the room, staying close to the shadows against the wall.

  Gone was the audacious Carmen costume from her evening performance. Dressed simply, she’d changed into a light colored leotard, tights with a sheer chiffon-like fabric over her slim hips. She wore ballet shoes tied with ribbon around her lower leg. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun at the base of her neck. She looked like the typical ballet dancer he expected to see earlier. Mesmerized by the new woman, he watched as she slowly began to move.

  She looked up at her shadowed reflection in the row of mirrors on the wall. She placed her hand on the barre then pointed her toe and lifted her leg slowly.

  In ordered form she began her ritual, turnout, into position one, two, three, four then five, then a demi-plie, grand plie with port de bras, and finally, releve, in first position. She turned and repeated the short exercise then began a new series, chasse tendu, efface, arabesque and ecarte followed by chasse releve.

  Elevating her movement she perfomed a sous-sus, tendu a la quatrieme devant, a developpe a la quatrieme devant then stood on pointe.