Four Reasons to Come

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “You didn’t!”

  “I did.”

  “You slept with Kevin Fox. Holy shit. I can’t believe this. What happened, tell me every last detail. Is he going to call you? Do you have his number? When are you going to see him again? I’m literally going to explode here. I can’t take this.”

  “Well …” I started to say and then trailed off. “I actually snuck out and left this morning without saying anything to him.”

  The silence on the phone was deafening, and I instantly regretted my decision. At the time, sneaking out had seemed like a good idea. I was taking the initiative to end things before they got awkward, and he had to say something weird like ask me if we could be friends. I couldn’t bear the idea of the awkward morning after with him. I knew I couldn’t handle that level of disappointment.

  “You better be kidding,” Elaina said in a serious tone.

  “I’m serious.”

  “Why in the hell would you do that? What’s wrong with you?”

  “I thought it would be easier, but now that I say it out loud, it does sound pretty stupid.”

  “I can’t even talk to your right now. Let’s talk tomorrow at the studio. I don’t understand how you could have gone home with one of the most eligible bachelors in the city and then acted like such a basic girl. We need to fix this. I’m going to think about it, and we are going to talk tomorrow. Understand?”

  “Yes,” I said obediently.

  My heart sank into my stomach, and the fluttering feeling of love was long gone. I’d taken such a beautiful and amazing night and ruined it. He had no way of contacting me, and I had no way of reaching him. Sure, I assumed he wouldn’t want to reach me, but what if I was wrong?

  The guilt over what I’d done ate away at me all day long. I spent the entire afternoon scrubbing the kitchen and cleaning every nook and cranny I could find. Nothing seemed to help, though. I couldn’t get the sick feeling to go away.

  ***

  When I walked into the rehearsal room and saw Cassandra standing at the front with her arms crossed, I was worried. She looked especially angry that morning, and I prepared myself for the tongue lashing that she was likely going to give to me.

  “Get over here. Why are you late?” she scolded me.

  “Sorry.”

  I went to my usual spot off in the corner and waited to hear more yelling. I wasn’t looking forward to being yelled at in front of everyone, but it certainly wasn’t going to be the first time it happened. I held my breath as she stood tall and started to talk again.

  “Well, you all must not have sucked as much as I thought you did. Several people came up to me and said they really enjoyed the performance. I’m glad I made the changes that I did, and I’m sure that’s why it was so fantastic.”

  I literally rolled my eyes as she talked. It was incredible to me that she could keep saying things that were total lies, but she seemed to believe them. I genuinely thought she believed she choreographed that performance; she was just that delusional.

  “Did we raise a lot of money?” Elaina asked.

  Stacy and I both glared at her. All of us were supposed to have been there all night long. We should have already heard the big announcement, and Elaina was giving herself away by asking that question.

  “We were busy cleaning up in the kitchen and missed the final announcement,” I added to try and cover for her blunder.

  “Yes, we actually raised twice as much as last year. It was a very successful night. One donor, in particular, deserves some recognition. I’m going to have the rehearsal hall renamed for Kevin Fox. He’s a tremendous asset to our organization, and I can’t wait to tell him about this development in person. He’s got a bit of a crush on me, so I can’t wait to spend some alone time with him.”

  Listening to Cassandra talk about Kevin made my blood boil. She acted as if she knew him intimately. There was no way she did. I knew she was lying, yet it still stung to think about the two of them together.

  “Okay, so that’s all I wanted to tell you. Now get to work on the next show,” Cassandra said as she walked out of the room and motioned for me to take over.

  “Let’s start with the opening scene for the Nutcracker,” I said and went to the CD player to find the music.

  “What was that all about?” Elaina asked. “Do you think she really knows Kevin like that?”

  “No, there is no way. She’s hideous. You know how she lies. I highly doubt he even knows her name.”

  “At lunch, you and I are going to have a long talk. We need to fix what you did with this guy.”

  “What did she do with what guy?” Stacy asked as she joined us. “With Kevin Fox?”

  “Yeah, she abandoned him in the middle of the night,” Elaina said dramatically.

  “It wasn’t the middle of the night. The sun was coming up. I just left early. Go get in your places and let’s practice. We can talk about all this later.”

  “You heard about her going home with him?” Stacy turned to Elaina.

  “Yeah, but she ruined it by leaving without saying anything to him. What sort of crazy girl sleeps with Kevin Fox and then just leaves him?”

  The two of them continued talking as they returned to their spots with the other dancers. Even as we started rehearsals, I was pretty sure the two of them continued their conversation throughout the next hour of practice. Every time I looked in their direction, Elaina shook her head as if I disgusted her.

  After plundering our way through the morning of rehearsals, I found myself out by the back picnic table with Elaina and Stacy over the lunch break. The two of them looked ready to pounce on me the second I joined them.

  “Okay, here is what you do. You’ll call Kevin up as part of this new room naming thing for Cassandra. We will think of something to talk about, and you’ll just get him on the phone,” Elaina suggested.

  “No.”

  “What? Why not? This is perfect. It will get the two of you together again.”

  “I’m not sure he wants anything to do with me. It was just a one-night thing. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want anything more to do with me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Stacy asked. “You know nothing. All you know is that he liked you, and you left him in the morning before anything else could happen.”

  “Let’s not worry about it. He has no way of getting hold of me, and I have no way of getting hold of him. It’s done and over with. That’s it,” I said as if the two of them might actually let things go.

  “Are you crazy?” Elaina asked and then turned to Stacy. “I think she might actually be crazy.”

  “She is certifiably insane. There is no way you sleep with the hottest guy in the city and then dump him. Only an insane woman would do such a thing. Maybe we should take her to the hospital and get her checked out. There might be something really wrong with her,” Stacy said dramatically as she grabbed my arm. “Come on, we need to get you hospitalized.”

  “Okay, okay, I get your point. But it’s over now. I’m not going to go calling him and acting all crazy. What is done is done. Can we just move on please?”

  “Fine, but only because I need to think of a better plan,” Elaina finally admitted.

  We sat and enjoyed the warm afternoon while finishing our lunches. Our half an hour outside together was one of my favorite times of the day. It was also one of the only times that I wasn’t hurrying to get somewhere.

  My mornings were filled with rushing to get on the train to get into town. At work, we hurried through our dance routines as we tried to cram as much as possible into our days. Then at the end of the day, I hurried back home so I could get to my apartment before dark because my neighborhood wasn’t exactly the safest place to be when it was dark outside. But this thirty minutes was pure heaven, just sitting and letting the sun shine down on us while we nibbled on our food.

  “Is this all you three ever do?” Cassandra yelled from the back door. “Get back in here and try actually working for a change,” she
said as she let the back door slam shut.

  “I swear that woman has a sensor that tells her when people are actually enjoying themselves, and she needs to ruin it,” I laughed as we gathered our things.

  “Yep, it’s basically her mission in life. Maybe that’s what she was really hired for? I can’t imagine the board of directors actually thought she was skilled. Have you ever even seen her choreograph a show? It’s always the dancers or Jenna,” Elaina added.

  It was true. Although I’d heard that Cassandra was good at her job, I hadn’t had the opportunity to see that side of her since I’d arrived. She was withdrawn and nasty since the moment I met her.

  Sometimes I wondered just how long they would keep her around. Did the board of directors actually think that Cassandra was the one doing all the choreographing? She probably told them all about how hard she was working, and they just believed her. It was sad actually. She spent her entire life trying to pretend like she was working. In my opinion, it would have been better to just actually work, or at least much less boring.

  “Oh, my God,” Elaina said as she put her arm out and held the two of us back so we didn’t go around the side of the building.

  “What? What’s going on?” Stacy asked.

  “It’s him. He’s here,” Elaina said as both Stacy and I looked around the corner.

  I quickly retreated behind the wall, my heart pounding with excitement as I noticed Kevin was carrying my costume from the night before. Up until that moment, I had totally forgotten that I’d left it there.

  “The costume, I left it at his house,” I said as Elaina and Stacy joined me. “What do I do?”

  “Shit, we need to make it look like you’re busy. You can’t just walk up to him. Okay, okay, let’s think,” Stacy said to herself.

  “Go around back. We will stall him and then let you in the back door. You can come out and talk to him. Give him your contact information and tell him you’re sorry you had to run off.”

  “I can’t see him like this!” I said as I pointed to my ratty sweatpants and baggy T-shirt I was wearing. “He thinks I’m one of the dancers.”

  “I’ll let you in the back door, and you can put on my practice leotard,” Elaina said. “I’ve got tons of extra stuff in my bag.”

  “Okay, but I don’t know.”

  “Stop worrying about it; go to the back door,” Elaina said as she pushed me away from her.

  I jogged around to the back door and felt my heart pounding out of my chest. He was there. He had come to see me. Maybe he actually liked me? If he didn’t want to see me, he could have easily just had his driver drop the outfit off. Kevin must have actually wanted to talk to me. I could hardly think straight as I waited for Elaina or Stacy to come to the back door and let me in.

  Chapter 6

  Kevin

  “I’m looking for Jenna,” I said to the female security guard at the front desk.

  The entryway of the dance company building was fantastic. I could still remember walking through the same doors with my parents and my sister when she had auditioned for a small part in The Nutcracker on holiday season. They always cast a few local girls to be the smaller roles, and my sister was insanely excited for the opportunity to audition. She was an amazing dancer but just a little too tall for the parts that were open the year we came.

  Anytime I got the opportunity to come to the main building, I took it. Sometimes we had fundraiser meetings with the planning committee here, although under recent management, the meetings had been few and far between.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not sure who that is. Is she a dancer?” the woman asked.

  The security guard didn’t give me a friendly look at all, and I couldn’t help wondering if she was new to the job. Most other guards knew all the dancers and staff that worked in the building. I’d never had issues coming there for meetings or anything in the past.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, let me look at the list. They are in rehearsal right now, well most of them are. But a few have the day off. It will just take me a minute to go through this. I’m just filling in today. Bruce is normally here, and I’m sure he would know who you are talking about. Sorry about the wait.”

  I waited patiently as the young lady flipped through the pages and tried to figure out where Jenna was at. As a couple dancers walked by, I decided to take it upon myself to just ask them if they knew where Jenna was; it seemed like a better option than waiting for the security guard.

  “Excuse me,” I said to the girls. “Do you guys know where Jenna is? I came to talk to her for a minute. I shouldn’t take long.”

  One of the girls furrowed her brow as she looked at me oddly, and the other one just blankly stared at me. Maybe they hadn’t heard who I was looking for? Obviously, Jenna was one of the top dancers with the company or she wouldn’t have been at the head of the group dancing at the fundraiser. Not only was she the head of her group, but she had been placed right in front of the top tables in the room. I wasn’t an expert at fundraising, but I knew enough to know they were going to put their best foot forward on a night like that.

  “I’m sorry, who are you looking for?” the blonde who had furrowed her brow at me finally asked.

  “Jenna, I’m looking for Jenna.”

  “I don’t know who that is, sorry,” she said and then walked away just as two other women came in through the front door of the building.

  It was beyond frustrating to know that Jenna was right inside the building and not be able to just go in there and find her. Sure, security was important, especially in the city at night, but I obviously wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

  “Did you say you were looking for Jenna?” one of the women asked with a smile and a much friendlier look than the other woman.

  “Yes, do you know where she is?”

  “Of course, she’s just in the back rehearsal room. Would you like us to go get her for you?”

  “Or I could come back there with you,” I offered. “She left this at my house. It was from the fundraiser,” I said as I held up the costume.

  It was a ruse in order to get to see her again. I could have dropped it off and left; I could have mailed it, but I wanted to see Jenna. My stomach was upset at the idea I had done something or said something that made her leave in such a hurry. Never would I purposely do that to a woman, and it sickened me to think I’d done something that made her up and leave like she had.

  “Well, well, well,” she said cheekily as she smiled at me and then at the costume. “She left it at your house?”

  “Stop it, Elaina,” the other girl said and then took the costume. “Thank you for returning it. We will go get Jenna for you. You’re not allowed back there, though; just wait out front, and we will send her out.”

  The two girls giggled as they ran off into the back of the building. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but at least those two knew who Jenna was and were going to get her. It really did strike me as odd that the first two girls didn’t know who Jenna was, though. But then again, maybe there were a lot more dancers than I knew of, and maybe they didn’t all practice together. I really didn’t know all that much about dance. As much as I liked to donate to the ballet as an organization, I didn’t have a good understanding of how ballet worked as a profession.

  What I did know about dance I had learned from my sister over the years of her going to dance practices or I had learned from listening in at events I attended for the ballet. I didn’t have much confidence in my dance knowledge at all, and my knowledge about working a creative job like being a dancer was poor. I was used to the idea of a desk or office where people conducted their business and earned money from the work they did. Creative people like dancers, artists, and writers always seemed like mythical creatures who couldn’t actually make a living doing a job like that.

  “Any luck?” Tanner asked when I returned to the car.

  “Maybe, a couple of girls are going to find her and send her out. I’m still not really sure wha
t happened and why she left in such a hurry.”

  “No one knows what’s going through the mind of women,” he said almost under his breath. “My wife changes her mind more than the baby gets a new diaper.”

  I didn’t normally have a driver on a random Monday, but I had to get to the airport, and it was easier to have Tanner take me and drop me off. I was starting to feel like one of those rich guys that I despised; the ones who used hired cars to get around all the time because they didn’t feel like driving. The more I had Tanner driving me, the more I liked it. Not just because I could work during the drive, but also because it was much less stressful.

  As I stood outside waiting for Jenna to come out, I actually had a weird rumbling going on in my stomach. I was positive I’d done something that made her angry, and that was why she left in the middle of the night. I’d been known to be a little insensitive at times, and I was a guy, so who knows what I could have said that made her angry, but I never purposely hurt a woman.

  There was no logical reason for her to leave without saying a word to me. Not to mention that she literally climbed over the front gate to get away from my house. I had my security guy pull up the footage, and Jenna couldn’t have tried to get away any faster. She could have simply said she wasn’t interested in me. Although, I didn’t feel like that was the reason because the way she reacted to me touching her really seemed like she enjoyed our night together.

  This wasn’t a position I had ever been in before. I felt off of my normal game as I turned around and saw Jenna walking out of the building in her adorable black dance outfit. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she wore tights and dance shoes. I couldn’t help smiling as she approached me, although I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen next.

  She practically glowed as the sun reflected off her cheeks. Her smile was perfectly symmetrical and her lips a gentle rose color. It wasn’t just that Jenna was a pretty girl; there was an aura around her of softness.

  “Hey,” Jenna said as she stood about two feet away from me. “I hear you were stalking me.”