pas de deux - josh kiszka

chapter six- indigo nightshade

one hundred and twenty-six days until opening night

We scurried out with dance bags in hand, as Josh looked for his car.

"I thought you took the bus?" I looked at him quizzically.

"I do! I keep my car parked here so I don't spend exorbitant amounts of money on gas just to get downtown. I live in the 'burbs."

"Ohhh." Duh. That makes sense.

I followed him to where he was parked. He had a Jeep. A very sexy little Jeep. A deep blue, big tired, sexy little Jeep. An off-road vehicle. My kind of car.

"Hop in, it's unlocked." Josh threw his dance bag in the backseat and sat himself behind the steering wheel. I followed suit and sat shotgun, admiring the interior.

He kept it clean, barely any trash, although that would be expected since he doesn't drive it that much. Still, though, it smelled like a pine forest and coconut. He had two air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror, creating a scented potion that smelled like Christmas in July.

Josh noticed me looking at the air fresheners, and chuckled shortly. "I like to make my own scents. Makes it fun!"

And with that, he started us on the way to... wherever we were going.

I don't even know where we're going. I realized sharply.

"So, you like jazz?" He prompted me, as if he knew what I was about to ask.

"Do I... like... jazz?" I scoffed. "I. Love. Jazz."

I could almost hear his heart rate speed up in excitement. "Well that's great because I'm taking you to this jazz bar my brother and I discovered a while back. It's called Caravel. I've only been once!"

"Oh, cool!" The lights of the city blurred past my vision like effervescent wind. All different shades of gold, and white, and every color of the spectrum. The same as every other night, but just as novel.

We sat in silence for a few moments before Josh opened his mouth to break the quiet.

"So, tell me, little swan."

I smiled softly at the nickname he had given me.

"How did you get started? Like with dance I mean." He turned to look at me quickly before turning back to keep an eye on the road.

"Oh, god... It's an embarrassing story! You sure you want to hear it?"

"Yeah? Well, now I definitely want to hear it." He grinned. "Spill the beans, mama."

"Well, when I was 9, I was really into the Barbie movies. Specifically, funnily enough, Barbie in the Swan Lake... I feel like you can tell where this is going." I chuckled.

"I do. But keep going!"

"Okay... so after watching enough Barbie in Swan Lake I became set on becoming a ballerina like Barbie. It was my dream, I wanted to be Barbie so fucking bad. So, my parents, bless their hearts, sick of me talking about Barbie, ended up taking me to go see the actual Swan Lake at our local theater. The rest is history!"

I looked over to him to see a soft grin taken over his face.

"That's sweet!" He looked at me, still grinning.

"I guess..." I laughed softly. "What about you?"

"Ahhh, mine isn't nearly as fun as yours."

"Oh, please. Spare me." I rolled my eyes sarcastically. "If I had to, so do you."