Roman Roommate

3 - Backward ABC

A woman with brunette hair pulled up into a bun and currently wearing a black leotard and tights glared at me. I had to look down at her a bit to address her as she was a few inches shorter than my 5' 6" frame. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she began tapping her foot that was covered by a ballet shoe. I winced at her as she raised an expectant eyebrow and hardened her dark brown eyes.

"Hey Carmen," I began slowly hoisting my gym bag up higher on my shoulder. I plastered a big grin on my face in attempt to soothe her hardened stare.

"Don't 'hey Carmen' me! You're late!"

I brushed past her and moved my way to the dressing rooms. Carmen stayed hot on my heels and followed me.

"I know, I know. I had some business to attend to this morning and then there was traffic and I just got sidetracked I guess. I'm sorry it won't happen again."

I paused in my movements to turn and face her. She gave me a hard stare for a few moments before all of her beautiful features softened.

"Oh, I can't stay mad at you," she said dropping her stiff stance. She came up behind me and put an arm around my shoulders. "Imagine if I were to fire you! The girls would miss you too much and with the recital coming up? We need all the help we can get."

We continued on into the employee dressing room. It was located in a small hallway that branched off from the main room. I plopped down my bag onto the floor and moved over to my assigned locker. I quickly dialed in my combination and removed my own light pink leotard and white tights.

"The recital will go great with or without me," I said as I walked into the nearby bathroom area. I took one of the stalls and began to change.

I heard Carmen sigh. "I sure hope you're right. Not that I don't believe in the girls but well, they are so young."

I laughed as I struggled to pull my right leg through my thin tights. "Their cuteness will make up for any mistakes. It's mostly for the parents anyway."

"I suppose," she mumbled in agreement. "How are your parents?"

"Eh," I muttered as I worked with my leotard next. "The same."

Carmen was short for Charmeine which was the name for a fallen angel; more specifically an Angel of Harmony. This made her a natural born dancer. My father knew her because he was also a fallen angel. Those were the only immortals allowed to live on Earth because they had nowhere else to go. Immortals from Olympus (like my mother for example) had to have a special license to live on Earth. Immortals that were half and half (like me and my brother) were like other fallen angels and had to live on Earth, but like immortals from Olympus we could get a license to live up there if we wanted. Most chose to stay on Earth though since that was where their families were.

My father and Carmen were decent friends when they were both angels. My dad had come down to Earth from Heaven first and Carmen actually looked him up after she had been kicked out. This had been after my father and mother were already together and were raising my brother and I.

During high school, I took an intense liking to dancing and my father helped me get the job here at Carmen's dance studio as a teacher. I loved every minute of it and Carmen was a very cool boss. She was barely ever strict and she acted more my age then the age of my mom or dad.

Carmen was a beautiful woman with a naturally kind face and big dark eyes that were always full of expression. She, like me, had stopped her aging at around 25 years old. She was really in her 300's though I didn't know the specific number. She had been on Earth for only about 20 years or so but still she had a busy life. She bought this dance studio and taught classes six days a week. Some for kids and some for adults but I only helped with the little ones.