The Dancer and the Don | ✔️

Chapter 3

*MATURE*

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"One hour to showtime, one hour to showtime!" A voice said over the speakers.

Francesca was sitting in Holly's chair in her dressing room, as she had been for almost a half hour now. Luckily they ended practice a tiny bit early, which gave Holly more time to work on her hair.

Fran's headphones were back on, her playlist flowing through her ears as she tried her best to relax. It seemed to be working so far, knowing she had Maran standing at the door as the heat from Holly's curling iron tried to lull her to sleep.

A tap on her shoulder caused her eyes to open a few moments later, focusing on Nathan opening the door with a bag of food. Fran reached up, pulled her headphones down to rest around her neck before accepting the bag of food Nathan was handing her.

"Thank you," Fran said, placing it in my lap before pulling her headphones back over her ears. Holly continued to curl her hair as Fran pulled two bowls out of the bag along with napkins and a spoon and a fork.

Wow, it smelled really good. She wasted no time in digging in, being very cautious of Holly's curling iron at the back of her head.

The meal was gone very quickly, and Francesca leaned back in the chair once again. Holy was finished curling her hair, and was now focused on pinning pieces of hair to the back of her head in an updo.

"All done!" Holly announced a few minutes later. Fran looked at the clock and saw they still had about twenty minutes left. She smiled, standing then turning to face Holly.

"Thank you, it looks good as always Holly." She nodded and took a seat in her own chair that Francesca had just occupied. She blew out a deep breath.

"Alright, now quit standing there and go get dressed. Nathan's waiting outside for you." Holly said, closing her eyes in relaxation.

Now the anxiety was starting to pile up more and more. As much as Fran hated it, she also lived for the thrill of performing. As soon as she was dressed Holly helped her smoothen her leotard out and make sure her tutu was on correctly. She did a one hundred eighty degree turn before stopping in front of Holly again.

Holly gave her a nod, so she slipped her headphones on and opened the door. Sure enough, Nathan was there waiting for her.

"You ready?" He mouthed. She couldn't hear him over her music but she nodded, bouncing on her feet. When they got to the side of the main stage, she took off her headphones and gratefully handed them to Nathan.

"Is he here?" Fran asked. This was a routine question she asked him before every performance. He nodded and smiled at her.

"He is. Good luck!" And with that, she was off.

As much as she wanted to find Tony in the audience, she avoided it. That would only mess up her steps, and if she did that she'd be in trouble Tony couldn't save her from.

She felt her cheeks begin to redden from exertion as she put her heart and soul into the dance. She loved this feeling. The feeling of sweat performing as she jumped—no, leapt across the stage. The music was coming to a close so she slowed down along with the rest of her group, and they peacefully knelt on the ground the second the music was over.

The cheers were deafening. She allowed her head to look at the crowd as they stood and readied for their bow. It was just a single bow, then flowers were thrusted into each of their hands for a picture.