A Bottle of Hairdye

Chapter Three - A Curve Ball to Trump Them All

The beauty of a rehearsal is that my appearance doesn’t matter unless there are important people coming to see it. Meaning that today I could show up with still damp hair in a messy French braid, a pair of yoga pants, and sports bra, and no one would take a second look at it. And that’s just what I did.

“Hey guys” I smiled at my dancers as I walked up the stage steps, each of them stretching out their nimble limbs. The dancers I had were hand picked by both Sophie and I, because I wanted a diverse collection of people. The main group I had was Samantha, Julian, and Delilah.

Sam was a firecracker in everyway possible. She had natural vibrant red hair, and wide hazel eyes that always held a look of excitement or some other extreme emotion. She was a petite girl, at only 5’4, but I swear that if I ever found myself in a fight I would want her by my side.

Julian was a sweet southern boy, with a heart of pure gold and hair to match. I had yet to meet some one more loyal and trustworthy as him. Now before you go asking me why I hadn’t snatched him up yet, you showed know Julian doesn’t play for that team. That’s one of the reasons, besides dancing, that he left his family farm. They didn’t accept him. In my opinion, they were missing out because of their stupidity and ignorance.

Lastly, there was Delilah, or Lilah as she went by. I think that out of all my dancers, I was closest with her. She was a ray of sunshine, and she made sure I was never frowning. Her smile was always genuine, reaching her brown eyes, and was framed by her distinguished dimples. When I first met her, we just got along instantly, and I knew from the first audition that I was going to pick her.

The other dancers were more or less temporary ones. They would travel with us from part of the tours in selected areas, and then they would head back home when we started traveling too far. So basically they were specific to each area.

“Hey Chrissy” They all echoed, continuing on with there stretches. I threw my stuff to the side of the stage and join them, slower lowering myself into the splits.

“So what’s new?” Lilah chirped, falling back into a bridge position. I chuckled lightly as the blood rushed to her face.

“Not too much” I shrugged, “Oh, we have a new assistant”

“We’ve already met him” Sam added, nudging Julian.

Julian winked slyly at me, “He’s quite the looker”

So it’s a he? I think that male assistants tended to last longer around here. Not that I was being sexist, but the girls tended to hook up with the area dancers, and have their hearts broken, and leave. The guys just did as they were told most of the time, with a few subtle winks to any of the girl dancers or myself.

 “Sadly, he’s as straight as a ruler” Julian sighed, clutching his chest in disappointment.

“Are you sure?” Lilah challenged, “No man that attractive is single, but he is”

“Oh please” Sam teased her, “Your gay-dar has never worked. It’s permanently warped”

The blond stuck her tongue out in reply, making us all laugh.

“Remember the time you tried to set Jules up with your neighbor?” I recalled, bursting out into a fit of giggles at the memory. She was so sure her neighbor was gay, and set Julian up on a blind date with him. Needless to say, it didn’t go well.

“Hey!” Lilah defended, “Mark owned a collection of show tunes”

“You read too much into stereotypes” Julian pointed out, cringing lightly as he though back to his date with Mark.  

The banter went on as we warmed up. Soon, the choreographer made her appearance, and we followed along to her instructions. My steps were actually fairly simple, which I appreciated since my coordination was often mocked.

The group danced elaborately around me as I sung to the music flooding through the speakers. We had to work the stage layout into the moves, which meant each concert was different.

After only an hour of practicing, my legs had practically gone numb.  You would think that after two years, I would have built up more endurance. I was better than when I started, but no where near as good as Sam, Lilah, and Jules, who were still energized.

“Christina” I heard Sophie call, and I glanced lazily in the direction of her voice. Her heels clacked on the hard floor in a professional way. I could see someone trailing behind her, and automatically I knew it was the new assistant. The curiosity was eating as me, as I tried to crane my neck for a better look at her next victim.

“Introduce yourself to our assistant.” She said with a curt nod, spinning on her heels and walking in the opposite direction.

Life had a funny way of working its way out. Or maybe it was simply my life that the universe was playing with, throwing in the most absurd curve balls. First it was the high school drama, and then it was the hair dye, now this? Surely the gods were toying with me.

“Fuck” was all I could utter, as I stared blatantly at the smirking grin of Nolan. His hands were holding a tray of coffee, which the dancers swarmed to, like bees to honey.

“Told you he was a looker” Julian poked my side in a teasing way.

No one but Delilah knew about my life before I was signed, and I had no plans to let them all know at the moment.

“N-nice to meet you” I greeted shakily, through gritted teeth. I stuck my hand out for him to shake, and he took it after a look of confusion passed through his face.

“It’s a pleasure” He smirked.

“Well, um” I stuttered, looking to Julian, “I have to get to vocal training”

With that, I virtually sprinted off to my dressing room back stage. Shutting the door behind me, I slumped on the couch, holding my head in my hands. Breathe Christina, Breathe I told myself. But how was I supposed to react when I found out a bit of my past was slithering back into my life?

The door creaked, and I could see Lilah peek her head through.

“Is everything ok?” She asked worriedly. Without saying a word she stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

“What happened?”

“You slut”

“How could you?”

“He loved you”

“Tramp”

“You whore”

“You didn’t deserve him anyway”

When Nolan walked back into my life, he brought everything else with him. And everyone.

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So there's chapter three :) I hope people like it, and if you do I would appreciate any comments, votes, or even fanning.

On a related note, HOLY PRADA, I only posted my story last week, and I already have over 600 reads?? plus over 70 votes?? Maybe this is normal, and I'm just excited for nothing, and you're all sitting reading this, thinking "What a spaz" but seriously, thanks :) it truly makes my day when I see that :)

So on the side, there will hopefully be a picture of Delilah, who is Bridgit Mendler. I dont know, thats just who I think fits. But feel free to picture her however you want :) I'm putting her in the cast though, and if anyone has ideas for people to play any of my chacaters, dont hesitate to comment with your suggestion :)

~allwehearisradio~