The second round of auditions was duets and we spent just over an hour watching each one.
I technically wasn't supposed to be here but Riley hadn't kicked me out yet, so I was lingering around so that at the end of all of this I could ask her the question I'd been meaning to ask when I first came across one of the flyers to her studio.
Piper and Jake were the last duet. They were the last ones to perform. It was strange how neither she or I had approached one another yet. I guess she had a right to ignore me since I hadn't been the best older brother to her and Alyssa lately but now I was home, my aim was to bridge that gap and fix everything.
She seemed rather nervous. I could see it in her eyes and based on the way she was fidgeting with her hands.
Riley used to do that all the time to the point where she wore rings on almost all of her fingers to give her something else to fiddle with, but all Piper needed was a bit of encouragement to calm herself down.
I offer her a smile and her dance partner, Jake, places a hand on her shoulder for reassurance. I knew nothing about him other than the fact he was a hip-hop dancer who did a bit of acro and tumbling.
He was good. Anyone would be able to tell that just from his thirty second freestyle solo.
"I don't like this guy," Nate mutters beneath his breath, loud enough for only Riley and I to hear him. "He's solely hip-hop."
Ri and I exchange a look before rolling our eyes as she faces the front. "Whenever you're ready," she tells the two of them with a smile as we sat at the table in the studio.
Ri was sat in the middle and Nate and I were on either side of her as she scribbled down Piper and Jake's names on the piece of paper which rested on the clipboard.
Pipes breathes in, closing her eyes, but when the music starts, all of those nerves instantly leave her body and I can't help but smile as I watch her confidence build up again.
I smirk, leaning back in my seat as I stretched my legs out in front of me and rest my feet on the table, crossing one over the other. Riley glares at me harshly but I couldn't have cared less. "What was that about him being solely hip-hop?" I respond to Nate.
He rolls his eyes at me as Riley looks at my sister and Jake and offers them both a smile. She had a strict no-clapping policy for now so the room remained silent but based on the looks on everyone's faces, they could tell it was one hell of a good duet for two people who had only just met today.
"Thank you, you two," Ri says to them. "Those duets were amazing, the talent is unreal. I want you all to go and get some rest and then tomorrow I'll let you know how it turns out. There will be no cuts, remember. You'll all be put into a troupe, it's up to you to decide whether you want to stay or not, okay?"
They each nod their heads and then she smiles a little more at all of them. "Don't look so scared and worried. You all did well, don't even worry about it," she says with a wink before standing up and grabbing her clipboard at the same time as I do.
"Stealing my phrase now, hm?" I whisper into her ear as I place my hand on her back.
She smirks but doesn't say anything, just continues to make her way towards her pink and white themed office. Nate follows after her like a little duckling.
I would have followed after her if it wasn't for Nate. I needed to ask Riley the question when she was on her own. Something about the blond guy didn't sit right with me and I didn't need him influencing her answer.
The dancers all begin to grab their stuff and one-by-one start to make their way out.
Piper was crouching down by one of the ballet barres, packing her bag and pulling her hoody and joggers on over the top of her leotard. I approach her at the same time as Jake does and he offers her his hand to pull her up to her feet.
"So, pipsqueak, I was wondering if you wanted to go with Avery and I to the nearest ice-cream parlour down the street?" he asks her as he stood beside another brunette. I'd seen her dance in the freestyle round. She was quite good too. Although I don't know when they got so close to my sister that they started giving her nicknames.
"Oh, yeah, sure. It will give me time to figure out where I'm staying for the night," Piper chuckles, causing me to step forward and intervene.
"You don't know where you're staying tonight?" I cut in.
She looks up at me, glaring a little as she narrowed her eyes. I'd never seen her look so angry with me in her life. "No. It was something I was going to talk to Riley about."
"You mean to say you flew all the way over here from Toronto without knowing where you're going to sleep?"
"I said I was going to talk to Ri about it," she bites back. "Honestly. Just because you stopped talking to me doesn't mean everyone else did. Riley and I still communicate. She said I'm welcome over to her apartment whenever, I just need to tell her."
"And when were you thinking of doing that?" I ask her.
She rolls her eyes at me, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't think it's any of your business, James. You stopped caring all those months ago, why pretend you care now?"
She turns around, blocking me out as she faces Avery and Jake instead. "Come on, guys. We can go get some ice-cream then I'll text Ri while I'm there. I don't want to bother her if she's busy."
"You know Riley personally?" I hear Avery ask as the three of them began to head out, walking towards the staircase.
I roll my eyes, picking up the bracelet Piper had dropped on the floor, then I begin to head to Ri's office, hoping she would be on her own. I happened to be in luck, because when I look through the glass window I find she was stood by the shelf, organising a bunch of files.
She turns around after a few seconds and then rolls her eyes at me. "Are you going to enter? Or are you just going to stand there lurking around the corner?"
I smirk back at her and enter, closing the door behind me. "Where's the blond guy?"
"You mean Nate?" she asks, to which I nod. "I photocopied some important documents. He's gone to get them from the printer upstairs."
She moves to sit down at the chair behind her desk and so I sit myself down on top of the table, looking over the pictures she had decorated the room with. She may have been all business-focused now, but there was still a hint of the Riley I used to know in here. There were photos of her and Michelle and Emily and the team up, plastered on the walls.
She catches me looking around and then sighs, folding her arms. "Did you want something at all? Or did you only come in here to be nosy?"
"Right... I was thinking-"
"Uh-oh," she says sarcastically, leaning back in her chair.
I roll my eyes at her and look her in the eye to show how serious I was. "I need a job," I tell her, making her raise an eyebrow.
"And how exactly is that my issue?"
"Because you've started a dance company of your own and so far you've only got three staff, including yourself. You're going to need mentors and tutors and-"
"Get to the point, James. What do you want?"
I breathe in, setting my hands down on the desk. "Make me head choreographer," I tell her, to which she shakes her head at me. "Ri, please. I need this. And so do you-"
"James," she sighs, looking away from me. "I know you want to help, but I've got this. I'm already on the hunt for choreographers, the whole lot-"
"Okay, but how many of those choreographers are Internationals winners? How many of them won the biggest hip-hop competition in the world?"
She narrows her eyes, biting her lip, which only went to show how right I was. I just had to win her over. "Please?"
She hesitates, thinking about it in her head, but just when she was about to respond, the door swings open and Nate enters with all the documents, causing me to silently groan inside my head.
"Riles, there's someone outside who needs you. I think it's to do with those chandeliers you ordered. They're ready to install them," he says, making me frown.
Riles. Since when did anyone else call her that but me?
She turns to face me and sighs. "Sorry, James, I'll get back to you about it later," she says before getting up to leave the room as Nate follows after her.
I chew the inside of my cheek, glancing down at Piper's bracelet I held in my hand. Riley surprisingly had a similar one on her desk and I didn't quite know how to feel.
Riley had changed so much, but I'd also missed out on so much of Piper's life that even my ex-girlfriend was closer to my own sister than I was.
I need to get them back. Both of them...