She lets out a small gasp and then quickly rearranges her face to cover her surprise.
"I mean as a friend," I quickly cover. "Obviously."
She suppresses a grin. "Obviously, and thank you." Leslie looks at me, her brown eyes luminous. I could totally get lost in them. "But I actually had a point about coming in here. Can you play the pas de deux for me so I can record it? I want to be able to practice it."
"Sure. Got your phone?" I stack up the sheets of music I'd been working on and pull out the score forAn American in Paris. I nod to her and then start, my fingers flying through Gershwin's trademark melody. Suddenly, I can't wait to see her dance to this.
I wish she'd been cast as the lead. It would let me spend more time with her.
As a friend, naturally.
Once I finish the piece, I say, "I love this music. It's so iconic. It'll be great to see the choreography put to it. Are you and Kori starting with Melinda and Max tomorrow? I think they're arriving tonight."
Leslie tilts her head ever so slightly. "Are those the leads?"
I nod. I flip back to the beginning of my score where I've penciled in the names of the cast. “Melinda Stacy and Max—"
"McGovern," Leslie says flatly. "Of course, it's Max McGovern." She raises her hands in frustration, letting them fall sharply. "For the first time, I'm glad I didn't get cast as Lise."
"I take it you know Max?"
Leslie turns away, crossing her arms over her chest. I stand and put my hands on her shoulders.
"Les, what is it?"
"I know Max. He was with FBBC for a while. I … uh …. yeah. He's a great dancer though, and will make a good Jerry if he can leave his ego behind."
There's a story there, but I'm not going to push if she's not going to share. I wonder if they were involved? Her reaction was distinct and intense. I wonder what we're in for. Henderson didn't cast Leslie as the lead because he thought she'd bring drama. Perhaps he should have looked a little more closely at his male lead.
"There are a lot of egos here anyway. He'll probably fit right in. Did you get what you need, or do you need me for anything else?" I glance at the pile of sheet music. It hasn't magically orchestrated itself.
Leslie follows my gaze. "What's that?"
"You know, my show." I should tell her the news.
"Still working on it?" She laughs. "Are you ever going to finish it?"
I shrug. "Hopefully someday soon. It's hard with all the other things I have to do, you know?"
Her face falls. "You mean like record music for me?"
I don't want to hurt her, but yes. Exactly. "I'll get it done eventually. The season's wrapping up.Parisis the last show. In two weeks, when we're only running one set of rehearsals, I won't know what to do with my free time."
I have no idea why I'm lying to her. All I know is I can't share this with her. Not yet.
Chapter 25: Leslie
Max. Freakin. McGovern.
I walk outside and sit down on one of the garden benches. Why him? Why now? I feel like I'm finally starting to get myself together. He's just going to unravel everything as easily as pulling a string on a sweater.
Subconsciously, I run my hand over my hair, slicked back into a ponytail. Like I need anything else to deal with right now. This was supposed to be the week I tackled calling Meri. Now I have to put that energy into dealing with Max.
I don't want to think about Max. I don't want to think about that time in my life at all. I was a fool, and he's going to remind me of that. I need to do something to take my mind off what's to come.
I head into the dance studio, prepared to start working on the pas de deux combination. Kori gave me the notes and, thanks to Josh, now I have the music. I hook my phone up to the speaker and put some music on to start warming up. My classical warm-up mix isn't cutting it while I do my pliés and tendus, so I hit shuffle. Instead of Tchaikovsky, traditional Polynesian music begins to play.
In order to please my tutuand nau, my father enrolled me in lessons the summers I stayed with them on Oahu. My grandparents couldn't understand why I needed European dance when I had Fijian. Or how I could enjoy a dance that was so controlled and precise when their own native dance was so much more free and spontaneous.
