The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. Her eyes widened, the hurt rippling across her face like a crack through glass. She bit her lip and nodded, the fire in her gaze dimming as she tightened her hold on her drink, preparing to leave.
I opened my mouth to apologize, but the words stuck. She’d already stood up, turned back and started walking towards the group, deliberately ignoring me.
I ran a hand through my hair, the weight of what I’d just done settling in.
Damn it.
I’d been making progress with her, or at least I thought I had. And now, in a matter of seconds, I’d taken a giant step back.
CHAPTER TEN
ELISE
“EVERY TIME Ithink I’ve figured Nathan out, he goes and does something to remind me that he’s impossible to deal with.” I said, collapsing into the nearest chair.
“Meaning?” Kelsey lifted one of her perfectly shaped brows as she sat in front of the vanity mirror, adjusting her silver wig.
I sighed. I hadn’t told Kelsey about the dinner in Nathan’s office early this week. Partly because there was a part of me that thinks I imagined it all, and the other half of me thinks talking about it would make it seem like it was a bigger deal than it was. And it wasn’t.Right?
“He invited me to have dinner in his office on Monday,” I began, then quickly added, “and yes, I know we’ve had meals together before in the past, but this one felt different.” I confessed.
“Different how?” Kelsey pinned me with a look that said she was waiting for me to continue.
“I don’t know...lighter? If that even makes sense.” I toyed with my fingers, trying to find the right words. In all my timeworking for Nathan he’s never voluntarily asked me to have a meal with him. Don’t even get me started on voluntarily sharing anything personal. Despite the fact that I’ve worked for him for three years, I didn’t know more about him than what could be found with a simple Google search. But Monday night that changed. “Not only did we eat together, where, for once, I wasn’t flagging down a waitress because they didn’t bring him his preferred brandy or because the steak was cooked half a degree past medium rare, but we actuallytalked. Like real people.” We talked about his mom. I never got the chance to meet her before she died, but from the way Nathan spoke about her and lit up at the memory of her, I knew she was a special woman.
“From everything you’ve told me about him and everything I’ve seen myself, that doesn’t sound like the Mr. Asshole that just drove you to give your one month notice.”
Monday night’s dinner wasn’t just unexpected, it was completely out of character. Nathan Edge didn’t do sentiment. Didn’t do vulnerability. Didn’t linger over Pepsi and curly fries. But that night? He did all of it.
And that’s what messed me up the most. Because for an hour, I saw a version of Nathan I didn’t know existed. Someone thoughtful. Someone warm. Someone who looked at me like maybe he saw more than just an assistant he could rely on to clean up his messes.
But then last night? The real Nathan Edge appeared at Bark & Barrel. And I was stupid enough to hope the dinner and the Nia opportunity meant something.
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter now,” I muttered, shaking my head. “He made it crystal clear who he really is.”
“Come on, Elle,” Kelsey said, her tone softening. “Take a breath, focus on the fact that in just a few weeks you won’t be his assistant anymore and he’ll be someone else’s headache. Don’tlet him ruin your day. And if you really need to, borrow my wig and go into hiding for a bit.”
The wig in question was her signature silver one, the key to transforming her into her alter ego, Popstar and R&B sensation, Rhodium.
The world had no idea that Kelsey Henderson, my best friend, was a bona fide celebrity. A chart-topping, silver-haired singer with a devoted fanbase known as Rhodies. You’d never guess that she once worked as a waitress serving greasy burgers and fries our junior year of high school, not with her shimmering Cartier necklace and the customized Victoria Secret corset top and matching shorts that she was currently sporting.
Only a few select people knew that Rhodium and Kelsey were the same person. The wig, the stage makeup, the confidence, it all transformed her. Offstage, Kelsey wore sweats, her braids, and sipped from a scratched metal water bottle she'd had since college. Rhodium wore diamonds, sky-high heels, and always rocked a full-face of makeup.
But Kelsey never let fame change her. Even now, with her army of Rhodies worshiping her every move, she was still the same girl on the inside. The girl who would burn popcorn in the microwave, or call me when she couldn’t find her favorite tattered hoodie like she didn’t have access to a legion of the world’s best designers at the snap of her fingers.
I had known Kelsey long before she was a household name. When we first met, she was the new girl in middle school, and I’d offered to share my textbook with her until she got her own. We’d long since left our middle school days behind, but our friendship had only grown stronger with time.
Between my dancing skills and Kelsey’s singing, we’d sometimes joke that we should take our act on the road and become a two-women show. I had the chance to live part of my dream as Rhodium’s choreographer and occasionally, one of herbackup dancers. While being on stage and dancing alongside my best friend was more than I could ask for, there was still a part of me that wanted more. Not more fame. Just more space. A chance to be seen. To take center stage instead of standing in someone else’s glow. Whether it was behind Kelsey’s spotlight or Nathan’s desk, I was always orbiting around someone else’s world. But I wanted my own. Even if I didn’t quite know how to get there yet.
My family never took me being a dancer seriously. To them, it was a pipe dream. They associated the word “dance” with what they saw on TV, so when I told my parents I wanted to be a dancer, they thought I meant shaking my ass in a thong on camera.
People had their opinions on the craft, but no matter if it was moving provocatively in a music video or executing a perfect plié in ballet, dance was an art form. Hip-hop and Heels dance was how I expressed myself, which was one of the reasons I left my small city in Florida to move to LA, much to my parents’ dismay.
If it were up to my dad, I’d be wearing a white coat somewhere taking vitals, and he’d be bragging to anyone who would listen that his daughter was in the medical field.
He’s never directly said he’s disappointed in my aspirations, but I could feel it.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t afford to give up. I had to prove him wrong.
