Rum and Coke

“Oh! Hi, Ellie. What brings you here?” Jane, the receptionist asked upon seeing the teenage girl approaching her.

“Hey, Jane. Do you by chance know what my mother teaches today? She neglected to tell me what I’m teaching in her place.”

Smiling, Jane nodded and typed. “You have two back-to-back hip-hop classes- the first one is a beginner class, and the second is an advanced rock-hip-hop one- and then an adult ballroom dance class.”

“Times?”

“Your first starts in twenty minutes. It’s an hour long, and you have half an hour for break. Ballroom dancing is at 6:30.”

Ellie silently cursed her mother as she walked into her mother’s office. The office phone started blaring.

Grumbling, Ellie answered it. “Backstage Theatre Arts and Dance Academy. How may I help you?”

“Danielle! I got one!”

Ellie rolled her eyes at her surrogate father and decided to play along. “Got one what? And who are you? You do realize this is a private line, correct? I’m not interested in your product.”

“Ellie, my Angel!” Adam laughed. “Where is your mother?”

“In back to back meetings until 10.”

“Meaning that she doesn’t have her cell.” He asked in an amused fashion.

“Does she really ever have her cell on her?”

Adam laughed again. “Do you have it on you?”

“No, but I’m staring at it right now. It’s on her desk.” Ellie answered truthfully as the tiny black device beeped, signaling the several missed calls, voice mails, and text messages that it held.

Adam continued to chuckle.

“So, what did you find?”

“A charity.”

“That’s why you’re half way across the world?” Ellie questioned skeptically. “You do realize there are several good ones here, in America, right?”

“Yes, but this is your mother and uncle’s idea. They wanted to reach out internationally.”

“Where are you exactly?”

“Hamburg.”

“Hamburg?” Ellie repeated. “Wouldn’t you be better suited in Salzburg…or…I don’t know…somewhere in Italy or France?”

“I’m just following orders.”

“And how did you get roped in on this little crusade?”

“I think of it more like I was kidnapped and forced to stay overseas while the original architects are resting comfortably at home.”

Ellie nodded. “Sounds like Mom and Uncle Kale. Listen, I have to go and teach a few of her classes. You can try her on the conference room number if it’s an emergency.”

“I think I’ll just wait until she’s out. I’ll talk to you later, okay? Goodbye, I love you.”

“Bye, daddy, love you, too,” Ellie whispered as she hung up the phone.

Ellie quickly changed into her dance clothes and walked straight into the room which her mother and several board members were meeting in. If anyone else had done this, they would have been fired on the spot and would not be able to get a job anywhere in New York City.

“Yes, Ellie?” Danielle asked her daughter sweetly.

“Hi everyone, sorry for the interruption,” Ellie quickly said to the board members before turning to her mother. “Your music, is it already in the stereo?”

“Yes.”

“And their warm-up routine is the exact same as it has always been?”

Danielle laughed. “Yes, Ellie.”

“And what exactly am I doing with them?”

“The first hip-hop group is doing my version of Kale’s piece last year. Just watch them and fix any problems. The second group is doing their own choreography. Partner them up and let them brainstorm.”

“And the ballroom dancing?”

She scrunched up her nose in disgust. “The Merengue.”

“That bad?”

“Oh yes.”

Smiling widely, Ellie said, “Cool…oh, dad called and said that he found one.”

“Great! Thank you so much. I’ll see you when I get home?”

“I don’t know. I’ll probably crash a Ryan’s tonight.”

“That’s fine, see you tomorrow.”

“You, too. I love you!” Ellie said before shutting the door and sprinting down the corridor to the studio.