The Dancer

Falling onto her bed, Dakota expelled the breath in her lungs. A yawn escaped her lips as her eyes fluttered together. She didn’t even care that she still had make up on from her nights’ escapades or the fact that she was still scantily clad.

Friday night, after heading back inside, she’d had the roughest night of her life. She’d gone up Luke’s room long enough to make sure he was out. After that, she’d found his key and headed up to Brian’s room. He had been waiting for her. They had just enough time to get down to business before Gemma had text her, saying she was on her way. With that, she’d rushed back down to Luke’s room, promising to Brian she’d be right back.

She made it into Luke’s room with five minutes to spare before Gemma gently knocked on the door. She gave Gemma the information and waited for forty-five minutes for her to get back, give the card back to her and wink before she left. After that, she high-tailed it back to Brian’s room, and remained there while they had sex once again before he fell asleep in her arms. She lay awake, playing with his hair, wondering why she was doing all of that to herself.

At seven a.m., she got up, left him a note, and disappeared out of the door. She made it back to Luke’s room to wake him up, say goodbye to him, and head out of the hotel to go home.

Now, as she remained on her bed, she knew she needed to get up. Groaning and rolling her eyes, she pushed herself off of the bed and peeled herself out of her clothes. She stepped into the shower and was out as quickly as possible. Throwing on some jeans, her tennis shoes, a t-shirt and a scarf, she set about curling her hair. Once she was done, she put on little make-up and grabbed her purse before heading out the door.

All of her kids were already at the arena, waiting on her when she pulled up. Parents and friends were there with them, and she led them all inside to warm up.



After the performance and two classes, Dakota flopped back on her bed once again and closed her eyes. She was asleep within minutes.

What literally felt like seconds after she closed her eyes, Gemma was shaking her awake. Looking at her clock, she groaned and realized it really was only an hour later.

“What?” she barked out.

“Your phone won’t stop fucking ringing. Please answer it.”

Her heart stopping, she took her phone from her sister, expecting to see Brian’s name across it, but instead she saw Kevin’s number. Placing a hand over her chest, she unlocked her phone and listened to the voicemail he’d left her.

When it finished, she called him back.
“Hello?”

“Hey, Kevin, it’s Dakota.”

“Oh, thank God you answered! Look, I know it’s short notice and everything, but I need an extra dancer on Monday and Tuesday. One of mine got sick and I couldn’t think of anyone else. You’ll be paid for both days, I promise.”

“How much?” she heard the words come out of her mouth before she could stop herself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask.”

“No! It’s fine, I promise. You’ll be making about three thousand a day.”

“Three…did you just say thousand?!”

“Yes, I did. Look, if it’s not enough…”

“Uh, no, Kevin. That’s more than enough. Let me just.. make some arrangements and I’ll call you back, okay?”

“You’re a lifesaver if you do this, Dakota.”

She hung up with him, looked at her phone, and then scrambled to stand up. Almost falling in her effort to get down the steps to talk to her mom, she finally made it and skidded to a halt in front of her mother.

“So, Kevin, the choreographer from the concert just called me.”

“Yes?”

“One of his dancers has called out of work. It’ll be for two days, Monday and Tuesday. I’ll fly out after work on Sunday and then be there and come back on Wednesday.”

“No.”

“Mom, I’ll be making five thousand dollars,” she said, withholding the truth.

She saw her mother’s eyes glint at the mention of the amount. Purposely, she kept the real amount from her mom, knowing she may need that grand somewhere down the road. She knew the approval would follow shortly after, which it did. Smiling, she went back upstairs to make a few phone calls. Among those phone calls, she called Brian to let him know she was coming to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, he was still on tour, but he gave her full permission to use his house.

Vehemently trying to say no, he all but yelled at her, saying it would save her some money. He told her where he kept the spare key, promised he’d let his dad know so he wouldn’t surprise her, and she reluctantly agreed. She could practically hear him smiling through the phone. Rolling her eyes, she promised she’d call him later, and hung up, ready to take another nap before work.

Two hours later, she finally woke up. Taking another shower, she left her hair unwashed, and immediately set about curling it. Twisting and braiding part of it, she pulled it into a ponytail and proceeded to start on her makeup. She and Gemma were painting their faces one of the colors of their outfits, and she chose red. She picked up the paint brush and the tub of red face paint, brushing it across her eyes, over her nose, all over her forehead, and down the left side of her face. Once she was done, she took the black and covered part of her eyelids and brows, adding a bit underneath her left eye. Finished with the paint, she applied fake lashes to her bottom lids and applied a black lipstick.

Satisfied with her makeup, she stood up, dusted her naked body with glitter, and started to get dressed, pulling on her black side-tie panties with the strings hanging down to her legs. On top of those, she pulled up the red boy shorts and slipped the ties through the holes. She attached her top behind her head and set about tying it around her body, slipping on a red shoulder shrug over it.

Tying her black and red leather straps on her left leg, she pulled the black fishnets onto her right leg, and went in search of shoes. Not really caring, she grabbed a pair of clear platforms and put the legwarmers over them. To complete her look, she attached her belt to her waist and pulled on a pair of biker-looking gloves. Fluffing her hair out, she found her jewelry, grabbed her purse and headed downstairs to wait on Gemma.

Work was almost more than she could handle. When she wasn’t dancing, she was being groped by guys, and girls, who thought that she was a stripper. Security was called twice to escort people out and she found herself going to Doug to beg for a break. She barely had the words out of her mouth before Doug was pushing her towards the exit. He could tell she was stressing.

Leaning against the cool brick, she inhaled the cigarette and with shaking hands, brought it back down. She pulled her cell from her bra and pressed the unlock button. On the screen, a message from Brian made her smile.

“Hope your night is going good.”

Chuckling, she typed out her reply, telling him how her night was going.

“Don’t make me fly out to Vegas and kick some ass.”

She smiled as she took a drag from her cigarette and stuck her phone back into her bra. Once she’d finished her cigarette, she stamped it out and headed back inside.

She couldn’t wait to get to California.