The Dancer

Six months earlier...

“Look, just do the audition. If you get it, awesome! If not, we’ll find some other way to get it.”

“I don’t understand, though,” Dakota said, chewing on her thumbnail. “Isn’t this taking more money away because we had to come all the way to California?”

“Actually, no, it isn’t. I mean, we don’t eat much, and all we’re paying for is cigarettes, gas, and booze.”

“Yeah, well, there goes a grand,” Dakota said, and they both laughed.

The line moved forward and finally Dakota found herself and Gemma at the front of the line. She moved up and gave the two people her name, and they gave her a number. Gemma got a number, too, but only so that she could be in there with Dakota to cheer her on.

Glancing behind her, she was shocked to see how big the line had gotten in the thirty minutes they’d been there. Gemma had told her about the audition for dancers needed in a concert, and they’d driven the four and a half hours from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. It had been one of the best trips they’d taken.

Most people laughed when Gemma and Dakota said they were sisters, considering Gemma and their mom had platinum blonde hair with tan skin and Dakota had dark brown, almost black hair and an olive complexion. Their mom had said their grandmother looked exactly like Dakota, but there weren’t any pictures of the extended family. Everything had burned in the fire that wiped Dakota’s memory up until she was six.

She looked around the huge waiting room and surveyed the dancers waiting in line. Most of them were wearing, well, nothing, and she laughed in her head at them. She looked down at herself and realized maybe she was a bit over-dressed, but this is how she felt comfortable. Her basketball shorts were at least three sizes too big for her, the large t-shirt was cut off just below her chest, and a black sports bra underneath.

Dakota twisted her hat to face backwards in a nervous gesture. She was always confident in herself, always, but they were doing something legal and it felt weird. Usually, the adrenaline was enough to keep her from being nervous, and she had an air about her that dripped with confidence. Now, she wasn’t sure exactly what was supposed to happen. It was the first time they’d done anything by the book.

She handed her number to Gemma, who fastened it to her shirt and she did the same thing for her sister. There was nothing to do now except to wait.



He looked down at the text he was sending while exhaling his cigarette. He was currently watching the one hundred and thirty-second dancer and he was fucking bored. All of the girls that had auditioned so far were the same.

He and his band members were behind one of the panels of mirrors so they could see the dancers without being seen. It wasn’t their idea, but their manager figured it would be less stress on the girls and they would perform better if they weren’t there.

Brian looked around to his friends, Johnny, Matt, Zacky, and Jimmy. Only two of them were watching the girls. Matt and Jimmy were actually watching, Zacky was asleep, and Johnny was doing something on his phone.

In fact, Brian wasn’t really sure why they were here in general. There was a panel of judges to pick the actual winners. They’d been assured that if there were a couple that they really liked, their opinion would be taken into consideration, but so far all the girls were the same. They were scantily dressed and all danced to their music.

Of course, it had been announced that Avenged Sevenfold was looking for some dancers for a concert they were doing. They were performing in Long Beach in a month and they were filming it for a DVD. Their manager had figured dancers would add a nice touch to one of the songs.

Taking a note from Zacky, Brian leaned back in his chair and watched as girl after girl came, shook their ass, and went on. He couldn’t understand why they weren’t more into this display in front of them. He understood why Matt and Jimmy didn’t really care, because they were both dating someone, but Zacky, Johnny, and he didn’t have girlfriends, and these girls were half naked in front of them.

Just as his eyes were closing, a female came to the center of the room. She had on a pair of basketball shorts, tennis shoes, a cut-off grey shirt that showed her more-than-toned abs, and a hat was covering her head. Brian sat up just as she took off her hat and flicked it to a blonde girl on the side of the room who caught it. The music started a few seconds later and he was excited to hear that it wasn’t one of his songs, nor was it a rap song.

The song started off with a weird feel to it, and someone beat-boxing a beat. The girl moved her shoulders in circles and nodded her head in time with the beat. Once the music started, she shifted her body round and round. There was something about the way the girl moved to the song that made Brian follow her every move. Sometimes he would get lost in her feet while her arms did something else. He’d switched after a few seconds, and he would watch her upper body twist in different directions.

He listened to the woman sing something about whispering and the girl flicked her head, throwing her hair behind her as she made her way to the glass. She placed both hands on either side of her head and swayed her hips down until she was squatting, before coming back up. She was directly in front of him and it was almost as if she was looking straight at him; it was as if she could see him through the glass. Hell, she even quirked an eyebrow and a smirk graced her lips before she whirled around for the chorus.

He let out a shaky breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. He quickly pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to his manager who was sitting at the table inside the room staring at the girl dancing. Brian watched him pull out his phone, read the text and look at the girl. He looked back down at his phone and a minute later Brian felt his own vibrating.

“You sure?”

“Positive.” He replied.

He glanced up to see the girl’s back and was shocked to now notice the rather large death bat tattooed on her lower back. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t notice it at first, but he figured it was because he was so intrigued by her. When she lifted her arms, he could see a faint tattoo underneath her arm on her ribcage, and he wondered what it was.

Much to Brian’s dismay, the song was over too soon and she stopped dancing. All of the men behind the table smiled as she exited the floor. She grabbed her bag from the blonde girl, and placed her hat back on her head.

“We’ll be in touch,” one of the men said as she exited to their left.

It was the first time he’d said that to any of the girls.