Corps de Swans

I missed my first eight counts because my gaze never left Malcom’s.

I swallowed hard and quickly began my piece. What was he doing here? Why this place out of all the other brilliant places to be at? What will he think of me now? Oh crap, and what about my sisters? If they see him, they will do one of two things: Tell father that I work here and they don’t because they fear Malcom will say something or they will blame everything on me and then tell father.

Yep, either choice is definitely not going to end well.

I continued to dance, but was extremely distracted. And who can blame me? Exactly…no one.

When the piece came to an end, I practically ran off the stage and tried to act normal around my sisters as they got ready for their next piece.

“What is wrong with you? What was THAT?” Ezra hissed in my ear. She knew I never freaked on stage like that. She always knew when something was up. Period.

“I’ll explain later. Keep my sisters busy would you please?” I begged her and walked out of the backroom to look for Malcom.

“That was really something.” A voice from my left. A voice that belonged to Malcom.

“Malcom…what are you doing here?” I asked him, my eyes scanning around to make sure none of my sisters saw me talking with him.

“It’s a club Lucinda. Everyone can come here.” He told me, frowning a bit at my weird behavior.

“Yeah…I know that. But why this club? You know what…never mind. Just make sure none of my sisters see you.”

“Why?” He questioned looking concerned now.

“Because if they do…well the outcome isn’t that great. Just trust me.” I let my eyes stay on his face for a while and searched his eyes. “Please.” I begged.

He gave a small nod. “Of course…But I do need an explanation later then.”

Now it was my turn to frown. Why would he want one? We hardly knew each other anyway. “Um...sure.” I simply said.

“You don’t mind me staying right?”

“What? No…just like I said, make sure my sisters don’t see you. That’s all.” I repeated with a nod.

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow if I don’t catch you when you leave.” He said with a soft and gentle smile.

“Tomorrow?” I asked completely confused. Why tomorrow? Oh gosh what if my sisters saw him! I began to look around again in a rush and bit my lip nervously.

“Yes tomorrow. I signed my niece up for dance classes.” He answered.

“Oh…but, how do you know she will be placed in my class?” I looked at him again.

“Because I specifically asked the owner to place her in your class.”

That made me stop whatever I was doing and look at him. “You did what?” I asked. Why would he do something like that? There were much better instructors than I was. That was a fact.

“You heard me. I wanted her in your class. And from what I saw right now on stage, I know for sure my little niece is in good hands. More than good actually.” He smiled at me.

I bit the inside of my lip and blushed a bit. “Uh…thanks. But are you sure? I mean, have you looked at the other instructors? Sure you don’t want to change your mind?”

“I’m positive I don’t want to change my mind.”

I gave a small nod. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow than. Now go and blend in with the crowd somewhere. My sisters are about to go on.” I hurried him away and watched him go in a dark corner with some other guys. He glanced back around at me and flashed me one more smile before turning away completely and getting lost in the crowd.

I sighed a bit and sat down on a stool by the bar. What was I going to do?

“Okay. NOW can you explain what is going on?” Ezra asked as she took a seat next to me and watched my sisters perform. I groaned a bit and placed my head against the bar closing my eyes. “I’m waiting…” Ezra pushed.

“Ugh! Okay, okay! Relax would ya?”

“Relax! You’re telling ME to relax? Well-”

“Will you please let me explain?” I complained, cutting her off. She glared at me playfully but kept her mouth shut as I began to tell her what happened this morning, this afternoon at dinner, and now at the club. She was quiet till I finished and continued to be silent afterwards. “Well…are you going to say something?” I raised an eyebrow.

“One thing is for sure.” She said her face in deep thought.

“And what is that?”

“You two were definitely meant to be together.”

I burst out laughing and kept laughing for a very long time. “You…have….got…to…be…kidding…me!” I said in-between laughs and shook my head.

She glared at me and crossed her arms. “I am not KIDDING you one damn bit! Now shut up. You look like you’ve had too much to drink.” She smirked which made me glare at her now. “I’ll see you in five when our next performance starts okay?”

I nodded a bit and watched her go backstage with the rest of the girls. I sighed and rubbed my temples. My best friend had to be crazy right?

Without meaning to, I looked up and saw brown eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes that caused my insides to turn into jelly. Brown eyes that had to be kept hidden from my sisters.

Brown eyes that I knew were going to be hard to resist.