I Don't Love You (And I Always Will)

Chapter Five (Gigi/Eleanor)

Merry Christmas! Song for this chapter is "Us Against the World" by Coldplay. Disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION not meant to imply anything about anyone or any organization mentioned in the work. Enjoy!

Gigi

Gigi pulled on her crewneck as she jogged down the NYCB stairs, headed into the drafty basement. The basement at the New York City Ballet held their old sets, the physical therapist's office, a pliates studio, and the costume department. Not many dancers ever went down there, except the few going to the PT to work though an injury. Gigi came pretty much every day, and knew many of the crew members downstairs, trying to say hi whenever she could. The costume department was her favorite to visit. If you asked her, she would never admit why.

"Hey, G." Zayn said, looking up from the piece he was sewing for just long enough to see Gigi walk into the costume department. From what Gigi could see, he was embellishing a bodice for the Sapphires piece in the October Program.

"Whatcha workin' on?" Gigi asked. Even if she already knew, it was always fun to watch Zayn explain it. His normally stoic face lit up when he started talking about a certain project he was passionate about.

"Sapphires. These bodices are gonna be the death of me. Teasdale wants about a billion crystals on each one." Zayn replied, rolling his eyes, but the right side of his mouth pulled up a little. No matter how much he complained about his boss, Lou Teasdale, he was fond of her.

"Damn, Taylor's gonna be sparkling like a disco ball onstage." Gigi laughed. She zipped open the backpack she brought down with her, pulling out a bottle of iced coffee and sitting down next to Zayn at the worktable. He went back to sewing, and Gigi just watched and nodded along to the quiet music Zayn kept playing in the background.

Gigi always loved watching things come together, no matter it be a recipe, a painting, or a costume. She found it fascinating how much time went into a finished product, even if the general public didn't fully understand the effort behind it. That may be part of why Gigi loved dancing so much, the idea of making every step look easy thrilling her.

Gigi and Zayn didn't always talk during their lunches in the costume department. Over time, he'd started to open up, but he was silent at first, only nodding along with Gigi's words. Gigi coming down to the basement for lunch started when she needed an extra fitting at lunch a couple weeks ago and noticed how Zayn was down here alone. Gigi came down almost every day afterwards, telling her friends it was so Zayn didn't get lonely. If a side benefit was spending time with Zayn, who she'd had a crush on for four years, then nobody had to know.

"How's Apollo?" Zayn questioned. He was making the muses costumes, so he tried to check in on how the rehearsals were going every once in a while. Gigi tried not to think it had anything to do with her being a muse. Zayn was just trying to be professional.

"Could be better. You know how Lou wasn't talking to Harry?" Gigi asked. Zayn nodded, making brief eye contact before going back to the royal blue bodice. "Now he won't even stand on the same side of the studio as Harry without a fuss."

"God, I feel awful for the curly lad," Zayn said. "Poor guy just spilled water on Louis once, it's not like he killed his cat or something."

"I have a feeling Louis just feels threatened." Gigi replied, taking a sip of her iced coffee. "I mean, Harry's an amazing dancer, and he's slated to play Romeo."

"I get Romeo is Lou's dream role, but is this worth it? Ruining a relationship with his co-worker?" Zayn said, dropping the bodice and turning fully to Gigi. She did a little internal cheer at the movement. "He needs to get his shit together before Cowell starts to notice something's wrong."