Dance For Me

Chapter 7

Lauren remained sitting against her office wall with glazed eyes and a snivelling nose. Her left palm gripping tightly against a cold bottle of vodka that had less than half of its contents intact. The right held the bottle cap with no intentions in putting it back

She had been sitting there for a long, agonising hour, scrambling through various emotions she couldn't quite put her finger on. The taste of alcohol coated her tongue and for once, left her feeling tipsy. She didn't want to grab the bottle, she didn't even realise until the back of her throat burned from its toxicity that it was anywhere close

She was in pain, her heart aching. Nothing felt ok, nothing felt safe. All she wanted was to take a long walk to the middle of nowhere, denying her mind of thought and escaping the reality she never chose to live. Her legs stretched out in front of her body and she sank her head back into the wall behind with gently closed eyes

That was until she heard the office door creaking open a few feet away "Girl!" A hoarse yet feminine voice pronounced "We had a meeting like forty five minutes ago?" The woman spat with a confused expression as she looked on at Lauren very clearly in distress "Wait, why are you on the floor, is that vodka?"

Lauren rolled her head towards the face and offered little to no expression in return "Tastes like it" she smirked, finally releasing a tiny laugh that sounded more to be a laugh of pure defeat

Nikki, Lauren's publicist walked further into the room and dumped her wedge of papers against the desk before standing with folded arms and a cocked head "Hand it over!" She hissed with a yearning for the woman's cooperation "I'm not joking Lo, I spent an hour in traffic to be here with you, give it!"

Lauren rolled her eyes and swung her palm up to surrender the expensive liquid "Take it, I'm done anyway"

Nikki snatched the bottle and threw it in the trash with a loud crash "Get up and reclaim your thrown girl, that dress is far too expensive to be sitting on the floor!" she huffed, taking little note of the woman's foul energy

Lauren grunted and pushed her palms against the ground to stand, walking towards her desk with a shaking head and dramatic slump "Hit me with the bad news then" she sighed "You never meet me short notice for anything positive"

"Hold your horses wild child" Nikki hummed, ignoring the stack of paperwork to instead fold her arms into the cold desk below "I need an explanation for the mess I just walked in on, I haven't seen you in crisis for at least a year!"

Lauren shook her head with a laugh "Bad day"

The woman clicked her fingers as if talking to a child, regaining her client's focus "Not good enough Lauren, try harder!"

Lauren sank back into her chair and grunted with a smile. The woman before her so trusted due to the nature of her position she couldn't hide the truth for even a minute "I've had some heavy shit going on these past few weeks, a new dancer and a few of the girls driving me into a ditch!"

"Camila, the pretty little thing!" Nikki confirmed, noticing the girl to have been causing waves since she first handled the fallout of the surprise performance a few weeks ago "What's the deal, is she problematic?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and laughed "Something like that"

"Lauren" Nikki spoke, staring on at the woman with an unimpressed stare "I'm gonna need a little more from you other than these cryptic remarks! I see the dried tears on your cheeks, if you want me to represent you I need you to talk!"