Stressed Out (Ageplay)

Chapter 11

About damn time, amiright? I smoked a shit ton today for the first time in like forever which is why I was so productive. thank the lord too bc this needed to be updated.

Also in writing this I've realized that I don't know how dancers work? Like how the get jobs and work on things and like what their job actually entails aside from the actual dancing. I tried to do some research but im easily confused by everything so I'm 1000% bullshitting everything on how dancers get jobs and interact and shit. Sorry?

———

Normani took a deep breath before knocking on the closed door in front of her.

It sounded loud in the otherwise empty hallway, amplified by the fact that the only other noise in the building was coming from soft trap music playing from behind the door she was trying to get into.

She heard a few muffled cursing past the beat, along with the sound of the scampering of paws.

"One sec!" A woman's voice called out before the music stopped.

Normani shuffled her feet nervously, thinking over the words she's been practicing all day, prepping for when Nicole, her choreographer, opened the door.

The sound of dog nails on wood got louder and when Normani looked down two tiny white paws were peaking out from under the space in the door.

Before Normani could bend down to play with the excited tiny paws like she wanted, they disappeared and almost as quickly the door was opened.

The redhead's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Hey I thought you left," Nicole said, adjusting her grip on the Shih Tzu in her arms that was now squirming even more.

"Not yet. You busy?" Normani asked, forcing her voice to stay calm. She really shouldn't be this nervous, but she couldn't help it.

Nicole chuckled.

"Always," she said, though she stepped back to give Normani space to enter the tiny office. Nicole shut the door behind them and wordlessly handed the wiggly ball of fur over without warning.

Nicole crossed the tiny space easily and unceremoniously threw herself in her office chair, riding with the seat when it went spinning. Normani watched with amusement.

Of every choreographer she's worked with Nicole took the cake for the most fun. The woman's "all good vibes" (her words) attitude made every day enjoyable. And even when she was being hard on them she always followed it up with a good laugh.

Even her office, a clutter of papers and books, was a reflection of her fun-loving nature. There were stuffed animals, (plastic) plants, anime posters, a bowling pin that always has a different story on how it got in the office, a traffic cone Normani's pretty sure is stolen and an entire section of wall tapped over with Yugioh cards.

"So what's up?" the woman said, leaning back against the back of the chair once it stopped spinning. Normani frowned slightly, remembering why she'd come in.

"I have to tell you something and I don't think you're gonna like it," Normani said hesitantly. Nicole frowned

"Uh oh, who's dead?" she asked seriously.

Hopefully not me when you hear what I have to tell you.

"No one, yet. But the group you put me in charge of? It sort of...fell apart," Normani explained. Nicole looked at her obviously confused.

"What do you mean 'fell apart'?"

"I mean too many people dropped out because of personal issues and we can't compete anymore."