Pas de Deux

ONE

It was a cloudy day in California, something Scott really wasn't used to. He loved the feel of the warm morning sun shining down on him when he rode his bike to the theatre, but he hated the cloudy, humid days.

He jumped down from his bike when he arrived. As always, he was the first one at the theatre, he just knew that he needed to train hard to get better and to maintain his position as the best ballet dancer in town.

Once in his very own spacious training room, he changed into his ballet shoes and quickly stretched his body, before starting the music and his training. As always, he was completely immersed and didn't care for how long he was dancing, knowing that Lindsey, their director would come knock once it was time for the group rehearsal.

So when Scott saw the door open out of the corner of his eyes, he finished the pirouette and stopped gracefully. "Is it time already?" he asked.

"No, it's still early. I'm just showing Mitch here around..." explained Lindsey. "He's joining the cast."

Scott looked at the young man standing next to the dark haired women and returned his gaze with an expression on his face as if he had just bitten into an unpeeled lemon.

He was heavily tattooed, which was unusual for ballet dancers, wore prominent silver earrings and an extravagant, oversized hoodie.
His hair was cut into a mullet and all of this together made him look way more like a singer in a punk band than a professional dancer.

Scott felt a strong dislike for this person the second their eyes met, but he swallowed the feeling and smiled, as he walked over to them:
"Hey, I'm Scott, nice to meet you."
He offered the other man his hand, who grabbed it but dropped it again immediately, like a hot potatoe.

Scott lifted one eyebrow but said nothing.

Meanwhile Lindsey turned to Mitch with a smile:
"You'll do your training here, with Scott." She looked at the blonde who hoped she was joking, "I'm sorry, we're a bit cramped at the moment and this is the only bit of space we have left."

Scott looked from Lindsey to Mitch, who looked about as excited as Scott felt, and hoped that he would wake up from this nightmare.

"Lindsey" he said maybe a little too calm. "I'm dancing the lead role and I need to practice as much as possible."

"Where's the problem, Scott? This room is the biggest we have and it's the best option for everyone. You can easily share. Plus I think it would be good for Mitch to have someone, he's new in town and... you know, you've been there" Lindsey explained patiently. "And I want him to be your understudy, just in case."

"I might have been there, but I've been way too busy rehearsing to be homesick or anything" Scott shot back. "Also, I never had an understudy. Never needed one."

To that, Mitch rolled his eyes. "Don't get your hopes up, Blondie, rehearsing is exactly what I am planning to do. After all I don't want to spend too much time as your understudy."

Scott opened his mouth to snap back at Mitch immediately, but Lindsey lifted her hands, with their palms pointing both to Mitch and Scott.

"Now, you guys, this is my last word. You're professionals, you'll make it work, I'm sure."

She shot Scott an smile that almost looked apologetic.

"I'll collect you for the group rehearsal later. Have fun!"

With this, the director left the room and Scott stood there, feeling as if there had been a bucket full of water emptied out above his head.

It took him another second to get a grip, but then he turned away from Mitch, walked into the middle of the room and took his starting position.