Chapter 5
Daisy
One year later
“I’m going to the studio!” I grabbed my wrap sweater and duffel bag and bound down the marble stairs.
“The studio?” Max walked from the living room to the foyer, his hands on his hips. “Why are you going across town to dance when you have a state-of-the-art studio here?” His stern, gray eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “I spent a lot of money on that, Daisy.”
I steeled myself, straightening my spine. “I know. It’s... cold in there.”
“So turn the heat up.” He laughed. “You think we can’t afford heat?”
I continued down the stairs, brushing past him. “Not cold as in temperature. Cold as in impersonal. It has no life in it. I’ve got to go. Tuth is waiting for me. ”
“I really wish you hadn’t hired her.”
“Them,” I corrected him for the umpteenth time on Tuth’s pronouns.
“Whatever, they are obnoxious. If I’d been the one to interview them, and they came in telling me their name was Tooth, spelled like Ruth, I would have thrown them out.”
Ignoring him, I reached for the door handle. “I’ll be home in a few hours. I’m feeling like a long session.” I shut the door before he could protest further.
Tuth was leaning against their car, waiting with their arms crossed.
“Nice haircut,” I said as they walked to the driver’s side, and I slid into the passenger’s. They ran their hand through their extremely short, chestnut-colored hair. Last time I’d seen them, it was much longer.
“Thanks. Gender affirming care is self-care.” They laughed and turned the car on. We started away, leaving the line of mansions behind in favor of the city. I leaned back, turning on the heated seat, and exhaled.
“Max give you trouble again?”
I looked over at my bodyguard-turned-friend. “When isn’t he?”
“Does your fiancé pay my salary?” They slid their dark sunglasses down to the tip of their nose and looked pointedly at me. I sat up and scoffed.
“Ha! Hardly. Max would rather have me locked away than pay for security. Your paycheck comes directly from my inheritance. Why?”
“Good. Because he can’t fire me for saying he’s a fucking tool. His dick cannot be good enough to stick around. Get your own mansion by the lake and leave his ass.”
I looked out the window. I bit my tongue, not wanting to confess I had no idea if his dick was good or not. If Tuth knew we’d been dating for two years and still hadn’t had sex, they’d lose their mind. I didn’t need that right now.
“Are you going to confront him about Skye?”
I closed my eyes.
“How do you propose I do that, Tuth?”
“Easy. ‘Hey, fuckface, I saw you balls deep in my creepy copycat stalker, and if you don’t give me five million dollars, I’m leaving.’ Then you get the money and leave, anyway.”
“Five million?” I smirked.
“I mean, who couldn’t use five million dollars?” Tuth shrugged. “But if you do confront him, I want to be there. I need to see the look on his face when he knows how fucking embarrassing it is to fuck his girlfriend’s shitty doppelg?nger.”
Skye was a fellow dancer in my company. I never gave her much thought until one day, after I had gotten a new haircut and color, she did the same. She had complimented me and asked where I had it done, and then went to the stylist and asked her to do the exact same.
After the hair came other small changes. She changed her color contacts from hazel to the same dark brown as my natural color. My warm-up songs became hers, and she began buying clothes that looked identical to mine. The other dancers were constantly whispering about us, asking if I was okay with her behavior, or if there was a specific moment in time that caused her to start this... odd mimicry, but I’d yet to address it. Instead, I used it as the catalyst to finally hire a bodyguard. Between my fans and Skye, I no longer felt safe in the city alone.
I lifted my hand and stared at the large diamond on my finger. Much like the man who’d given it to me, it was obnoxious and in your face. I would have chosen something more demure, simple. While I’d been born into wealth myself, I didn’t particularly feel as if I needed it .
If only people could understand that.
When we turned onto the road where the studio was, a handful of people with cameras were waiting by the front door. My mood soured even further.
“Take me through the back,” I muttered.
“You got it, boss.” Tuth saluted and turned down the alley. They stopped the car in front of the back door, and I waited for them to get out, come around, and open the door for me. They preferred to do this, to make sure no one could bombard me when I stepped out. I unlocked the door to the building and let myself in.
“I’ll go park.” They closed the door behind me, and I shifted my bag on my shoulder and started up to the dance studio. I reached the fourth floor and went to the dressing rooms. Changing quickly, I put on my newest emerald pointe shoes and stood to go to the dance studio. As I was signing in on the sign up sheet, I heard music coming from the next room.
No. It couldn’t be.
I huffed and shoved the double doors open, rushing inside. The music and bright lights exploded in my face, and I stopped short. There, across the room, stretching on the bar, was Skye.
She turned and nodded slightly before returning to face the mirror on the wall.
The. Audacity.
“This is my time. I signed up for this time.” I stormed over to her. She didn’t falter in her stretches. She changed positions, not acknowledging my presence. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”
This was my happy place. The one place I had to get away from it all. Why was she here?
“Madame said that up to three can sign up for the same time. You don’t own this building.” She stood and snickered. I stepped up to her, my fists clenched. She looked me up and down and laughed. “What do you plan on doing with those, Daisy? You going to hit me? You’ll only alienate yourself further.”
She brushed past me and went to the stereo, turning up the music louder.
“Now, I have to practice. If you want to use the space with me, by all means, but don’t come at me as if you run this place. Prima Ballerina or not, there’s plenty of people that don’t think you’re shit.”
I stood there, mouth open, eyes blinking rapidly. What was going on? She’d never spoken to me like this before.
It’s because no one else is around.
I left the studio, going to retrieve my phone and headphones. I was not going to dance to her music. It was my music choices, but I’d listen to something else tonight. I returned with the earbuds firmly lodged in my ears. I pushed Play, letting Lana Del Rey flood my ears. I closed my eyes and focused on myself, pretending that I was alone, and soon, I was.
I lifted my leg and began to dance. The music whisked me away to a fantasy world far, far away from here. Somewhere where I was still a dancer, but I was free of all the burdens of my current life. I painted a beautifully depressing fantasy with my movements, twirling over and over until I collapsed and threw my arms up.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror above my head on the ceiling. My face was flush, my body was covered in sweat, and my chest rose and fell heavily as I smiled. I loved to dance. It was in my blood. I stared for a long moment, eventually zeroing in on the black ink trailing along my inner arm.
Beautiful Little Flirt
The words mocked me. They were a physical representation of my foolish dreams. I closed my eyes and sat up slowly, ready to go again. I stood and raised my arms in a point, glancing at the tattoo one more time. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Skye watching me from across the room. I snickered and moved again.
She could have my hair, my clothes, my fiancé, but she’d never have my Gatsby, and that knowledge pushed me harder than anything else could have.