Chapter 10 Luca #2
“You’ve got that whole brooding dickhead vibe about you.” He gestured toward my vicinity. “And Matilda’s obviously got the sweet girl-next-door down to a T. It would actually match you both well.”
“You know I pay you, right?” I deadpanned.
“I do. I see my paycheck reference of ‘I’m an uptight bastard’ every month.”
“Then stop insulting me, maybe?”
“It’s not an insult if it’s true! You do give off ‘don’t fucking look at me’ vibes, and you know it.” I thought I’d rolled my eyes at Jack, in this dressing room alone, more times than I’d heard the word “cut” in my entire career.
“Maybe it’s because I spend ninety percent of my time around you.”
“You only have yourself to blame there, buddy. As we just established, you pay me to hang around.”
“Has anyone done a Grease mash-up before? That might be a good way to get a lot in, right?”
“They haven’t, no. But that’s probably because we won’t have time. We only get ninety to one hundred and ten seconds per skate, so I think it would be squeezing too much in,” she provided an answer.
I nodded and crossed that one off my mental list.
“I am pretty sure ‘Greased Lightnin’’ has been done before, so it would be good to choose a different song.”
“I’ll look at the soundtrack.” I pulled my phone from my pocket, googled Grease, and read through the song list.
Jack shuffled toward me, our thighs touching on the sofa and his breath in my ear.
“For fuck’s sake, man, can you back up?” I pushed him, unable to contain the small curve of my lips. “What’s your problem?”
“I want to look at the list!” he moaned like a petulant child.
“Then look at your own goddamned phone. I just had your warm, stinky breath in my ear.” I rubbed it, trying to erase the feeling.
“My breath is not stinky!” His head swiveled to Matilda. “I promise, it’s not. I take dental hygiene very seriously.”
“I believe you.” A mischievous glint flashed in her eyes.
Jack narrowed his eyes at me. “You fucker.”
Laughter erupted from Matilda. Fuck, she has an annoyingly nice smile. She’s so—
Catching me off guard, Jack snatched the phone from my hand and rushed to the other side of the room. At this point, I just let him have his way. He was like a fucking toddler.
His smile widened as he read the list. “Aha! How about ‘You’re the One That I Want’? That would be perfect for you two.”
“That’s the worst song of the movie,” I argued.
He slowly turned his head to me, eyebrows raised. “Do not say that again. It’s an absolute banger.”
I shook my head, dragging my hands down my face.
“It could work.” Matilda uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, tucking her hands underneath. “No one’s done it before, and it is probably one of the most iconic songs from the musical.”
I was about to disagree, hating the idea of doing a remotely romantic dance, but Matilda continued, “Aaaand, it will be a good way to show on-screen chemistry.” She emphasized the “on-screen” part, holding up her hands in submission.
“What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear this.
Her cheeks were tinted pink, and her smile was slightly tighter than normal.
“You don’t want to be friends or anything; I get that.
But you want to win, and, whether you like it or not, we need to show some chemistry.
So, instead of looking like friends in the cutaways and risking faking it, we could choose some iconic romantic music instead. ”
My gut instinct said absolutely not. Even the thought of pretending to be romantic with Matilda made me want to retreat. It felt like crossing a barrier I’d promised myself I’d never step over again.
But I had to admit…it made sense.
“You said you wouldn’t have a problem acting like we liked each other while skating, right?” She was talking faster now, her words bubbling with excitement. “Then let’s give them something to talk about through our routines.”
“You know, she’s definitely on to something.” Jack spoke to me while gesturing with my phone at Matilda.
“It’s the best of both worlds, then,” she continued. “We don’t have to be friends, but we could still get the audience vote if there is speculation around how we are on the ice together and our music choices.”
The idea of feigning closeness to Matilda unsettled me as much as it sent warmth through my veins.
It would be too easy to “act” close with someone like her, so effortlessly beautiful and seemingly kind.
Combine that with spending every day together, touching and skating…
It felt like a disaster waiting to happen.
But as we had been watching the tapes, I’d noticed that a few couples who Matilda said had made it to the finals weren’t always the best skaters.
A quick Google search revealed streams of speculative articles around their relationships, from a romantic song choice to holding each other a little too long after a dance had finished.
That would be a safer way to get publicity than pretending to be friendly off the ice, right?
“I could definitely work this angle, Luca.” Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket, throwing mine back to me. He typed something and then re-pocketed it.
“I don’t like being dishonest,” I offered weakly, feeling like I was fighting a futile battle.
“You’re not being dishonest. You’re acting.”
My mother’s face flashed in my mind. The heaviness that had lingered in her eyes when I visited yesterday.
“Fine, let’s do it.”
“Fuck, yes.” Jack punched the air in victory, narrowly avoiding the flat-screen TV behind him. Jack was right. What was the difference between this and acting?
“I feel really good about this season.” Matilda’s eyes sparkled with hope as she organized the papers in her lap, a genuine smile crossing her lips. Jack started rambling some shit about getting more food, but my eyes flicked back to Matilda.
She was still sorting through her papers, taking little notes. But her smile remained, eyes crinkled at the corners, and her body relaxed. She was content with our arrangement. No friendship off the ice, but ninety seconds of acting romantic on the ice.
I’d gotten what I wanted, so why did it feel like I hadn’t really won at all?