Chapter 29 #2
“Are you serious?” Ivy asked, her eyes growing wide with this information.
“Oh, you didn’t know that?” Lukas paused mid-bite. “I’m sorry, sometimes I forget what you do and don’t know. I grew up in an omega household, so this all seems like secondhand knowledge to me.”
“Are you all waiting for me to propose?” Ivy had a panicked expression all over her face as she looked around at us. Her parents glanced back and forth between Ivy and Lukas.
“No, of course not,” Dem shook his head. I could sense some damage control coming in. “You just moved in here, and we’ve always taken this at your speed. There’s a reason no one’s mentioned it till now…” He shot a glare at Lukas.
“Ivy, don’t panic,” her mom reached out and patted her thigh lovingly. “We can have fun brainstorming ways to propose.”
Jonah turned her attention to us. “Ivy’s also been so finicky at trying to do everything exactly as expected of her. Sometimes you just have to tell her not to panic!”
“Ivy, don't panic, got it!” I joked, pretending to write the tip down on my palm.
“We know it’s a busy weekend. What time do you all need to leave for the first show?” Jonah asked. “And it’s just Preston and Ivy performing this weekend, correct?”
“That’s correct, but we all need to be at the theater.” Lukas leaned forward to touch Ivy’s leg before remembering not to. “We need to leave in half an hour.”
“Will you be fine here by yourselves?” Ivy gestured around the room. “You can watch TV, hop in the hot tub, or just relax from your trip.”
“Of course, we’ll be fine.” Jonah waved us off. “We’ll just poke around and get settled in.”
“Only my room’s fair game—and even that’s pushing it.” Ivy turned to the rest of us. “Let’s get ready. We leave in thirty minutes.”
Jonah chuckled slightly as all four of us stood at Ivy’s command. We exchanged smiles with each other, realizing that, yes, Ivy was indeed in charge here.
***
Ivy
There was a natural calmness that settled over my body when I waited from the wings, preparing to enter the stage and perform.
I stood next to Preston, eagerly awaiting our turn as we watched the corps piece before us.
I’d survived company class drama, recast of parts, two funder’s shows, Preston’s injured wrist, and now we stood at the precipice of our very first performance together, ready to launch ourselves out as the world’s next omega couple.
And if Isaac could join us performing soon, we’d be the world’s first scent-matched trio of performers.
Preston looked at me and smiled. We were nervous to perform in front of the company, nervous to perform in front of the funders, but the live audience excited us both, and the energy bounced between us.
“How’s your wrist?” I asked him as I reached up to fix his vest.
“It’s good. Nothing in this piece hurts it.” Preston flexed his wrist. “Let’s give it our all. This is it.”
“Yes, we’ve got this.” I gave him an air kiss and took my place at his side in the wings. He reached for my hand as the corps piece before us ended.
The subtle change in the stage lights indicated the stage was ready for us. My heart raced a million miles a second, but I was ready—we were ready.
Our duet music sounded out as Preston led me onstage. We locked eyes, flashed our performance smiles, and launched into the piece. There was one added element we hadn’t quite accounted for, but I immediately felt an extra boost from it—adrenaline.
The steps flowed effortlessly out of us, so polished and perfected by this point that the memory in our muscles took over.
The conductor was following our rhythm exactly, giving us time to execute even more turns than previously rehearsed.
What was once set as a double pirouette, we were now performing five and flawlessly transitioning to a fun low lift that sailed around the corner.
I could hear gasps from the audience; I tuned them out to focus on Preston and only him. Soon, we’d be even closer with a bond link between us, but I almost felt like it was already there.
As my eyes met with Preston’s, I could see there was something wild and full of promise in them tonight.
We reached the final diagonal. First, there were the quick hand exchanges, followed by a few turns before two jumps. The end was near as Preston kneeled, and with a final turn, I landed on his thigh.
And right as I landed, he planted a big kiss on my lips.
I looked at him, shocked as a completely sold-out theater erupted to its feet in thunderous applause.
He kissed me. In front of two thousand people, and now they were on their feet. My heart was pounding—not from the choreography, but from the way he looked at me like I was his whole world.
Nearly two thousand people were celebrating our performance, but more so our pairing, as it was without a doubt, most were here due to the omega couple rumors.
Preston and I stood as we were supposed to while the main couple walked up to us. Adrienne’s jaw tightened as she stepped into place, her forced smile barely masking the storm behind her eyes.
However, the applause was still going, and there was no way anyone could hear the music. I glanced down at the conductor, who was mouthing to us—bow. Preston saw the hint, too. He turned to the audience and led me forward. We both took a quick, impromptu bow to settle the applause.
We turned back to the main couple and took our position again so the ballet could proceed.
Adrienne looked as though she wished to murder me.
The conductor led the orchestra into the next song, where Preston and I were able to bow to the main couple so we could leave the stage and let the rest of the performance continue.
Once offstage, he pulled me into the biggest hug ever and spun me around.
“I can’t believe you kissed me!” I whispered, laughing in his ear as we walked downstairs to our dressing room backstage.
“I was so caught up in the moment, and with everyone cheering us on, I just went with it.” His smile was so large, and a fun twinkle lived in his eye. “The look on your face was priceless!”
We laughed all the way back to our dressing room, where we needed to wait till the end of the show to take a final bow.
Music from the ballet played over the loudspeaker as we chatted away, laughing and joking in our dressing room.
The first act finished, intermission passed, and soon enough, the second act was well under way.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever had a theater react like that to anything I’ve performed. That was wild,” I gushed as I shook my head. “Do you think that’s just the rumors everyone’s excited about?”
“Honestly I don’t know, but the weekend will be a good indicator if it continues.” He leaned back into his chair, crossing his hands behind his head.
“Do you miss being the lead?” I asked him as we heard the final adagio start over the loudspeakers.
“Nah…I mean, I’ll look forward to performing with you, but just doing this duet right now has been a lot of fun.” He pulled me onto his lap and started to nuzzle against my neck.
“Don’t you dare mess up my hair! I have a bow to do!” I joked to him, enjoying his touch.
Places for curtain calls. The announcement rang out over the loudspeaker in the dressing room.
Preston and I stood up and made our way back upstairs to prepare, meeting the rest of the company in the wings. The main couple finished in their last pose as the curtain came down and applause rang out from the audience.
One by one, all the performers took their bows, starting with the corps and up through the soloist roles. Preston and I were set to bow third to last, not quite in lead positions but enough to be acknowledged on our own.
As soon as we stepped back out on stage, the thunderous applause returned.
I must have looked stunned as Preston gently tugged me with him to move forward.
He led me to our downstage center mark to bow before we stepped back in line with the rest of the cast. Next came the lead character role, followed by the main couple, Adrienne and Max, all of whom received significantly less applause.
We remained onstage with the entire cast, taking a group bow until the final curtain dropped.
I breathed a sigh of relief while Preston pulled me into another tight hug.
“One show under our belt,” I whispered to him as he kissed my cheek.
Right as Preston was releasing me from our hug, Dem's voice caught us by surprise. “Come on, you two,” he called over to us. He stood by the curtain seam, gesturing to us. “You’re going to take a private bow.”
I stared at him, stunned. Private bows were reserved for stars—those at the top of their craft who had led the production, and they were usually only done in major cities.
Shaking my head no, I remained frozen in my spot. That would be mortifying to step out there to little reception. I’d be the laughing stock of the company.
Dem smiled softly as he walked over and reached for my hand.
“The house manager is asking you to. The house is chanting ‘omega,’” he softly said to us. He led Preston and me over to the part in the curtain and pulled it open.
Preston smiled down at me as he took my hand. There was both nervousness and excitement in his eyes, contrasting greatly with my terrified expression.
“Let’s do it,” he laughed, taking a step out.
As soon as we stepped onstage, the thunderous applause from earlier roared alive again.
As I took my position to bow, I couldn’t help but feel like this was a dream, and soon I would wake up in my bed, twelve years old, with my mom screaming for me to get ready for school.