You guys... I love you. A big cup of hot chocolate for all of you! tehehe Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but I do own Balletward.
"You have great legs," the dark, milky voice finished.
Buhhhh…
I froze slowly before turning around to face the direction of… were they compliments? I couldn't help but smirk, when I caught the truest green eyes I'd ever seen. They weren't a light, transparent color or even a dark emerald… they were just bright.
The black and white picture from the night before didn't do any justice to the man standing across the room. They two-toned image couldn't capture the intensity of his eyes or the sharp angle of his square jaw. Edward Masen was absolutely beautiful.
And probably gay, Bella.
He stood there with a tight, faded black t-shirt and the standard, fitting black pants most male ballet dancers wore. They looked more like leggings than pants but it was the norm.
"Thank you," I said, allowing the smirk on my face to drop into a shy smile.
The man stalked toward me with lengthy, long strides that spoke volumes about his gracefulness. "I'm Edward," he introduced himself just a few steps away.
I thrust my hand out nervously when he stopped just a couple of feet away. "I'm Bella, it's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too, little bird," I swear the man practically purred out his words before wrapping my hand in both of his large, warm palms.
I know I raised an eyebrow at his words. There was no way in hell Duck had made its way out of both Washington and the apartment so soon. "Little bird?"
"Esme said you reminded her of a bird when you dance because you get so much air," he explained with an intense gaze, letting go of my hand to cross his arms over his chest. "She's right, I can see why."
"Are you sure she didn't mean a vulture?" I tried to joke but probably failed miserably.
He looked at me for like a brief moment before he threw his head back and laughed, giving me a second to admire the rippling muscles in his forearms and chest. It should be said that although most men in the business were long and slim, Edward's shoulders were a little more broad than normal, he looked to have more of a swimmer's build than a dancer's because he was easily six foot one or two.
My face flushed at his laugh, but I was pleased he caught my joke. "Well," I said softly.
"No, you don't look at all like a vulture," he said with a big smile, swiping at his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue.
A light knock on the door made us both look in the direction before the door opened and the same woman from the day before peeked her head into the room. "Hi!" the woman, I think her name was Alice, squealed out.
Edward waved her in with the flick of a hand. "Bella, this is Alice. She's in the company, too. Alice this is Bella, the girl Esme ," he raised a thick eyebrow in her direction that I caught, "told us about."
Her eyes widened like she remembered what Esme, whoever she was, said about me. Hopefully it was good stuff. "Oh! Oh yes, nice to meet you, Bella." She took short but quick steps to stand before us.
"It's nice to meet you too."
"We were waiting to come introduce ourselves later but this schmuck right here said he was going to the bathroom, and then didn't come back," she said with a roll of her eyes. "
I looked at Edward who just shrugged in a way that seemed lacking a fragment of an apology while keeping those strange green eyes on me. "I told Lauren to tell you that we wanted to meet you before rehearsals start next week."
"Oh, she did," I tried defending the receptionist. "I went by the studio but it was empty."
They both nodded in understanding before Alice cocked her head in the direction of the door. "We're going over some lifts with another company member who's recovering from an injury last season, would you like to come with us?"
I ducked my head a little, trying to decide whether I wanted to go or not. There really wasn't too much more I could go over and the last thing I wanted to do was piss off two people I'd just met who were being nice… I looked up to see Edward giving me an encouraging smile before he opened his mouth to answer for me. "She's coming."
