"People are going to think you're stalking me, Nero."
Nero smiles and picks his gait up so he can walk beside Mona. She says nothing more as the two continue to walk side-by-side down the street. Nero lets Mona lead the way while he looks out for anything unusual. The sky looks like it could storm again tonight: it's black and rolling with clouds, the air has a chilly bite to it. Mona tries her best not to spiral into an anxiety attack when she realizes it feels like the night Patricia attacked her. Her pace quickens without her noticing.
Finally, the studio comes into view. She feels a bit more relaxed when she sees it. She'll be able to get back to some kind of normalcy.
"Nero, wait out here. You can't come in the r –"
"Mona!" Charlotte yells from behind Mona, her voice laced with concerned.
Mona turns just in time to be wrapped up in a tight hug. Nero takes a step back where he waits by the sidelines.
"Hello, Charlotte," Mona whispers as she returns Charlotte's tight hug. She pushes the tears back before they have a chance to fall. "I'm alright, I promise, I'm okay."
"What happened, darling? You just disappeared!" Charlotte pulls away so she can look into Mona's face.
"Well…It's complicated. So, so, complicated."
"Mona was attacked by a stalker," Nero cut in. "That's why I'm here. They still haven't caught him yet and we just need to keep her safe. But," he added looking at Mona, "I won't interfere with her dancing. You won't even know I'm here."
He lies rather convincingly, she'll give him that.
Charlotte looks from Nero then back to Mona. "You have a stalker?"
"I guess so." Charlotte looks like she's ready to cry again and Mona shushes her. "I'm alright. It's alright. I promise. I'm being taken care of and it's calmed down a lot. I'll be coming to rehearsals regularly now." She steeled her face when she thought about how much she had already lost professionally. "I'm not letting this affect my dancing anymore."
"I know. I just hope you have a dance prepared for tonight," Charlotte says worriedly.
"Tonight?"
"Yes. Oh, tell me you got the emails. Tonight are the auditions for Sleeping Beauty. Tell me you had time to look over the choreography!" Charlotte's eyes search Mona's.
"Of course!" Mona smiled and shook her head. "I forgot that was tonight. I decided that to stand out I'm going to have to use my own routine. Risky, but it could pay off."
"That is very risky, but I know you'll be amazing! I'll see you in there. And your friend is more than welcome to come and watch. As long as he's quiet," Charlotte explains, giving Nero her best 'I'm serious' face.
Nero nods his understanding and watches Charlotte leave the room. Mona's face goes from calm and smiling to panic in seconds. Nero quickly holds up his hands in a calm down signal. The last thing they needed was for her to have a panic attack.
"Oh, my God. Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. Oh, fucking Christ. Oh, God. I can't," she took a gasping breath in. "What am I going to do?" Her voice raises a few octaves.
"Just… go dance?"
"Just," she looks at him, "just dance? Just go dance?" She laughs in panic. "Nero, Clara has been preparing for months for this! I haven't prepared at all! Not nearly enough!" she shouts in a hoarse whisper. "This isn't something that you can just go in and wing. This is serious! This is my career, Nero. This is how I pay bills. What do I do?"
Nero strides across the room to her and takes her face in his hands. "Hey," he pulled her face to look at him, "you go in there and you do what you do best. I've seen you dance, Mona. You show them how strong you are, how totally graceful and powerful you are," he instructs her calmly. "You go in there and dance as if it's the only thing that will save you."
Mona nods and places her hands over his. Closing her eyes, she takes several deep breaths before leading them both out of the main room. The rehearsal room is buzzing with everyone's excitement and nerves. Mona looks around and spots Clara stretching by the mirrors. She smiles and waves her hand at her and leads Nero over. Clara waves back, excitement written on her face.
Nero watches Clara carefully. Something about her puts him off. He decides he won't mention how shocked Clara had looked to see Mona. He wants to brush it off as her just being surprised to see Mona after not hearing from her for nearly a month. Still, he worries.
"Mona, you're here! I thought you had left or something," Clara exclaims as she hops up and hugs Mona.
"Well," she says stepping away from her friend with a smile, "some serious stuff went down, but I'm fine now. Clara, this is Nero. Nero, Clara."
Clara smiles at Nero while she looks him up and down slowly. He smiles back politely and excuses himself to find an empty chair. Mona yells at him before he gets too far and tosses her bag to him.
"He's cute," Clara observes as they lace their shoes up, "Got a nice ass."
"He's decent," Mona says curtly.
"Are you two?" Clara asks cautiously.
"No, no we're not."
"Mind if I make a move on him?"
Mona stands up from her place on the floor and starts stretching. "No, not at all."
Out of reflex, she searches the room to see where Nero found himself. He's standing next to Charlotte, the two appearing to be deep in conversation. He was attractive. Nero was very attractive actually. Mona had noticed, of course, she had noticed. Clara asking about him just annoyed her. But she had never let a boy come between her and her career and she was not about to start now.
Her mind rapidly fires off songs she could possibly dance to. No matter what she chooses, she'll stick out since she isn't doing anything from Sleeping Beauty. Clara rambles on beside her and Mona does her best to ignore her. She looks back to the mirror as she stretches and tries not to jump when she finds Matrem staring back at her. Mona jerks her head to Clara to see if she noticed, but she's chatting to Rebecca as if nothing happened. Just to be sure, she turns to find Nero, but he's still deep in conversation with Charlotte.
"What do you want?" Mona asks quietly, trying to keep her voice strong.
"I think that much would be obvious by now, dear," Matrem laughs as she draws her nails down the other side of the mirror.
"Why me?" Mona questions as she continues to stretch. She will not show fear. She will not show cowardice. Not anymore.
"Because you…You have a great destiny before you."
When Mona snaps out of her stretch, she sees only her own reflection. Her heart pounds harshly against her chest. She turns around quickly and searches for Nero. He's watching with concern. She gives him a weak smile and nods slightly, signaling him that she's okay. Even if it's a lie.
The auditions begin and she watches all the men go first. Ryan is the one who has the most shot at the male lead. He's strong, graceful, and has the most experience out of all of them. The women go next, Clara volunteers first. She dances beautifully, which Mona knew of course, but it doesn't mean she's any less angry. She's happy for Clara, of course, she's one of her dearest friends. However, despite their closeness, they are both going out for the same part.
Charlotte appears to be waiting to call Mona's name last and she's grateful for it. She watches as everyone goes before her. Most audition for the lead, but few danced for Carabosse or one of the fairies. Clara takes a seat beside her and wipes sweat from her brow. Mona continues to stretch, creating time for her to think up of what song she's going to dance to. Eventually, she decides to wing it. She picks up her iPod and brings it to Rebecca.
"Hey, will you put this on shuffle for me?" Mona passed it over to Rebecca's open hand. "Thank you. Let's hope it's a good song, hm?"
Rebecca nodded with surprise but got the iPod ready. Charlotte calls Mona's name and she makes her way to the center of the floor. Strong, graceful, powerful, she thinks to herself. She takes a deep breath and nods to Rebecca to start the music. Please be something good, please be something good.
Taking another deep breath, Mona closes her eyes and lets the music take over. Powerful, graceful, strong. Mona repeats the words like a mantra. "Dance as if it's the only thing that will save you." In a way, it's freeing to have nothing to lose. It means she can do whatever she wants to without fear of the repercussions. What else could she lose exactly? In the course of everything, she had forgotten to even study a routine. And here, on the floor, she left everything behind her. Her mind was clear and focused.
She turns, glances in the mirrors and sees a flash of Matrem. She stumbles, works it into her movements before it can be construed as an accident. She finds Nero and focuses on him as she moves. He's sitting on the edge of his chair, his hands gripping his crossed arms tightly. Everything she has ever wanted is on the line. Visions of the attack flood her memory. No. Mona pushes herself harder, ignoring the feeling she was watching her from behind the mirror. I refuse to let some demon bitch that spawned from the depths of hell ruin this for me.
When the music stops the room is quiet: no one claps, no one clears their throat, no one says anything. The only real sound Mona can hear is her own breathing and heartbeat. She find's Nero again, his eyes hard and narrowed, his lips slightly opened, and his body is straight as a board. She leaves the floor, finds her way back to Rebecca to take her iPod back. Charlotte stands from her seat and smiles at all of them.
"We have a lot of consideration ahead of us. So, please be patient and we will have the cast list up in a few days." She looks at her watch and then back to their faces. "That will be all for today, I will see you all tomorrow."
Mona takes off her pointe shoes and walks over to Nero when she's finished.
"What did you think?" she asks, smiling broadly.
"I thought you were good," Nero answers, standing up slowly and passing Mona her bag.
Mona furrows her brows at his tone of voice. He doesn't exactly sound happy and his face mimics that. Nero is looking beyond her towards the mirrors. She turns to follow his gaze and sees Clara casting a beguiling smile to Nero.
"You should ask her out." Mona jerks her bag over her shoulder. "She likes you, thinks you have a nice butt." She leaves him and walks out of the room quickly.
Why should she care if he dates Clara? He doesn't like her and she doesn't like him. Sure, she finds him attractive, but that's it. She rages out of the building and into the harsh rain the night brings with it. Let him have Clara. It's not like Mona wants Nero anyways. She was jealous for no reason. No, no, she wasn't even jealous. She was just annoyed that the one person he decides to make eyes at is her best friend. Okay, he's a great guy. Most of the time. He's a great guy half of the time. The other half he just infuriates her. He's just so fucking dense!
Sometimes it's like he doesn't even consider her feelings about anything. He's insensitive and indifferent. God, and the way he looks at her sometimes, like he doesn't really see her. It's like he just looks right through her. On top of all that, there was that whole thing with the demon in her apartment that said all those things about the two of them.
A hand grips her upper arm tightly and jerks her backward into a broad chest.
"Christ, Mona!" Nero hisses out and makes a rude gesture to the car as it honks. "Will you watch where you're going! Dante'll have my ass if you get picked off by a car."
Mona looks from the street back into Nero's face and her anger spikes again. There, on his cheek, is the perfect imprint of Clara's lipstick. She wrenches her arm out of his grasp and storms off across the street.
"I don't even get a thank you?" Nero yells out behind her.
She flips him off and keeps walking back to Dante's.
"You want to tell me why you just turned into Emily Rose?" Nero asks from beside her.
She wasn't even sure when he got there, but they were already several blocks away from the studio.
"Oh! Exorcist jokes! Oh, because I find those so fucking hilarious. I'm sure Dante would too!" The ballerina throws her hands into the air as she keeps walking.
"He would actually," he defends himself, "He has a sense of humor."
"Well, I'm not fucking Dante!"
"I would hope you're not fucking him." Nero has the gall to laugh at her.
Mona stops dead in her tracks and slowly turns to look at him. She can tell he's trying his hardest to suppress the smile working its way across his full lips. He holds his hands up in mock surrender.
"You are just a giant fucking fuck-bucket!"
"Why are you so angry with me?" he asks, genuinely curious.
"Really?" She cocks her hip out to the side. "Why am I angry with you? Okay, fine," she starts when he nods his head. "I'm angry with you because I just danced my fucking ass off and you couldn't even convincingly tell me I did a good job! And then! And then, you and Clara! Flirting to beat the band."
"Woah, woah, woah. I did not flirt with Clara."
"Really? Then why do you have her lips on your cheek?" She watched him touch his cheek and then wince. "You were fucking her with your eyes, Nero. Don't even try to deny it. You saw how happy I was after that dance and you just…Jesus, Nero you didn't even try to act happy for me. No. No, you decided it wasn't worth your effort. And on top of that, you flirted with Clara in front of me." She watches him watch her for several moments before she sighs. "Just stay away from me right now."