Page 94 of Love is a Dance Step
Nolan and Brooke walked into the room in a flurry of chatter, stopping when they saw her.
“Lo.” Nolan’s brow creased. “Why weren’t you at breakfast?” He tossed her a banana.
She caught it and gave him a grateful smile. “I’m just tired this morning.” In reality, she wasn’t up to sitting around a table listening to the other dancers talk about their bar hopping in the city the night before.
Brooke, who now apparently thought they were best friends, crawled onto the bed beside her. Nolan sat on the other side, squishing her between them.
“Are you ever going to come out with us?” Brooke leaned her head on Lola’s shoulder because they were apparently hugging friends now.
“Probably not.” Lola shrugged, wondering how she could get them to give her some much needed space without being rude.
“But you miss all the fun.”
“Something is bothering you.” Nolan nudged her.
Lola sighed and showed them the article on her phone. “Have you seen this?”
“Yes,” Brooke squealed. “Isn’t it great?”
How was it great? “But you look completely wasted.”
“So.” Brooke took the phone, a smile on her lips. “I’m still in a tabloid.”
Nolan shrugged. “It’s her fifteen minutes.”
“But they think Drew is sleeping with both of us.” Lola looked from Nolan to Brooke.
“And?” Brooke laughed. “We know he’s not, but it doesn’t hurt to be forever connected to him like this.”
Lola didn’t understand this world, but now she wasn’t so sure she wanted to. Her gut clenched as she looked at the article again. “Can I have my phone back?” She held out her hand. “I need to make a phone call.”
Brooke handed it to her and took the banana. “If you’re not going to eat it…”
Lola squeezed out from between them and escaped into the hall. Without Drew staying here, there was no security waiting by the elevators. A few people passed her and nodded in hello, but Lola needed to talk to someone from her real life. Someone who wouldn’t judge her or ask her questions she didn’t want to answer.
She needed her mom.
The phone rang twice before her mom’s familiar accent rang out over the line. “Lola?”
“Hi, Mama.” Words clogged in Lola’s throat as tears poured down her cheeks.
“What’s the matter, Mija?”
Everything. Everything was the matter. She was exhausted from the tour, embarrassed by the tabloids, and unsure where she stood with the one man who was supposed to be in this with her. “You said someone put an article on your car at work?”
She could practically hear her mom nodding before she spoke in Spanish. “It was under my wipers. But I know the words are not the truth, Mija. This… Drew… he comes from a good family. I do not believe the lies about him or about you.”
“What if it were true, Mama? At least part of it. What if I felt something for him?”
“Oh, Lola. I would tell you that you went on that tour to dance, not to fall in love. And then, I would say to protect yourself.”
“Mama, I never said I loved him.” She didn’t. At least, she wasn’t sure if she did. From the moment they danced together, she’d lost herself, and she feared she’d never find her way back.
“I’m not finished. Protect yourself because there is never a convenient time to develop feelings, love or otherwise. Protect yourself because no road is easy, even if he was a regular man. Protect yourself because whatever the truth may be, it must be stronger than the lies.”
Lola wiped the tears from her face and leaned against the wall. “I love you, Mama.”
“You too, Mija. I won’t believe the lies if you won’t.”
