Page 20 of Barre Fight
Justin Winters, however, didn’t seem to mind silence at all.
“You said you’d answer my questions,” Ivy said, working hard to keep frustration out of her voice.
“I said I’d answer your relevant questions, and that’s not relevant. You don’t need to know my cousin’s name.”
“Fine,” Ivy gritted out. “You started ballet because your cousin, who I’m going to assume is a girl, took ballet classes first.”
“That’s a pretty sexist assumption. You know, the belief that ballet’s just for girls is actually very harmful, and it keeps talented boys from pursuing dance as a hobby and a career.” Justin shoved a forkful of pasta into his mouth and shook his head at her as he swallowed. “I’m very disappointed in you, Ms. Page.”
Well, at least he’d found enough words to explain feminism to her.
“Here’s your opportunity to correct my assumption, Mr. Winters. Which you could do by telling me your cousin’s name.”
“Not gonna happen,” Justin said. “There’s no need to bring her into?—”
“Aha!” Ivy said, loudly enough that the three suits at the table a few feet away paused their conversation to look over at her. She lowered her voice. “Your cousin with no nameisa girl.”
Justin took a sip of his macchiato and didn’t reply, but he looked annoyed at himself. Ivy suppressed a smile and schooled her face back into a neutral professional curiosity.
“So, she’s the reason—that’s the reason you started ballet. Tell me why you stayed in ballet.”
Justin shoved his fork into his pasta and took his time swallowing a few more mouthfuls. Ivy sat and waited. Silence was her friend, she reminded herself. She had interviewed uncooperative subjects before. She knew how to get a comment out of aslippery source. This was no different, except that this subject seemed to be enjoying giving her as little information as he could. He also seemed to be running out the clock. She glanced down at her phone; in a few minutes, he’d need to leave to get ready for afternoon rehearsals, and she’d have about as much information to work with as she had when they’d started—which was not a whole hell of a lot.
Finally, after four mouthfuls of pasta, chewed as slowly as humanly possible, he spoke. “It made me happy. It’s always made me happy.”
Eight words. Five, if you didn’t count the ones he repeated.
“Why did it make you happy? What about it?”And please, be specific, or I’m going to stab your fork into my eyeball.
Justin looked down at his bowl and seemed to realize it was empty. No more pasta to hide behind. He took another sip of coffee and Ivy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Another silent moment slid by, and he reached for his coffee again, but before he could pick it up, she leaned forward and pulled the cup across the table.
“Oi,” he objected. “I need that.”
“You can have it back when you answer the question. This was your idea, remember?” she pressed.
“Actually, as you reminded me earlier, it wasyouridea.”
Ivy glanced longingly at his abandoned fork, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, he was watching her, his expression unreadable. When they’d sat down, his hair had been dark with sweat from morning class. Now it was mostly dry, and the damp brown curls had loosened into tousled blond waves.
“Tell me this, then,” Ivy tried. “Why don’t you want to talk about this? Most dancers love talking about dancing. You said it makes you happy, so tell me about that.”
“It’s not that complicated,” he shrugged. “I started it, I liked it, I kept doing it.”
God, she was so screwed. The only article she was equipped to write right now was “77 Questions Justin Winters Refuses to Answer.”
“Fine,” she said, the word mangled by her clenched jaw. “Let’s talk about something else. How about life outside of work? Are you seeing anyone?”
Justin’s expression went from unreadable to disbelieving. “You’re really nosy, you know that?”
“I’m just trying to do my job. Which is to humanize you, remember? Make you seem harmless, approachable, friendly?”
He glowered back at her, eyes narrowed with mistrust.
“That face isn’t helping,” Ivy sighed. “So, are you? Seeing anyone?”
“No.”
Please, don’t overwhelm me with detail, Ivy thought,I can barely keep up. “No not right now, or no not ever? Or?—”
