Page 49 of Forbidden Dance
Danika is still with Bennett, and I don’t think she’ll go to the studio until the girls do. They are absorbed with makeup, so I take one more look at Gabriella and then push my way to the dance rooms.
It’s crowded here too, everyone buzzing about what is happening. I make my way to the back and peer through the window of Studio 3.
Blitz is in there. He’s got a makeup girl of his own, an older woman who is applying gel to his hair. The manager is there too, in a plum suit today, looking just as put together as last week. She’s talking into a phone while simultaneously pointing at a man who is moving a light pole around.
A couple other crew members are in there, but I don’t see any reason why I can’t go in.
As soon as I’m through the door, Blitz pulls away from the makeup woman and heads straight for me.
“Princess!” he says. “I have got to get your number! Nobody here would give it up and I had no way to find you. I even hung out at your dystopian park this weekend.”
He did? “We’ll figure that out,” I tell him. “What happened?”
“She happened,” he points at Hannah. “Had me going a mile a minute. I missed Friday and you didn’t come yesterday.”
Oh! I could have seen him.
“Let me program in your number.” He reaches in his pocket and comes up empty. “They took my dang phone,” he says. “They are always doing that.”
Hannah approaches, clicking her own phone off. “Blitz, I’m not sure about that outfit.” She tugs on the pants over his hips in a familiar way that makes my cheeks blaze. “I do not want a hint of sexy. Not even the suggestion.”
“Should I wear something baggy?” he asks. “I have sleeping sweatpants in the car.” He laughs.
“Blitz, this is not funny,” she says darkly, but this makes him laugh harder. “The last thing we want are ugly jokes about you and young girls.”
“Hannah, relax,” he says. “Let’s just make a good video. Don’t let anybody take a crotch shot.”
She ignores him and tugs at his fitted black short-sleeved T-shirt. “This is just right,” she says. “I’m just not sold on the pants.” She waves at a girl standing near the door. “Abigail, run to the car where we keep Blitz’s wardrobe bag. I swear we have the pants from episode three in there. Black, loose, a little shiny.”
The girl runs out.
Blitz shakes his head and pulls me away again. “Give me your number. I’ll commit it to memory forever.”
Before I can tell him I don’t have a cell phone, we have to move aside for a camera man pushing a black stand on wheels.
“Finally!” Hannah says. “I was wondering if we were going to get a lighting test anytime today!”
The camera operators bring in more lights and argue about placement with all the mirrors.
Blitz takes my arm as if to lead me out of the room, but Hannah catches him. “Oh, no, you don’t,” she says. “You’re staying right here.”
His expression is pained. “I’m just trying to get you alone,” he whispers in my ear. He pulls me up against him, his arm around my waist.
Abigail rushes back in with another pair of pants. Blitz slings them over his arm, then grabs my hand to leave the room to put them on.
Hannah stops him. “There’s a bathroom in the corner.” She avoids looking at me. I can’t tell if she cares that he’s paying so much attention to me or not.
Blitz gets an evil gleam in his eye. “You just got promoted to wardrobe manager,” he says to me. He leads us toward the side wall, where a corner is taken up by a tiny bathroom and the shelves that hold the sound system.
He pulls me inside and shuts the door. “Alone at last,” he says, lifting me up to sit on the counter, what little there is surrounding the sink.
He doesn’t waste a moment, but pulls me into a kiss. His mouth is gentle and seeking.
My heart beats fast, and I wonder what everyone out there thinks we’re doing. Blitz pulls away and trails his thumb across my cheek. “This is a lot, isn’t it? The crew and Hannah?” he asks.
I nod. “I rather like the pants.”
He laughs. “I would fight her on it, but I have bigger battles. She generally has good taste. Other than taking me on as a client, maybe.”
