Page 44 of Becoming Cinderella

The next afternoon I meet Liam at the studio. Over the past few weeks of practice I’ve been able to see some confidence build in him. He no longer stares at his feet and hasn’t stepped on my toes all week.

Liam takes my hand to run through the dance and electricity shoots through my arm like I’ve been shocked. I jerk my hand away and run it through my hair like that’s what I intended the entire time.

I give him an awkward smile before slowly placing my hand back in his.

We run through the first few sets of eight and I’m running on autopilot. It’s not that I want to compare Liam and Jared to each other, because they’re their own persons, but at the same time I can’t stop comparing how I feel when I’m with each of them.

I thought Jared was the only one who could make my heart race, but then Liam came along which feels like something electric.

I look up and see Liam’s watching me closely.

The look makes my stomach do a flip. “What?”

“You look deep in thought.” He smirks.

I am. But I’m thinking about how I feel when I’m in his arms. How my heart gets palpitations whenever it knows Liam is nearby. Thoughts I can’t tell him about.

“Yeah, sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

“I think it’s break time,” Liam goes and takes a quick sip from his water before he comes back to stand next to me.

“Hmm, should we spend this break with a dance party or with questions?”

“You’re just trying to avoid dancing.” I place my hands on my hips and give him a pointed look.

Liam gives me a boyish smile. “Maybe.”

“Liam,”

“Oh, come on Carter,” he grabs my hands. “Humor me here. Five-minute break?” Liam doesn’t wait for my answer and drops my hands. “So, how are things going with Jimothy?”

Laughter bubbles out of me. “Jimothy? That’s not even a name!”

I can tell Liam is trying not to smile, but he fails.

How are things going with Jared? Besides the fact I no longer seem to react the way around him I used to? That my breath doesn’t catch whenever I’m around him? That I’m finding myself counting down the moments to see Liam rather than Jared?

It scares me. I can’t toss aside five years of feelings for someone I met a month ago. Someone who won’t remember my name when he goes back to LA. This thought alone makes my heart feel heavy with disappointment, which must show on my face because the corners of Liam’s mouth turn down.

“Things are going that bad? I’m sorry, I promised I would help you and I’ve failed so far.”

“Nah, it’s not your fault. You’ve tried. He told me he wants to ask Penn to the dance. I went to finally tell her actually, but um,” I look at him. I can’t tell him Penn’s pages of research had been the reason I ended up not saying anything. “I got sidetracked.”

“He wants to ask her? Soon? That means we have to act fast. I promise I’ll work on something big. We’re running out of time, so we might just need to skip to the grand gesture. I’ll figure something out, okay? But in the meantime, you need to turn up the flirt level. Let him know you’re interested. Do you already act interested when you’re around him?”

I don’t even have to think about it. I have tried hard over the years from keeping Jared finding out my feelings. “Not outside our standard flirtiness at work.”

“Which is like what exactly? Show me.”

“What?”

“Show me. Pretend I’m Jared. How do you guys act at work.”

“I can’t, this is too weird.”

“Okay, do you need a scenario? Do you want to be at work or pretend you’re elsewhere?”

“Neither. I get too into my head whenever I’m with Jared, I think I black out. I’m not really sure how I act.”

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