Eva De Miranda checked her watch as she stood in front of the sign posted on the wall. Nine fifty.

Adjusting her bag on her shoulder, she began to walk down the hallway. Each dance audition over the past week had been in a different studio and she tried to recall where she had seen studio nine.

She spotted a girl that she recognized from past auditions and she went in her direction. She smiled a bit when she saw the girl go through a door labeled ‘Studio 9’.

Eva went inside the room and found about fifteen guys and girls milling around the room. A couple smiled in her direction and she gave a small, brief smile in return before going over to an empty corner and setting her things on the floor. She sat down beside her bag and stretched out her legs in front of her. She had five minutes before the auditions started she took the time to stretch her body.

It was the third and final audition for the seven dancing spots available on Justin Timberlake’s tour. She really hadn’t thought she would get to the final audition, considering so many people had tried out. But the two choreographers, Michelle and Cody, had apparently seen something in her and she was still there.

“Alright, let’s get this started!” Michelle yelled through the room, standing up from the chair she had been sitting on. “The plan for today is you’re gonna run through the dance you’ve been taught. Then we’re gonna do individual evaluations and you guys are each gonna do your own dance you created. Me and Eric are of course going to be judging you guys and since it’s the final audition, Justin’s here as well. So you guys gotta impress all three of us today.”

Eva moved her eyes off of Michelle and noticed for the first time that Justin Timberlake was sitting beside Eric.

Well there’s some added pressure, she sighed to herself, unzipping her jacket and pulling it off, leaving her in her yoga style tank top and dance pants. She stood up as Michelle called them all into position for the group dance that they had been learning in the past two auditions. It wasn’t complicated and easy enough to learn. Although in the first two auditions there had been people who had messed it up, now at the final callback, everyone left were good dancers and knew it. Eva knew her work was cut out.

The music started and Michelle counted them in. The dance flowed naturally from Eva and she hit every step perfectly, at least in her mind. Michelle and Eric were each nodding by the end of it, both looking pleased. They gave the dancers a second to catch their breath and then the music and dance was starting again.

The dance was run through four times in total and by time it was over, Eva was grateful to take a five minute break. She went back to her corner of the room and mentally ran over the steps of her individual dance that she had choreographed. A few butterflies were beginning to take flight in her stomach. It was one thing to do a dance within a group where all the attention wasn’t focused on you but it was very different to do it all by yourself. She desperately needed the job and that wasn’t helping out the butterfly situation any.

The five minutes passed too fast and Eva’s heart beat sped up a bit as Eric began to call out order of the individual dances.

Of course I’m second.

With a sigh, she stood up and leaned against the wall, preparing herself to go impress.

* * *

Justin Timberlake picked up the picture of one of the female dancers later that day as he listened to Eric talk.

“What was her name again?”

“Larissa Montgomary. She did the dance to the Cher song.”

“Oh right,” he said, recalling the girl.

“She’s been good through the whole audition process,” Michelle said. “Had a bit of trouble learning the dance at the beginning, but she figured it out with a bit of help. She’s really nice. What did you think of her?”

“She was good. I thought she was a little jerky at some points in her dance though.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Eric said. “Might have just been nerves.”

“Put her on the maybe list,” Justin said, putting down the picture. He leaned back in his chair and popped his neck. He had been in this studio for too long. First an hour and a half with the audition and now the past hour with Michelle and Eric, trying to pick out seven dancers. He was ready to get out of there. “Is that all of them?”

“Um…” Michelle shifted through her papers. “No, one more. Eva De Miranda.” She handed him the picture. “She was the first one to do the individual dance.”

He stared at the picture and remembered the girl. “Yeah, I liked her. What’s she like?”

“Really good. Picked up all the dances we taught really fast. She’s had some background in ballet so that hasn’t hurt her any. She’s never done anything like dancing on a tour, but I don’t think it would be a problem considering she’s done some ballet performances. I doubt she’d have a problem with nerves or anything.”

“Wait, is she the one who was sitting over there the whole time?” Justin asked, pointing across the empty dance studio to the back corner.

“Uh…yeah, I think so,” Eric said.

“She like didn’t talk to anyone the whole time.”

“She seems pretty quiet,” Michelle said. “I talked to her once after the first audition and she seemed pretty nice. Just shy I guess.”

“What do you want to do about her?”

“I liked her. She’s a good dancer. Put her on the yes list.”

“So you have five definite yeses and four maybes. Which of the maybes do you want?”

Justin pushed back his chair and stood up. “You guys have seen them more than me. You pick the two that you like the best. Just make sure those other five yeses are there.”

With that said, he left the studio and went outside into the sun. Getting into his car, he left the building, relieved that the morning was finally over with.

Two Months Later

“Diva! Are you bringing your green track pants with you?”

Eva stuck her head out of her bathroom to look at the pants her friend, Danielle, was holding up. “Um…yeah, throw those in. Michelle and Eric want us to practice like a million times a week so I’ll probably need them,” she said, going back into the bathroom where she was packing up her toiletries. She sighed as she looked at everything she had laid out on the counter. “How am I going to get all my stuff into two bags?”

“By not being so high maintenance, that’s how,” a male voice came from her doorway.

She looked up and smiled when she saw her boyfriend, James, leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on his face. “I’m packing for five months. Give me a break.”

He smiled and came into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. “You’ve really left this to the last minute, huh?” He checked his watch. “It’s like eight o’clock. You leave in ten hours.”

“I know. I meant to do it sooner.” She began to pack her make up into a bag.

“You know your apartment door was unlocked, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Nick and Mere are bringing Lacey over so I can say goodbye so I just left it open.” She zipped her bag closed once everything was in it and watched in the mirror as James came up behind her and looped his arms around her front.

“Have you already said goodbye to the rest of your family?”

“Yeah. Mom and Dad wanted to come with me to the airport tomorrow but my flight’s so early.”

“And I’m already driving you.”

She turned around so she was facing him. “That too.”

“So are you all packed then?”

“I think so. Danielle was just helping me fit all my stuff into my suitcases.”

“Yeah, how long will she be here?”

Eva gave him a look. “Be nice.”

“Well she doesn’t like me, Eva.”

“And you don’t like her either so you’re even. She’s my best friend though. Don’t get into a fight with her. Not tonight.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll try.” He sighed slightly. “But I want some time alone with you tonight. You’re going to be gone for so long.”

“I’m sure that Dani’s planning on leaving once I finish packing and Nick, Mere, and Lacey are gone.”

He leaned his head down and kissed her. “Good.”

“Be nice,” she repeated and he gave her a bright smile.

“I’m always nice,” he replied.

She was about to respond when she heard the sound of a girl’s voice out in the hallway. Smiling, she broke away from James and went to the door. When she opened it, her smile grew as she spotted the three year old girl with dark hair pulled back in ponytails.

“Aunt Eva!”

Eva bent down and scooped up the little girl. “Hi, Lacey,” she said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I was waiting for you to get here.”

“We can’t stay for too long, Eva,” Mere said. “It’s past her bedtime.”

“I know. As long as I get to see her for a bit.” She looked up when she heard Nick clear his throat and she saw him raise his eyebrows at her as his eyes traveled from her to James, who had followed her out of the bathroom. She rolled her eyes at her brother and then turned her attention back to the girl in her arms.

“So you’re out past your bedtime, are you?” she asked, carrying Lacey into the apartment kitchen.

“Yep.”

“Lucky girl.” She looked over at Mere. “Is it okay if she has some juice?”

Mere nodded. “Sure.”

Eva opened the fridge and pulled out a container of juice and then poured some into a sippy cup that she kept around just for when Lacey came over. “There you go, Sweetie.”

“What do you say, Lacey?” Mere prompted.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Eva replied.

“Danielle and James are going at it again,” Nick said, coming into the kitchen.

Eva sighed. “What about this time.”

Nick shrugged. “Something about when Danielle’s leaving.”

“I told him not to start anything,” Eva sighed. “He wants her to leave so me and him can be alone.”

Nick gave her a look. “Be careful, Eva.”

Eva looked down at Lacey. “James isn’t like that, Nick,” she said softly. “Stop worrying.”

Nick smiled. “I’m your older brother. It’s my job to worry.”

“You and Mark both need to lighten up a bit. I’m fine.”

“Is Mark stopping by?”

“He was at Mom and Dad’s when I went over this afternoon so I saw him then.” She laughed a bit. “It feels like I’m moving to France or something with all these goodbyes.”

Mere smiled. “Well we’re used to seeing you all the time and we’re going to miss you. Lacey’s really going to miss you.”

Eva set Lacey down as the girl started to squirm and watched a she ran from the room. “Yeah, I’m going to miss her a lot too.”

They fell silent for a few moments and Eva listened to the muffled sounds of James and Danielle argue.

“Do they ever stop?” Mere finally asked.

Eva shook her head and pushed herself away from the counter. “No. Hold on a minute.” She left her brother and sister in law in the kitchen and walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

“They’re mad, Aunt Eva,” Lacey said from where she was sitting on the couch, looking at a picture book.

“I know, Sweetie. They’re not being very nice.” Giving the girl a smile, Eva slipped past her and went to her bedroom. She stopped in the doorway and crossed her arms over her chest. Danielle was the first to notice her and she fell silent, soon followed by James.

“In case you guys didn’t notice, there’s a three year old in the next room who doesn’t need to hear you two yelling at each other. Stop it.”

They both murmured an apology and satisfied that they were going to behave, Eva left the room, going back to where Lacey was. She spent the next ten minutes with her until Mere said they needed to go. Eva felt a lump rise in her throat as she squatted down to hug Lacey.

“I’m going to miss you, Honey,” she said.

“Going away?”

“For a little bit. But I’ll call you on the telephone.” Eva hugged her tightly and then pulled her face back. “Kiss?”

Lacey leaned forward and gave her a loud kiss.

“Be good for Mommy and Daddy.”

“Okay.”

Eva hugged her once more and then stood up. She moved forward to hug Mere and Nick.

“Have a fun time,” Nick said as he hugged her. “We’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you guys too.”

“Make sure you call and email, okay?” he said when he pulled back.

“I will.” She slipped her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and watched as Mere picked Lacey up. She said goodbye once more and then they left. Danielle came up behind her as the door shut.

“I got all your stuff into the suitcases,” she said. “And I’m assuming you want to sleep tonight so I’m going to head out.”

“Okay.” Eva hugged her. “I’ll call.”

“You better.” Danielle squeezed her. “Have fun, Diva. Give Justin a big kiss for me.”

Eva laughed. “Sure, Dani.”

Danielle smiled and kissed Eva’s cheek. She put her shoes on and then opened the door. “See you later, Diva.”

“Bye.” Eva watched Danielle leave and closed the door behind her. She sighed as she stared at the closed door. Only a few seconds passed before she felt James’ presence behind her. She felt his hands on her arms and stepped away from him.

“What?” he asked.

She turned around to face him. “You said you weren’t going to fight with Danielle.”

“I’m sorry, Eva. I wasn’t trying to. We just don’t get along.”

She sighed again and moved past him to go to her room. Moving her suitcases off her bed, she sat down on the edge of it.

“You okay?” James asked, coming in behind her.

“Yeah. Just a little anxious about leaving.”

“I’m sure you’ll be okay.”

“It’s just that I don’t know these people.”

“You’ll get to know them. You’ll be fine. Besides, you’ve been dancing with them for two months now. What’s the problem?”

She stared at him for a minute. “I don’t know,” she finally mumbled.

“So can I stay here tonight?”

“I thought you were just going to come by in the morning.”

“I was. But I just thought…” he trailed off and shrugged. She was quiet for a minute and he laughed a bit. “I don’t have to, Eva. Just thought it would be easier.”

“I guess you can if you want. But I need to sleep.”

“I know.”

She stood up. “Okay, well I’m going to get ready for bed.” She went to her bathroom and changed into her pajamas, washed her face, and brushed her teeth. When she got back into her room, she found James in his boxers and t-shirt, sitting on her bed and talking on his cell phone. She went to the other side of her bed and got into it, laying on her side. She closed her eyes and listened to James’ side of the conversation. He only stayed on the phone for a couple minutes before saying goodbye. She kept her eyes closed as he got up and shut off the lights and then got into her bed. She felt his hands on her waist and moved over towards him so he could move his arms fully around her. He leaned forward to kiss her and then laid his head on his pillow.

“So you never did tell me if you’ll be able to fly back and visit.”

“I never asked. I forgot. But I’ll find out tomorrow and call you.”

“You better be able to visit. I don’t want to go five months without seeing you.”

She smiled. “Me neither. If there’s a break in concerts I’m sure it’ll be fine. And there’s that week break in the middle of it too.”

“When is that?”

“I don’t know the exact dates. In the middle somewhere.” She yawned and let her eyes close. “What time is it?”

“Ten.”

“I’m going to be so tired tomorrow.”

“What time is your alarm set to?”

“Four.”

“Damn…” he murmured. “I thought you said you had to be up at six.”

“That’s when my flight leaves. I have to be at the airport by five fifteen.” She opened her eyes to look at him. “Good thing you’re here or you wouldn’t have known to pick me up at six and I would have missed my flight.”

He smiled and kissed her again. “Yeah, good thing.”

“Can we do that one more time?” Michelle yelled over the music, which stopped abruptly. Justin looked over at his dancing partner, Tammy.

“Yeah, Tammy,” he teased. “Damn, get it right already.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Okay, can I switch from being his partner?” she asked Eric and Michelle.

“No, your lack of dancing skills makes me look so good though,” he grinned at her, laughing and taking a step back as she threw some water at him from her water bottle.

“Okay, guys, come on,” Michelle said. “Quit fooling around. The first concert’s in two days and we need to get as much practice in as possible.”

“We know,” Tammy said. “We’ll be good. But tell me again why only me and Justin have to practice ninety hours a day and not the others?”

“Because the others aren’t going to be the focus of the audience’s attention and you and Justin will be,” Michelle replied. “Can we take it from the top?”

Justin moved back to the middle of the stage where Tammy was. They had been practicing for the past two hours and he wanted a break. But Michelle was positive they needed to perfect the footwork on a couple songs and he knew they were going to be there until they did just that.

The music started again and he began the dance he had memorized. Everything was going smoothly until he moved across the stage and instead of Tammy coming up behind him, he heard a crack and her shriek. Stopping, he turned around and saw her on the ground, clutching her ankle. The music stopped abruptly.

“Tammy, are you okay?” he asked, going over to her.

“No!” She began to cry. “It hurts!”

Michelle ran onstage and came over to them. She crouched on the ground. “Move your hands, Tammy,” she said gently.

Justin winced a bit as Tammy moved her hands and he saw her ankle. “Oh gross.”

Michelle gave him a look and then turned to Eric. “Can you call an ambulance, Eric?”

Tammy started to cry harder. “You can see the bone sticking into my skin!”

Justin looked away from her leg. When he had broken his leg, it had NOT looked like that.

“Try and not touch it,” Michelle said. “The paramedics will be here in a couple minutes.”

“It hurts so bad,” Tammy whimpered.

“Justin, go grab her some water,” Michelle instructed.

He nodded and walked to the other end of the stage where Tammy had dropped her water bottle. He brought it over to her and squatted down beside her. “Here.” He watched her take a small sip. “How did you fall?”

Tammy hiccupped. “I slipped on that water I threw at you.”

He smiled a bit. “See that’s why you shouldn’t ever try to throw water on me.”

Michelle shooed him away. “Justin, now isn’t the time to be making jokes.”

He sat down on the stage by Tammy and reached over to rub her back. She was in obvious pain, but there wasn’t anything any of them could do about it. He avoided looking down at her ankle. He didn’t have a weak stomach but it just looked disgusting.

The paramedics arrived quickly and Justin stood back as they moved Tammy onto a stretcher. Michelle went with Tammy to the hospital and Eric left, talking on his cell phone. Justin suddenly found himself alone in the empty stadium. He turned a full circle on the stage.

“Right,” he said out loud and then went to the corridor leading backstage. He was walking towards his dressing room when he heard his name being called. He stopped and turned around to see one of the dancers, Shawn, jogging towards him.

“Hey.”

“What’s going on? I saw the ambulance.”

Justin resumed walking and Shawn fell into step beside him. “Tammy busted her leg while we were practicing.”

“What? How?”

“Slipped on some water on the stage.”

“What’re we going to do for concerts then? She can’t dance on a broken leg.”

Justin hadn’t even thought about that. “I have no idea. Shit, I never even thought about that.”

“Think they’ll get one of the other girls to do it?”

“But then there’s gonna be an extra guy.” Justin shook his head. “I have no idea how this is gonna-” He stopped when he heard his name being yelled again and turned to see Eric at the end of the corridor, motioning for him. Justin said a quick goodbye to Shawn and then walked to Eric.

“Eric, what are we doing for a dancer?” he asked when he reached him.

Eric began walking to a small conference room and Justin followed. “That’s what we have to talk about.” He closed the door behind them and sat down at the table. Justin sat down across from him and Eric dialed a number on the phone on the table and put it on speaker.

“Hello?” Michelle’s voice came over the line.

“Hey. I’ve got Justin here. How’s Tammy?”

“They’re taking her upstairs for surgery. She has to get some pins in her leg.”

“How long are you going to be there?”

“Her sister’s flying in so I thought I’d wait around until she got here.”

“So what are we doing for a dancer?” Justin asked again.

“You need to have a dancer for this concert,” Michelle said. “We’re going to have to pull one of the girls from their partners and make her your partner.”

“But then there’s an extra guy.”

“I called one of our backup dancers from the auditions,” Eric said. “Until she gets here and learns all the dances, we’ll just sit the guy out.”

“Won’t that mess things up to only have six people onstage instead of eight?”

“We’ll have to make it work. We have no other choice. Now we have to decide on the girl who’s going to replace Tammy.”

“Eva,” Michelle said immediately.

“Why her?”

“She’s the only one who will be able to learn the dances in time, Justin. We don’t have two months to teach these dances like we did before. And none of the others will be able to learn it in two days. Eva’s the best after Tammy. It has to be her.”

Eric looked at Justin. “That okay with you?”

Justin shrugged. “Sure. I guess.”

“You need to call her right now, Eric, and get her down to the stadium. We have to get in as much practicing as we can.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that right now. Do you know how long you’ll be there?”

“The rest of the night probably.”

“Alright. Call when you’re on your way back to the hotel.”

“Sure. Bye.”

“Bye.” Eric smiled at Justin. “So up for some more practice?”

Justin sighed and sunk into his chair a little further. “I have a feeling that I really don’t have a choice.”

* * *

It was close to six o’clock when Eva walked into the stadium. She had received a phone call from Eric an hour before asking her to come back to the stadium and she had taken a cab from the hotel. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on since none of the other dancers had to come.

As she walked down the aisle, she could see that Eric was sitting in the first row and Justin was sitting on the very edge of the stage. Other than them, the stadium was empty.

When Eric spotted her, he jumped up and his eyes traveled down her body.

“Oh good, you’re in dancing clothes.”

“Um, what’s going on?” she asked, glancing briefly at Justin.

“Tammy broke her ankle and can’t dance. We need you as her replacement.”

Eva let the bag drop from her shoulder to one of the seats. “But-but the first concert’s in two days.”

“And that’s why we need to start practicing tonight. You’re a quick learner, Eva. You’ll be fine. Okay, so we’re going to start with the opening number and just work our way through the whole concert.”

Eva blinked a few times, still trying to process what exactly was going on. “Okay, wait…how did she break her leg?”

“Slipped on some water on the stage,” Eric answered.

“But it’s only two days until the concert and who’s going to dance with Chad?”

“Until Larissa Montgomery gets here, he’s going to sit out. We’ll figure everything out completely tomorrow when we practice with everyone together. But right now I really need you to learn these dances as best you can.”

She could hear the note of desperation in his voice and finally nodded. “Okay.” She leaned down to retie her running shoes and then went to the stairs leading onstage. Justin stood up as she went over to him.

“Do you think you can learn it?” he asked.

“I can try.”

“Good thing you came in dancing clothes, huh?”

She looked down at herself. “Yeah, I never changed from practice this afternoon.”

“Alright,” Eric said, coming onstage. “Let’s start with the opening number.”

The next two hours were spent slowly going through each song. Although some of the choreography was the same as what she learned, a lot was different. She had been watching Tammy do it for two months though so that made it a bit easier. She tried as hard as she could to learn it as fast as she could because she could tell Justin was tired. He had been there a lot longer than she had and now he had to waste his time helping her learn everything so she felt bad for him.

Around eight thirty, Eric let them take a break so he could call Michelle and see how Tammy was doing. Eva went backstage to find a water fountain. Once she spotted one, she turned it on and stood there as she filled up her water bottle. It was almost full when she heard footsteps and looked up to see Justin approaching her.

“Tired yet?”

She nodded and pulled her water bottle away from the fountain. “Yeah.”

“So now that we’re partners you can’t ignore me anymore.”

She looked over at him. “What?”

He laughed. “I’m just kidding. No, but I’ve like never talked to you at all. Not even at rehearsals and stuff.”

“Oh.”

He moved to the water fountain and filled up his own bottle. “So?”

She looked at him, confused. “So what?”

He laughed again. “Tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“You’re from LA?”

“Yeah.”

“Live alone?”

“Yeah. In an apartment.”

“Family?”

“My whole family lives in LA. My younger brother lives at home still and my older brother is married.”

“Cool.” He put the lid back on his water bottle. “So you do ballet, right?”

“I used to. How did you know that?”

“It was in your resume. I read all the dancers’ resumes when we were picking you guys.” He began to walk down the hallway and she went with him.

“So how do you like tour life so far? Even though we haven’t actually started touring.”

“It’s okay.”

“Do you like the other dancers?”

“They’re all nice. I haven’t really talked to them a lot.”

He gave her a long sideways glance only looking away when she looked over at him. “Well now that you guys are in the hotels together and going to be on tour buses all the time you’ll get to know them pretty well.”

“I guess,” she said softly.

They walked in silence for a bit until the reached the stage.

“So what does your fiancé do?”

She looked over at him. “My fiancé?”

He gestured to her hand. “You have an engagement ring on.”

She looked down at the diamond ring on her fourth finger. “This was my grandmother’s ring. I’m not engaged.”

“So why do you wear it on your engagement finger?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Because I can.”

He smiled and sat down on the edge of the stage. She sat down beside him, letting her legs hang off the edge. They had barely gotten settled when Eric appeared and wanted them to start practicing again.

Michelle came by around ten o’clock while they were in the middle of a song. When the music ended, she whistled.

“That was amazing, Eva!” she called. “Have you guys learned all the songs?”

“Yeah, we’ve gone through them all,” Justin said. “Now can we PLEASE stop for the day?”

Michelle and Eric exchanged a look and Eric nodded.

“Yeah, we’ve tortured you enough for today,” he said. “You guys can go back to the hotel. Remember we have to start at seven thirty tomorrow morning.”

Eva shut her eyes briefly at the thought. She opened her eyes when she felt Justin nudge her with his elbow.

“Don’t fall asleep here.”

She nodded and yawned. She took Justin up on his offer for a ride to the hotel, not wanting to take anymore time than necessary to get to her hotel room and be able to go to bed.

“And you remembered everything?” Danielle asked. “All the dances?”

Eva curled onto her side on her hotel room bed. “Yeah. I almost messed up at one point but that’s about it.”

“That’s amazing. I still can’t believe you learned all of it in two days.”

Eva yawned and moved the phone to her other ear. “Me neither actually. I don’t think I’ve ever learned that many dances so fast.”

“So you guys all just came back to the hotel?”

“No. There was this big after party at some club. Everyone’s at that.”

“Why didn’t you go?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know any of the other dancers. I’d just feel out of place.”

“Well why aren’t you getting to know them? I mean, you’re spending the next five months with these people, Diva. You might as well be friends with them. They aren’t assholes, are they?”

“No. Everyone’s really nice.”

“Then you should do things with them. If you block them all out, it’s going to be a really long tour.”

“Yeah I know.” Eva stretched out on her back and yawned. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so sore in my life. I haven’t done this much constant dancing in so long.”

“Is it always going to be like that?”

“No. There’s practice before every concert. There was just so much practice because it was the first concert and we lost a dancer.”

“So that girl went home?”

“Yeah, her flight was this morning. The replacement girl is here tomorrow and then she’s going to have to learn all of the dances.” Eva yawned again. “Have you seen James at all in the past couple days?”

“We work together so it’s hard not to see him,” Danielle replied. “You haven’t talked to him?”

“I’ve been so busy the past couple days with all the extra practice that I haven’t had a chance. His line was busy when I tried him tonight.”

“Oh. Well, he’s James. Been going to clubs from what I’ve heard.”

“Oh. I guess I expected that. I never want to go with him to clubs so I figured he’d go out more that I’m not there.”

“Mm hmm.”

“Why don’t you like him, Dani?”

“I’ve already told you, Eva. I’ve known him way longer than you and he’s always just been an ass. He uses people.”

Eva was quiet for a minute. “But you don’t know him like I do.”

“Yeah I guess I don’t.” Danielle paused. “I should go, Diva. I have to work in the morning.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty tired too.”

“Call me tomorrow okay? I’ll be home by six.”

“I will as long as the time differences don’t mess me up when we drive to the next city.”

“Yeah, you’re going to have fun with all the time changes.”

Eva rolled her eyes. “Yeah, a lot of fun.”

Danielle laughed. “Okay, well hopefully I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Eva shut her cell phone and set it on the table beside her bed. She was already in her pajamas so she simply got out of bed and turned off the lights and then crawled back into bed, laying down in the dark. With a sigh, she stared up at the ceiling.

She was already homesick and she hadn’t even been away for a week yet. She knew Danielle was right about needing to make friends with the other dancers but it was hard. She was shy by nature and all the other dancers were so outgoing. She didn’t know how she could fit in with them.

Although her brain was still working overtime on how she was feeling, the exhaustion from the past few days was too much to ignore and after laying there for a couple more minutes, she was asleep.

* * *

Eva was just about to leave her hotel room the next morning when there was a knock on the door. Grabbing her purse, she went over and opened it, surprised when she found Justin standing on the other side of it.

“Oh hey,” he said, also looking a little surprised. “I didn’t know you shared a room with Olivia.”

She nodded. “Yeah we do.”

He held up a jacket. “She left this last night. Is she still sleeping?”

“Yeah.” She took it from him. “I’ll put it with her stuff.” She went across the dark room and set the jacket on top of Olivia’s suitcase. Justin was still standing there when she went back to the doorway.

“Where are you going?” he asked, looking at her purse.

“Downstairs to the restaurant to get breakfast.”

“Cool. I’ll come with you.” He paused. “That’s okay?”

She shrugged. “Okay,” she said, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

“So where were you last night?” Justin asked as they walked down the hallway. “I never saw you at the party.”

“I came back to the hotel after the concert.”

He pushed the button for the elevator. “Why?”

“I was kind of tired.”

“Oh. Well you missed a fun party. It’s a good thing there’s no concert tonight.”

“Yeah. Olivia seemed pretty drunk when she came into the room.”

“You were awake?”

“She woke me up.” They stepped into the elevator. “Why are you up? Did you not stay out as late as the rest of them? Shouldn’t you be sleeping it off like the rest of them?”

“I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t really drink last night either.”

“Oh.”

The elevator arrived on the lobby floor and they stepped out and walked to the hotel restaurant. After being seated at a table, Justin excused himself to go to the bathroom. Eva leaned back in her chair and sighed as he walked away. She had kind of wanted to be alone and Justin always seemed to ask so many questions. She had a feeling this was going to be a very long breakfast.

* * *

Taking a drink of his coffee, Justin watched as Eva took a bite of her toast and chewed it. They had been sitting there for probably almost forty five minutes and he was surprised by her lack of talking. He had never really talked to her but that was because they were always practicing and he didn’t get a chance. He had thought she would open up over breakfast but she hadn’t really. She answered every question but didn’t offer up any extra information and half of her answers seemed like there was a lot more to them that she wasn’t willing to disclose.

So far he had found out that she did have a boyfriend who worked with her best friend in an accounting firm. She had done ballet for fifteen years, starting at age four, and she had taken piano lessons for ten years. He was most surprised that she was an English major in university. She was using the money from the tour to help pay for her tuition for the next year.

“So what about your family?” he asked once she had stopped chewing. “You said you had two brothers, right?”

She nodded and fiddled with her napkin. “Yeah.”

“So the one who’s married, do they have any kids or anything?”

Eva’s face lit up. “A little girl, Lacey. She’s three.” She reached down for her purse. “I have a picture of her.

Well here’s something she likes talking about, he thought to himself as he watched her open her wallet. She pulled out a picture and handed it to him.

“She’s cute,” he said, looking at the image of the girl. “She’s three?”

“Just turned three last month.”

He looked up at Eva and then back at the picture. “She kind of looks like you too.”

Eva shrugged. “Me and my brother look alike and Lacey takes after our side of the family.”

Justin handed her the picture back. “She’s really cute. Is she old enough to know where you are?”

“She just knows I’m going away for a bit .The concept of dancing on a tour would probably go over her head.”

He laughed. “Yeah, probably.” The fell silent again and he tried to think of something else to say. He was just about to ask her more about university when the ringing of a cell phone cut through the air and Eva reached down to her purse. He tried not to eavesdrop on her conversation but he couldn’t help but catch parts of it.

“…Jessica Wallace? No, I don’t know her…I’m sure she is, James…Yeah, I know…No, I’m eating breakfast…No…uh, Justin...uh huh.” He watched her roll her eyes. “Like I would ever do that…I know…Okay, I will…Okay…You too. Bye.” She shut her cell phone and put it back in her purse. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” he said. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, you guys are allowed to have boyfriends or girlfriends or whatever come and visit for a couple days.”

“I know. Michelle already told us.”

“Oh. Okay.” It was quiet again and just as he decided to ask her about school, Olivia appeared with a coffee cup in one hand and a bagel in the other.

“Hey guys,” she said, sitting down in an empty chair.

“You’re up early,” he said. “I thought you’d be sleeping off a hangover.”

“I don’t have a hangover. Actually, I think I’m still a little drunk.”

He laughed and took a drink of his juice. His eyes moved to Eva as she pushed back her chair. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go shower.”

His eyes followed her as she walked away. That was a quick exit. “Hey, Olivia, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Have you ever really talked to Eva? What’s her story?”

Olivia shrugged. “Hell if I know. I’ve barely ever talked to her. She doesn’t talk in case you haven’t noticed. She’s a bit stuck up.”

“I think she might just be shy.”

“It’s not like we haven’t all been around each other all the time for the past two months. She has nothing to be shy about. It’s getting annoying.”

“You’re sharing a room with her right? And you’ve never even talked to her?”

Olivia shrugged. “Small talk. She doesn’t seem to be big on making any new friends. I really don’t know how she’s going to survive this tour. From what I understand, she’s never done anything like this before. And if she’s going to refuse to make friends? It’s going to be a tough five months for her.”

Justin scratched his chin. “You should be her friend.”

“She doesn’t like to talk and I do. Somehow I feel like we aren’t the most compatible people in the world.”

“But you and her are roommates for the whole tour. You might as well be her friend.”

“Maybe. Why are you so insistent that she has a friend anyways? What does it matter to you?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t really. It was just an idea.” He leaned back in his chair as Olivia began to talk about the party the night before. His mind wandered back to Eva after a few moments. That girl was just a huge mystery. With almost everything she said, it felt like there were underlying things that she wasn’t saying. And he wanted someone to become her friend so he could figure out more about her. She interested him and he could always use some mystery to uncover in his life.

Two days later, Eva lowered her bag from her shoulder onto the side of the stage. The stadium was empty, probably due to the fact that there wasn’t a concert that night and it was the lunch hour. Michelle and Eric wanted all the dancers there for two o’clock but she had decided to come early.

Sitting down on the stage, she opened up her duffle bag and pulled out her ballet slippers. The large, wide stage was perfect for dancing and it felt like forever since she had been able to just do her own dancing.

After lacing up the ballet slippers, she stood up and stretched her muscles. She raised herself up on her toes and flexed her calf muscles and then moved to the middle of the stage.

She had no music but she still remembered every dance that she had learned in her later years in ballet. She could hear the music in her head and that was enough.

Moving to the middle of the stage, she got in her starting position and then began dancing. She lost herself in the silent music and did three full dances before pausing. She stood still on the stage, catching her breath. With the lack of music in her head she realized how quiet it was. Only forty minutes had passed and there was still time before everyone else got there. And because she still had energy left, she took a drink of water and then began dancing again.

* * *

Yawning, Justin walked through the backstage area towards the stage. It seemed kind of empty considering they were supposed to start practice in ten minutes.

Maybe they’re all out there already, he thought as he walked through one of the wings leading to the stage. He quickly discarded that idea because of the lack of noise. If all the dancers were out there, he would be able to hear them.

Walking a bit further, the stage came into eyesight and he stopped abruptly when he saw Eva.

She’s a keener, he thought, seeing her dancing. He was about to move onto the stage when he realized that she wasn’t doing their choreographed dance. He moved further into the shadows as he watched her dance so she wouldn’t see him. He had never watched anyone up close do ballet and it was really interesting. There was no music going but that apparently didn’t matter to her. The only sound was her slippered feet moving across the stage.

He stood there for a while, becoming more and more impressed the longer he watched her. He had always considered ballet a dance of spinning in circles but he was amazed at how complex it looked. Eva almost seemed as if she was gliding as she moved across the stage and leaped into the air. It looked completely effortless although he knew it couldn’t be. He knew none of the other dancers could jump that high or do moves like that.

He had been standing in the dark for close to ten minutes when Eva stopped. He watched her bend down and unlace her ballet slippers and change into running shoes. Picking up her bag, she began to walk offstage towards him.

“That was great,” he said as she passed him, stepping forward and touching her arm. She let out a small gasp and stumbled forward a bit. “Whoa there,” he laughed, grabbing her waist to steady her on her feet. “You okay?”

“You scared me!” she said, clutching her chest. “Why are you just standing in the dark?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt you.” He suddenly became aware that he still had his hands resting comfortably on her waist and he let them drop to his sides. “That was really good,” he said, gesturing towards the stage.

Her face went a bit red. “How long have you been standing here?”

He shrugged. “Fifteen minutes maybe.” He leaned back against the wall. “You’re really good.”

“Thanks.”

“So why did you stop doing ballet? You’re so good at it.”

“I had to stop.”

“Why?”

“Just…some personal things that I had to deal with.”

“Well you’re really talented.”

“Thanks,” she repeated. She checked her watch. “Why are you here already?”

“Well don’t we have practice? Where is everyone?”

“Practice doesn’t start for another hour.”

“I thought it was at one.”

“Two. Michelle changed it yesterday.”

Eva shrugged and didn’t say anything.

“So why are you here so early? Just to dance?”

“Yeah. Any other time during the afternoon there are so many people around and I’d get in the way.”

“I guess.” Justin looked towards the stage when he heard footsteps. “Damn, Michelle’s out there,” he said softly. “If she sees us both here she’ll make us start practice early.” He grabbed Eva’s hand. “Come on.” He pulled her with him as he walked through the wing, away from the stage.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Away from our evil choreographer.” He heard Michelle call his name and he began to jog, dragging Eva behind her. He went through the backstage area, through the corridors, until he found a small door that was unlocked. He opened it and went in, pulling Eva in behind him. He shut the door and then searched for a light switch.

“That was a lot of effort just to avoid a bit of extra practice,” she said, a little breathless.

He found the switch and flipped it on, discovering they were in a small storage room. “It wouldn’t have just been a bit of extra practice. It would have been an hour of hell.”

She looked around. “So we’re just going to stand in here for an hour?”

He shrugged. “Just until Michelle gets tired of looking for us.” He put his hands in the front pockets of pants jeans and leaned back against one of the walls. “How long have you been here?”

“Since eleven.” She looked around again and then sat down on the floor, sitting cross legged.

“You have way too much energy to get up early after driving on a bus all night and come here to dance before practice. Aren’t you tired?”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

“You must drink a lot of coffee.”

“I don’t like the taste of coffee. I hardly drink it.”

“Really? I couldn’t live without it. I can’t believe you don’t drink coffee and still have energy.”

“I guess I don’t need a lot of sleep.”

“Good thing. You get like half as much sleep on a tour. Your sleep schedule gets so messed up. Usually by time it’s over all I want to do is sleep for a month.”

“So far it’s not too bad.”

“Just don’t burn yourself out. Sometimes that happens on tour.”

“Yeah.”

He slid down the wall to sit on the ground across from her so they were at eye level. “Okay, so what I’ve always wondered about ballet is how you guys stand on the top of your toes. Doesn’t that hurt?”

She smiled a bit. “When you first start it hurts so bad. I’d go home after practice and my toes would be bleeding.”

He winced a bit. “Why do people do it then?”

“It’s part of ballet. Once you’re accustomed to it, it doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s just at the beginning.”

“Do you think I’d be able to do it?”

She raised her eyebrows a bit. “Somehow I think you shouldn’t even try.”

He laughed and stretched out his legs in front of him, his feet almost touching her legs. “I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle it.”

She smiled and shook her head.

It was quiet for a minute and Justin listened to someone walk by outside the room. “So how long have you been going out with your boyfriend?”

She looked over at him. “What?”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Oh. About six months.”

“Where did you guys meet?”

“I was picking up my friend from work and I ran into him there.”

“So are you and him and your friend all friends then?”

“Uh…not really. They don’t like each other.”

“Oh. That sucks. It’s always shitty when your friend and the person you’re dating don’t get along.”

“Yeah.”

“Does it smell weird in here to you or is it just me?”

“Yeah it does. I think it’s that mop over there,” she said, pointing to a mop sitting in the corner. “It looks a little moldy.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Yeah.” He checked his watch. “Michelle’s probably given up by now. Want to get out of here?”

Eva nodded. “Yeah.”

He stood up and then offered his hand to her to pull her up. As they stepped out of the closet, they ran into Olivia. She raised her eyebrows.

“Hey guys,” she said slowly. “What’re you doing?”

He smiled. “Seven minutes of heaven.”

Olivia laughed. “Oh really?”

“Yep.” He turned to Eva. “Right, Eva?”

She blushed. “You would be so lucky.”

He laughed. So she does have some sort of a sense of humor. “Eva, don’t deny the magic we shared in there.”

“I’m doubting any magic happened with that smell going on in there,” Olivia said. “What is that?”

He pulled the door closed. “Moldy mop. It really added something special to the sexy atmosphere.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “I’m so sure.”

“Has Michelle been looking for us?”

“Yeah. She wanted me to come find you guys because everyone else is here.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. Chelle and Eric want to start now so we can leave early.”

“Okay.” He began to walk with Olivia, Eva trailing behind. He could literally almost see Eva going back into her shell as they neared the stage but at this point, he was beginning to realize that he wasn’t going to be able to draw her out around the other dancers so he didn’t push is and let her go off into her little corner as he joined the others.

Justin absentmindedly looked out across the club as he danced with Larissa Montgomery in the middle of the dance floor. He had been talked into coming out with the dancers and some of the crew on the tour but as the night went on, he was beginning to regret coming. He had gone out the past few nights and it was catching up with him. It was only eleven but he was planning to not stay much longer.

When Olivia had invited him, he had thought all of the dancers were going out too, but it turned out that Eva hadn’t. He had been a bit disappointed with that since he wanted to get to know her better outside dance rehearsal and concerts, which seemed to be the only place he ever interacted with her. He had asked Olivia about Eva’s lack of presence and Olivia had shrugged and simply said that Eva hadn’t wanted to come and she didn’t know why.

Justin came back to the present as the song playing ended and Larissa stopped.

“Want to go sit down?” she asked. “Since you’re obviously in another world out here.”

He smiled. “Yeah, sure.” He followed her through the crowds of people to the VIP section where everyone else was. Olivia and another dancer, Sara Robson, were giggling as he approached them and they abruptly stopped when he sat down. He stretched out in his seat. “What?”

Sara exchanged a look with Olivia and giggled again. “We know someone who has a crush on you…” she sang.

He began to smile. “Really? Who?”

“Guess.”

“You.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Keep dreaming.”

“Um…Michelle.”

“She’s married, Justin,” Olivia said.

“So?”

“So don’t be an ass. It’s not Michelle.”

“Then who?”

Olivia looked at Sara and then back at him. “Evaaa…” she said, drawing out her name.

He raised his eyebrows. “Eva?” he said skeptically. “She’s got a boyfriend.”

“Correction. She’s got a fiancé.”

“No, she told me she wasn’t engaged.”

“Then why does she wear that ring on her engagement finger?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Okay, well that’s besides the point,” Olivia said. “She has a crush on you.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“Oh come on. Haven’t you seen the way she looks at you?” Sara asked. “She looks like she’s always thinking ‘Oooh, Justin, I want you. Make me feel goooooood’.”

He began to laugh. “You guys are delusional.”

“Seriously,” Olivia said.

“Whatever, Olivia.” He leaned back in his chair and smirked. “You know, I’ve actually heard from quite a few people that you like me.”

“What?”

“Mm hmm. I’ve seen how you look at me. And quite frankly, it’s starting to make me uncomfortable.”

She narrowed her eyes at him when she realized he was joking. “Ass.”

He laughed. “Going to start denying it now, Olivia?”

She rolled her eyes. “How about we go back to the discussion we were having before. About Eva having the hots for you.”

He shook his head. “You guys are wrong.”

“Believe what you want,” Olivia said. “All I have to say is that her boyfriend better keep an eye on her.”

* * *

“So you got everything worked out with your boss?” Eva asked James the next day over the phone as she sat in her bunk in the dancer’s tour bus.

“Yeah. Everything’s sorted out. And I got those days off when I’m coming out to see you. He only let me have two days though.”

“Oh. Well that’s okay. At least you got the time off.”

“Yeah.”

Eva stretched out her legs in front of her. “So is anything else interesting happening?”

“Not really. I ran into your mom yesterday at the grocery store.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. She said she hadn’t talked to you in a while.”

“Yeah, I called her before I called you. I haven’t been able to get a hold of her the past couple days.” She leaned back against the wall of the bunk and tilted her head up to stare at the ceiling. She heard James yawn. “It’s late LA time. I’ll let you go.”

“Okay. Call me tomorrow if you have a chance, okay?”

“Sure. Bye.”

“Bye, Eva. I miss you.”

“Miss you too.” She hung up her cell phone and pushed the curtain back that covered her bunk and slipped out. Everyone else on the bus was asleep except for Olivia who was talking to her boyfriend in her bunk and it was almost silent. Eva left the bunk part of the bus and moved to the front.

“Not sleeping, Eva?” Marty, the bus driver, asked when she neared him.

“No, I’m not really tired.” She sat down on a chair near him. “How much longer until we get there?”

“Oh, not for another four hours at least. I have to stop and get some gas in a few miles if you want to get some fresh air.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. It’s getting stuffy in here.” She sat at the front of the bus for the next minute until Marty slowed the bus down and pulled into a gas station. She got off the bus with him and wandered away from the gas station and towards the convenience store a few yards away. Deciding to get something to drink, she went inside.

She had just pulled out a bottle of juice from the refrigerated shelves in the back of the store when she heard the bell over the door ring. Turning around, she saw Justin enter. His eyes connected with hers and he smiled as he came over.

“Hey,” he said when he reached her.

“Hi.”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Sleeping.”

“Oh.” He grabbed a bottle of juice from the shelf. “So what have you been doing?”

“Not much. I talked on the phone for a bit but it’s too late LA time to call anyone else.”

“Yeah, it’s like one or two in the morning there, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so bored on my bus. I don’t think I can watch anymore TV.”

“At least you can watch TV. Shane and Sara are both really light sleepers and the TV would wake them up if I had it on.”

“Well that sucks.” He passed the bottle in between his hands. “Hey, want to come on my bus? I’m so bored of being by myself in there. Unless you were going to sleep or something.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Then want to come on mine?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. It’s going to be a boring four hours if I’m in there alone.”

“Uh, sure, I guess.”

“Cool. Let’s pay for these then. I think they’re almost ready to go again.”

“Okay.”

They went to the front counter and Eva gave the cashier her money and then stepped to the side so Justin could pay. Once he was finished, they left the convenience store and walked back over to the buses.

“Marty, I’m going to go on Justin’s bus,” Eva said when she reached the bus driver. “Just so you know.”

“Alright, Eva,” he replied. “I’ll see you when we get there.”

“Okay.” She waved to him and then walked towards Justin’s bus where he was standing.

“All good?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

He stepped to the side and she climbed onto his bus, smiling at his driver on her way in. She went to the area where the TV was and stopped.

“Want anything to eat?” Justin asked as he came in behind her.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Okay.” He sat down on the couch and she followed suite and sat down in a chair. The bus began moving and she pulled her legs up to sit cross legged.

“Wanna watch some TV?” Justin asked, picking up the remote.

“Sure.”

He turned on the TV and flipped through a few channels. “You know, there’s nothing on. It’s Sunday.”

“Weren’t you watching TV before?”

“I was watching some DVDs.” He picked up another remote and turned on the DVD machine. She smiled as it turned on.

“You own Judge Judy DVDs?”

He smiled. “Sure. I love Judge Judy.”

“I didn’t even know they had this show on DVD.”

“I had to order it online.”

She laughed. “Oh.” She fell silent as they watched it for a few minutes. “Is it just me or does she have something against males? She always sides with the females.”

“Yes!” Justin exclaimed. “Thank you for saying that! I totally agree. I’ve tried telling my mom that and she says I’m imagining things. But Judge Judy totally has some underlying bitterness towards men.”

She smiled and leaned back in the chair. She was quiet for a minute. “I used to watch this show when I was in university. It would be on at like midnight and then I’d watch Jerry Springer that was on right after.”

“Didn’t you ever sleep?”

She shrugged. “I usually had late classes so I could sleep later in the morning. And I did my homework while I watched TV.”

“Really? You can concentrate on homework while watching TV?”

“Oh yeah. One of my best papers was written during and episode of Springer about grandmas who had slept with their granddaughter’s boyfriends.”

Justin laughed. “That’s funny. I can’t believe you can concentrate on a paper and watch Jerry Springer at the same time.”

She shrugged. “I grew up with two brothers. I’ve learned to have a lot of noise around when I’m working.”

“So when do you think you’ll be done your degree?”

“I’m starting school again in January and I’m hoping to be able to finish that year. It feels like it’s taken forever to get this far.”

“Were you doing ballet while you were in school?”

“I was at the beginning. I stopped ballet around the same time I stopped school for a while.”

“Same reason?”

She took a drink of her juice. “Uh huh.”

He fell silent and they went back to watching TV. After the show was over, he put in another DVD but they ended up talking through a large portion of it.

It was becoming easier to talk to Justin. As different as their lives were, he seemed a lot like her sometimes. It was also nice having someone to talk to. She still didn’t talk a lot to the other dancers and she had been getting lonely for a while. It felt good to have someone her own age to talk to and pass time with. It was better to pass time with someone than to be alone. She got more homesick when she had to be by herself.

They talked for the next three hours until the buses arrived in the next city that they were performing in. Eva got some weird looks from some of her fellow dancers as she got off of Justin’s bus but she quickly slipped past them and back onto their bus to get her stuff. If they wanted to know why she had been on his bus, they could simply ask. She didn’t see the need to supply the information

Once they got to their hotel rooms, everyone went back to bed. Not overly tired, Eva grabbed a book and went to the balcony of the room she was sharing with Sara, deciding to spend the rest of the afternoon reading. She only read for a few chapters though, before her mind got to thinking and she began to stare off into space, thinking about home.

Eva bit her lips as she stared at the cards in her hand. She looked up at Shane and then back down again. “Do you have any eights?”

“Go fish.”

She sighed and picked up a card from the pile in front of them, adding it to the handful she was already holding.

“Got any kings?”

She let out another sigh as she handed him her king.

“You’re really not very good at this game,” Shane commented, setting his pair of kings on the lounge chair beside him.

“Thanks for the observation.”

“I mean, I thought everyone was good at Go Fish,” he continued. “You’re the first person I’ve met who really sucks at it.”

“I don’t want to play with you anymore,” Eva said, lowering her cards to her lap. “I didn’t realize I was going to be criticized on my ability to play a stupid card game.”

Shane laughed. “Sorry, Eva. I just thought this was an easy game that everyone could play.”

“Well I’m used to playing with my brother’s four year old and letting her win.”

“Oh, so now you’re letting me win?”

She began to smile. “Well I didn’t want to tell you before but…”

He laughed again. “Good to know. Thanks, Eva.”

Continuing to smile, she leaned back in her chair and tucked some hair behind her ears. She was in the best mood she had been in for a while. That morning Nick had called her to tell her that he was going to be in New York the same time she was there for a concert so she’d get to see him along with Mere and Lacey who were coming for a mini vacation with Nick. She had been missing her family so much over the past weeks and this was exactly what she needed. She had really missed all the talks she had with Nick and Mere and playing with Lacey. Back in LA, she spent so much time at their house that it seemed like forever since she had seen them.

“Are you going to go? It’s your turn.”

She looked up from her cards. “What? Oh, yeah. Um…any twos?”

“Go fish.”

She reached in to pick up a card. “I’m beginning to think you’re cheating.”

“I thought you were letting me win.”

“Well…I’m letting you win and you’re cheating.”

He laughed. “Uh huh.” He rearranged the cards in his hands and then looked up at her. “You know, Eva, we’ve been on this tour for almost a month and this is probably the first time I’ve spent more than ten minutes with you actually talking.”

She pushed her hair behind her ears again. “Yeah.”

“You should hang out with us all more often. You’re fun but none of us even feel like we know you.”

She shrugged, not really knowing what to say.

“Why don’t you ever hang out with us anyways?”

“I…I don’t’ really have a lot in common with anyone, I guess.”

Shane gave her a skeptical look. “We’re all dancers and we’re all from LA except for Sara. How do you not have a lot in common with us?”

She shrugged again. She was trying desperately to think up something to say when she saw Olivia, Sara, and Shawn coming from the hotel and over to the pool where they sat. She was relieved as Shane got distracted and called the others over. She really hadn’t known what she was going to say in response to his question.

Go Fish was soon forgotten as Shane and Shawn jumped into the pool to play water basketball. Gathering up the cards, Eva began to slowly shuffle them as she stared off into space. She was yanked back to reality when there was the sound of a chair scraping across the pavement and she looked up to see Olivia sitting down in Shane’s vacant chair.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” Eva replied, setting the cards down on the table.

Olivia slipped on her sunglasses. “It’s so nice out today, huh? There’s like no clouds at all.”

Eva nodded. “Yeah, it’s nice.”

“How long have you and Shane been out here?”

“About an hour.”

Olivia nodded and propped up her feet on another chair. She was quiet for a few minutes and Eva went back to watching the guys in the water.

“Hey, want to come with me and get a drink?”

Eva looked over at Olivia. “Um, sure.” She stood up with her, straightening the board shorts she was wearing over her bathing suit. She fell into step with Olivia and they began walking to the outdoor bar by the pool.

“It’s so nice to finally have a day off,” Olivia said. “Especially since we have those three concerts all in a row next week.”

“Yeah.”

“So when we were driving here on Monday, what were you doing in Justin’s bus?”

Eva looked over at Olivia. She was the first person to actually ask her. “We were just talking.”

“For three hours?”

“Yeah. We were both bored and had nothing else to do.”

“Mm hmm.” They reached the bar and Olivia stood in line behind a couple of guys. “Eva, you like him, right?”

“Justin?”

“Yeah.”

“In what way?”

Olivia began to smile. “Like a crush.”

“No.”

“Oh come on. We’ve all seen you with him. You only talk to him out of all of us. It’s so obvious.”

Eva shrugged. “I don’t like him like that. I have a boyfriend.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t get a crush on someone like Justin.”

Eva looked away and rolled her eyes.

“Why do you always act like that?”

She looked back to Olivia. “Like what?”

“You’re always acting like you’re better than all of us. It’s like you think you’re too good to talk to us and hang out with us.”

Eva stared at Olivia, not really knowing what to say. She hadn’t expected to be bombarded when she had agreed to come with Olivia so she could get something to drink.

The people in front of Olivia finished and she stepped forward and placed her order.

“I mean, damn, Eva,” she said, once she had told the bartender what she wanted, picking up as if she had never stopped. “This tour would be a lot more fun if you stopped acting so stuck up.”

Deciding she didn’t need to take Olivia’s comments, Eva turned on her heel and began to walk back to the pool area. She heard Olivia call her name once but she didn’t slow down. Once she reached the pool, she picked up her things and moved from the table to a lounge chair further away. She sat down on it and pulled up her legs as she stared off towards the hotel.

How dare Olivia say something like that when she didn’t know anything about her. Just because she wasn’t as loud or as extraverted as the other dancers didn’t make her stuck up. None of them knew her well enough to make that kind of judgment about her.

“Eva.”

Eva turned her head to see Olivia standing there.

“I’m sorry, Eva. I was being a bitch. I don’t think you’re stuck up.”

Eva took a deep breath. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. I was being rude.”

Eva smiled a bit. “It’s really okay, Olivia.”

Olivia handed her one of the drinks she was holding. “I got you a daiquiri. Virgin since you had said you didn’t drink.”

Eva accepted the drink. “Thanks.”

Shane called Olivia’s name and she glanced over her shoulder and yelled for him to wait a minute before turning back to Eva.

“Are we okay, Eva?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it.”

Olivia smiled. “Cool.”

Eva watched Olivia go over to the pool and sit down on the edge. She looked down to the daiquiri in her hand. She actually hadn’t expected Olivia to apologize and she was pleasantly surprised. Olivia should learn when to speak and when not to, but she had apologized, so Eva really couldn’t hold it against her.

Once Eva had finished the drink, she laid back in the lounge chair and slid her sunglasses over he eyes. The warm sun slowly lulled her to sleep and she didn’t stir for the next twenty minutes until the sound of someone clearing their throat right beside her disturbed her. She sighed slightly and opened her eyes. Turning her head to the left, she saw Justin sitting in the lounge chair beside her, flipping through a magazine.

“Hey.”

She pulled her legs up. “Hi. How long have you been out here?”

“Only like ten minutes. I just woke up.”

“Isn’t it like two in the afternoon?”

He shrugged. “I was tired.” He smiled. “We can’t all be like you and never sleep, Eva.”

Her lips curved up a bit. “I sleep.”

“Uh huh. Sorry if I woke you up just now though. You look tired.”

“I’m fine. The sun just put me to sleep.”

“Oh.” He sat up and pulled off his t-shirt. “Yeah, it’s really nice out. I’m glad we have today off.”

“Yeah.”

“Were you going to come out for dinner with all of us tonight?”

“Um…I’m not sure yet.”

“You should. It’ll be fun.”

“Maybe.” She glanced out of the corner of her eye at him as he went back to reading his magazine. She was definitely missing James. That much was obvious by how distracted she found herself getting when she saw Justin or any of the other male dancers half naked. They all tended to do rehearsals for the concert without their shirts on and she was becoming more and more distracted by it.

“Did Michelle or Eric talk to you yet?”

She moved her eyes from his chest to his face, thankful that the dark sunglasses she had on hid what her eyes had really been looking at. “No. About what?”

“I don’t know. She just mentioned something about needing to talk to you. Something about the concerts.”

“Oh. Neither of them have said anything to me.”

“I guess they’ll call you if it’s important.”

“Mm hmm.”

Justin yawned and stretched out his arms above his head. “So are you up for a swim? No one else is even in the pool.”

She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and surveyed the pool area. It was pretty deserted. “Um, sure,” she said, deciding it wouldn’t hurt her to cool off a bit.

Later that night, Justin leaned back in his chair and laughed at something Sara had said as he sat amongst the dancers at a restaurant. They had finished eating long ago but the alcohol was flowing and no one was in any hurry to leave. They didn’t have a concert the next day but they did have rehearsals and he had a feeling they would all be paying for it in the morning. He had stopped after a beer, but it was getting late and he knew he’d be tired the next morning.

Eva had come after a bit of convincing from him. She was sitting beside him and had been quietly sipping on her ginger ale, not saying much. She seemed to be even more quiet than usual but she looked tired so he figured that was why. There was something weird happening between her and Olivia though. Olivia had been acting extra friendly towards Eva all night and had seemed to be making a larger attempt than usual to draw her into the conversation. Eva had responded each time but she still seemed subdued.

“I’m just going to go to the washroom,” Eva said softly as she pushed back her chair and stood up. Justin watched her walk towards the bathroom and then turned back to Olivia who was sitting across from him.

“Eva’s sure quiet tonight,” he commented.

Olivia’s face scrunched up a bit. “I think that’s my fault.”

“How so?

“Me and her were talking this afternoon and I kind of called her stuck up.”

“Olivia!” he said, shocked she would do that.

“I know, I know. I’m a bitch. I didn’t mean it.”

“Well you should apologize.”

“I did. And she said it was fine. But I think I hurt her feelings.”

“Well obviously. How would you like it if someone call you stuck up?”

She sighed. “I know, Justin. I feel bad about it. But I mean, I apologized so there’s really nothing more I can do.”

“I guess.”

Olivia gave a slight smile. “I did ask her if she had a crush on you though.”

He rolled his eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“Because it’s obvious she does and I wanted to see if she’d admit it. Wanna know what she said?”

“No,” he replied, not wanting to encourage Olivia’s crush idea.

Olivia shrugged. “Okay,” she said, leaning back in her chair.

He eyed her for a long moment before curiosity got the best of him. “Okay, what’d she say?”

Olivia laughed. “I knew you wanted to know.” She leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. “She said she didn’t.”

“I knew it.”

“Oh you believe that? She likes you. She just doesn’t want the whole world to know. It’s not hard to read someone like her though. She-”

“Shut up, she’s coming,” he cut her off as he spotted Eva making her way back to the table. Olivia fell silent and Eva reached the table and sat down again.

They only stayed at the restaurant for about ten more minutes before deciding to leave. After paying for the bill, they split up between the two vans they had ridden in from the hotel. Justin saw Eva getting into on and followed behind her. She went to the backbench and he sat down beside her. His cell phone began to ring just as he settled himself and he pulled it from his pocket.

“Hello.”

“Hey, it’s Michelle.”

“Oh, hi. What’s up?”

“Are you guys all going to be back soon? I need to talk to you and Eva.”

“We’re on our way back right now. What do you have to talk to us about?”

“About that extra dance we wanted Eva to do during the concert. Eric and I just finished choreographing it.”

“Oh. I had forgotten about that. Weren’t you going to do that a while ago?”

“We were but it got pushed back. We did want it to be ready before the concert that’s being televised so we have to start it now.”

He glanced at Eva, who was looking out the window. “Have you told her about it yet?”

“I mentioned it once briefly but that was a while ago. I wanted to talk to her about it tonight but I didn’t know when you all would be back.”

“We’ll probably be like fifteen minutes. Eva’s right beside me if you want to talk to her though.”

“Sure.”

He handed the phone to Eva, who had turned to look at him when he had said her name. She gave him a questioning look.

“Michelle,” he said.

She raised the phone to her ear and Justin discretely listening to her side of the conversation.

“Hi.” She was silent for a long moment as she listened. “What type of dance?” she finally asked. “For how long?…In between which songs?…Um, sure I could do it but don’t you want another one of the dancers to do it?…Yeah, I guess…Okay…Bye.” She handed the phone back to him and he raised it to his ear.

“Hey.”

“Hi. So it’s a go. Tomorrow I’ll need you and Eva there at eight instead of noon.”

“Why me?”

“You need to see the entire dance and then if you need to make any changes, you can do that then. Plus I think Tony was saying that he had scheduled some radio interviews for you in the morning and afternoon which will cut into your practice time so you can make that up in the morning.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and silently groaned. That was going to make it a very long day. “Okay I guess. I’ll see you tomorrow morning then. Are we all going together?”

“I have a few things to do tomorrow morning before we start. Call Eric though on his cell. Maybe he’ll want to go with you guys.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow.”

“Sure. Bye.” He shut his phone and turned to Eva. “So you’re up for learning another dance?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Michelle said it wouldn’t be hard for me to learn so I might as well try, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. So do you want to go together tomorrow?”

“Why do you have to go early?”

“Michelle wants me to do some practice early because I have to do other stuff for the rest of the day.”

“Oh.”

Putting the phone back in his pocket, he leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I’m going to be so tired tomorrow.”

“Me too.”

He looked at her with one eye. “And here I thought you were never tired.”

She rolled her eyes and he smiled as he closed his eyes. He was already half asleep by time they got to the hotel and it was all he could do to wake up enough to get into the hotel.

“So I’ll be ready to go at like seven thirty,” he said as she walked with Eva down the hallway on their floor. “I’ll just come by your room, okay?”

Eva stopped at her door. “Sure. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Morning came too soon for Justin and he stayed in bed for as long as possible before dragging himself out. He got dressed and by seven thirty two he was knocking on Eva’s hotel room door.

“Awake?” he asked when she opened the door.

“Barely,” she mumbled, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind her. “I’m so tired.”

“You look it,” he said, looking he rover and taking in the circles under her eyes. “Are you going to be able to dance this morning?”

She rubbed her hand over her face. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. Is Eric coming with us?”

“Yeah. He said he’d meet us downstairs.” He and Eva began to walk down the hallways to the elevator. “Tomorrow do you want to come with me on my bus when we drive to the next city?”

“Um…okay. Why?”

He shrugged and pressed the down button for the elevator. “Why not?” he asked back.

She laughed a bit. “Okay…”

“Well it’s going to be a long ride and I want some company. Everyone else always sleeps on the bus and I can never fall asleep. And you don’t sleep, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

They stepped into the elevator and he pushed the button for the lobby.

“This is going to be such a long day,” he said through a yawn.

“You have interviews?”

“I have to call in to a whole bunch of radio stations and I have to do some interviews with a couple newspapers too. And then there’s the practice this morning.”

Eva nodded and they were both silent as the elevator descended. When it reached the lobby and the doors opened, Justin spotted Eric sitting on a couch a few feet away.

“Where’s your security?” Eric asked when he reached them.

“Lou said he would get the van and meet us here.”

“He’s right there,” Eva said, pointing to where a large, black man was approaching.

“Are we ready?” Lou asked when he reached them.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Eric said.

They all left the hotel and got into the waiting van outside. Justin got into the back seat with Eva while Eric sat in the front and Lou drove. It was mostly silent as they drove and Justin stared out the window the whole way, watching the city pass by.

They stadium was deserted on the outside and Lou pulled into the back parking lot. Justin turned away from the window to undo his seatbelt and it was then that he noticed Eva was asleep beside him, her head leaning against the window.

“Eva, we’re here,” he said softly but she didn’t stir.

“She fell asleep?” Eric asked, turning to look into the backseat. “Damn, she looks exhausted.”

“Yeah,” Justin agreed.

“How late were you guys all out last night?”

“Like one thirty. Do you think she’ll be okay to learn this dance?”

“I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Yeah.” Justin looked back to Eva’s sleeping form. “From what I get from her, she doesn’t sleep a lot though.”

“Well she needs to start or she’s going to burn herself out. Her choice though. As long as she can dance.”

Justin reached over and shook Eva’s shoulder, trying again to wake her up. This time she did and lifted her head.

“Are we here?” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay to dance, Eva?” Eric asked. “You look pretty tired.”

“No, I’m fine,” she said, taking off her seatbelt. “It’s just early.”

Justin got out of the van, grabbing his duffle bag and then stood to the side as Eva got out behind him. He lagged behind with her as they all walked to the entrance.

“Maybe Michelle and Eric will postpone you learning the dance for a few days if you’re too tired to do it now,” he suggested.

“I’m just tired because it’s early. So are you. It’s not a big deal.”

“You seem more than tired. You seem worn out.”

She waved off his concern with a flick of her wrist and didn’t say anything else as they walked into the stadium and to the stage. Michelle was already there and the practice began right away. Since he had his first interview at ten, he and Eva first practiced their choreography together and then he went to shower and do his interview.

He had a spare hour in between interviews and he decided to go back to the arena to see the progress. Slipping into a seat in the front row, he stretched out his legs in front of him and watched as Eric demonstrated a dance step on stage for Eva. He had been sitting there for about five minutes when Michelle joined him.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Good. She’s picking it up fast. I think if we practice it everyday she’ll have it down by time next Wednesday’s concert.”

“Cool. Did you choreograph this or Eric?”

“Mostly me. I tried to put a bit of ballet in it to suit Eva’s style. She’s actually come up with a few ideas for it.”

“So you don’t think doing this dance in the middle of the concert will be too much for Eva?”

“I wouldn’t have asked her to do it if I had thought it would be too much,” Michelle replied.

“I guess.”

“Eric was telling me you were saying the same thing to him this morning. Why the sudden concern?”

“She just seems tired like she’s pushing herself too hard.”

“Well she knows how far she can go and it’s her responsibility, not yours, to say something if it gets to be too much.”

“I guess,” he repeated. He felt Michelle’s eyes on him and he glanced over at her before looking back to the stage. “What.”

She looked back to the stage. “Nothing.”

“You think I like her, don’t you?”

Michelle smiled a bit. “Maybe.”

“I’m just trying to look out for her. She’s not really close to any of the other dancers.”

“So you two are just friends.”

He shrugged. “Sure.”

“And if she didn’t have a boyfriend?”

He smirked a bit and slouched down in his seat. “Then maybe it would be a different story.”

“Didn’t get enough sleep last night?” Eva asked as she came up to stand behind Justin.

He smiled at her through his yawn, flashing his white teeth. “Not as much a I’d like to have gotten. I could still be sleeping if it wasn’t for these stupid interviews I have to be at. What are you doing up so early?”

“I have to go shopping for a birthday present for my niece.”

“Lacey, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re going all by yourself?”

The elevator doors opened and she followed him in. “No one else is up.”

“That’s cause it’s only nine and I think they were all out last night. You didn’t go?”

“No.”

“Oh. Well if you want some company, I’ll be done my interviews by eleven. I could come with you.”

She considered that briefly. “No, that’s okay.”

He shrugged and she was probably imagining things but she thought he looked a little disappointed. “Well I guess I’ll see you later today then,” he said as the elevator doors opened again.

“Sure. Bye.”

“Bye, Eva.”

She headed in the opposite direction from him, to the front doors of the hotel. She thought about hailing down a taxi but decided against it. It was nice out and she could walk.

Although she hardly drank coffee, she stopped for a large latte from Starbucks on her way downtown. Lately she had been feeling so rundown and worn out. She was trying to get more sleep but she usually ended up laying there staring at the ceiling for hours before she could fall asleep. She knew part of it was because she was anxious about seeing Nick, Mere, and Lacey in two days. It felt like forever since she last saw them and she missed them.

It only took her an hour to find a birthday present for Lacey but she stayed out shopping for the rest of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon. By time she got back to the hotel, it was almost four and most of the other dancers had gone out. She went to her hotel room and decided to spend the rest of the day watching some TV and wrapping Lacey’s present.

* * *

Justin was going through one of his suitcases, trying to find something to wear when there was a knock on his door. He crossed the room and opened it, finding Olivia on the other side.

“Are you guys done practice already?” he asked, letting her come into the room.

“Yeah. You’ll never guess what happened though.”

He pulled a pair of jeans from his suitcase and examined them. “What?”

“We were in the middle of practicing and Eva collapsed.”

He raised his eyes to Olivia. “What?”

“Yeah, she like fainted or something. So Eric called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital. So then we all just got to come back here.”

“Why did she faint?”

Olivia shrugged. “I don’t know. She was making a lot of mistakes during practice and then all of a sudden she was laying on the stage.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

Olivia shrugged again.

“Where is she now?”

“Still at the hospital.”

“So what’s going to happen for tomorrow’s concert?”

“I don’t know. Michelle was freaking out. I mean, first Tammy and now Eva? Dancing with you is a curse.”

He rolled his eyes. “I hope there’s not something actually wrong with her. Did she wake up at all?”

“Nope. She was out the whole time the paramedics were there.”

Justin grabbed his cell phone from the dresser. “I’m going to call Michelle.” He stepped out onto the balcony and dialed Michelle’s number. He restlessly tapped his foot against the ground as he waited for her to pick up.

“Hello?” Michelle asked, her voice sounding upset.

“Hey, it’s Justin. I heard about Eva. Is she alright?”

Michelle sighed. “I’m at the hospital right now. The doctor told us that Eva burned herself out. She’s bordering on exhaustion. She was dehydrated when they brought her in.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“She will be. But not I’ve got to find a replacement.”

“She’s not going to be able to do concerts at all?”

“I explained the circumstances to the doctor and he said she needs to rest for at least a week. That’s three concerts.”

“Shit.” He leaned back against the balcony railing and stared into his room as he thought about which of the female dancers could do it. An idea occurred to him. “Why don’t you do it?”

“Me?” There was a pause. “I guess I could. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll think about it.”

“How long is Eva going to be in the hospital?”

“She has to stay overnight.”

“Is she awake? Can I talk to her?”

“She’s sleeping. The doctor gave her a light sedative.”

“Do you think it’s alright if I come there and visit her?”

“I don’t know, Justin. I need her to get better as quickly as possible.”

“But you’re going to want to come back to the hotel, right? And that would suck if she woke up and nobody was there.”

Michelle sighed. “Fine. We’re at the Royal Victoria. I can’t guarantee you that the doctor will let you see her though.”

He ignored that, knowing he could manage to find a way in. “That’s fine. Have you call her family?”

“I did and left a message. I haven’t gotten a call back yet.”

“Okay.”

“Are you coming right now?”

“I have to do that radio interview at three. I’ll come after that.”

“I have to meet up with Eric and figure out everything so I’m leaving now. She’s on the third floor though.”

“Okay. Thanks, Michelle.”

“Bye.”

He went back in his room and waited impatiently for three o’clock to come around. The radio interview took forty minutes to do and immediately after, he found Lou and they took one of the vans to go to the Royal Victoria Hospital, half an hour away and he managed to get to the third floor without any problems. The nurse at the nurses’ desk reluctantly gave him Eva’s room number but warned him he couldn’t stay for too long. That was good enough for him and he walked down the corridor in search of room 329.

When he reached it, the door was half open and he was surprised to see that Eva laying in bed wasn’t the only person in the room. Sitting in a chair beside the bed was a man, looking at a cell phone. He seemed fairly tall and built with dark features. The man raised his eyes and Justin stopped in the doorway.

“Hello,” Justin said, a little uncertainly.

“Hi. You’re Justin, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, coming a bit into the room.

The man stood and extended his hand over the bed. “I’m Nick De Miranda, Eva’s brother.”

“Oh, hi.” Justin stuck his hand out and received a firm handshake from the other man. “I didn’t know you were in the city.”

“I’m out here on business and since Eva was going to be here as well I brought my wife and daughter out we could all see her.”

“Oh yeah. She mentioned something about that.”

“We were going to come and see her in the concert tomorrow.” Nick glanced down at Eva. “This wasn’t exactly what we had planned.”

Justin looked down at Eva. He didn’t know what exactly he was expecting, but this wasn’t it. She truly only looked like she was sleeping. She had in IV, but that was it.

“So it she going to be alright?”

Nick nodded. “She’ll be fine,” he said, smiling faintly. He caught Justin’s raised eyebrows. “I’m not being insensitive. I just know my sister. She’s done this before.”

“Really?”

“While she was in school. She tends to take on too much and she gets stressed out and burns herself up. She’ll kick back though.” Nick settled down in his chair. “So why are you here?”

“I just thought I’d come and see her and see if she was okay. Has she been awake at all?”

“She woke up when I first got here. The doctors gave her some kind of sedative though so she wasn’t with it for very long.”

“Oh.” Justin looked to the chair to his left and was thinking about whether or not he should sit and stay when there was the sound of a little girl’s voice.

“Daddy!”

Nick got up from his chair and leaned down to pick up the cute dark haired girl who ran into the room. “Hi, Sweetie. We have to be quiet. Aunt Eva’s sleeping.”

The girl looked down at Eva. “Aunt Eva sick?”

“A little bit. She just needs to sleep. Where’s Mommy, Lacey?”

She pointed out the open door and then looked to Justin. “Hi,” she said simply.

He smiled at her. “Hi. Are you Lacey?”

She smiled and nodded her head.

“I’m Justin. I’m one of your aunt’s friends.”

“Aunt Eva is sick.”

He smiled a bit more. “I know.”

“Nick, is Lacey…oh good.”

Justin looked to the door as a blonde woman came into the room. She went over to Lacey.

“Honey, you can’t run off like that,” she scolded gently.

“Sorry, Mommy.”

The lady turned to Justin and smiled. “Hi. I’m Mere.”

“Hi. Justin.”

She laughed slightly. “Oh, I know. What are you doing here? Just visiting Eva?”

“Yeah. She seems to have enough visitors though.”

She waved him off. “Oh, one more doesn’t hurt. She’ll be happy to see you.”

“Oh yeah?”

Mere took Lacey from Nick and rested her on her hip. “She told me on the phone last week that you’re the nicest person on the tour.”

He smiled. “Oh, well that’s cool.”

“Is she doing alright, Nick?” Mere asked.

“As long as she does what her doctor says and rest for a week.”

“Our choreographers will make sure she does that,” Justin said. “They want her to be able to dance for the rest of the tour.”

“Is everything else on your tour going well, Justin?” Mere asked.

“Yeah, everything’s been great. We have the televised concert coming up in a few weeks.”

“Eva was walking about that. She’s excited for it.”

“It’s really hard to sleep with you guys talking so loud.”

Justin turned around and smiled when he saw Eva groggily rubbing her eyes.

“Aunt Eva!”

Eva smiled brightly despite her tired appearance. “Hey, Lacey.” The girl was trying to free herself from Mere’s arms to get to Eva and Eva sat up slowly. “It’s okay, Mere.”

Mere let Lacey down on the bed and she crawled into Eva’s lap. Justin watched as Eva hugged the little girl close to her and whispered a few things to her. They were cute together.

When Eva looked up again, she looked to him.

“What are you doing here, Justin?”

“I came to see if you were alright.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“Lacey, sweetie, don’t play with that,” Mere said, stepping forward and pulling Lacey’s hand away from Eva’s IV. She then leaned down to hug Eva. “It’s good to see you again, Eva.”

“You too,” Eva said, hugging her back. “I’m sorry this happened though. Now you guys can’t see me in the concert tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Nick said. “Now we can just spend more time with you. Lacey’s been so excited to see you.”

Eva smiled and combed her fingers through Lacey’s hair. “It’s so good to see all of you guys again.”

There was a knock on the door and they all turned to see a nurse standing there.

“I’m sorry, but visitor hours are over.”

“We can’t stay any longer?” Nick asked. “I’m her brother.”

“The doctor is insistent that Eva gets more sleep. Then she’ll be able to be released tomorrow morning.”

Eva smiled slightly. “It’s okay. It’s almost five anyways. I’ll be fine.”

“We’ll come back first thing in the morning,” Nick said. He leaned down and hugged her and Mere did the same.

“Lacey, hug Aunt Eva goodbye. She has to sleep now.”

“I wanna stay. No goodbye,” the girl pouted.

Eva kissed the top of Lacey’s head. “Go with Mommy, Lacey.”

“No.”

Mere sighed and leaned down to pick up Lacey. “Come on, honey.”

Lacey began to cry when she was pulled away from Eva. “Wanna stay!”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Eva,” Nick said, rubbing the top of Lacey’s head affectionately as she cried and reached out for Eva.

“Bye,” Eva said softly. She turned to Justin. “Thanks for coming, Justin.”

He smiled. “No problem. I’ll see you at some point tomorrow I’m sure.”

She nodded. “Bye.”

“Bye.” He followed Nick, Mere, and Lacey, who was now crying harder, out the door. He turned to Nick as Mere tired to quiet Lacey.

“What hotel are you staying at?”

“Hilton.”

“That’s where we are too. Did you want a ride there?”

Nick smiled. “Sure.”

“Do you want to ride with Justin, Lacey?” Mere asked and Lacey sniffed and looked at him with teary eyes. She reached out for him. “Do you mind, Justin?”

“Not at all.” Justin took Lacey from Mere and smiled at the little girl in his arms. “I hear it’s your birthday soon. Hold old are you going to be?”

She sniffed again. “Four.”

“Wow. What presents did you ask for?”

Lacey smiled and began to ramble on about everything she had asked for. He glanced up at Mere and she smiled and mouthed ‘Thank you’. He smiled as well and then turned his attention back to Lacey, trying to keep up with her fast words.