In November, rehearsals for the tour began. On the first day at WEG, all eight of the dancers meet for the first time. Kiki and Alex immediately clicked with two of them from New York, Tori Jones and Gina Haadas. The others were just as cool and everyone was getting along great. Justin and Marty were the last to arrive and the group of ten spent a few minutes introducing themselves.
To Justin, it looked like he had himself a decent crew of dancers. It was his first time seeing most of them in person. He wasn’t present for the LA auditions because of some appearances he had to make, but he had handpicked the three dancers from the NYC auditions. He hoped they all could handle his high expectations. A few of them were new to this game and he didn’t want any screw ups. One misstep today and they were gone.
While he knew he should give them the benefit of the doubt, he wasn’t in the positive mind set he wanted to come into the first meeting with. The argument that he had with his publicist this morning was still running through his head and it didn’t make for a happy Justin.
It wasn’t his fault the media had made a big deal out of him and Alyssa. They hadn’t been some certified couple, they just dated casually. Now that they had gone their separate ways, his PR team wanted to talk damage control. For what? It would be a waste of time and there were more important things that he had to concentrate on. He did have nationwide tour to prepare for.
Despite being preoccupied by his irritation, Justin did take notice of the curly brunette named Kiki when she introduced herself. He remembered seeing her profile when they were making the final cut. She was cute and Marty had commented that she was one of the best in the group.
We’ll see if she makes it through today before I believe that, he thought.
When Justin walked into the room, the first thing Kiki thought was how the camera did him no justice. He was much cuter in person and very tall. He towered over her barely 5”5' frame.
Tall and sexy, she said to herself, but quickly vanished that thought. Lusting over the boss could only lead to trouble.
He seemed a little stand-offish though. She expected him to be much more welcoming.
Maybe he’s just shy around new people, she figured.
When introduction were done, Marty announced their partnerships for the tour. Kiki was surprised to hear that she was chosen to be Justin’s partner. That meant she would be front and center on stage. It was a little overwhelming, but nothing she couldn’t handle.
Justin was just as surprised. Why would Marty give him a newbie as a partner? While everyone was partnering up, he followed to his choreographer over to the stereo where he was setting up the music and questioned him about his choice.
“Trust me dude. I would not put her with you unless she was that damn good. And she is. She may not have been on a tour before but she’s had plenty experience. Not to mention she can move, plain and simple.” He explained that she was the only one he had seen with enough charisma for a front runner, stamina to keep up with him and she mimicked his style the best. “Just try it out. If by the end of the day, you’re not happy with her - we’ll switch out. Gina’s been on tour before and you pick her yourself. I don’t have any problem dancing with Kiki if you don’t want to.” He smirked. He couldn’t deny the fact that she was hot played a factor in his decision to choose her for the tour.
Justin snorted. “Alright. I’m going to trust you.”
“Good. Now pick some warm up music.”
For about fifteen minutes they went through the routines they had to do during auditions for warm up. Once Justin’s music was queued, it was nonstop practice for an hour.
They were all breathing hard and sweat was pouring from their bodies when they took their first break. A cooler full of bottled water was popped open in the back of the room and they were disappearing fast. They reconfigured and went at it again until it was time for the next break. It was a vicious cycle, but no pain no gain right?
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
By the time rehearsal was over, they were all exhausted, but felt good about the progress they had made. They got through two full routines and had all the steps down pat.
Justin was in a much better mood now that he saw the great potential in his dancers and in particular, his partner. He could see for himself now why Marty had paired them up and he was more than happy with the pick. They moved together perfecting and hardily made any mistakes. He wanted to give her a job well done, but when he went to talk to Kiki as they were wrapping up, she blew him off.
The way he treated her when she approached him for the first time, left a bad taste in Kik’s mouth and she didn’t particularly want to play nice.
*************************************************************************************************
“Ok now its time to get to the good stuff.” Marty stood in front of the group after warm up, grinning and rubbing his hands together like some evil scientist preparing to exact some sort of torture on them.
“Good cause that shit was child’s play.” Ralphie quipped.
“Yeah okay, now we know who’s gonna be limping out of here at quittin’ time.” Marty volleyed back and tittles of laughter spread through the room. “Anyway, time to partner up.” He instructed and ran over to the stereo while everyone got in their assigned pairs.
Seeing as they would be getting up close and personal, Kiki felt another introduction between her and Justin alone would be in order. She thought it would help them feel more comfortable with each other.
“Hi I’m Kiki.” She stood in front of him with a smile and an extended hand.
‘Hadn’t they already gone over this?’ Justin said to himself. It was time to work, so he ignored her friendly gesture and with a jerk of his head, he told her. “Turn around.”
At first, Kiki frowned at his rude response before indifference fell over her face and she got into place as he said.
She couldn’t believe him. He couldn’t even introduce himself and treated her like she was something he stepped on.
‘He’s not shy. He’s just an asshole,' she thought. If this was how he was going to be, she didn’t care to be around him any more than she had to. 'This partnership will be strictly business,' she fumed.
*************************************************************************************************
Unaware of the bad impression he had made, Justin took her snub as a sign that she was a stuck up bitch. He decided to not even bother with trying to talk to her and to keep his distance whenever they weren’t working.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
No matter how much the pair desired to be far away from each other, they knew that was impossible. They were literally on top of each other on a daily basis. Plus being Justin’s dance partner called for Kiki to have to spend one on one time practicing with him sometimes. Their only option was to stay completely professional with each other. The music came on and they did their thing, but as soon as it was off, they went their seperate ways.
Initially, the only things they said to each other pertained to work, but as time went on they started getting into little spats. Justin couldn’t resist getting her ire up and would take jabs at her from time to time. And no matter how hard Kiki tried, she always had to snap back.
“Oh gosh when are we gonna be done? I’m so tired.” Kiki said more to herself than anyone else, but of course Justin had to respond.
“If you can’t hack it maybe you should go home.” He smirked.
“Maybe you should shut up ‘cause I wasn’t talking to you.” She smiled condescendingly at him and walked away to chat with Tori and Alex while they were on break.
The crew would just sit back watching them, laughing at their stupidity. Poor Marty had to play referee so many time that some days he’d just let them go at it. As long as it didn’t interfere with work, which it surprisingly didn’t. They still danced together perfectly, nailing routine after routine.
Each day usually involved Kiki venting to Gina, Tori and Alex over lunch while Justin was doing to same with Trace and Marty. They were both questioned by their friends about why they put up with it.
“I’m not a quitter especially over an asshole like him.”
“I can’t get rid of her. She may be annoying, but she's a fuckin’ awesome dancer.”
What Justin and Kiki weren’t saying was that despite the animosity between them, they were strangely attracted to one another. Physically they were exactly what the other looked for, their chemistry when they danced was undeniable and they seemed like cool people when interacting with others. But Put them together and they always clashed.
Regardless, their animosity and attraction continued to build. It was only a matter of time before things exploded.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
That explosion happened about two months into rehearsal. Stress levels were high among the whole crew, mainly because of Justin. He was copping major attitude and being very bossy. For a week now, everyone had been dealing with his bitching about how things weren’t “perfect”, but being his partner and favorite target, Kiki was taking the brunt of it.
On this particular day, he was at his worse and she was fed up. She could only hold her tongue for so long and she wasn’t going to put up with disrespect or bullshit from him anymore, employer or not.
"You know what I'm tired of this shit, I'm trying to work. I take this very seriously so YOU need to focus.” Kiki's sudden outburst had everyone stopping in their tracks and the music was put on hold. This was the first time one of their spats ever interrupted work, but some of them thought it was about damn time. Justin seriously needed to chill this time around. “I'm hitting all my marks and you know it. YOU’RE the one that keeps messing up."
Justin was fuming and in shock that she was putting him on the spot. He knew that she was right though, today was just an off day for him and he couldn’t focus. He was usually on top of his game, but he wasn’t about to admit to his faults, especially to her. He was about to remind her who she was talking to when she cut him off before he could get his tyrant out.
"You should know by now that I am not about to take any bullshit from you.” She had her hands on her hips and her neck was rolling. Alex knew that was a sign she was ready to rip into him. “So you need to seriously check who you’re talking to, I know you’re my boss and you could fire me for this but I am not going to sit here and let you try to blame me for your screw ups." She finished to dead silence, feeling everyone's eyes on her, but she didn’t care. It had to be said.
The silence was broken by clapping hands from someone in the back of the room. Every head turned to watch Lynn Harless approach the dueling couple.
She had come to the office to talk with Johnny about some new updates with the touring itinerary and Justin was taking her out to dinner after rehearsal. She decided to go down to the studio to meet his dancers and see how things were coming along. She walked in at the perfect time to witness her son act like a complete brat and his partner put him in his much needed place.
"Well said, young lady.” Lynn addressed Kiki with a proud nod and then turned to Justin to give him a glare that clearly said it was her turn to lay into him for his behavior. “Justin, can I talk to you for a moment in private please?" Not giving him the chance to argue, she turned around and headed for the door leading to the hallway.
He had no choice but to follow his mother, his head held down slightly like a scolded little boy going to face his punishment.
As soon as the door closed behind him, the silence ended as everyone cracked up laughing.
“Busted by his mama.” Sky guffawed with Marty and Trace.
“That’s what he gets for being an ass.” Kiki gloated, giggling at the embarrassment she was sure he was feeling.
A few minutes later, he came back with a pout on his face and all he said was, “let’s get back to work so I can get the fuck out of here.”
Another day of rehearsal was done and everyone scattered to go home for a shower and a good night’s rest before it started all over again tomorrow.
Kiki was walking toward the front entrance with Alex when Lynn approached her. She was afraid Lynn was going to go off on her for what she said to her son. But once Alex left them alone, Kiki was surprised when she apologized for his behavior.
“No it's okay Ma’am. You don’t have to apologize…..That asshole should.” She quickly covered her mouth when she realized she had said that out loud.
Lynn just laughed. “It’s okay sweetie. That’s exactly how he was acting.” She pardoned her comment. “I’m Lynn Harless by the way.”
“I’m Kiki. Kiki Lewis.” The two shook hands and stood there casually chatting.
When Justin walked off the elevator coming from his office, he saw his mother and Kiki talking. Deep down he was thrilled that his mother seemed to like her. It was important that any girl he was interested in got along with his mother. Realizing what he was thinking, he squashed it and slid on his mask of distain towards Kiki as he called out to his mother that he was ready to go.
Wrapping up their conversation, Lynn told Kiki. “I’ll be visiting from time to time during the tour, but until then you keep my son in check. Don’t back down from him, okay?” She admired her for standing up to Justin, who she knew had grown full of him self. He needed someone new around who wouldn’t stand for his attitude.
“Yes Ma’am.”
“And you take care of yourself, honey.” She hugged Kiki and even though it was unexpected, the gesture was welcomed. Lynn was very nice and motherly, and Kiki couldn’t help but like her. It amazed her that this woman could raise a jerk like Justin. “It was very nice meeting you.”
“You too Mrs. Harless.”
“You can call me Ms. Lynn honey.”
“Okay. Enjoy your dinner.” She said as the two began to walk in opposite directions.
“He’s paying so I will.” She informed her with a chuckle. “Bye Kiki.”
“Bye Ms. Lynn.” She waved before she rejoined Alex who was waiting for her at the entrance.
When Lynn reached her son, she said pointedly. “She’s a nice girl.”
He just grumbled and hooked their arms together, leading her to the back exit where his car was parked.
