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.”