Page 76 of Flirty Dancing

There were a few murmurs of agreement around the room.

Mateo’s jaw flapped. His eyes met Archer’s.

“It’s not the choreography, Caleb,” Archer said tiredly. “It’s hard for the rest of us when we don’t know what’s going on up there.”

Caleb narrowed his eyes at Mateo, ignoring Archer completely. “The crowd was eating it up. Maybe itshouldbe in the choreo.”

Mateo threw his arms out. “Then let’s fucking talk about it and plan for it, and not spring it on everyone in the middle of the show!”

“Oh, right, talk about it, as if you’d listen to a word I said.”

“For God’s sake, fine, let’s have a fucking meeting about it tomorrow, then.”

“And who’s going to make the final decision at this ‘meeting’?”

So it went, back and forth, around and around, on and on.

Then Caleb pulled the same stunt at the second show. This time, Grace joined him.

Mateo didn’t say a word to anyone after, slamming his locker shut and stomping out of the greenroom.

Caleb had spent the entire walk back to the dorm bitching about Mateo. “He is such a dick! Why did they even hire him here anyway, after what he did to Abby? Who would even want to work with him?”

Archer suddenly couldn’t listen to Caleb trashing Mateofor another second. “It’s not true, you know.” The words burst out of him.

“What’s not true?”

“What you told me earlier. You said he was horrible to her, but that’s not really what happened. They were friends.”

“They were?”

“Yeah, they got along great. He just lashed out at her one time when he was—when she confronted him about something. They had a fight and he told her she only got the role because she was trans.”

“Is that what Mateo says happened?” Caleb asked, skeptical.

“Yes.”

Caleb considered a moment. “Still a dick move.”

“Mateo would completely agree with you, and he felt terrible about it. He still does. And, you know what, his parents had both just died and he was dealing with being this huge star. That’s a lot for someone to take.”

“I guess.” Caleb shrugged. “Doesn’t mean he’s not a total douche.”

Back at the dorm, Archer needed time to himself—the role of peacekeeper-slash-doormat was really beginning to wear on him, and he’d had enough of the fucking drama. He took a long shower, dawdling until he knew Caleb and the B-Boys would be gone, then headed back to the room and its solitude.

Unfortunately, the events of the night continued to loop through his brain, so it was a welcome distraction when his phone buzzed with a message from Lynn.Archerrrrr! How are you? How are things?

He flopped onto his pillow, considering. His moment with Mateo felt too private to share, and he really didn’t want to rehash all the mind-numbing dance troupedramatics.Hey! They’re okay… but what about you? How’s living with Sasha going?

Lynn had reported earlier that the transition was fairly seamless, although Sasha was not happy with the way Lynn hand-washed her delicates and hung them up to dry around the apartment, and they could not agree on what brand of coffee to brew at home.

It’s good!Lynn replied.Really good. That’s actually sort of what I wanted to talk to you about. Sasha said I should move in permanently. So… I don’t think I’m going to renew the lease on my apartment.

Archer’s stomach curdled.

I’m really sorry,Lynn continued.It doesn’t make sense to keep living in that shithole when I’m proposing to Sasha anyway, you know? And who can say when it will even get fixed. My lease is up in three months and I’m not going to renew it.

Archer cursed himself for not seeing this coming. Of course, Lynn was going to go live in Sasha’s much nicer apartment. With the impending proposal on top of the 9021-hole… Lynn had no reason to stick around.That makes sense,Archer replied.Thanks for letting me know.

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