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| Emilia (Mitzi), Talia and Scarlet (Tabby) rehearsing "Explosion" |
Talia took her place in the middle of the dance floor to watch the others. Alejandro stood on her right, relaying the various observations he’d made. Even with her attention divided between the two, she got the big picture quickly. Emilia was strong in the chorus where the music hit a massive crescendo. The same could not be said about the verses; she was either behind or ahead of the tempo and needed an extra 10 seconds to resynchronize with the others.
“That will be all, Alejandro. I’ll take over from here.” Talia dismissed him two run-throughs later and approached the stage. “Ok, Emilia Your enthusiasm is great as always. But your timing needs a little work.” She waved her hand to draw attention to Scarlet and Vanessa. “You need to be in perfect rhythm with the music and your comrades. Sometimes, you are behind and sometimes you’re a little too early on the cue. For the moment, go to where I stand on the floor below so you can see the three of us do it together. From there, you will rotate back in and the three of us will take turns watching. Maybe between the three of us, we can come up with a solution.” She paused to give her a moment to process and offered an encouraging smile. “Does that sound like a plan?”
“Yeah, sure…” Her face glowed red and she dropped her eye to get a grip on herself. “I know I’m not good as the others yet on this one, but I’m up for suggestions.”
“Perfect. Now let’s go. We have a long morning ahead of us.”
For the first minute or so of the routine, Emilia shook her head with astonishment. Seeing the senior sirens dance with unwavering command of the stage brought her back to a time not too long ago. She’d walk home from school with her friends, hear the music pulsing from the building at the end of the main drag and they took turns peeking through the window next to the door. But before she could drift too far into nostalgia, she snapped herself out of it and started taking mental notes.
Scarlet switched places with Emilia and saw immediate improvement, but new problems started cropping up. Occasionally when she was starting to fall behind, she looked at what the others were doing and corrected herself. After the music stopped, she rushed to the edge of the stage. “I have an idea. If you find yourself in a position when you’re not sure if you’re in the right place, rely on your peripheral vision. Or when there’s a point in the choreography where our backs are to the audience, use that moment to check around you. Because the way you’re doing it now, it’s going to ruin the illusion.”
Emilia nodded thoughtfully. “Ok, I think I can do that. Wow… when you’d pick up that trick?”
“I don’t know.” She tilted her head with a broad smile across your face. “There were a couple of times when I did a night with my sister and I didn’t have it completely together. And you know how Talia is about making everything seem effortless. So it occurred me somewhere that I could sneak a look at Ruby and see where she was when our backs were turned. It’s helped me a couple of times.”
“Sometimes you just have to get creative,” Talia shrugged, “just as long as those trade secrets don’t leave this building.”
Vanessa had a different set of advice when it was her turn to play observer. “I notice you get really excited for the chorus and it shows in your footwork. It gets a little jittery. But you need to give each part of the song equal energy and attention.” A few more rotations later, Emilia took the notes and put them into action. She had three perfect run-throughs by the time Ruby arrived.
For the long rehearsal days, at least three sirens would show up early in the morning. They would spend a few hours ironing out the kinks in routines they’d be performing that night or someone would introduce a new idea and they’d spend this time fleshing it out. A fourth siren arrives by noon and they choose what to work on next. Typically, the latecomer would be one of the girls who performed the previous night because this allowed them time to catch up on sleep.
Towing one garment bag containing a cheerleader uniform over her shoulder, Ruby ran up the stage. Emilia and Scarlet’s faces beamed with excitement and they rushed over to meet her. Unfortunately, Talia beat them to it. “You’re just in time, Ruby. I have a new routine for you and your sister to be a part of.”
Her excitement immediately vanished and every other emotion inside her fought to take its place. She cleared her throat to compose herself and settled on confused worry. “What happened to you last night? Vanessa and I were worried sick about you.” When Talia didn’t immediately respond, Ruby sized her up. Despite her best efforts to cover everything up, the new light in Talia’s eyes was impossible to disguise. Her pores also emitted an unmistakable animalistic lust. Finally, she conceded, “Never mind... so what do you need us to change into?”
“Something with a little less fringe but just as fun. This number is about untamed joy.”
“I can see that...” Ruby nodded with her mouth gaping, still disarmed by the change in Talia’s visage.
Talia looked over her shoulder. “Emilia, you get ready too. You’ll need to learn this in case we need an understudy.”
“Oh wow,” she gasped, “awesome.” But before she turned to leave, she quickly added, “Oh, could we also go over my routine if we have time?”
Talia read the room. Emilia’s suggestion made the other sirens light up. Their ribs tightened as they held their breath, anticipating her answer. “If we have time, yes”
Emilia returned to the dressing room, completely undaunted. Once she disappeared, however, Talia’s accommodating facade vanished. The remaining sirens looked at each other, their hearts sinking with dread. Crossing her arms, Talia clarified, “I appreciate your initiative, Ruby, but we may need all day for this. It’s been a long time since I’ve had such good inspiration and I don’t want to lose it.”
“Fine,” Ruby worked to keep her voice as even as possible, “And I’m really happy last night went well for you. But I gotta say—I don’t appreciate the fact that lately you’ve let your personal problems interfere with our work. I expect that kind of BS from Amber but not from you.” She promptly left for the dressing room. Scarlet frowned but said nothing as she followed her sister’s lead.
Vanessa and Talia went down the steps towards the bar, both with a different objective in mind. Talia ran through the sleeves of music in hopes of narrowing down tonight’s set list. Meanwhile, Vanessa began gathering some of her things. She occasionally peeked at Talia to see if Ruby’s comment left any impact on her but saw no change. Business as usual seemed to be the only thing on her mind.
Slinging her purse over her shoulder, Vanessa said, “Since you won’t be needing for me this number, I’ll go and get us some lunch.” Because her height exceeded the rest of the sirens’, any routines Talia performed with the twins were the only ones she never took part in. Along with synchronicity, this was another crucial part of the troupe’s visual aesthetic. While her timing of departure was typical for long rehearsal days like this, Vanessa felt an added sense of urgency.
“Very well,” Talia shut the case and rested her right elbow on the counter, “In case you see Amber while you’re out, could you let her know I need her final proposal by the end of next week? Unless she’s lost interest and abandoned this idea like all the others…”
Before making a conscious decision to do so, Vanessa stiffened with defiance. “She hasn’t abandoned it. Not even close. It’s just not ready yet. The last time we talked, she had it narrowed down to 10 possible songs and the sirens she wants in the show.”
A suspicious glare streaked across her face. “If Emilia is still on her wishlist, she can forget it! She’s going to be too busy learning more of Scarlet’s routines in case this thing with Javier becomes really serious.”
Vanessa swallowed and took a moment to collect herself before speaking. By now, she was used to Talia disappearing without warning to satisfy her insatiable appetite. Ruby, on the other hand, was not. Even after they nailed last night’s finale, Ruby was still fuming that she’d left so suddenly.
Her incensed words still rang in her ears: By this point, the reason doesn’t matter. We’re all in this together. Talia may not want to hear it, but when Scarlet and I were working on Emilia’s routine with her, that was the first time in a long time it’s truly felt like that. If you ask me, that’s where our focus should be.
Back in the present, Vanessa shook her head. “I get it. Amber has to prove she’s a team player before she can get new dance partners. I thought if I helped out, it would speed up the process. But you’ve set up the perfect conditions so she’ll be doomed to fail.” She paused to assess Talia’s reaction; other than the slightest narrowing of her eyes, she remained unaffected. “I honestly can’t blame her for being intimidated by Ruby. As much as I love her like a sister, I understood last night what that feeling was like.”
Talia reached and patted her lightly on the shoulder. “Hearing the way you advocate for her with so much passion, it shows me you’ve made a lot of progress. And I hope that continues.” Just as quickly as it appeared, the hint of a smile she wore receded. “The two of them have had the same night for five years now. She needs to learn that this silly fear of hers only proves she’s not confident enough in her own abilities. And she should be.”
“Wow, that’s the closest thing to a compliment I’ve heard you say about Amber in ages. Too bad she isn’t here to hear it for herself.” She turned away. “I have to go.” The hollow click of her heels filled the empty room as she departed. The creaking of two door hinges, which seemed to come from the front and back of the room, put a period at the end of their conversation.
Talia stood idle for a moment to take it all in. Alejandro entered the last of the receipts from the previous night into the ledger but kept his head low in an attempt to disguise the fact he was eavesdropping. As he made his way to the office to put it away, she called after him, “if you’re in need of real busy work, Alejandro, the doors sound like they need oiling.”
“I did all that just last week. It must be the extra humidity. Either that or some of these old doors just need replacing.”
“Fine. Do what you think needs to be done.”
Alejandro shook his head, sighing, as she left for the ladies’ room, “Same old Talia… some things never change, I guess.”
* * *
Emilia backed away from the dressing room door and caught her breath. Although grateful Talia hadn’t caught her spying, everything she’d overheard left her unsettled. She covered her mouth, her eyes wild as she tried to make sense of it all.
“Hey Emilia,” Scarlet approached her, dressed in a tangerine dress adorned with sparkles, “are you ready to go? We’re all set.”
Taking another breath to gather herself, Emilia put on her brightest smile and spun around to face her and Ruby. “Yep. I can’t wait to see this new routine Talia’s so excited about.” But as soon as she left, the twins looked at each other and raised their eyebrows with grave concern.
***
Music: "Explosive" by BOND
... I think Hines Ward did a Paso Doble to this song on Dancing with the Stars years ago. But I just thought of it here because it's the one song from this group that I remembered, lol
... I think Hines Ward did a Paso Doble to this song on Dancing with the Stars years ago. But I just thought of it here because it's the one song from this group that I remembered, lol
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