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“I’m serious,” Maddie insists, dark curls bouncing over her shoulders. “After everything, you passed the test. You get the friend's stamp of approval.”
This girl is a fucking nightmare.
I definitely can’t compete with her energy.
“Thank God,” I mutter, dryly. “I was losing sleep over it.”
She smirks, but her attention is almost instantly drawn away when Theo sits back down with a fresh round of drinks. It turns out Maddie and Josh’s intense first meet at the bookstore had already hit a temporary snag. By the time they’d left Vance’s Volumes, both of them being so fiercely opinionated meant they’d managed to piss each other off over something completely trivial. I guess that’s what happens when you put two loud forces together in the same room.
Having dropped Josh, Maddie appears to have redirected her endless energy toward Theo for the evening, and the two of them are already deep into a passionate, borderline-unhinged debate about none other than Hamilton.
“I’m going to see it again in July,” Theo announces proudly, setting his glass down.
“Again?” Maddie scoffs. “Theo, how many times have you actually seen it?”
“Six, so far,” he announces. “I like to call it artistic commitment.”
“That’s… interesting,” Maddie states. “I’d probably call it an obsession.”
I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve had to listen to the Hamilton focused conversations, so I gladly let their conversation fade into the background chatter of the lounge.
Marco is busy across the booth trying to persuade a reluctant Josh to order another round of shots when the crowd near our table parts slightly, and Nancy walks past.
She catches my eye, her expression calm and composed. Since our conversation on the Belrose steps a few weeks ago, where we, I, officially put an end to whatever undefined thing we had going on, she’s sent a few brief text messages, but we’ve completely moved past it. We were never official, and we both know it. I actually like Nancy. She’s incredibly talented, and I’m glad things were left okay between us.
“Great performance tonight at the showcase, Nancy,” I say over the roar of the crowd.
She was utterly flawless earlier this evening, demonstrating why she remains Belrose’s undisputed prima ballerina.
She stops, turning toward our booth with a genuine, soft smile.
“Thank you, Julian. Hopefully, it will be enough to secure a place with the New York City Ballet.”
Her eyes shift directly to Ellise, holding her gaze with zero trace of hostility.
“And your duet?” Nancy adds, her lips curving into a playful smirk as her eyes dart between the two of us. “It was epic. I guess all those endless, late-night hours locked away in the practice room actually paid off after all.”
With a subtle nod and a wink, she turns and weaves her way back through the crowded bar toward her friends.
Well, fuck… I definitely didn’t expect that.
Around the table, everyone pauses, looking between themselves in mild shock.
“That was…” Theo starts, breaking the silence with a hesitant frown.
“Nice,” Ellise interrupts, bumping her knee against mine under the table. “It was really nice of her to say that our duet was epic. She didn't need to.”
“Agreed,” I say softly, squeezing Ellise’s hand under the table, lacing my fingers firmly through hers.
Ellise shifts closer to me, resting her chin against my shoulder.
“So,” she murmurs “Now that the Nocturne is over, what’s the plan, Thorne?”
I tilt my head down, my lips brushing against her temple.
“What’s your plan, Bow-Peep?”
“Well, I’m going to graduate. I hope!” she snuffs. “And after that, I think I want to go home to Mystic for the summer... just for a bit. Rethink my options, breathe a little.”
