Rose pulled out her earphones, stuffed the last of her sandwich in her mouth, and wiped her hands off on her leggings. I smiled at her lack of femininity, because ironically it was captivatingly feminine.
She glanced at me as she approached the group and shot a friendly smile my way. Smile back, I urged myself. For fuck’s sake, do something! In the end, all I managed was a slight grimace, but maybe that was because I had to start dancing in a minute.
“Okay, this is the scene of The Pitch. Today we’ll practice the dance routine for ‘Spectacular Spectacular.’” Jacob paused and glanced over his shoulder to his second assistant. “Is Bob back yet?”
“I’ll go get him,” said the woman before scurrying off.
Jacob let out a dissatisfied breath. “Probably throwing his guts up as we speak.”
Alicia, who stood just next to Eddie, appeared disgusted at the description. A minute later Bob was back, and he looked decidedly less bleary-eyed. I wondered if Jacob’s assistant had rammed her fingers down the man’s gullet and forced him to vomit just to sober him up a bit.
Jacob eyed him narrowly before turning back to the rest of us. “As I was saying, this scene is The Pitch. The Duke has just walked in on Christian and Satine” -- he paused to motion between me and Alicia -- “in a compromising position. In order to cover up what they were doing, the two, alongside Harold, Toulouse, and the rest of the gang, pretend they were rehearsing, and proceed to make up a fictitious play which they would like the Duke to bankroll. We won’t worry too much about vocals. Right now I just want to see how you all do with the choreography.”
And cue my nausea. I hated dancing and had been fumbling my way through routines for days now. I was beginning to wonder if I should just chuck it all in and find a job that didn’t involve this kind of daily humiliation. Unfortunately, I was a stubborn git and hated quitting anything once I’d started. That meant I was in this for the long haul.
I didn’t see her approach, but I felt someone tug on my sleeve and glanced down to see Rose at my side.
“Relax. This is one of the easier sequences. You basically get to crawl around on your knees and bounce up and down like a toddler. So long as you can coordinate with the others you’ll be fine.”
She was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. I’d been born with two left feet.
“All right, everybody, let’s limber up, shall we?” said Iggy, and he began doing scissors jumps. Soon everyone was joining in, and Rose gave my sleeve another little tug as if to say, go on. I joined in, and she went off to stand by Iggy.
When we’d completed the warm-up, Iggy began demonstrating the routine. “A one, a two, a one, two, three,” he instructed as he glided across the stage like some kind of muscular gazelle. The others mimicked his movements, all of them experienced with dancing.
I, on the other hand, was completely lost. Rose walked through, giving guidance where it was needed, and then finally she came to me. Without a word she began fixing my posture, one hand going to the base of my spine and pushing it forward, the other to the backs of my knees to straighten my legs. She touched me without hesitancy, but with a keen eye and near scientific precision, a little like a nurse or a doctor might. Still, her warm hands soothed me, and I inhaled the scent of her citrusy perfume.
“Can’t dance indeed,” she said with warmth in her eyes. There was no criticism in her voice, just a mild, friendly hint of teasing. The next half hour was pure agony, but less so because Rose helped me step by step. Once it was time to practice the song, I was confident I could at least complete the dance routine without injuring myself.
Maura, the choral director, played the opening chords on the piano as Rose stepped away, and I took my position next to Eddie.
Bob stood before us, assuming the role of the Duke, as Eddie began to sing. Alicia laughed when Henry, who was playing Toulouse, accidentally shoved an elbow in her side. I hadn’t spoken to her much, but she seemed nice, not too high maintenance like you’d usually get with film stars.