Dance, Lust And Them

 On multiple occasions Curtis had tried to coax Janelle into dating him, but she promptly told him no. She explained that she really cared for Curtis, and was attracted to him, but her fear of intimacy kept her from having a normal relationship. It seemed as though he’d understood, even though they were still hooking up.

 “You should probably stop doing that,” Mads had said once.

 “Why? He’s the only guy I trust with my body.”

 “You keep saying that—that it’s only you, Curtis, and your father—but there’s other men out there. You have to let yourself be open!”

 Janelle had sighed and placed her head in her hands. “I’ll figure it out eventually just trust me.”

 To Janelle’s surprise, the very next day she got a call from none other than Vance Quick. He was an infamous new hip-hop artist from California, and all the girls fawned over him. On the phone, Vance sounded warm and inviting. His voice tickled Janelle’s ears and sent shivers down her spine when he told her that yes, she had been the one to score the hip-hop spot. Apparently Curtis had gone behind her back and showed Vance videos of her early dancing years, and Vance had been quite impressed.

 He told Janelle he’d never seen a girl with moves like hers before, and he’d be honored if she would join the team.

 The instant Janelle hung up the phone, she started freaking out. She called Mads first, who didn’t answer due to the fact that she was at work. Janelle left her a voicemail gushing about her new found opportunity before hanging up the phone and calling her father.

 “That’s great news baby girl!” he exclaimed. She could hear him shouting the news up to her grandmother, who was apparently quite unhappy with the situation.

 “What’s she saying?” Janelle had asked.

 “Don’t you pay her any mind, you know your grandmother loves you in her own special way. Tell me more about this Vance Quick fellow. Are you sure he’s one of the good guys?”

 Janelle hadn’t really thought about it like that. She realized that she was doing exactly what Mads had been telling her to do—which was taking a chance on someone she didn’t know very well. She hoped that things would work out in her favor, and that she’d be able to form a good work relationship with Vance. She hadn’t had a job in weeks, and her savings account was being drained by groceries and gas in her car. Sometimes it was hard to live in Cali, and she often dreamed of what it might be like someplace cheaper. But she knew in her heart that she would miss the beaches and boardwalks.

 It was like a completely different world out there. All the sights and sounds and music were where it was at. If Janelle went anywhere else, she might as well kiss her dreams of becoming a dancer goodbye. Though she’d been rejected by the ballet society, as they stressed they already had enough African American girls working with them, she knew she still had talent and promise. She made a promise to herself to let that talent shine through the next day when she arrived on set with Vance.

 When she arrived on the set the next day, Janelle was taken aback by how brilliant and bright the scenery was. There were enormous bright blue couches covering the main room, and there was a receptionist waiting for her. She introduced herself, explaining to the woman that she was meeting Vance Quick in order to try out for his new hip hop video.

 She was told to sit down on one of the couches and wait until she was called into the back room to try out. Sitting there on that couch reminded her of when she was younger and trying out for the cheerleading team. It had terrified her to head out in front of everyone in the stadium, even though they were all the same age and went to the same high school together. In fact, she’d known everyone on her team since her youth. They’d either had classes together or had run in similar friend groups, which always surprised Janelle.

 She never thought of herself as popular, even though she had a lot of friends in many different groups. Her father always told her she was humble that way, because she didn’t feel the need to dedicate herself to one friend group.

 “I still don’t feel like I have a place to belong,” she’d told her father one afternoon as they were baking a pie.

 It was Thanksgiving, Janelle’s favorite holiday. She enjoyed cooking and baking with her father, even though her grandmother constantly berated the two of them. There was always something wrong with the situation. Janelle was letting her braids get into the batter, or she had flower on her face and looked like a crazy person.

 Her father would eat too much stuffing or her cousins would bother her grandmother.

 “How do you expect to be a dancer when you’re going to be putting on so much weight?” her grandmother would ask.

 If only she could see me now, Janelle thought to herself. She was well over five feet tall, with curly black hair, dark skin, and enormous almond-shaped eyes. She’d also grown to love her freckles, which covered most of her face, neck, and shoulders. The mere fact that she had an interview with Vance Quick was enough to give her the courage she needed to move forward in life.

 “Janelle?” a shrill voice called out to her from a nearby room. “You’re needed in makeup.”

 Janelle stood up and smoothed out the hem of her skirt. “That’s me,” she responded, walking towards the pale blonde woman with a clipboard. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun and Janelle noticed she had several pens wedged between her tresses. She touched her own hair, which was kinky and curly from the hairspray she’d used earlier. She figured there would be a lot of dancing on the set, and she didn’t want her hair to be out of control and all of her face.

 The petite blonde woman led her towards a makeup section, which had other women sitting in leather chairs with their hands placed neatly in their laps. Janelle was shown towards an empty seat at the very end of the row. A woman appeared behind her and began to tease her hair back into a ponytail.

 “First time on the set?” asked the woman sitting next to her. Janelle swiveled her eyes so she was looking at the woman in the mirror. Behind her, the hairdresser kept placing her hands on Janelle’s cheeks to make sure she was facing forward.

 “How could you tell?” Janelle asked with a smile. “It’s always obvious, especially because you look so freaked out. I also get the feeling that you’ve never been in a makeup room before.”

 “You’d be right again.”

 The woman laughed a warm laugh. “I’m Lisa,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 “How long have you been working for Vance for?”

 “About three years. I tried other studios, believe me, but none have been so helpful as Vance Quick’s studio. They really teach you how to dance, and they’re a supportive team of leaders and friends. I’ve never found any place quite like it.”

 That eased Janelle’s racing heart a bit. It seemed to her like it wouldn’t be so hard to fit into a place like this, especially because Vance sounded like a pretty nice guy.

 She figured she also owed something to Curtis for helping her get this gig. Perhaps she’d take him to the bar later for a drink, her treat. While the woman behind her continued to tease out her hair and deck out her earlobes, Janelle took out her phone and texted Curtis.