“So this is where all the cool people hang?” a woman wearing a sports bra and tight booty shorts says as she walks in. I recognize her as one of the backup dancers. She is wearing a baseball cap on her head with her hair in a ponytail at her nape. Kellie looks over at her and smiles, then grabs a water bottle and drinks it. Her chest is heaving, sweat pouring down the sides of her face.
“I don’t know about cool people,” she huffs out, smiling.
“Stacey and I were doing the routine over and over for the past two hours. That was my exercise for the day.”
“Have you met Brian?” she asks, pointing at me, and I set the dumbbells down for the introduction. The woman gives me a once-over. “Brian, this is Jennifer, one of my backup dancers.”
She walks over to me with a swing in her hips, holding out her hand. “So he’s the one everyone’s been whispering about.” Wiping my hands on my shorts, I shake her hand. She grabs it tightly and shakes it up and down while she continues to talk. “I can see it now.” She smirks, not letting me go no matter how much I try to slowly move my hand from her tight grip.
“I’ll make sure to introduce him tonight at dinner,” Kellie says, and I’m finally able to slip my hand out of her grip, but she makes sure her finger lingers in the middle of my hand, and she swirls it in a circle. Pulling my hand away, I smile at her tightly.
“Are you ready to go?” I look over at Kellie, and she nods at me, so we get ready to walk out of the room.
“We will see everyone later,” Kellie announces.
Jennifer says under her breath, “I hope to get to see a lot of that later.” The words almost make me shrivel up. We walk out, and Kellie walks with her head down, her body tense next to me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her right before we walk into her room.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t flirt on the job.” She doesn’t look at me as she turns and walks into the room, leaving me by myself. I don’t take the time to get my temper under control before I storm in and see her grabbing her bag. “I’ll shower at the hotel room.” She looks at Cori, who gives me a questionable look.
“Excuse me,” I say to her, and she still doesn’t look up. “Kellie,” I snap, and she finally looks up. “I was not flirting. In case you missed what went on in there,” I say, pointing back to the hallway, “she wouldn’t release my hand. It was almost like the grip of death.” I walk to my bag, then grab it, and sling it over my shoulder. “If anything, she was flirting with me, and I was being polite.”
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “Is the car here?” She ignores me, turning to Cori, who just nods. We don’t say anything to each other the whole time we walk out of the venue and get in the car. She doesn’t sit next to me in the golf cart either. Instead, she sits in the back with Cori, who ignores everything by being on her phone. Cori is the first one out of the cart and up her stairs before I turn off the cart.
“Three hours!” she yells over her shoulder and walks into her cottage, slamming the door behind her. I grab my bag and look at the front door of our cottage, and I’m not surprised that it’s slammed shut also.
I grab my bag and look for the key but see that I don’t have it. “Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, getting up and going to the door and knocking on it. One time, nothing; twice, nothing again. I do it the third time, this time knocking a touch louder, and still nothing. “Motherfucker,” I say, jogging back down the steps and walking around the premises, knowing she has a balcony door in her bedroom. I see the balcony and then look under and find the ladder I had put there in case we had to evacuate. I was going to jump out and put up the ladder for her. As I pull the ladder from under the balcony, it gets stuck on something, so I have to crouch down and untangle it from a folding chair that was tossed under here. As I attempt not to crush my hand, I bump my head on the wooden plank, and I’m beyond pissed now. Placing the ladder on the balcony, I climb up it and count, “One Mississippi.” I don’t make it to three before I’m climbing over the railing, and I finally look into the glass sliding door and see Kellie. Not just normal, piss-me-off Kellie, but a totally naked Kellie. She turns around and yelps when she sees me standing on the balcony, and I’m stuck to my spot. I should turn around or I should look to the left, but I don’t do any of that. I just stare at her as she grabs the white comforter from the bed to cover herself.
“What the fuck are you doing out there?” I hear her yelling while she unlocks, then slides the door open with one hand while the other hand holds up the cover. “Are you crazy? You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“You locked me out of the room.” I put my hands on my hips. “And I knocked.” I raise one hand. “Three times. Did you not hear me?” The question makes her swallow and blink.
“I didn’t know you were locked out.” Her voice is quiet. “I mean …”
“You mean you heard me knocking and was like fuck him, let him figure it out.” I advance on her, and she backs up and away from the door.
“No.” She shakes her head while she says that.
“I had to come in the back and climb up here with a ladder.” Pointing at the ladder on the side, I say, “I smashed my head on a wooden plank all because you were having a hissy fit.”
“I was not having a hissy fit.” Her second hand covers her first hand. “It’s called ignoring the person.”
“Why?” The question is out before I can take it back.
“You were being a jerk, and I didn’t feel like talking to you, so …” She moves out of the way, and I walk into the room, shutting the door behind me and locking it. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to nap and to take a shower.” She walks toward her bathroom, never once turning around. When the door shuts behind her and I hear the click of the lock, I know this conversation is over. Walking out of her room, I slam the door behind me. I walk to my room and grab a key card, then go outside and put the ladder back in its place. Walking back inside, I head straight to my room and take my own shower and nap, or at least try.
Five o’clock comes with a knock on my bedroom door. “Come in.” I’m sitting on the bed, putting on my boot when the door opens and in comes Kellie. Her hair is still on top of her head, but she’s wearing a long one-piece dress that comes off one shoulder and has a slit on both sides.
“Cori is outside.” Her voice comes out soft, and I look up from tying my boot. Her hands are in front of her, and she is fidgeting with her fingers. “I’m sorry about before.” I stand, and she looks me up and down.
“What exactly are you sorry about?” I ask her with my hip cocked to one side.
“Well,” she starts, and I laugh, shaking my head.
“You don’t really apologize to anyone?”
“I’m usually always right.” She tries to hide the smirk, but when I start laughing, she does also. “Don’t laugh. It’s not funny.”
“It’s so funny because I’ve been with you for what, five days, and you were wrong four times.” I walk to my bag, picking it up from the floor and putting it on the bed.