Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (36 page)

Forty-five

It had been six long weeks since the official break-up with Jay. He was due to leave on the Monday and Elena knew he was going to the party on Saturday. It was her last chance to win him back.

Elena decided she needed a new strategy. If he wanted someone more mature, he was going to get it! She was
on a mission
. She wore a short sexy leather skirt and fitted top with a push-up bra to give her
more
cleavage. Her black boots reached her mid-thigh and she made sure her make-up said
,
“
Take me
.”

“See what you’re missing
,
Jay,
”
she said to herself as she twirled in the mirror.
She hesitated. This was so not her. But she wasn’t good enough
-
she needed to be someone different.

When she arrived at the party, Veronika was the first to see her.

“What’s with the hooker look? It’s not
a
costume party
.”

“I’m on a mission.”

“Uh oh.”

José, the sleazy senior, approached a little too enthusiastically.

“Good evening, ladies. You look beautiful tonight,” said as he kissed them both on the cheek. He lingered a little longer than necessary with Elena and stared indiscreetly at her cleavage.

“Is Jay here?” Elena asked,
instinctively crossing her arms to cover herself. She was definitely getting a lot of unwanted attention.

“Don’t you know where your boyfriend is?”

Elena rolled her eyes.

“He’s not here yet, but if you need company…” he said, slipping his hand around her waist. Elena pushed him away. As if.

“Hey!” Veronika said
, and
hit him in the stomach.

“
The
offers stands
for you too
,
of course,” he said, caressing her shoulder.

While Veronika flirted with
José
, Elena went to get herself a drink, bumping into Leon.

“Hey Leon, how are you?”

He took her outfit in
,
but didn’t comment. “I’ve been better.”

“T
alk to
me.”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind! I feel pressure from my parents to be an academic, pressure from Frankie to save her and pressure from myself to follow my dream of acting and musical theatre. I swore off alcohol
,
but tonight I think I need a drink.”

“O
K
, then.”

“On the positive side, I’ve been meeting some great people through the musical
theatre
production
-
people more like me,” he said as he poured himself another rum and coke. They were interrupted as Frankie stumbled into them.

“Elena, haven’t
sseeen
you at
ch
-choir lately?”

“Yeah, well I quit. It wasn’t for me.”

“You mean you were too embarrassed to come back after you fucked up the audition?” Frankie said with a cackle.  Leon grabbed her arm.

“Sorry Elena,” he said as he sighed. “Come on Frankie, I think we need to get you home.”

She flicked his arm away. “Can’t you
sseee
I’m t-talking to my f-f-
ffriend
?”

Leon gritted his teeth, his nose flaring.

“Oh
,
poor Elena.
That’s such a shame. And Jay broke up with you too. No doubt he seriously screwed you, considering how you draped yourself all over him.” Elena wanted to slap her but reconsidered
,
as she realized what she was wearing.

“Do not assume I am you, Frankie. What Jay and I do is none of your business.”

“
What
is wrong with you?” Leon said. “Why do you have to always be such a bitch to Elena? Just leave her be.”

“You’re defending her again!” Frankie yelled. “Maybe she can satisfy you b-better than me! God knows I’ve tried everything. Oh G-God, I feel s-sick.” She turned around and threw up in the plant next to the sofa.

Leon threw his arms up. “That’s it. I’ve h
ad it. Get yourself home
. I’m done. It’s over.
Finito
.”
  With that Leon grabbed his jacked and
stormed off
. Everyone stood by and stared at Frankie in disgust. 

Letitia chose that moment to walk past, took one look at Frankie
,
and continued walking. “Aren’t you going to do something to help her?” Elena asked.

“Are you kidding? I don’t want to be associated with her right now.”
Unbelievable.

Elena hooked her hand under Frankie’s elbow to help her up. “Get away from me, bitch!”

“Frankie, you need to get out of here and to a bathroom,” Elena said gently.

“Get away from me! I hate you. He broke up with me because of you!”

“He broke up with you because he was sick of seeing you drunk and self-destructive. Stop blaming me for everything that goes wrong in your life!” Elena yelled. Screw that!

Elena was itching to get out of there, but she hadn’t achieved her goal. Where was Jay?

She turned around and bumped into Sebastien.

“Um Elena?”

“Seb.”
She instinctively
folded
her arms to cover her chest. “It’s my new look.” She turned to the side and noticed Jay from the corner of her eye
.
“Do you like it?” She wrapped her hands around Sebastien’s neck and leaned in close.

“Huh?”

“Elena, what are you doing here?” Jay said as he rushed over, pulling her away from Sebastien.

“What do you mean? I was invited. It’s a party isn’t it?” Sebastien frowned and walked away without comment. 

Jay yanked her into the nearest room and shut the door.
It looked like a library or study.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“Nice to see you, too!”

“I mean it
,
Elena. You’re asking for trouble.”

“How do you know I don’t dress like this every day? You never see me.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re mad at me because I tried to do the right thing and let you go?”

“Yes. I wanted to remind you what you were missing. As you said, there are plenty of others, so I wanted to make sure I stated that I was available and looking!”

Jay came closer, never letting go of her arm.

“I’m sorry
,
Elena. I saw you flirting with Sebastien and it made me go insane.
You’re such a sexy kitten,” he whispered and
leaned into her
, kissing her gently on the lips, on her neck and caressing her thighs beneath her skirt. 

“I miss you so much
,
Jay,” she said clinging to him.

“Is this what you came for?” he said as he lifted her onto the desk and stood between her legs.

He continued to caress her, removing her boots and then her top. “Jay, you can’t
….
” she began before groaning out loud as he placed her breast in his mouth.

Elena felt exhilarated. She didn’t care what happened next. He wanted her. She knew it!

“Oh God
,
Elena,” he continued, kneading and kissing her more frantically. He pushed her down on the desk and pulled off her underwear. “Are you sure you want this?”

“I just want you
,
Jay,” she replied and pulled his head down. He unzipped his jeans and leaned in. This was
it,
she was going to have him.

He looked her in the face and then dropped his head onto her stomach. “Oh Elena, what are you doing?”

“What’s wrong? Now I’m offering myself to you, no questions asked and you don’t want me? What did I do wrong?”

He stepped back and took a deep breath. “
This
isn’t right. You shouldn’t have come here to seduce me. I told you this would be a distraction. See, ten minutes in the room and I can’t keep my hands off you!” He paced the room,
raking his hair with his
hands. “I’m leaving on Monday, then where would you be?”

“Oh right, so first we break up because I’m not mature enough to have sex with you and now that I will have sex with you, it’s my fault again because it’s a distraction! Thanks a lot, Jay.” Elena had never felt so humiliated in all her life. She had dressed herself up like a hooker
and
practically thr
own
herself at him and he
’d
rejected her.
She was sitting on a desk without her underwear panting and had just been rejected.
She had to get out of there. She pulled on her boots and picked up her underwear from the floor. She grabbed her bag and ran out the door, tears streaming down her face, smudging her heavy make-up. She didn’t care. She just wanted to go home. Why did she ever believe this would work? Why couldn’t she just let him go?

Sebastien searched for Elena but couldn’t find her. Based on how she was dressed, that couldn’t be a good thing.

“What happened to her?”
Sebastien
asked
Veronika
.

“I don’t know
.
It’s a party. Let’s have fun!”
She cuddled in closer to
José
, who was rubbing her inner thigh with one hand and giving her a shot with the other.

“How about I take you home?”

“
Sebbie
!
You know it’s not like that between us.”

Sebastien laughed. “Come on.”

“Now?”

He nodded.

“She’s not ready to go yet,” José said. “She’s having fun.”

“I think she’s had enough fun for tonight,” he replied. José and the other two seniors
hovering nearby
glared at Sebastien.
He glared back at them without wavering.

“Oh okay.” She rose with difficulty. “See you boys.” She stumbled sideways and waved to them.

“Since when are you into drugs?”

“It’s only pot. Besides, I wanted to
impress
them
.”

“
Roni
, they’re losers. I don’t really think they’re interested in a relationship.”

“At least they’re interested in me at all.”

“You
’
re smart, interesting and cute. You deserve better.”

“I don’t want to be interesting,” she whined. “I want to be desired! Why doesn’t anyone want me?” She la
id
her head on Sebastien’s shoulder. “Everyone wants Elena.”

“Everyone does not want Elena and you are too good for those losers.”

“
You
want Elena.”

When they reached the street,
Sebastien hailed a cab and put her in it, giving the driver the address.

“Bye, bye,” she said to him dreamily.

He rolled his eyes. What was with the girls tonight?

“I don’t suppose you are going to tell us what happened on Saturday?” Veronika asked Elena, who was hiding beneath her books.
She had humiliated herself and still failed to win Jay back.
Not something she wanted to tell the world.

“Yeah, what happened?” Anya asked.

“I made a fool of myself and I am
officially the highest scorer on the loser scale.”

“Glad I missed it,” Anya said.

Veronika turned as Leon captured their attention.
“The prodigal son.”

“Is it okay
if
I sit here? It’s about as safe as I can get away from Frankie. She hates Elena too much to bother me here.”

“Thank you
,
Leon. I’m feeling the love,” Elena said without glancing up from her books.

“Do you think she’ll accept it
-
the break-up I mean?” Veronika asked.

“I’ve given her a million chances! And do you know what? She cheated on me! After all her insecurities and possessiveness she cheated on me!” Even Elena looked up from her books to show sympathy. “I thought I gave her everything and it still wasn’t enough. To be honest, I think I knew it wasn’t right for a long time but I was in denial. I wanted to fight for it.”

Elena nodded. “I feel y
ou
.” She recalled her outfit on Saturday and dropped her head back down into her book.