Siempre

Copyright

Published by

Dreamspinner Press

5032 Capital Circle SW
Suite 2, PMB# 279
Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886

USA

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Siempre

© 2013 Tessa Cárdenas.

Cover Art

© 2013 Paul Richmond.

http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com

Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/.

ISBN: 978-1-62798-309-9

Digital ISBN: 978-1-62798-308-2

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

December 2013

DEDICATION

Dedicated with love to John and Lani.

John, without you, this book would not be here, because I would not be here. I can’t even put into words all the ways you’ve saved me.

Lani, there are so many things I could say about your unwavering love and friendship, but in the end, what stands out more than anything is that when I’m with you, I always feel so incredibly alive. You know how special that is.

Acknowledgments

Additional thanks to everyone who helped make this book happen so quickly.

Steph, for all your help every step of the way from the planning, to writing, to editing. I never would have finished anything again without you.

Lani and Ryan, thanks for enabling my love affair with New York City by letting me visit so many times.

Serena, for enduring long e-mails full of questions about Purchase and photography and then forgiving me when all that work showed up in only a few sentences.

My mom, for checking and editing all my Spanish while conveniently not asking awkward questions about context.

Stacy, Linda, Mary, and Nessa, for help with final editing and proofreading so no one knows how many words and commas I forget.

Chapter 1

S
EAN
LET
himself fall down on the black marley flooring of the studio. The smooth rubber felt cool enough on his back that he didn’t mind the sour smell as he turned his head to press his cheek to the floor. His blond hair had long ago given up on the short spikes he’d started the day with, forcing him to push back the sweaty strands from his forehead.

“Get up. Stretch,” Travis ordered, nudging Sean’s ankle with his foot as Sean’s dance partner Alana ignored him and collapsed next to Sean.

“Fine. Be lazy. Get muscle cramps. You have understudies.” Travis shook his head and turned to wander back to the sound system in the corner of the room.

“Our understudies are going to be junior-year college interns who only get hounded by you once or twice a week. Even if a prodigy shows up at the audition today, you would have to break labor laws to feel like they rehearsed enough for you,” Alana said, but she still raised her hands above her head as she pointed her toes, stretching her whole body horizontally before sitting up and folding herself in half.

“They’ll probably complain less.”

“Because they’ll be scared of you,” Sean said as he followed Alana’s example. He might not fear Travis, but he knew well enough that he’d curse himself in the next day’s classes and rehearsals if he didn’t start stretching.

“Which is why I’ll like them better.” Travis pulled an envelope out of his bag and carried it over to where Sean and Alana were stretching on the floor. Alana shifted so Travis had space to pull out the glossy eight-by-tens and spread them out in the middle of their small circle.

“Are we picking favorites before we’ve even see them?” Sean asked as Alana began sliding the women to the left side of the circle and the men to the right.

“Just getting ideas.” Travis slid three of the women and three of the men to the top. “These six have the best résumés. Years of classes, summer programs, leads in productions. I’m not sure why they even went to college.”

“So you hate them already?” Sean rolled his eyes at Alana, and Travis shrugged. “You realize that you would have automatically rejected your best friend from this company if you’d been in charge at our audition.”

“No. I’m just saying they’ll have plenty of opportunities at plenty of companies. If we want them, we need to grab them fast. Why do you think you got your call the next day, and I got mine a week later?” Travis said. “I haven’t written them off. I can’t, anyway. Steph is still the director, and you know she’d overrule me if I tried. She offered you a place because she knew that you were a good fit for the company, but we want interns we can develop—not interns who will take their credit and never come back. We’re not ABC. We can’t just train interns and not care if they take that training elsewhere.”

Sean nodded as he skimmed over the six résumés while Travis pushed six more to the lower end of the spread.

“Least experience?” Alana asked, and Travis nodded.

Sean glanced over and waved his hand for Alana to continue.

“Say it. I know you want to,” he said when she stayed silent.

“I don’t have to say it. But if you have danced with me for two years and you need me to point out that all the white people are on the top, with long lists of classes and lead roles, and the black and brown people are on the bottom, I’m going to kick you in the face the next time we do that lift.” Alana didn’t look away from the résumé she’d picked up to read as she added, “Accidentally, of course.”

“And yet you always pick on me about it and not Travis.”

“Because Travis knows he’s white.”

“I have looked in a mirror.”

“And yet you keep trying to think it doesn’t matter.”

Travis picked up the picture she’d just put down and handed it to Sean, saving him from answering. The girl in the picture held a first arabesque en pointe like every other dancer, but he could see how she was probably a few inches too short by regular ballet standards, and her hips set just a little wider than would be ideal. Her form was still close to perfect, but when he flipped the picture over, he wasn’t surprised to find that even with the short list of leading roles from her Arizona dance school, Guadalupe Torres only had one small solo and various corps performances since she’d started studying at Purchase College’s dance conservatory two years ago.

“Only you would have a favorite from just a picture.” Sean shook his head but flipped the photo back to the front. If anyone could pick a dancer from a picture, it would be Travis. Travis was worried that Steph had started passing off control of the company to him out of pity when his knee surgery had ended his dance career, but Sean knew it had only sped up the process. Travis had an eye for finding talent other people might pass by. He had insisted on getting Alana into an audition after he’d spotted her go-go dancing in a nightclub two years ago, and he hadn’t been wrong there.

“That’s why I also want your opinions.”

“Even though you’ll pick who you want after you listen to them?” Alana said, but her smile gave away her trust. She glanced at the clock and pointed before reaching her hand out to Sean to help her up before he’d even gotten up himself. He rolled his eyes but still stood and took her hand to pull her up before moving to help Travis set up a folding table and chairs for them to make notes. Alana tossed the pointe shoes she’d already removed toward her bag, and pulled on soft ballet shoes to lead the students through the audition.

Sean and Travis had just settled at the table when the receptionist poked her head in the door. At Travis’s nod, she came into the studio with a list of names and numbers, followed by a small group of dancers whom Alana directed into lines according to number. He recognized Guadalupe right away and caught Travis’s slight smile as she lined up in front with a “#1” pinned to the front of her leotard. If she hadn’t already caught Travis’s eye with her résumé, he knew she’d get points for showing up early enough to get the first number.

As Alana led the dancers through exercises, Sean had to admit that Guadalupe stood out. Travis had instructed Alana to start them with classical ballet to highlight their technique and flexibility, but even then, they were looking for someone who naturally added their own spirit. As they moved into more modern combinations, Guadalupe’s passion showed through even more. He almost forgot to watch for the male dancers—something he was sure Travis would tease him for, if he knew.

It only took a few shared nods and expressions between the three of them to realize Travis had mostly decided on his original pick and needed to see how the males danced with her, so Alana taught them a section of the dance they’d been rehearsing an hour earlier. She had each of the dancers trade partners for various parts as all three of them tried to find a guy who would fit the part and the company. It was obvious Alana was trying to pair Guadalupe with the males she thought Travis would like, but Sean found his eye kept catching on number eight. His classical technique was perfect, but he was struggling with the more modern parts of the piece. As he waited on the side for his turn, he worked on the same pose over and over until he got closer. Sean leaned over to write “#8” on Travis’s notes. Travis glanced at the dancer and back down to pull his picture.

It was from the first six they’d mostly ignored earlier. A quick glance showed that, before he’d started college, Michael had even attended some of the same summer programs Sean had on his own résumé. Travis gave him an odd look, but he still signaled for Alana’s attention and tapped the picture when she looked down.

Alana gave Travis and then Sean a look, but paired Michael with Guadalupe on the next rotation. They surprised him by sharing a smile, and he glanced down at both résumés, noticing that they both went to Purchase. Of course, half the kids auditioning had probably heard of the smaller company, because Travis had landed his spot right after graduating from Purchase.

The kid still stumbled through some of the harder moves, but Sean could see even Alana was nodding at the way the two played off each other. When they finished, she tried a few more combinations just in case they needed to remember some other options, but after they’d dismissed the dancers, she only waited until they were all out of earshot before saying, “Okay. Just call the girl first. No rushing after him and working it out and making her wait a week. She’s more likely to stay on with us after, and you know it.”