The Dancer

9

I thought it was strange that Katerina was the one that wanted to go to dance with me all the time, but she didn't talk to me the entire time. In fact, she looked completely disinterested in everything. She was polite, but there was something seriously off about her. She acted strange in the month that Nicolae and I were dating. He told me it was nothing, but I thought it was definitely something. She missed the auditions for the end of season show.

I didn't question it. It wasn't my place to question it. I simply dropped her at home most nights and made the excuse of having dinner with Carol so I could go home. I didn't want Nicolae to think I was avoiding him, but I needed time to myself. I needed to sort out my emotions before I dealt with his.

I wasn't quite ready to toss the L word around, but I was dangerously close. He was everything I wanted and more. I needed to talk this out with someone that wasn't him. I needed someone away from the situation. I needed Carol.

I walked inside to the smell of Carol's famous lemon-pepper shrimp pasta. I loved when she cooked it. She didn't do it often, but when she did a glass of white wine was in order.

"Hey," I greeted as I joined Carol in the kitchen.

"Hey. How was your night," she suggestively asked.

I laughed. "Amazing. Except for when Katerina started acting weird after dance."

"Oh my God," Carol rushed as she spun away from the stove. "Did she catch you guys?"

I laughed at her teasing from the one and only night I spent with Nicolae. "No. She just leaves the room any time he even touches me."

"Oh okay. That's not bad."

"She flipped her shit though."

"Wait," Carol said, confused. "You said she got home this morning?"

"Yeah. At about seven. Why?"

"She called you last night from Romania."

I shrugged. "So?"

"So, that's at least a twenty hour flight not including lay overs."

She was right. The times didn't match up, but where else would she have been? Nicolae told me-

A succession of rapid knocks came from the front door. Whoever was on the other side was eager to get that door answered. Carol and I looked at each other. She calmly walked over to the table and released the gun we kept secured there. I had been raised to shoot. I never found it very interesting, but it was something my parents insisted on. They wanted me to be able to defend myself.

Carol nodded towards the door, silently telling me to open it. I pulled the door open to reveal Nicolae standing on the other side. He glanced over his shoulder once and moved me to the side. He was clearly on a mission for something.

He shut the door behind him without saying a word to me and locked it.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"We have to go," he said.

I turned to Carol, completely confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"Not now, Holland. I'll explain later. Right now, we have to get out of here."

I cocked my head to the side. He was acting different. He sounded less like the Nicolae I had just spent the last month with and more like his cold, stoic self.

"We were just about to eat dinner," I said carefully.

"I don't think you understand. Most of what you know about me is false," he said. He turned his attention on Carol who watched the scene unfold with a blank stare. "They know you have it. Now you're both in danger."